cultural duo about town

The last two weekends, we've seen a couple of fun performances.

Last weekend, we attended half of the New Works festival at our local community theater. From about 300 new plays, the group selected 20 and we saw 10, each about 8-12 minutes long. They were actually really good and well-acted too. One of my favorites involved a geeky guy who returns to his home town after he's invented something that's made him a lot of money. He runs into a woman he knew in high school, whom he dreamed about, actually, whom he's been googling obsessively, who's now a prostitute.

Another one concerns a man who has heroically saved a woman from a near-fatal car accident, one in which her children have died. He has looked after her in the hospital and has brought him home to live wth him when she's released. He is, in a way, her guardian angel. Except that through his own carelessness and uncaring, he caused the accident. Rather than undergoing arrest and imprisonment, he is sentenced to living with himself (and her). The whole play consists of their thoughts spoken aloud; they never speak to each other.

On Saturday, we went to a contra dance with live music, always a treat.

And on Sunday, we went to a concert of BSO principals playing in chamber format. We had been unable to attend the first concert of the year, so we got two extra tickets to Sunday's concert and invited two friends to join us. It was such a pleasure to share the experience.

This past Friday night, we attended another special night at a favorite local theater, one in which the regular actors get to choose scenes to perform. We saw a little Shakespeare, David Mamet, Lillian Hellman, Edward Albee, and Tom Stoppard. Some of the scenes made us laugh; others made us squirm. Good stuff.

And last night, we drove to a nearby town to see a friend appear in Harvey, one of those plays where the top-billed star never quite makes an appearance but you know he's on stage much of the time. Our friend did great credit to the role of Dr. Chumley, owner of Chumley's Rest, that terrifying prison of a mental institution that everyone is checking in and out of at an alarming rate. The theater company is small with almost no budget, but they did a great job. My friend reported his relief at hearing me laugh during the funniest moments and introduced us all around to the cast after the performance.

Today, we were supposed to see a friend but we had a snow storm instead. Much as I would have liked to socialize, it was very pleasant having at least some restful moments as we gazed out at the falling snow.