Sunday, November 21, 2010On the Train Traveling north on the Acela Express with Spencer after a glorious 20 hours or so in New York City. The fall colors sprinkle through the trees in the towns we are traveling through, interspersed with little marinas, junkyards, the backs of warehouses, and the rest of the back yards of this heavily traveled east coast corridor. I love it out here. The sky is a soft and gentle blue, the hint of the cold to come making itself known in a preliminary way. Before it gets warmer, it will get much colder. Before the trees turn green again, they will become thin stark sticks of gray. Random leaves whip by the train windows, hinting at the snow flurries to come. Inward looking anticipation in the air. The world is gathering its belongings to itself in preparation for the cold. After Spencer's audition for Emerson was scheduled, I realized that we would have some time afterwards between the end of our duties in Boston and tonight's flight back to LA. I figured that relaxing was for old ladies and wussies and that we could maximize those precious thirty hours or so by taking the train down to NY. Thanks to the miracle of Hilton Honors (TM) points, and my exceptional travel management, we stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, garnered a wide variety of freebies while there, shut the downstairs lobby bar down at 1:35, and had a wonderful old time, all for free. Glorious. But as great as all that sounds (and it was great, truly), the pixie dust really came in the middle of our stay. Thanks to Roger, who knew the show, our friend Jill had snatched up some great TKTS tix to "A Life in the Theatre," a David Mamet play that was at once delightful, loads of fun, and more haunting as the immediate memories recede. As Roger said, it's a piece that works on many levels. It absolutely entertains (which is my first prerequisite), but at the same time it raises a lot of thoughts. Relationship of actor to audience, the nature of performance, the act of the creative process ... to what extent is an actor giving, and to what extent does he suck the experience dry in an ultimate act of ego gratification. Good shit. Of course, in order to do all this with only two actors, you need some pretty top notch talent. And talent there was. The production starred Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight (O'Malley from Grey's Anatomy). Jill had procured some terrific tickets, about seven rows from the stage, so we were able to experience the energy and expertise at close range. Excellent acting, terrific technical mastery... thoroughly enjoyable. But that STILL wasn't the best (although it was getting pretty close). After the show, and after Spencer was the first one up for the standing ovation (and everyone else followed), Sir Patrick and TR stopped the applause and said that there was going to be a fundraising collection after the show to help with HIV/AIDS patients. And, as a special incentive, the first ten people to donate $250 would get to come up on stage and have their picture taken with Patrick Stewart. THIS is where the pixie dust came in. Luckily, Jill is a total geek and has the same sense of misguided (or possibly well-guided) values as I do. We glanced at each other, agreed almost immediately to split it on credit cards and bolted down to the very close stage left door. Yessir. We were second in line and proceeded to happily dig out our cards to swipe. How cool was that?? Here we were backstage on a broadway stage, in a setting that is my equivalent of a church altar to a priest. And sure enough, about three minutes later we were all shaking hands with Patrick Stewart and thanking him profusely for an amazing performance. He was gracious, warm, and the consummate professional. Spencer whipped out his iPhone and we took the photo above, giggling like little geeky groupies and having our hearts just beating in our chests with glee. We were fairly quickly ushered on but the really lovely moment happened next. The next couple did not have a phone with a decent camera, so Spencer popped up and offered to take it with his phone and then email it to the guy. Suddenly there's my son, in this bizarre and wonderfully weird situation, hanging out with the stage hands and Patrick Stewart, saving the day. That is when the pixie dust rained down. The moment of connection and synchronicity and culmination. After auditioning for Emerson in the morning, seeing a beautifully first class production about life, literally, in the theatre, and then ending up backstage... there was my son, integrating all of it with grace and good humor. And the reason this all is so meaningful for us right now, is that it was all so needed, and gratefully received, for both of us. We are both in the thick of way too many conflicting pulls on time and heart these days. We are stressed, overburdened, beleaguered. And before it gets better, it will probably get worse. The winter we are going through as a family will not be over soon. Pixie dust comes when it will. Unexpected, unbidden, and like a shower of grace from the gods. # posted by Katherine Doughtie Nolan @ 11:57 AM  
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