Dracula was here
Always having been a lover of French and Russian Literature, I used to dream about hosting the sort of circles and salons that my heroes of the plume held in the 18th and 19th centuries. The lovely image of George Sand scribbling away while Chopin played haunting melodies or Pauline Viardot sang her compositions and Turgenev wrote sketches for all assembled to enact, while Delacroix drew caricatures of them all, was always before me. But it was only ever a dream... and seemed so elusive in the 21st Century, where people seemed to be moving at twice the speed of sound, headphones on and eyes locked on personal computer screens. Where did such circles of people, artists, thinkers exist?
But somehow, through the magic that is this house and the chemistry that happened when my friends merged with Kyle's friends and my dreams merged with his, we now have the sort of life and host the sort of events I always hoped were possible. Since I've known Kyle, we've had concerts and readings and performances....
Which brings me to last night's stunning event. Josh Hitchens is a fellow company member of Curio Theatre, where we're both currently preparing to open "Slaughterhouse-Five." I've known of his one-man "Dracula" adaptation since last summer, but something always prevented kylecassidy and me from attending... which made us feel like terrible friends. I had resigned myself to this state of things when Kyle suddenly said "Why not have him perform it in our living room!?"
That is the beauty of the one-person format. It can be performed anywhere! And all we needed was one spotlight, which Paul Kuhn from Curio happily provided, and about ten imaginative people.
The performance was absolutely brilliant -- the audience went on the entire journey with Josh, willingly and rapturously. It was more than I ever dreamed it could be: subtle yet powerful, sensitive yet menacing... and that one spot light did more in our living room than any number of footlights and wing space could have done in the largest Broadway theatre. My eyes kept darting up to the ceiling, where Josh's shadow crawled about, spider-like, threatening to devour us all.
Kyle took this with his cell phone during the performance (we get to break the rules sometimes!)
And then we took some fun Dracula photos afterwards -- I wore the Kambriel Medea Gown, which seemed appropriate.
My life feels so complete. As Kyle would say, go make your own circle of artists today; add a little magic to your own home. Create some chemistry... even if it's finding a kylecassidy of your own who inspires you to do wonderful things.
But somehow, through the magic that is this house and the chemistry that happened when my friends merged with Kyle's friends and my dreams merged with his, we now have the sort of life and host the sort of events I always hoped were possible. Since I've known Kyle, we've had concerts and readings and performances....
Which brings me to last night's stunning event. Josh Hitchens is a fellow company member of Curio Theatre, where we're both currently preparing to open "Slaughterhouse-Five." I've known of his one-man "Dracula" adaptation since last summer, but something always prevented kylecassidy and me from attending... which made us feel like terrible friends. I had resigned myself to this state of things when Kyle suddenly said "Why not have him perform it in our living room!?"
That is the beauty of the one-person format. It can be performed anywhere! And all we needed was one spotlight, which Paul Kuhn from Curio happily provided, and about ten imaginative people.
The performance was absolutely brilliant -- the audience went on the entire journey with Josh, willingly and rapturously. It was more than I ever dreamed it could be: subtle yet powerful, sensitive yet menacing... and that one spot light did more in our living room than any number of footlights and wing space could have done in the largest Broadway theatre. My eyes kept darting up to the ceiling, where Josh's shadow crawled about, spider-like, threatening to devour us all.
Kyle took this with his cell phone during the performance (we get to break the rules sometimes!)
And then we took some fun Dracula photos afterwards -- I wore the Kambriel Medea Gown, which seemed appropriate.
My life feels so complete. As Kyle would say, go make your own circle of artists today; add a little magic to your own home. Create some chemistry... even if it's finding a kylecassidy of your own who inspires you to do wonderful things.