Spammy goodness
I haven't had this much to say in a while. Bear with me.
The highlight of my life happened earlier this week (graduation and a whole lot of other things aside): I went to an evening of play readings, and I met Tom Stoppard. Not only did I meet Sir Tom, I shook his hand, thanked him for writing "Rock 'N' Roll," and received his thanks for being a fan and coming to that night's event (not his play). I wrote to my thesis advisor today: As I walked into the theater, I spotted an older gentleman taking a cigarette break. It was Sir Tom, hunkered down on the low stone wall, having a conversation with a young woman. I dithered for a minute, and then interrupted them as politely as possible to introduce myself, and say how much I'd liked RnR. When I added that I'd written my thesis about him, he responded, "Oh...I'm so sorry."
I refrained from replying that he should be, and that my advisor and I had decided he was one of the most difficult authors about whom to write coherently. Ever. Unfortunately, I didn't get to tell him my witty title -- while I'm sure he'd appreciate the punningly awesome humor of "S. Gone Wilde," at the time he clearly just wanted to finish his cigarette and pre-show conversation. Huge thanks are due to Marty Seeger, without whose prompting I probably would have just walked past him and squee'd quietly to myself. Yay, Marty! Also, if anyone cares, the plays were quite good.
In other theatrical news, I landed a volunteer gig as a script assistant at a small NYC theater company. I read a lot of plays last week, and wrote evaluations of all of them. For the most part, they weren't crap -- but they weren't great, either. I've resolved to see a lot more theater, partly for this job and partly because it just makes sense to take advantage of it while I've the time. There are enough events that are inexpensive or free (minus train fare, which will rapidly add up) that it makes a lot of sense. If I happen to scout out a writer who can be the next big thing, that's an added bonus. And that's all I'm going to say about my job search and/or my future, because frankly I'm too depressed-slash-intimidated by the thought of finding work (yes, still) to spend any more time on it.
...okay, one more thing. Subsequent to Monday night's performances, I finally pulled my act together and e-mailed a dramaturg who I originally contacted two months ago about an informational interview. (She took a few weeks to get back to me, at which point I was in England, and when I got back I never called her.) End result: when I go in next week to talk play recommendations with my new boss, I'll also have an informational interview with this super-cool dramaturg. And I'm prouder of that than I probably should be, but it was rather hard to get that e-mail sent out after all this time.
Links:
Neil Gaiman on Studio 360. The interview is from 2005, right when Anansi Boys and Mirrormask came out, but host Kurt Andersen drags the discussion around quite a bit more than those two projects; including what it was like starting out in comics, Neil's brief career as a film critic, and Tori Amos's days as an early Sandman fan.
Young Frankenstein, The Musical has a preliminary cast. Kristin Chenoweth steps into Madeleine Khan's shoes as Dr. Frankenstein's fiancee, and Cloris Leachman steps into...her own shoes to reprise her film role as Frau Blucher. The monster will be played by Shuler Hensley, who is familiar with the territory, and Dr. F. himself is some guy I've vaguely heard of.
Iggy Pop's concert rider hits The Smoking Gun. "We had a lighting designer once, but he went mad so we shot him. It was the kindest thing. Now he's a light of a different kind, one of God's little Gobos in Dimmer Heaven.[...] We will require the use of two dedicated and intensely loyal security persons to be stationed at the entrance to each of the two dressing rooms. Or do I mean one at each? Otherwise that would be four, and I think we only need two, one at each door. Wait a minute, let's start again." Laughed 'til I nearly cried, I did.
And that about does it. This weekend I'm sojourning in Boston with theater friends and meeting up with olivia_circe to see a Stoppard play. Of course. And tomorrow night there's a new Office, so hooray! I'm really quite easy to please
Raaaahhh, LJ! It's not my fault your clocks are two hours ahead! Why won't you just let me post?!
The highlight of my life happened earlier this week (graduation and a whole lot of other things aside): I went to an evening of play readings, and I met Tom Stoppard. Not only did I meet Sir Tom, I shook his hand, thanked him for writing "Rock 'N' Roll," and received his thanks for being a fan and coming to that night's event (not his play). I wrote to my thesis advisor today: As I walked into the theater, I spotted an older gentleman taking a cigarette break. It was Sir Tom, hunkered down on the low stone wall, having a conversation with a young woman. I dithered for a minute, and then interrupted them as politely as possible to introduce myself, and say how much I'd liked RnR. When I added that I'd written my thesis about him, he responded, "Oh...I'm so sorry."
I refrained from replying that he should be, and that my advisor and I had decided he was one of the most difficult authors about whom to write coherently. Ever. Unfortunately, I didn't get to tell him my witty title -- while I'm sure he'd appreciate the punningly awesome humor of "S. Gone Wilde," at the time he clearly just wanted to finish his cigarette and pre-show conversation. Huge thanks are due to Marty Seeger, without whose prompting I probably would have just walked past him and squee'd quietly to myself. Yay, Marty! Also, if anyone cares, the plays were quite good.
In other theatrical news, I landed a volunteer gig as a script assistant at a small NYC theater company. I read a lot of plays last week, and wrote evaluations of all of them. For the most part, they weren't crap -- but they weren't great, either. I've resolved to see a lot more theater, partly for this job and partly because it just makes sense to take advantage of it while I've the time. There are enough events that are inexpensive or free (minus train fare, which will rapidly add up) that it makes a lot of sense. If I happen to scout out a writer who can be the next big thing, that's an added bonus. And that's all I'm going to say about my job search and/or my future, because frankly I'm too depressed-slash-intimidated by the thought of finding work (yes, still) to spend any more time on it.
...okay, one more thing. Subsequent to Monday night's performances, I finally pulled my act together and e-mailed a dramaturg who I originally contacted two months ago about an informational interview. (She took a few weeks to get back to me, at which point I was in England, and when I got back I never called her.) End result: when I go in next week to talk play recommendations with my new boss, I'll also have an informational interview with this super-cool dramaturg. And I'm prouder of that than I probably should be, but it was rather hard to get that e-mail sent out after all this time.
Links:
Neil Gaiman on Studio 360. The interview is from 2005, right when Anansi Boys and Mirrormask came out, but host Kurt Andersen drags the discussion around quite a bit more than those two projects; including what it was like starting out in comics, Neil's brief career as a film critic, and Tori Amos's days as an early Sandman fan.
Young Frankenstein, The Musical has a preliminary cast. Kristin Chenoweth steps into Madeleine Khan's shoes as Dr. Frankenstein's fiancee, and Cloris Leachman steps into...her own shoes to reprise her film role as Frau Blucher. The monster will be played by Shuler Hensley, who is familiar with the territory, and Dr. F. himself is some guy I've vaguely heard of.
Iggy Pop's concert rider hits The Smoking Gun. "We had a lighting designer once, but he went mad so we shot him. It was the kindest thing. Now he's a light of a different kind, one of God's little Gobos in Dimmer Heaven.[...] We will require the use of two dedicated and intensely loyal security persons to be stationed at the entrance to each of the two dressing rooms. Or do I mean one at each? Otherwise that would be four, and I think we only need two, one at each door. Wait a minute, let's start again." Laughed 'til I nearly cried, I did.
And that about does it. This weekend I'm sojourning in Boston with theater friends and meeting up with olivia_circe to see a Stoppard play. Of course. And tomorrow night there's a new Office, so hooray! I'm really quite easy to please
Raaaahhh, LJ! It's not my fault your clocks are two hours ahead! Why won't you just let me post?!