surprise from pembroke!

"Hey, I'm in town, wanna get coffee somewhere?"

That was the text message.

Here it was, a day that was crazy cold, that I'd already planned to stay in on to avoid the weather dip...

since I can't put a sock on my right foot... 

but this made me think twice abotu staying in.

This text came from a dear friend I'd not seen in years.

Yes, it was cold outside, but this was a special circumstance. 

The text was from my college friend, Rhonda!!!

She and I haven't seen each other since Andy and Sheryl got married.

Not that she was at the wedding.

She mentioned going out with Jeff for breakfast at the Original Pancake House, though I don't recall if that was before or after the other event.

She and I had first met with the Armstrong Masquers, probably around 1985, while I was working on my BA in chemistry.

That's us, sitting on the floor, side by side, front and center. 

The photo shows the huge group of us that worked on "Amadeus", maybe a year later.

What a cat-herding experience that had been for John 'Sooch' Suchower, our noble director! 

Hard to believe all that was four decades ago!

Anyway, to get back to my story about did I stay or did I go: I went!

She and I had such a great visit, too!

She was in town for a doctor appointment and Coffee Deli was close for her.

We sat in that warm space and talked for about two hours!

And when she told me she worked at the Kroger in Rincon, I asked if she knew about Hive Repertory Theater.

Nope!

Well, she does now, and maybe she can even get involved with that group.

I told her about their latest, the fruitcakes musical, and sent her the link to my post about it. 

For sure we'll make plans to go to their next play! 

I'm so glad she texted me!!!

i am edgar allan poe...

 

There's one thing for sure: one of those five people were lying.

Surely they were not all bequeathed with that moniker, especially as some were women.

Then, again, I've seen "Inside Out", so I understand about personification of one's strong traits.

In the case of the writer, 'despair', 'loneliness', 'sorrow', 'madness', and more, would be at least as familiar to him as his name.

Perfect!

I'm so glad I chose to see "Poe" tonight.

Halloween, or All Hallow's Eve, cried out to be special for me, and this play by the Armstrong Masquers, with Jayme Tinti as its director, was the only place for me to be.

She told me as much, too.

During her introduction of the play, she spotted me in the front row at Jenkins Hall, taking that opportunity to tell all there that "Faustina Smith is the best audience ever" and that she'd known me since first coming to Savannah in 2012.

Isn't she fabulous?

Such a treat for me!!!

And before that, Pam Sears had come over to give me a hug for coming!

She said I'm the only retired Armstrong professor that supports the theatre.

Such a treat for me!!!

This one-act play contained more treats: a favorite Poe tale, plus one I didn't know.

 

"The Tell-Tale Heart" was the final scene and was appropriately dark and twisted for this evening's fare - very nice!

How very funny that I'd seen it just a few days ago on "Toon In With Me"!

Bill and Toony were having a show about Poe as part of their "Boo Bash".

Toony misunderstood and was wearing a Winnie the Pooh shirt  - LOL!

They made a short called "The Tell-Tale Action Figure" which was funny!

 

But it was this play that introduced me to "William Wilson", a truly dark tale, written by this master of the macabre when he was 30 years old.

Such a horrible, deceitful, character Wilson had been, right up until he met someone else who bore that same name... bwah ha ha!!!

Kudos to Heather, Cameron, Morrow, Stephen, and Noemi for a brilliant treat!

 

Now, I'm back to my warm house, snuggled in for the cold to come.

With the forecast calling for pain - I mean, temperatures in the low 40's - before the sun rises tomorrow, I've already blocked off the sun room.

 

Yes, the curtain is up, and I'll not be seeing those Butter Yellow walls for the next few months, not until spring.

Rather appropriate to have the ghost of summer in the house!

Bwah ha ha!!! 

(smile!)

beware the fortune-teller at the fair!

That was the take-away message for this modern musical!

"Ride The Cyclone" was the third 21st century musical that I've seen in less than a week and I must say that it was certainly the most ribald!

This was written in 2008, two years after "The Story Of My Life" and "Hadestown" were first performed.

Like those, it included a bit of profanity, but this one stepped it up a few notches, something which no doubt was a mark of reality for the college students in Jenkins Hall.

I loved it!!!

I also loved that it had two of the "Last Laugh" improv performers.

Dylan O'Brien, his wheelchair hidden in the booth, was 'Karnak', the mechanical fortune-teller fated to die when a rat chews through its power cord at the story's end.

I'd rather have Zoltar predicting my future, thanks!

You see, 'Karnak' predicted the day and manner of one's death, but the fair personnel had dumbed it down to "fun mode".

Thus, it was unable to warn the Canadian choral group to not get on that fatal ride.

 

Liana Kougba, another of the improv folks, was the sweet 'Constance', and her song was about having sex with a carnie because she didn't want to be a virgin anymore.

I wonder if it had been the same carnie that operated The Cyclone?

Ah, an unanswered question!

Here's one I can answer, though: why did she sing about that?

'Karnak' tasked the five chorists with singing about their innermost self, with the one who won the contest having a chance at being alive again.

What hilarious results those were!

'Constance' sang of losing her virginity on this away trip, 'Ricky' (the silent tambourine man) let loose about being a ladies man, 'Noel' the gay romantic wanted to be like Marlene Dietrich in "The Blue Angel", 'Ocean' spouted of her superiority over all others, and 'Mischa' starts with Ukrainian rap that morphs into a love ballad.

Then there's 'Jane Doe', dressed in the same school uniform as the others, but headless, and with the most beautiful voice of them all.

As I told JoJo Ward afterward, I wished I could see it all again!

He directed and choreographed this show by the Masquers.

Bravo!!!

day 33

It's 100 Days of Summer, y'all!
That's what the American Red Cross is calling this blood drive.
100 Days of Summer.
100 Days of Hope.
I encourage you to click here and find a time that works for you. You will then be a hero to three people.
1 hour of time + 1 pint of blood donated = 3 lives saved
Today was the 33rd day of the campaign.
I sandwiched my donation between errands at the school, lunch (fried chicken!) and dinner (pot roast!!) at The Galley, and an evening topped off with an old-fashioned murder mystery.
Very nice!!!
I do hope you have as wonderful a day as I have had today!

bunny bunny and more

Sunday evening, I went to Jenkins Hall at 6 PM, intending to stand in line, if need be, to gain entrance to a sold-out show. The box office wasn't even officially open yet, but the young woman acknowledged that I would be the first, should a ticket become available. She remembered me from Friday morning, trying to get a ticket for any of the last three shows, all of which were sold-out. I was fortunate Sunday, as were nine others, treated to an intimate experience in the Black Box at Jenkins Hall.
The show isn't one you've likely heard of. "Bunny Bunny... Gilda Radner, A Sort-Of Romantic Comedy" is a tale of love and friendship, told through the eyes and ears and heart of the writer who lost her to cancer. Zweibel was befriended by the comedienne once upon a time in the north, when both were young and new to the late-night world of New York City.
I had been a big fan of Gilda Radner and her zany characters in the early days of Saturday Night Live. I had rejoiced with her when she wed Gene Wilder, who loved her madly, and I was shocked and saddened when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer just two years later. They were married for just under five years before her death in 1989. She was only 42. Gene built a monument to her, in the form of Gilda's Club, there in her beloved NYC.
Zweibel and "Gilbert" were best friends. This play was his attempt to capture that friendship as a series of shared moments in time on the set, in restaurants, at basketball games. All of the moments really good friends spend together, shared visions, shared recordings of events and people and food.
Zweibel succeeded. His recounting of the bond between he and she brought to mind the bond between me and Sam. His loss of that vibrant tone from the music of his life reminded me of chords I would not hear again.