Hirsch's Log
On top of very little sleep due to last night, and then hearing about the combination
of terrorist attacks in the news, today is a bit unsettled ... it’s still fairly early
in the day, we haven’t had our morning meeting yet, but this news is pretty horrid.
It’s going to be even harder to pull things together, that’s for sure.
It doesn’t help that Rose’s father works in the
Pentagon. She hasn’t heard anything from him at the time I’m writing this, and is
really torn up. She and others are doing everything that they can to find
out what is happening.
The I Sebastiani troupe was planning on flying back
to Boston tomorrow. If it turns out that they can’t, and cannot arrange to extend
their stay at their hotel we’ve made an offer to host them with us until they can
leave. The FAA has shut down all airports in the US ...
(Later) Over half the troupe decided to go
into town and do workshops and see the performances scheduled, partially to get
our minds off the tragedy, and partially because “the show must go on” as it were.
Some folk stayed behind to provide emotional support for Rose and to keep an eye
on the situation. While we were in the first workshop, we got a phone call from
Rose letting us know that her father was NOT in the Pentagon building when it was
hit, and that her sister and boyfriend (who work in Manhatten) were not in to
work yet (and got turned back). The feeling of relief was palpable throughout the
room. On the other hand, Rose and Juan in particular were wiped enough from the
emotional roller-coaster that they went through, that we decided to cancel our
performance that evening.
From the festival: the two workshops were good.
They were interesting, and it makes me sorry I missed the ones on Monday.
Art Davis’ workshop was apparently planned as a four-hour workshop, but since most
or all of us wanted to also see Gian Giacamo Colli (and I suspect Art Davis did,
too), we went to that workshop. Gian Giacomo was delightful. His English was a
bit broken, but pretty good, and both as an instructor and as a performer, he
was wonderful. He ran volunteers through some exercises, walking on stage and
introducing characters, without masks, with a rubber nose, and with a neutral mask.
He performed a really wonderful routine in Italian (although he did add some
English in some places), of the Hungry Zani – really funny, very well done.
In the afternoon I Sebastiani did a re-working
of the play they had done earlier – moving some of the actors around in some
of the roles – it was a bit rougher than earlier performances, but was fun
to see the differences in the performance. This was their last scheduled
performance.
Those of us who were in town went to dinner
at Chuy’s (Tex-Mex – sort of a basis for Chevys in the SF Bay Area, but
better seasoning ...) – good food, good service. We then went back into town
to watch the performances.
Aaron Johnson talked Gian Giacomo and I Sebastiani to
fill in for performances that weren’t happening (Art Davis had pulled his
shoulder, and our show was cancelled as noted earlier).
Gian Giacomo was very funny, performing the
same piece that he did in the workshop, and he also did a piece from
Dario Fo’s works about the Wedding at Canaa from a drunkard's point of view --
the routine had people falling out of their chairs.
Olly Crick did a “History of Commedia” that was
great, and for the last bit he did, he pulled six of the GSP up to do parts,
so in a way The Golden Stag Players performed after all.
Finally, I Sebastiani filled in for us, with a
different scenario that was very funny. It’s one that they did at Pennsic,
and while they didn’t have the full original cast, they filled in. They
picked on the GSP a bit, but it was done in a very funny way. It was
substantially more bawdy than their other show.
What’s also been fun in all this is that
everyone has used our sets except for Chickendog, which we saw on Monday,
and they were on before us, so the set was disassembled. We’ve even gotten
compliments on the sets by various folk including Gian Giacomo and Olly Crick.
Juan's Log
Shock and silence.
Terrorism hits New York and The Pentagon first thing
this morning. Rose and I were terrified, but fortunately all of her family who
could have been hurt or killed by this were not anywhere near the danger.
Her father and Step-Mother were in a restaurant
in downtown Washington instead of the Pentagon. They got through to us on Rose's
cell [phone]. Her father is mad as hell, and I don't blame him. I think everyone in
America is ready to each personally drop a bomb on the responsible party.
Her sister Nell and Ken (Nell’s boyfriend) were late to
work this morning so they weren't in Manhattan when the planes crashed. They were
stranded on the freeway and watched the second plane hit. Back at their apartment
they can look out the front window directly on where the towers stood. Nell’s
mentor at National Geographic was killed in one of the planes. She’s distraught.
Still no idea what the story is regarding Rose's mother.
We know she is fine, but suspect that at this point she is simply stranded in
traffic somewhere on her way home.
Later -
Finally heard from Rose’s mom. She got home and
fell asleep for a while, which was why nobody could get in contact with her.
As we suspected, she spent most of her time in traffic trying to get back home.
Fortunately she wasn’t anywhere near the crashes.
Most of the troupe went into town to do classes and
shows. Rose and I need the downtime. Neither one of us feels particularly
funny or energetic.
Aldith's Sketch of the TV in Condo
See Photos of Art Davis' workshop