About 80% of my socializing occurs in 2 1/2 months — between October and mid-December. So going out four or five nights a week during this time of year is not unusual.
This weekend I see two off-Broadway plays.
On Friday, I go with a group of five people to see a one-man show called The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (We all think it's excellent). Today I am going to see another play, The Black Book.
I take the crosstown bus to the C train. I walk down the subway stairs only to find it's not running this weekend. My alternative now is the bus. I start talking to an older woman at the bus stop and say, "I wish the bus driver on the crosstown bus had mentioned that the C train isn't running. "My dear," she begins, "We no longer live in an age of consideration." I ask where she is going and she says, "To see a wonderful play for the second time, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey." I tell her I just saw it two nights ago. "I loved it," she says. "It's a feel-good hate crime play"— this articulate woman can capture the essence of something in very few words.
I get off the bus and am standing on the corner of 8th and 54th. I look up to see where I am, and when I look down, standing not a foot away staring at me is my very good friend Carol — who lives far far away in Westchester — and that's why we haven't seen each other in almost a year and a half. But coincidently this week we had make plans to get together tomorrow. We hug, talk for two minutes, laugh, say in all sincerity I love you to each other, and then leave, walking in opposite directions.
I meet Susan and Jill at the theater. The play is being performed in one of these skinny old buildings on a nondescript westside block. The Black Book is meticulously written and exceptionally acted. It's a dizzying puzzle that almost begs to be seen again. Ultimately, all the pieces do come together, but much is still left open to be discussed. It's the type of play you don't want to see alone.
But then we get lucky. Rather than discuss it amongst ourselves, we see a cast member who is more than happy to help us better understand many of the play's nuances. We next end up talking to the writer and director, Phil Blechman, and the Production Manager Katherine McCombs. Off-Broadway is a much more intimate experience than Broadway, from the size of the theater to the approachability of the talent.
It's definitely a play worth seeing.
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