Awesome Pittsburgh visit
Yesterday I got back from a great visit in Pittsburgh. Catherine and Alan are currently performing in a play about Lizzie Borden called Blood Relations. As Catherine is originally from Fall River, where the Lizzie Borden case took place, she was very excited to land the role of Lizzie Borden. She also performs as Bridgette the maid, since the whole premise of the play is that Lizzie does a re-enactment of what happened, with her actress friend doing the part of Lizzie while Lizzie herself plays Bridgette. (Wow, have you ever seen a name so many times in one paragraph?) Anyway, Catherine was amazing in her role, because not only did her performance show her high degree of skill and experience as an actress, she was also genuine and believable. I especially loved her Bridgette, because it would be so easy for a maid to be portrayed as a trivial character, but Catherine makes her exciting and relatable and a real person. Not that the maid wasn't written well--it's a very well-written play and I love it--but Catherine made her a really important person just by the way she played her. Sassy, realistic, caring, brave, all these good things. Alan was also a charming Irish doctor (who really shouldn't be likable because he's attempting to cheat on his wife, but I liked him anyway) and Lizzie Borden's impassioned defense attorney. He did very well at both these parts, bringing great integrity and strength to both of them. Yet, the parts were very different as he played them, with Dr. Patrick speaking softly and leaning close as he flirted, while the defense had a completely different posture and spoke loudly and firmly. Both Alan and Catherine had to learn an Irish brogue, for the parts of Dr. Patrick and Bridgette respectively, and they did a fabulous job at getting the accent just right. It really was incredible.
The rest of the weekend aside from the play (which I saw 2 1/2 times) was mostly amazing and awesome. I say mostly because it was very hectic and we did hit some rough parts. Thursday went well but Catherine and I were so busy doing errands, we barely got to spend time with Alan, which was sad. Then Friday was a day that should've been easy, but wasn't. All we wanted to do was pick up Catherine's friend Morgan from her house and then visit Peggy at CMU. We couldn't find Morgan, which was really spooky because her house was totally unlocked and seemed empty, and the thick Friday traffic made the trip to Peggy's take forever. Then once we visited Peggy and got a Chipotle burrito we were feeling positive again, but then traffic hit once more and THEN we realized we had no gas left in the tank. We pulled off the highway and managed to find a gas station just in time, which made us heave sighs of relief. But then we got irritable phone calls from Catherine's friend Greg and that set us on edge, because he was demanding why we weren't at the theater yet and we were really trying our best to get there. After the play (which went quite well despite the small audience), Greg's car was locked into the garage he parked in, so I had to turn around and get Greg and Catherine. The rest of the evening was very tense.
Saturday was a different story though. We woke up still feeling tense, but Alan helped Catherine and me talk through the day before and it helped. We didn't get to finish, though, because Jeremy arrived with party decorations and sunshine. He cheerfully began decorating for the party we'd planned for Saturday night. He brought black, red, and white streamers and balloons (for the Lizzie Borden theme, you know) and we quickly got to work blowing up all 75 balloons. The four of us (Jeremy's ex-boyfriend Randy was there also) blew up the balloons in a very short amount of time. While Jeremy continued decorating, Catherine and I went grocery shopping for party supplies and set everything right again. Once back at the apartment we quickly made four-layer dip, cookies, a red velvet cake, and Jello-o salad (strawberry of course). We were amazed that everything came together so quickly. Jeremy's decorations were intricate, including a net made out of streamers that held a balloons up above our heads. He also rescued the cake decorating when my attempt met with disaster. By the time Catherine and Alan left to get ready for the show, everything was going so smoothly. It continued to go smoothly as Jeremy and I picked out flowers, picked up his friends, and went to the theater. We all sat in a big happy group of nine to watch the show. Jeremy and I laughed a lot and the whole atmosphere was so much better than on Friday night, where I got glared at for laughing at some of the funny lines. Yes it is a show involving Lizzie Borden committing murders with a hatchet, but that doesn't mean there's no humor written into it! There totally is, and it is helpful to the actors if they get responses from the audience.
So after a rousingly successful performance, in which Catherine really amped up the climactic scene but didn't overact at all, and Alan rescued his defense attorney monologue that got botched momentarily due to a slip of the tongue, we had the party. The layered dip was delicious, as were the cake and cookies and Jell-o, and everyone enjoyed the blood orange soda we bought. Catherine and Jeremy performed a song from RENT, Jeremy sang and played an original composition, and Alan also played a song he composed. It was lovely being in such a talented group. We also watched an arty video that Morgan did, even though she wasn't able to join us for the evening. Oh and we did Mad Libs, which made me very happy, especially since Catherine showed such happiness at doing them. We all had such a good time. Catherine and I had "chocolate cake shots," which are equal parts Absolut Lemon and Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), which were delicious, but I didn't overdo it. I definitely felt the effects of the liquor but I didn't get sick or anything. After the guests went home, I got to have a long conversation with Alan and Catherine, which was a real treat. On Wednesday night and Thursday night Catherine and I got to have long, late conversations but Alan had to go to bed since he had work in the morning. On Friday and Saturday night we got to talk all three of us together, which was really nice.
On Sunday we had brunch together at Max & Erma's, which was fabulous. I am already looking forward to having brunch there again the next time I visit. At around 4 pm I began my drive back to Connecticut. I arrived at 10:30 last night and spent time with my parents before bed. Today I saw the doctor because I have an ear infection (as usual) and then I spent the evening packing. Packing, why? Because I'm going to Europe, baby! More on that later.
The rest of the weekend aside from the play (which I saw 2 1/2 times) was mostly amazing and awesome. I say mostly because it was very hectic and we did hit some rough parts. Thursday went well but Catherine and I were so busy doing errands, we barely got to spend time with Alan, which was sad. Then Friday was a day that should've been easy, but wasn't. All we wanted to do was pick up Catherine's friend Morgan from her house and then visit Peggy at CMU. We couldn't find Morgan, which was really spooky because her house was totally unlocked and seemed empty, and the thick Friday traffic made the trip to Peggy's take forever. Then once we visited Peggy and got a Chipotle burrito we were feeling positive again, but then traffic hit once more and THEN we realized we had no gas left in the tank. We pulled off the highway and managed to find a gas station just in time, which made us heave sighs of relief. But then we got irritable phone calls from Catherine's friend Greg and that set us on edge, because he was demanding why we weren't at the theater yet and we were really trying our best to get there. After the play (which went quite well despite the small audience), Greg's car was locked into the garage he parked in, so I had to turn around and get Greg and Catherine. The rest of the evening was very tense.
Saturday was a different story though. We woke up still feeling tense, but Alan helped Catherine and me talk through the day before and it helped. We didn't get to finish, though, because Jeremy arrived with party decorations and sunshine. He cheerfully began decorating for the party we'd planned for Saturday night. He brought black, red, and white streamers and balloons (for the Lizzie Borden theme, you know) and we quickly got to work blowing up all 75 balloons. The four of us (Jeremy's ex-boyfriend Randy was there also) blew up the balloons in a very short amount of time. While Jeremy continued decorating, Catherine and I went grocery shopping for party supplies and set everything right again. Once back at the apartment we quickly made four-layer dip, cookies, a red velvet cake, and Jello-o salad (strawberry of course). We were amazed that everything came together so quickly. Jeremy's decorations were intricate, including a net made out of streamers that held a balloons up above our heads. He also rescued the cake decorating when my attempt met with disaster. By the time Catherine and Alan left to get ready for the show, everything was going so smoothly. It continued to go smoothly as Jeremy and I picked out flowers, picked up his friends, and went to the theater. We all sat in a big happy group of nine to watch the show. Jeremy and I laughed a lot and the whole atmosphere was so much better than on Friday night, where I got glared at for laughing at some of the funny lines. Yes it is a show involving Lizzie Borden committing murders with a hatchet, but that doesn't mean there's no humor written into it! There totally is, and it is helpful to the actors if they get responses from the audience.
So after a rousingly successful performance, in which Catherine really amped up the climactic scene but didn't overact at all, and Alan rescued his defense attorney monologue that got botched momentarily due to a slip of the tongue, we had the party. The layered dip was delicious, as were the cake and cookies and Jell-o, and everyone enjoyed the blood orange soda we bought. Catherine and Jeremy performed a song from RENT, Jeremy sang and played an original composition, and Alan also played a song he composed. It was lovely being in such a talented group. We also watched an arty video that Morgan did, even though she wasn't able to join us for the evening. Oh and we did Mad Libs, which made me very happy, especially since Catherine showed such happiness at doing them. We all had such a good time. Catherine and I had "chocolate cake shots," which are equal parts Absolut Lemon and Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), which were delicious, but I didn't overdo it. I definitely felt the effects of the liquor but I didn't get sick or anything. After the guests went home, I got to have a long conversation with Alan and Catherine, which was a real treat. On Wednesday night and Thursday night Catherine and I got to have long, late conversations but Alan had to go to bed since he had work in the morning. On Friday and Saturday night we got to talk all three of us together, which was really nice.
On Sunday we had brunch together at Max & Erma's, which was fabulous. I am already looking forward to having brunch there again the next time I visit. At around 4 pm I began my drive back to Connecticut. I arrived at 10:30 last night and spent time with my parents before bed. Today I saw the doctor because I have an ear infection (as usual) and then I spent the evening packing. Packing, why? Because I'm going to Europe, baby! More on that later.