Beer, Ballet and Brooklyn

This past Saturday we had a Brooklyn adventure. I had an interview with the Racoco Dance Company in Brooklyn and since I was going over to her "neck of the woods" I decided to call a friend who just moved to Brooklyn and see if she wanted to spend the day. Using google maps Ryan and I went for a "walk" from the train stop to the meeting location so I knew where I was going and just to see what the area was like. Then we wandered around the location to see what else was there and realized that my interview was across the street from the Brooklyn Brewery. Score!

After my interview we met up with Katie at the corner of 7th and Bedford in Brooklyn. Some pizza slices and a quick trip to the salvation army later, we walked through the rainy mist to the Brewery. It was pretty full. For $20 you can get 6 beer pogs which you then turn in for beer. They had around 9 beers on the list and I think we tried 5 of them. I had the Dark Ale and the IPA which were both good. I have to say that after drinking 2 beers I was a little more tipsy than I should have been. Thankfully in NYC you don't have to drive home. Also there was a cool resale shop across the street.

The three of us walked over to the resale shop and went in. They had all their clothing arranged by color. It was pretty packed with young hip brooklynites. Ryan found a cordoroy jacket and Katie found some pink plaid wellingtons.

Our next adventure was riding the train down to Katie's house and then up to our apartment. I think we rode on almost every letter known to man. We rode the Q, R, N, L, B, D, 1, 2 and M? I think that day. Up by our apartment we grabbed some cheap chinese and then got our stuff together for my first big NYC party.

A friend of ours teaches dance and through a friend of his we got invited to a blues party in an apartment on the 23rd floor of the Virgin Records building. The apartment owner had a nice apartment but what was really cool was his huge private balcony overlooking the 14th street area. It didn't actually face Union Square but the view was amazing. The party was fun and we left right before the building manager came up and asked them to be quiet.

All in all a pretty fun day.

Onward and Upward.

Thinking- Warning this Blog Not Like the Others

Its hard to breathe here. I feel stifled by the tall buildings, smoke, smells and the breath of other people. There is no place to really be alone, no place to think without noises and thoughts and desires of others intruding. No free spaces. No clean clear winds. No tall places to look down on uninterrupted nature. No low places where the only noises are the water and the wind. I feel a longing for space. For nature not covered in dark grime and starbucks cups.

I suppose I could have chosen differently.

I have work but it is sporatic. I work long hours in dark places surrounded by the noise of someone else's words, the sound of an audience I never see. I work one hour here and another hour there at a playwriting facility- worrying about the number of pencils I have lost or how many times the script should be printed, the script that will be re-written and printed again the next day- or perhaps even an hour later. I work a few nights for a dance company watching them move as if silent film stars with an orchestra of noise instead of just an upright piano to accompany them. Stretching their thin bodies to the limit- watching every morsel of food that enters it, smoking like fire breathing dragons- hungry. Always a new place, always the latest job, new faces, familiar strangers- stressing myself out for enough money to watch the numbers of my bank account count down slowly instead of pouring it out onto the street.

I have friends here. Old characters from my Trinity days. People I really liked or people I just knew are mixed up here. Everyone is dear- when you have only a few to chose from all friends are your closest. A few new project friends. Coffee, beer, lunch, secrets, mundane tasks until the project is finished and they fade to black. Faceless numbers in the cell phone. Deleted when you can no longer scrounge up their face or the name of the project.

I've only been here a month.

Its not all a mish mash of noise and stress. When the light is streaming down the sides of beautiful old buildings, when you can smell authentic ethnic food and hear real languages being spoken, when you see unlikely comrade-ships form and unform in the space of a walk or a train ride. People live their lives on the sidewalks, the subway, in crowded shops and stores and parks and sometimes that is gross and rude and unsavory but sometimes those moments are beautiful and special and...

Onward and Upward

Job 2.1

Yesterday Castronauts closed.

Yesterday the Lark Playwriting Week ended.

That means in theory I was back on the unemployment list. Until Kelly (Castronauts SM and Santa Clause of SM jobs) swooped in again to pass me work she can't fit in her schedule. My new job is working for the Racoco Dance Company as the SM for their performance this weekend. It seems to be a very interesting piece perhaps on childhood? games? game theory? Not really sure yet- but the pay is decent and the show and run are short.

wheew.

Onward and Upward

http://www.racoco.org/

Subways- notes and notices

Before leaving San Antonio I sold my beautiful wonderful Jetta. The Jetta was the car I chose to purchase after my poor Chevy Cavalier was destroyed in the accident. It took me hours in the hospital and on my grandma's couch to choose the Jetta. Selling it was sad-

In New York most people don't have cars. Instead we rely on the subway or the "train" as it is called. We live between 2 different sub stops. One only a few blocks away in an area that I feel comfortable in during the day but try to avoid at night and another station that is further away but right next to the university. These stations are only a few blocks away from each other but they are remarkably different.

The one near Columbia is kept very clean. They power wash it almost every night, including the stairs. There is a nice pattern on the walls in tile and all the turnstiles work. You very rarely see police officers inside the station but once you walk up the stairs there are always a few Columbia officers standing around.

The one in Harlem is not kept very clean. The walls are dirty and without embellishment. Some of the turnstiles don't work and there is always trash on the floor and spilled drinks laying around. Every morning there are police officers all over the station conducting random bag checks. It often smells like spoiled food or pee.

Just a side note- I've never been asked to stop and have my bag checked.

The largest difference between these stations are the patrons. At the Columbia station most of the people on the train are young, fashionably dressed in Ann Taylor and Hugo Boss and white or asian. At the Harlem station most of the people on the train are older, dressed for physical work and black or latino. The difference in maintenance could perhaps be explained if the city area around the subway pays for the maintenance. However, if the main city offices pay for the maintenance for all of the subway stations then I am afraid that there is racism/ class-ism/ money-ism going on.

The rest of the subway lines I frequent are in a similar position. I have noticed (since working in theatre gives you the opportunity to witness late night activities at the usually busy infrastructure locations) that "tourist areas" like 42nd street or grand central get scrubbed/ power washed/ bleached almost every night. Stations that are located on the edges of the main city areas tend to get washed once a week or so but stations that are located where the tourists don't usually go or are not on the famous "yuppie station list" tend to miss out on the scrubbing the washing and the bleaching.

That seems unfair to me.

Onward and Upward

Job Number Two

Today I started Freelance Job Number 2.  Or Job2.0 as I will call it.  Well Job2.0 is with Lark Playwriting Week.  This is a reading in which focus is given to the writer and the development of the play rather than production values.  Each play will meet for 9 hours over the course of the next week and at the end there will be a free reading of this new work.  The actors are all very talented and somewhat well known- as in I have been in 3 Law and Order Episodes and 18 off Broadway plays and on CSI: Las Vegas once and I teach at....

My job is to open up the room, put up signs, set up tables and chairs, make copies of scripts, start and end rehearsal and call breaks according to Actors Equity.  Then after 3 hours I clean up and walk over to the main office to let them know how everything went and then I go home.  It doesn't pay amazing but I get to know 3 directors and 3 new playwrights.  So far the shows are really good.

Job3.0 is already in the works but I am still looking for a Job 2.1 because I have several weeks of nothing before the next job begins.

Onward and Upward.

Saturday Mini- Vaca

Ryan and I are trying to take advantage of our new location by spending the weekends out and about in NYC.  A few weekends ago we went to Ellis Island and this past Saturday we spend the day in Midtown.  We started with Times Square.  Times Square is a really easy subway location from our apartment and I needed to return a prop I had purchased for the show.  I took Ryan into Toys R Us which sports a full sized Ferris Wheel, a huge Barbie Mansion and Star Wars extravaganza.  It was pretty fun.

 

After taking a few tourist photos in the actual Time Square- which because of the light and the height of the buildings always looks like it is around 6:30 pm- and then wandered down in the direction of 34th street where we entered the massive Macys.  Now I am sure that Macys is usually crowded.  However I don't think I will ever go there on a Saturday again.  And at Christmas- you won't find me within 10 blocks of the crazyness. 

We continued our meandering down until we found a Mexican restaurant on 16th and 8th Ave.  We wandered cautiously in.  We sniffed and then tasted the salsa. It was good. They had items on the menu that we recognized. Always a plus. They seemed to use the same language as the menus we  have experienced before. Ahh Spanish. I got a margarita- tasted limy and tequila-y.  Thank god.  I contemplated asking our waiter if he knew where I could get breakfast tacos.  But decided that was way too racist. 

Then we walked over on 14th street to Union Square and then to Trader Joes.  Trader Joes is a large cheap grocery store.  They sell more "natural" food and cheaper prices.  For example, up by Columbia salad is around 4 dollars a package.  At TJ's it is 2 dollars a package and isn't already wilted.  Morning Star Farms prepared food is almost 5 dollars a BOX up here but closer to 2.50 at TJ's.  We were not really prepared to shop (also we had just been to Target) but we will be going back there soon with bags.

 

After TJ's we took the subway up to Grand Central Station which I had never seen.  It looks just like the movies.  It also has an awesome food court and clean bathrooms- always good to note as per Weberonthelamb circa June 2008.

Fun was had by all.  Next is Chinatown!

Onward and Upward.

NYC Theatre Participant

After a tech, cue to cue, dress rehearsal, opening night and a load out all in one day I am finally an actual participant of NYC theatre.

And exhausted.

onward and upward.