The Famous Valdez Biting Flies are Out!

[ghost_light]

Another cloudy day in Valdez! Hubby's play is being read this afternoon! I can't wait to hear what the panel has to say about it. He's doing a reading today too.

Yesterday was....interesting. I went to 3 readings, 2 of them were "one-person" shows. Both of them had a second character who came in at the end or who did alternate voices. I really didn't care for the Mark Twain-based one much, but the first has some promise. The same actress is supposed to play the patient and the therapist. At first it is alternating monologues out of time (one in the session, then the therapist venting about the session to Zod-only-knows-who later on) but then it moved into the two responding to each other in real time, still in monologue. That was troubling. Also - nothing really happened. Which was the same problem I had with the Twain play. Nothing happened!! People critiqued the third play I saw pretty harshly, but I loved it! There was dialog! One person got tied to the train tracks and the train actually CAME! Hallelujah!! It was like getting to see a Mamet play after a steady diet of Beckett.

Pain levels have been okay, considering I'm sleeping on an air mattress. I've been sleeping like a baby. That could have something to do with rolling in about 2am after the bonfire at Mineral Creek every night, though.

One of my friends here also has a TENS unit, so we were comparing units. She says hers is at least 5 times stronger than mine. Mine is still not working great, but I realized I've grabbed some pads for this one and some for the old unit. That might have a bit to do with it. I'm still having the same issues with the current not staying at the set level when I move around. I'd hoped new wires would fix that, but I may have to ask for a whole new unit.

Last night the UAF Drama group did the evening performance, Split. I really enjoyed it. The playwright's notes talked about how he felt there is kind of a social adolescence at 23-24, when you are just out of college and trying to figure out what the hell is going on. It was a really young feeling play, and I liked that. Some older audience members walked out. The show didn't just drop the F-bomb, it dropped cluster F-bombs. Sort of:

F
U
C
K
!
!
Fuck............Fuck.............Fuck
........Fuck.............Fuck
..............Fuck...........Fuck
Fuck

(and thank the Hubby for that visual)

ETA: which LiveJournal won't take the spaces for! I'll try to work it out later. Right now there is Thai food to beg for and readings to hear! Ta!

Comments

[adiva_calandia]

Huh -- I actually remember thinking at some point that there was less swearing than I would have expected from the genre of play. Perhaps I'm just inured to it?

Also, seriously? People walked out? O.o

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

Yep, group of 4 or 5 blue hairs down near the front took off during the "I want to buy you a fucking beer!" scene.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

I should send you the awful awful awful script I had to read with the character suspended over the stage in a full body cast and the naked girl in the egg.

[akfirefly76.livejournal.com]

that sounds AWESOME!

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

In that it made me want to kill myself? Yes.

[akfirefly76.livejournal.com]

well. it is highly likely that the script you saw didn't work.
that said. a naked girl in an egg and a character suspended in a full body cast sounds like it has definite potential.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

You really, really should.

And strangely, yesterday's very good reading featured a woman who took out an egg, had the other person look into it and images of the future were be projected on the screen behind them.

[tonycaselli.livejournal.com]

Oy - people walking out because of bad language. *sigh*

Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the TENS unit: I hope you don't mind me asking, but since I don't know I'm going to: How does it actually work? (Or how is it SUPPOSED to work, since it's not quite doing it for you right now!)

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

Yep - blue hairs.

The TENS is meant to send little electrical currents through the muscles in my back and trick the nervous system into registering something besides pain. Once you break the pain signals, then the nervous system is supposed to think 'Oh! The pain must be gone!' and let the muscles relax and all the little pain receptors stop getting full-time input so they aren't as irritated.

That's the theory as I understand it.

[tonycaselli.livejournal.com]

Wow - that is amazing. Thanks for the explanation! Sorry that it's such a point of frustration, though. I'm glad to learn how it works, now I'll have a better understanding of what that means when you post about it!

On the other point, of people leaving because of language or being 'offended': I recently had a talkback where a woman said she was bothered by the discussion of lesbianism in the play not because SHE had a problem with it, but "because there might be people in the audience who were offended by it." *sigh* I mean... now we're complaining about things that DON'T bother us and that no one else is complaining about, just... in case?

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! It worked well for the first stretch, but is getting more problematic.

My mom has never complained on her behalf, but she makes a point of checking content for a friend who won't see anything with swearing or sex before they go to a play or movie together.

[kornopolous.livejournal.com]

Still, nothing will ever reach the high (o0r is it low) water mark with the reading of the Dorothy parker piece back in 2000. That reading used half the Actors in Alaska I was sitting next tow Shchwane and Nick, both of us had to nudge eachother to stay awake for our line.

[akfirefly76.livejournal.com]

I remember that one. I think I crochet'd about 600 rows of my gianormous blanket during that play. (That was my secret trick to stay awake during all plays that year.)

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I was just telling someone about that play at the reception last night! We were discussing the fact that smaller casts seem to be the vogue anymore.

[dark-jaguar.livejournal.com]

so many things I haven't seen anyone post about in a long time.

HAH.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

*grins* Yeah, I'm good for that!

[akfirefly76.livejournal.com]

I know there is probably no one in UAF drama (besides anatoly) who was part of my crew. but I just get all warm and fuzzy inside seeing my old posse dropping f-cluster bombs.

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

And they did it very well!

[kornopolous.livejournal.com]

F***; the musical!

[ghost-light.livejournal.com]

I don't know why, but this made me think of one of the playwrights talking about her first experience writing a play - 'I thought upstage was a verb!'