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Cultural Endeavors
Dec. 3rd, 2019 04:24 pmI am (obviously) not doing holidailies this year. Between an upcoming vacation and too much to do at work before it, I didn’t need to add more stress to my life. Posting once a week is about all I can manage right now.
Best Laid Plans: I was going to get a lot done over the long weekend. In practice, I did get through some household things, but I wasted a lot of time binge-watching British quiz shows.
Storytelling: The last Better Said Than Done show for the year was Saturday night. The theme was Family Ties, which I used to tell a story about genealogy and, specifically the advantages of relatives with unusual names and criminal records. The other stories were a wide mix and, overall, it was an excellent evening.
Defying Gravity: Last night a friend and I went to a staged reading of the play, Defying Gravity by Jane Anderson at the National Academy of Sciences. The event was free, so why not? The play has to do with the Challenger accident and, interestingly, the auditorium it was held in was the same room that the Presidential Commission investigating the accident held their first meeting in. Anyway, the playwas excellent, but decidedly not what I was expecting. It starts with Claude Monet talking about painting the cathedral of Rouen in different light through the day. He shows up later on, wanting to see the scenery from space. Other scenes involve the interaction between a young girl named Elizabeth and her mother, who is The Teacher, whose been chosen to go to space. We also see The Teacher interacting with her (unseen) class. Then there are Donna and CB, who spend time at a local bar with astronauts. And, finally, a pair of tourists named Betty and Ed, who have driven their Winnebago down to see a launch and who provide a lot of the comic relief in the play. Given that the actors had about 5 hours to rehearse (so, of course, they were carrying the scripts), the performances were excellent. I will particularly note Nancy Robinette, a DC theatre regular, as Betty, and David Bishins as Monet. The script was witty, and I thought it captured the excitement of space exploration very well. The opportunity to go to events like this is one of the reasons I claim that the cultural life of the DC metro area is phenomenal.
Best Laid Plans: I was going to get a lot done over the long weekend. In practice, I did get through some household things, but I wasted a lot of time binge-watching British quiz shows.
Storytelling: The last Better Said Than Done show for the year was Saturday night. The theme was Family Ties, which I used to tell a story about genealogy and, specifically the advantages of relatives with unusual names and criminal records. The other stories were a wide mix and, overall, it was an excellent evening.
Defying Gravity: Last night a friend and I went to a staged reading of the play, Defying Gravity by Jane Anderson at the National Academy of Sciences. The event was free, so why not? The play has to do with the Challenger accident and, interestingly, the auditorium it was held in was the same room that the Presidential Commission investigating the accident held their first meeting in. Anyway, the playwas excellent, but decidedly not what I was expecting. It starts with Claude Monet talking about painting the cathedral of Rouen in different light through the day. He shows up later on, wanting to see the scenery from space. Other scenes involve the interaction between a young girl named Elizabeth and her mother, who is The Teacher, whose been chosen to go to space. We also see The Teacher interacting with her (unseen) class. Then there are Donna and CB, who spend time at a local bar with astronauts. And, finally, a pair of tourists named Betty and Ed, who have driven their Winnebago down to see a launch and who provide a lot of the comic relief in the play. Given that the actors had about 5 hours to rehearse (so, of course, they were carrying the scripts), the performances were excellent. I will particularly note Nancy Robinette, a DC theatre regular, as Betty, and David Bishins as Monet. The script was witty, and I thought it captured the excitement of space exploration very well. The opportunity to go to events like this is one of the reasons I claim that the cultural life of the DC metro area is phenomenal.
