burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

In a break from Wicked Queer stuff, Actors' Shakespeare Project today announced their 20th season.  One of which was a Jane Austen adaptation, and I was like, "I think I remember them doing one of these before," and I realized I hadn't kept up my Boston theatre/arts masterlist post, where I'd been listing which plays they did every season.

So since I was digging through my emails to reality-check myself anyway, I figured I'd update my records. (Because I thought the last Jane Austen was somewhere in Davis and it turned out to actually be in Medford, part of me wanted to sleuth and include info like venue -- but that feels better suited for a spreadsheet or something.)

( ASP: past, present, and future )

theatre

• [ASP] Seven Guitars (part of August Wilson's Pittsburgh/Century Cycle)
  
  I didn't like it as much as the other plays in that cycle I've seen (Gem of the Ocean live at Tufts, and the Fences film -- both back in 2016), but I do appreciate that ASP is doing the ~sequel next season ("Nearly forty years after the blues of Seven Guitars, the American Shakespeare takes on the Reagan Era."). Gonna be hella depressing, but...

books

• read Abby ~5 picturebooks
• [work book club] Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid 
  
• read on the flight to California: [feminist sci-fi book club] Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden (I liked it less than I had hoped -- though it's doing some interesting stuff, and I did enjoy a lot of it -- so I'm likely to skip its sequel, Symbiosis)
• On the return flight, I finished:
  • A More Just Future: Psychological Tools for Reckoning with Our Past and Driving Social Change by Dolly Chugh
  • Queer: A Graphic History written by Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele (which is more a graphic history of queer THEORY, to be clear)

movies (who's surprised we saw 2 trans movies?)

• Naomi Campbel [part of the Harvard Film Archive's program Remapping Latin American Cinema: Chilean Film/Video 1963-2013 -- "Chile’s cinema remains the least internationally known of Latin America’s major cinemas. Often overshadowed by the historically larger and more widely distributed cinemas of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, the rich history of Chilean filmmaking has also been obscured, paradoxically, by the long history of political documentary to which Chilean cinema is all too often reduced."]
  
  This was okay?  I appreciate that a 2013 film treats a trans woman very matter-of-factly. She wants bottom surgery but is generally happy with her life and resists the narratives of tragedy from the gatekeepers. But the blurb about the film feels to me like it really over-states much of what it's doing (also, despite the blurb, I did not read the woman who wants plastic surgery as trans at all; I very much read her as cis).
  
  
• Framing Agnes [Emerson Bright Lights -- Co-presented with Wicked Queer: The Boston LGBT Film Festival and GlobeDocs; independently, Abby had heard about it on Twitter]
  
  This film was so good!  Lots of interesting stuff about the history of trans people, their interactions with the medical establishment and the media, the tradeoffs of visibility, etc.  Highly recommended.
  
  Available to rent or buy on (at least) AppleTV and KinoNow. Also Kanopy (which you can probably access through your local library).

tv

• Ted Lasso's 3rd (and final) season started, and we're currently caught up (3.01-3.03)

art exhibits

• "For The Love Of Birds, featuring original artwork with the subject of birds, real or imaginary, wild or not so wild for a juried exhibition that takes place during Chico’s 2023 Snow Goose Festival, which celebrates the glorious migration of snow geese on the Pacific Flyway." at the Museum of Northern California Art -- with Abby and Sarah, during our trip out there for Abby's dad's memorial service
• Portraits of Pride: A Celebration of Queer and Trans Lives in Boston (Abby wanted to go for date night).  It turned out to only be 3 portraits, which was disappointing -- and there was a panel we didn't know about, which we missed most of because we arrived about halfway through the 4:30-6:30pm window. (You can see some of the original portrait project here.)
  

live music

• Ezra Furman at the Sinclair with Abby (opener: Alex Walton -- the opener went on at 8! on a weeknight! I am Old ... but I love my partner, and went to this show that ended ~11pm)

***

Currently reading: Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano -- which I started reading during the week of the #TransRightsReadathon. 

It first came out in 2007 and I read it in, idk, 2008? 2013?  A second edition came out in 2016, which I learned about maybe a few years ago?  It turns out to be basically the first edition with an added Preface, but since I remember very little from the first time I read it, that's not too bad.

Reading next: Microcosm Publishing's The Autism Relationships Handbook by Faith Harper and Joe Biel.

After sending my partner various Twitter threads, saying, "I'm not autistic, but this resonated with me," we've leaned in to, "An actual diagnosis doesn't matter; but if there's stuff that autistic people find helpful that you also find helpful..."

So (at my ~suggestion) she recently Kickstarted The Autism Partner Handbook and backed the tier that comes with: "The Autism Relationships Handbook - The counterpart of the Partner Handbook, this book guides autistic people through how to succeed in relationships." So she's gonna read the former and I'll read the latter and then we'll swap. Or maybe we'll totally bounce off them like we have other Faith Harper productions. Who can say? The future is vague and uncertain.

The ASP season for next year came out last Wednesday. ( The Downfall of Despots )

***

Last night, we saw a broadcast of the RSC's Tempest -- finishing out Shakespeare's jubilee year (2016 was the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death) with Shakespeare's last solo-authored play.

They had a teaser for ROME, and I thought it was just the next play they were doing, so I thought, "Julius Caesar? Or Antony and Cleopatra?"

No, it's the whole next season -- Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus. I'm excited. I mean, I'm meh on the first 2 plays, but the RSC has done such amazing productions recently that I'm at least interested to see what they do (if nothing else, we'll get to see them make great use of their visual resources -- they have an amazing stage, and amazing amounts of money, so their productions honestly feel worth watching for that alone), and to see how they comment on our current political moment.

In talking about next season, Gregory Doran (Artistic Director of the RSC) was like, "In this post-Brexit, post-Trump," and he just kinda looked at the ground in sadness as he was talking. (In talking about Lear -- unwise breaking up of the kingdom -- IIRC he said that the Brexit vote happened the first day of rehearsals for the show.)

For their ROME season they're bringing back the director of Othello (I forget for which play, but I'm real excited about that -- they evoked Abu Ghraib in that one, so I look forward to any politically-engaged play under that director) and have a woman director for one of the plays (again, I forget which one, but good on you RSC, and take note Hollywood).

And it feels so Shakespearean to use stories about Italy to talk about England :) (Now I'm curious to see a table of how many Shakespeare plays are set in Italy [or elsewhere] vs. set in England -- esp if we exclude the histories. A quick Google suggests that 1/3 of all Shakespeare's plays are set in Italy. Folgerpedia has a nice sortable table -- which also allows a quick at-a-glance that almost the only plays he sets in England are the histories; the only exception/s being The Merry Wives of Windsor in Shakespeare's modern-day, and King Lear and Cymbeline in mythic pre-Christian Britain.)

Oh, and the latter 2 plays in their ROME season are so great -- Titus being always a trip, and Coriolanus being a lesser-known play I've seen some really great productions of.

I was not expecting it to snow today. Huh.

In other news: \o/

Actors' Shakespeare Project
2011-2012 Season
Laughter, Loss & Longing

Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
September 27, 2011 - October 23, 2011

The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William Shakespeare
December 7, 2011 - January 1, 2012

Medea
by Euripides
translated by Robin Robertson
February 8, 2012 - March 4, 2012

Troilus and Cressida
by William Shakespeare
April 25, 2012 - May 20, 2012

(I am, however, sad that NSMT apparently nixed Little Shop of Horrors for Footloose.)

I spent Saturday with Cate and Allie (not to be confused with -- per one of my coworker's last week when I was talking about my upcoming weekend plans).

Veggie Planet was takeout-only due to The Campfire Festival at Club Passim*, so we ate at Grendel's Den -- yay eating outside :)  I got vegan chili (I forgot that chili means onions :( ) and linguini with pesto (what I was actually given was shells pasta, but since I prefer that to spaghetti-like pasta, I wasn't complaining).

*Looking it up online, Campfire Festival includes Mya Elaine and Brooke Brown Saracino.  Hello people I went to college with.  (Mya was my first year roommate.)

We were a little pressed for time, and as we were heading to the bus, Cate said, "I know Elizabeth has strong feelings about being on time."  She used the "strong feelings" phrasing twice, so then I had to tell the story of Ian and Andy from like a month ago at work.

I successfully paid attention to street signs and read the map I had printed out, so that after we got out at Dudley Station I took in the correct direction to get to the venue.  \o/

We had apparently been issued tickets for the evening performance rather than the matinee (and I didn't even notice on the confirmation email), but they were far from sold-out, so we got our tickets reissued -- same table and everything.

***

Yeah, I am not big on the comedies.  ( Read more... )

***

I didn't look up local ice cream places in advance, so we just took the #1 back to Harvard and got ice cream at Herrell's -- and ate in the vault this time.  I got a coconut chocolate chip, which was good.

Sat, March 21 - Fight Night: Fight Call & Violence Design, 6:30pm
Pre-show talk with Robert Walsh, Director of Coriolanus

I think it was actually the guy who played Aufidius who said the interesting stuff I jotted down.

He said that staged combat is more storytelling than martial art.

He talked about combat as being a way we communicate when words fail.

I think it was in talking about fight choreography that he talked about something (I didn't quite catch what) as Lego blocks, with which we create different physical sentences.

***

Caius. Martius. Coriolanus.

[Note: Most every performance has a free pre- or post-show talk/reception, schedule listed on this link, plus the pay-what-you-can Conversation.]

( spoilers for the play in general and specifically this production of it )

Stephen Greenblatt said directors and actors are usually "evasive," but Melia Bensussen (Director, ASP's Merchant of Venice) and Jeremiah Kissel (Actor playing Shylock) like never shut up.  It was really interesting hearing their impassioned thoughts on the decisions they made for this production and their thoughts on the play more broadly.

The other two panelists -- Bernie Steinberg (President & Director, Harvard Hillel) and Michelle Ephraim (Associate Professor of English at Worcester Poly Tech) -- seemed almost extraneous.  Though I need to email the Hillel guy 'cause his blurb on the program talked about him doing bridge-building and I obv. wanted to talk to him about that but I didn't catch him after the show.

I didn't take notes, so this is all from memory.  [Oh, and it's not necessarily obvious from the commentary, but the two ASP folks are practicing Jews.]  ( Read more... )

( gym: Wed.-Fri. )

***

I feel like I've been on summer vacation since Wednesday.

Friday was the now traditional "Light Lunch" followed by an afternoon off.  Peter and Greg walked over to lunch with us.  I picked up a small whoopie pie for dessert, and Nicki was asking me what the filling was, like was it flavored, and I was like, "Um, it's a whoopie pie... it's just cream."  Katie reminded me that we'd had a conversation before about how whoopie pies are a New England thing.  (Greg didn't know what they were, but we're used to that 'cause he spent a good chunk of time in Israel.)

Cate joined later, and some I ended up telling her about due South fandom.  I don't think I'd really realized before that CKR was in due South and that's where everyone initially knows him from.  (Yes, apparently I think of The Canadian Actor Mafia as its own fandom.)  I've never seen due South, but I was recalling that I did sporadically watch some tv show with Mounties when I was younger, and really, how many tv shows about Mounties aired on broadcast American tv in the 1990s?  Dad, do you remember anything about this?

Speaking of fandoms I'm not in...
via monkeycrackmary: Steph in Africa (on scans_daily)

Anyway, we hung out for a couple hours and then went our separate ways.  I did a couple errands -- though not as many as I should have.  We reconvened for dinner at CPK at the Pru.  Cate was running late, but we still had our food (I got the mushroom pizza.) with enough time to eat and not feel rushed.  (We ended up getting to Park St. like right at 7:30 -- minor T delays was something of a theme with me that afternoon -- but ASP never starts on time, so we were okay.)

That morning, I bumped into Layna on my way to the T and Allie at the T, and on the Green Line to Prudential I saw Meredith.

***

ASP's 4th season wrapped up with King John, which neither Cate nor I had ever seen/read before.  (And I didn't look at the synposis, opting to just go with the flow of the play)

Turns out it was really good.  Both the play and the production.  It was very modern -- people in suits, drinking martinis, brandishing pistols, etc. -- and that made SO MUCH SENSE.  And the play itself is interesting and engaging (and okay there were a few bits I could have done without, but that's usually true of me and lots of the comedic bits Shakespeare sticks in the histories).  I told Cate afterward that it was probably my favorite of the season, definitely made me excited about giving them money for my subscription for next year.  She commented that the other productions this year had schticks, like the all-female Macbeth, the Henry V with only five actors, and she was like, "See, when you have a multi-gender cast of more than half a dozen, you can do great things."  I commented that while this one also had a "schtick" (the contemporary, shades of mafioso, setting) it was more of a theme -- we agreed that this was like Titus, which was the play we saw last season and which was also awesome.  I also said that they didn't overdo it, which she agreed, and she commented that ironically, she thought if they'd done more with the schtick in their production of Tempest this season it might well have worked a lot better for her.

( spoilers )

***

As I expected, I had mixed feelings about the apartment I looked at this morning.  It's a two-level two-bedroom condo.  The woman living there is looking for someone quiet, and part of me is like, "I'm never home, and when I am I'm mostly just playing on the internet," but part of me worries that I would be on edge, worrying.  The two bedrooms abut each other, and she mentioned that for example, "If I make a late-night phone call I go downstairs" (the upper level is the two bedrooms and a full bath, the lower level is a living room and eat-in kitchen and half-bath) and yeah, that kind of quiet consideration feels maybe excessive.

It's got a nice basement I could use to store some of my boxes (though yes I know I should purge before I move) plus washer-dryer.  She has RCN wireless internet; I would need wired Internet and would like cable tv.  The bedroom is good-sized (11x14... my current one is about 11x11) and with a good-sized closet.

There's a nice little playground across the street, including checkerboard tables with attached seats.  It's something like a 15-minute walk to Harvard Square, and I could pick up the 86 (direct to my campus) like five minutes from the house.  It's near a Market Basket, plus the FoodMaster by Inman and the Union Square Farmer's Market and it's a 5-10min. walk to the 87 to Porter (Shaw's).

She rents from the absentee landlords (they're in California, but apparently there's a local repairperson who's good... and the condo was built in the 1980s and is in good shape) and was talking about a month-to-month lease, which makes me nervous, though it also provides flexibility should I decide it wasn't working out and wanted to move (and I do trust that if she decided to move -- she's been flirting with the idea of buying a place herself, but doesn't think that'll happen any time soon -- she would give me plenty of notice).

I'm not under pressure to decide SOON, which I appreciate.

Part of me feels like I should just wait until July, when the bulk of the August 1 openings will be posted.  And part of me thinks I should actually check out July 1 openings 'cause if there's something that's a great fit then it would be worth double-paying rent for a month.

***

I went to Gusti's graduation party (at the Nave Gallery at CHPC).  The official start time was 4:30, so I left my house at 4:30.  (I live about a five-minute walk away.)  It was really nice that so many of Gusti's communities were there (people from her neighborhood, people from CHPC, people from school -- including her undergrad [she just graduated from HDS]).  I actually chatted with people I didn't already know.  *proud of me*

SarahD. was talking about Adam Sandler's new movie (the Zohan one), which apparently includes Israel-Palestine issues.  I now feel like I need to see this movie.  (She also mentioned how she walked out of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.  I was so pleased.)

***

I was chatting with mjules after I got home, and it's good to have someone who knows what you're talking about when you wtf at "The Devil Is Bad" by the W's (Track 8 on Disc 1 of WOW 1999 The Year's Top Christian Artists and Songs).

Track 12 is the Supertones' "Little Man," which brought me back to the Supertones concert Tim took us to back when I was in high school, which I had totally forgotten about until now.

***

I was okay in the heat today, and my apartment still feels decent.  I am very pleased by this.  (Though I expect it will get worse as the days continue to high near 90F and it only cools off to like 70F overnight.)

Friday night, Cate and I were gonna meet at the Qdoba by the Agganis Arena before going to Macbeth.  I walked from HBS to where the 66 meets the B Line, and figured I'd just walk along Comm. Ave., except my sense of direction is not great in that area, so I walked in the wrong direction and then hopped a B Line at Allston St.  The parallel street thing that Comm. Ave.'s got going on is weird and awkward.

The Qdoba was crazy busy.  We saw after we left that there was a hockey game that night.

The show was at Studio 102 at BU's College of Fine Arts.  I had thought I would have been to all the theatre venues in the city by now, but clearly I was wrong as I had discounted college venues.  This particular room had like no ventilation, so we were very glad to spend the intermission outside in the cold air.  (I'd been taking off as much of my clothing as I felt I could get away with sitting in a public venue.)

I say it's my (second) favorite play, but I become less and less sure about that.  Everything happens so quickly, for one.  And Lady Macbeth's all badass up until Duncan's murder and shortly thereafter she and Macbeth have a total role reversal, which I don't entirely understand.  And Macbeth goes seriously crazy (hello Banquo's ghost scene).  He spends like five seconds considering the possibility that the kingship will come to him without any effort on his part like Cawdor did, and completely dismisses the Banquo prophecy until after he gains the kingship.  A lot of this is understandable on reflection, but watching it happen in front of me I had difficulty finding it believable.
     It was an all-female cast, which neither added (except that girls are prettier than boys, on the whole /shallow) nor detracted for me, which I'm really okay with.  The animalistic costumes for the witches in the scene where Macbeth goes to look for them were visually v. interesting, though I'm undecided as to whether I find them problematic.  At the "all my pretties" bit, I teared up.

There's a Cold Stone Creamery next to the Qdoba now.
     I wanted something light-ish, but all the stuff that looked potential had mix-ins I wasn't in the mood for.  I felt like it would be lame to go to a ColdStone and just get a single flavor, so I got a Birthday Cake Remix.  The server asked me if I wanted it in a coconut-dipped waffle bowl and I said sure.  Turns out he waffle bowl is coated in chocolate and then coconut, so it's wicked rich plus hard to eat 'cause the waffle part is curved and it's coated in hard thick chocolate.  Eating it, I realized I think I've had their cake batter ice cream before and yeah, not a huge fan.  Sigh.
     Cate got an After Dinner Mint and decided that yeah, she should have just gotten the straight-up chocolate peppermint ice cream since the mix-ins (chocolate shavings, marshmallows) didn't really add anything.  (We both got samples of the chocolate peppermint ice cream, though, and it is tasty.)
     The cashier asked the girl behind us if she was a student.  (Apparently we don't look like we could be students?  Though possibly that girl was wearing some sort of college paraphernalia, which we definitely weren't.)  When we left we noticed the sign outside that we hadn't registered when we came in that said you get 10% off with a student ID.  Sigh.

***

I'd been getting 6 hours of sleep the past couple nights. Saturday I slept for nearly 12 hours.  It was AWESOME.

I got my hair cut at Salon Femia again.  Yay walk-ins.  I ended up getting the same woman I had last time; I should have asked her name since it totally escaped me from last time.  I actually enjoy that they don't chat with you while they're doing your hair. I'm not sure it's the best business practice for them to chat with each other and not so much the clients, but it works for me.  I'm not opposed to small talk in those settings per se, but I never have the right answers for small talk -- I dislike the hot weather, love the cold weather and not just in a cozy bundled-up kind of way, don't really follow sports, rarely have exciting vacation plans, etc.

I'm not sure my hair looks any prettier, but it's easier to manage, which is worth a fair amount.  (And Trevanna complimented me on it on Sunday, so that's yay.)

***

Michelle's living in Leominster at present, so she had her 30th birthday party ("karaoke, beer, and fun") at The Tiki in Westford.

Jess took initiative about getting directions and arranging carpooling.  Bless her.
     Michelle had said something about it being an hour drive, but it took us 40 minutes, so we arrived right at 8pm (the approximate start time we were given), beating Michelle and her sister.

I was deciding what to wear for the day and remembered that I was going to Michelle's party so I didn't need to wear anything classy.  Looking for a different black shirt and remembering queenmother49, I opted for my "Everyone loves a cunning linguist" t-shirt.  Practically the first thing Michelle said to me upon greeting me was love the shirt.

Eric and Trelawney bought her a bag of Doritos ("orange salty guilt," as she affectionately refers to it).  That was arguably the best gift of the night.  I fail 'cause it didn't even occur to me until she got her first gift that duh birthday party perhaps I should have gotten a gift or a card.  I just so rarely do obligatory gift-giving dates.  (And she didn't even say anything, I just felt sort of lame.)

I was in the mood for a side of fries or something, but the place serves Chinese food so my options were kind of limited.  I couldn't remember whether Spring Rolls or Egg Rolls were more likely to be vegetarian and just ordered a side of Spring Rolls.  The dominant taste was fried, and I couldn't tell whether I tasted meat in it or not.  The last bite I saw shrimp.  Sigh.  I was then mildly worried that I would get sick, which thankfully didn't happen.  Having gotten used to drink prices at real Boston restaurants (or, god forbid, clubs), I was really pleased to find that drinks were $5 (and beer $3.50).  Not that I ever drink a whole lot -- though I did buy the birthday girl two drinks.

I'd never been to karaoke before, and I was so grateful that neither Michelle nor anyone else pressured us to participate.  'Cause hi, I don't sing.  I had more fun watching/listening to other people's performances than I had expected, though.
     Someone did a a country song called "Big Deal," which I wouldn't have guessed was LeAnn Rimes.  The woman singing it had a country appropriate voice, just not a LeAnn Rimes voice.
     Someone else did "Goodbye Earl" (Dixie Chicks), which song I was surprised Mike didn't know -- yes, I know it's a girlie song and he doesn't listen to country, pop crossover or not.  Meredith was surprised I didn't know "Under the Boardwalk."  Someone did "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" -- which I didn't even know was a song until that night.  There was a lot of Frank Sinatra, which I wans't really into.  A couple guys actually came into the audience with the mic, which was cool.  Someone did "I Am... I Said" by Neil Diamond, which again I'd never heard before, but I liked it.
     Michelle's sister Nicole and their friend Denise signed up for a karaoke together, and the DJ called "Nicole and Dennis."  When we have him grief for it, he said he wished he had a projector so he could put up the slips of paper and see if we could do a better job than him of deciphering them.
     Michelle did "Trouble" (which Google tells me is by Pink), "Holdin' Out for a Hero" (Bonnie Tyler), and "Crucify" (Tori Amos).
     Mike did Billy Joel: "Keeping the Faith."  Again, new to me, but I liked it.
     Trelawney did "Head Over Feet" (Alanis Morissette) 'cause she and Eric are just that sappy.
     Eric did "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" (They Might Be Giants) which I thought was fabulous, since he and Trelawney went to Turkey on their honeymoon.
     Someone did eve 6 "Inside Out," and I was like: I love that song ... I could maybe even sing that song.  Though I'm not sure if it crosses the line from energetic to angry too much for me to really feel like singing it.

We stayed until closing (12:30) and driving home was a bit more difficult than driving there, but we made it, and I learned a bit more about driving in the Harvard etc. area (Jess was driving me and Jenny, who lives near the Washington Street stop on the B Line).