Wondrous Day

Oct 25, 2009 22:16

This was a delightful, emotional, thoughtful, wonderful day. It began when ze_pink_lady, rivers_bend and I met up with coolwhipdiva at the yummy Frenchish restaurant down the street for brunch, wherein there were huge crepes and french toast croissants and, eventually, wovenindelibly, and lots of catching up with J, which I have not had the chance to do in way too long. After brunch, J departed, and Jessa, Laura, River and I headed over to the Hollywood United Methodist Church (which is gorgeous and HUGE) for the staged reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later. We were joined there by 13_sammie_07, and settled in (in shockingly comfortable individual pew seats) to watch the play.

The actors were all amazing, especially Barret Foa of NCIS: LA and Avenue Q (he was also the only one of the actors, I think, who hung around to hear Judy Shepard), Lisa Edelstein, and Zachary Quinto. Michael Weatherly really surprised me with how good he was, and it is impossible for me to think of him in such a dismissive way as I always have before. Everyone was excellent, especially since they didn't really have a lot of time to work on their characters, and they were reading from the page, but they were all so real. And, of course, the material was wrenching. I started crying when Christian Clemenson, playing Matthew Shepard's father, talked about his and Matt's competition over broken noses, and the crying only got harder during the scene in the Wyoming legislature, through the conversations with the perpetrators, and, of course, when Helen Shaver played Judy Shepard.

The play was much funnier than I expected it to be, which was a relief, as there was so much heaviness, it needed to be lightened. As it was, I was passing out tissues to everyone in our party, and cursing my decision to wear mascara this morning. When the play was over, it received one of the loudest ovations I've ever heard, and the audience simply stood and applauded for several minutes. Jessa and I clung to each other and just cried some more. Then hugs were shared all around, and we went and had some of the free dessert the church provided while we waited for Judy Shepard to speak.

Judy Shepard was amazing. She's a tiny little woman with a big personality. Though she originally was reticent to speak out about such a painful private tragedy, she has become a gay activist, celebrating the passage of the Matthew Shepard federal hate crimes bill. Several of us bought the book and had her sign them.

Then we came home and I cooked some ridiculously delicious middle eastern chicken and tzatziki while doing what fangirls always do when they gather--hanging out with our computers and chatting. I am exhausted, but it was truly a remarkable day.

la, theater, lj folks, gay rights, matthew shepard, friends

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