Looking Ahead, even as I relish the moment

Quote of the Day:  Most people are on the world, not in it -- have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them -- undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate. - John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938), page 320. Found at Quotations of John Muir.

Wild raspberries grow in my backyard.

Photo by my son Charlie.

 

The above quote by John Muir seems so true and so sad. I hope that I am a person lives in the world, experiencing, seeing, smelling, and tasting all that it has to offer. As I wrote in my post, Summer is slipping away, I feel those pangs of one season ending. It's more than the cooler nights, the changing color on the leaves. And, yes, here in Minnesota we're already seeing autumn making her appearance. The Sumac is vibrant red, and as we took a ride up the North Shore on Sunday, we saw a few Maple trees in all their crimson glory, and a few Birch trees turning yellow. I also feel the  pangs of my boys growing up. My oldest son is home for just a few weeks, then back to college. This evening, I wanted to capture the moment of all my big boys playing in the yard with the neighbor boys. It was so sweet, tossing a ball, running around, laughing. I will embed that mental picture in my memory.

 

And, as I feel the season changing, I can also look ahead to a new school year, my piano studio filling up again, teaching more classes, getting back into my play-writing (I have at least three plays screaming to be written), and checking the schedules and line-up of shows at the theatres where I write reviews.

 

Charlotte's Web is the opening show at The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. I am so excited for this classic to come to life on their stage with original music and their fine cast and crew.

 

I'll write more about our ride up the North Shore on Ride off the Page. Click over there later this week to find out why Mr. Happy is not happy!

 

Go. Create. Inspire!

 

Journaling Prompt:  What are you looking forward to in the next season (of the year or life)?

Review of The Brothers Size at the Guthrie

Quote of the Day:  You're my brother. No matter where you are, you're my brother. Ogun Size, the older Size brother to Oshoosi

Playing at the Guthrie Theatre Studio in Minneapolis through September 29.

I watched this contemporary, real life drama, on Saturday night at the Guthrie Theatre Studio with a sell-out audience. The woman behind me was telling her friend how thrilled she was to see all the support for this show and that many people in the audience were other actors. I was excited to see this play because it's about brothers, relationships, and what makes us feel trapped, and what makes us feel free. This is not your typical play-it-safe, stick to the classics written by white men plays that the Guthrie usually puts on its mainstage. This is a modern play with characters who live in communities where everyone struggles to survive. Relationships are not easily defined, and you don't always know who you can trust.

This is a three character play, accompanied by a drummer. Ahanti Young sat on the stage as we entered, drumming out the rhythms of life, drawing us in, setting the mood. The low thump on the djembe seems to echo a heartbeat of dread. The rattles, shakes, and finger thrumming build tension and mystique, and I was ready to focus on the set and the characters before they came out. I wanted the audience to be quiet even beofore the lights dimmed and Young's fingers increased their intensity on the drums.

Oshoosi Size, the younger brother, has recently been released from prison and is staying with his older brother Ogun. Ogun has felt responsible for his younger brother since Oshoosi was in his mother's womb. When they were growing up, people in their community told him to be a good role model. When their mother died, he took on the role of parent. When his brother returned from prison, Ogun took on the role of personal parole officer and reformer. He wasn't about to let Oshoosi "mess" up again. He wasn't going to let him sleep in, slog around, and get tangled up with the wrong people. He also wasn't allowing him to forget his wrongs or his jail time and that he owed it to his brother to live a productive life.

Oshoosi wants freedom to live his own life, to be free from the physical prison he was in and start new relationships and build his own life. He begins to realize how imprisoned he is by his brother's need to protect and control and by the friend he made in prison, Elegba. We see the pull and tug of his loyalties.

Ogun is imprisoned by his sense of uber-responsibility. He was never a carefree kid. He had to take care of everything, including his younger brother. In a scene between the brothers, Oshoosi confronts him on this, telling him if he can't loosen those chains, he'll turn to stone. Ogun has a nightmare about loosing his brother to the influence of his friend.

The friend, Elegba, is imprisoned by his own desires to rebel and control his surroundings. He keeps pulling Oshoosi back into his world. He wants to wrap his influence around him like a rope and keep him close.

As we watch this struggle to find freedom and escape real and imagined prisons, the drums beat on. Sometimes as tiny dings at a moment of truth. Sometimes as hard thuds after words that can never be taken back, or actions that can't be undone. Thud, like a judge's gavel, or a rattle like the sound of a snake.

This is an intense show with intense language. We're watching brothers interact in the privacy of their own home, with the intrusion of a "friend." There are real life consquences to their words and actions. This is a show for older teens and adults. It's a show for anyone who struggles with relationships and which ones imprison us and which ones set us free.

The Brothers Size written by Tarell Alvin McCraney and directed by Marion McClinton is a Pillsbury House Theatre production, performed at the Guthrie Theatre Studio. It runs through September 29. It's a show you won't soon forget.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Have you ever had to end a relationship that felt like a prison?

E is for Eric and Energy

Letter of the Day:  E

E is for Eric and energy.  He was energized when he got this Obi Wan Kenobi cape and lightsaber at the Disney MGM studios during our family trip in 2007.  He is officially the youngest of the Rude brothers.  His twin brother Charlie is 12 minutes older.  Eric is more of a poser. He likes plays and acting, like his mother, and volunteers to read in church, or take a part in a script.  That's fun!  He also likes high energy sports.

What is meant by energy on stage?  I remember once when my little sister came out on stage to do a scene for Fiddler on the Roof.  She played Tzeitel, the oldest daughter.  The director, a woman who was a bit harsh, stopped the scene and yelled at the cast to because they "had no energy."  We had to debrief about that later. 

Of course, there's the Robin Williams type of frenetic energy that we're all drawn into.  He can charge a stadium full of people with his act.  One man on stage with his voice and a brain that runs at warp speed.  Not all theatre is quick-paced comedy.  We also have drama and quiet, emotional scenes.  The energy is still there.  You can feel the audience tense at the moment of truth.  We take a collective breath when the kiss finally comes.  If the actors are true to their emotions and bring them up from the depths of their own experiences, we will react with laughter and tears, sighs, and cheers.

Journaling Prompt:  Where does true emotional energy come from in your art?