The last chair folded and the magic leaves the stage

Unlike Jim, I didn't suffer preshow nerves...in Jim it manifested as a sudden inability to figure out where he was. His mind was so full of lyrics and scene changes that when he transferred trains, in Times Square, he was momentarily lost despite this being a route he ordinarily follows unthinkingly. He spun like a human top. I walked by his side and he looked around for me...we could call this Absent-minded Situational Syndrome (A.S.S.) but my preshow (poetry reading) nerves involve urgent needs to pee even when I don't need to go, so let's not name mine.

Once there, I placed the playbills on the seats, and listened to the final rehearsals. All too soon the doors opened and the audience of family and friends took their seats.

As I watched all the actors, who gave so generously of their time and talents, I was reminded of why people do live theatre. It is exciting to develop something new and work as a team. When I was a girl I used to make up plays and games with neighborhood kids, we had fun, and every one of our efforts ended in us laughing in a huge pile on my lawn or bedroom carpet. Play is the right word for all of it.

The staged reading was rough, with so little rehearsal, but the flavor of the play came through. People laughed and applauded, asked good questions at the end, and the script's wants and excesses were made clearer to the creative team. We folded up the folding chairs and stacked the plastic ones and the theatre cleared of actors and audience.

Then some of us joined my daughters and ate Indian food on East 6th Street. I got to know Kemin's mother and sister and Jim got to talk to Jeffrey and I met a film maker friend of Kemin's that has a documentary on fashion models coming out in the Fall. Jeffrey described learning how to carve wooden masks in Bali, using hands and feet.

What a week it has been. I loved it.

Who knew a lyricist could be called upon to fix a music stand with gaffer's tape?

Creative team post reading.

Kemin's sister, Jim, Kemin, Jeffrey, Kemin's mom.