Encounters

I saw an older woman get out of a car next to me at the Red Apple Market near my house. Sourness emanated from her face, making her seem a decade or two older. About 25 years ago I noticed how people's faces grow to fit them. I saw sour looking people like this woman, and people that I instantly liked. I was a frowner. Started out as a way to be cool in school. I decided to change. Wanted laugh lines rather than scowl lines etched into my face.

(I think) I have an easy smile, and people do seem to like being with me. It has a down side. In Meisner Robin told me I couldn't use my smile while I was working on our last scene. It is one of the ways I have of dealing with the world, and like other defenses it insulates me. It can be hard to drop. Still, I like dealing with a smile that is too ready than the opposite.

I didn't take time to exhaustively study the sour woman. Just enough that I saw the shade of what she may have looked like long ago, and what she could look like. The question I couldn't answer was whether she mistreated life or life mistreated her. It appeared to be the former, often the bigger tragedy. It's something I'd like to explore more in some scripts. The difference between putting a frown on the world, and having the world put a frown on you.

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I did my shopping, and now I'm sitting on the ground at Lincoln Park. Working on a script, writing through a block and coming back to this as a periodic escape. Also waiting for All's Well That Ends Well which starts in a little over an hour. I watched Coriolanus earlier. Four years ago I watched Greenstage do Troilus and Cressida and MacBeth. It was a birthday gift to myself then as well, though on my actual birthday. I'm noticing a number of things in this repeated excursion.

Four years ago I experienced more discomfort sitting on the ground, so the physical work with the acting has paid off. Also, I had never read or seen Coriolanus before, and I followed it. The more you see and read Shakespeare the more you are able to follow along.

I knew nobody at all four years ago. The only show I'd ever seen with people I knew were the community theatre shows my father was in. This will be the fourth show I have seen this week. As I mentioned earlier, on Sunday at the Intiman I was acquainted with Bart the director, and Craig the writer. On Thursday I saw a musical improv, which had two of my best friends, Paula and Steve in it. The earlier show today had one person in the cast I'd worked on a show with, Alyssa Tomoff. I know the production manager/stage manager, Steve Cooper from a number of other shows I've worked on or bee associated with.

The training and participation in theatre has given me a more discriminating eye, which some find dilutes their enjoyment when in the audience. I'm generally able partition the critique and not let it diminish my enjoyment, and having some connection to the shows makes a big difference for me. Regardless of the quality of the show, that connection makes it more enjoyable. Well time to do a little to the script, then watch the show.

Just got home and getting ready to paste and post. The King of France and the Duke in All's Well That Ends Well were played by Ray Irvin who had the male lead in Marlboro Man. That was a fringe show I worked on for Paula who directed (Steve did sound), and the first time I'd done the stage manager/tech director/set design and fabrication/etc role. I feel so privileged to be a part of this world.