Something You Did @ Theatre J

Where to begin. I have yet to be disappointed with a work put on by Theatre J and Something You Did falls right in line with the rest. Theatre J consistently puts on plays that are intellectually challenging, stimulating the brain for the duration of the work. This story loosely based on the events of a parole hearing of a Weather Underground like participant 35 years later is so poignant because of its modern setting. It explores the subject of political terrorism by juxtaposing the events of the 60's with those we have experienced in the current decade. The acting and dialogue were simply superb

Chess @ Signature

Besides my love for 'So You Think You Can Dance' my other semi embarrassing fanboy status is for Mama Mia which I have now seen four times. But I did not know that the composers for that piece (of ABBA fame) had another musical under their belt, one which happened to be playing next door in Arlington... Chess. I got a rush ticket for the show, my first at this company and this venue in Shirlington (a neighborhood in Arlington). Great seat, despite being warned it would be obstructed view.

The music was very reminiscent of Mama Mia, having many of the same riffs. The real standout in this piece for me was Jeremy Kushnier, playing Freddy, who belted out his numbers. The story line managed not to be as tight as Mama Mia, which is sort of ironic considering that Mama Mia's storyline was essentially an afterthought to fit the pre made musical numbers. It is an interesting idea, comparing the drama of the cold war to that of a chess match. A strong theme was how the powers that be used its various people as mere pawns to be sacrificed for the needs of the game. In hindsight, this seems more true than it may have seemed at the time. Now that the cold war is over, I know I look back at what a colossal waste of time and energy much of it was. The piece I think captures the vibe that was the 80s and the cold war, but whether intentionally or not, also seems to capture how dated the whole thing seems now.

National Book Festival

There really is an event on the Mall almost every weekend and when the subject is Books, it seems obvious I should head down. It is one of those, "...well I like books" moments that drove me. I took some books for which the authors would be present. I got in line for Orphan Pamuk only to be told the session was over after waiting about 15 minutes. OK, well I had only gotten in line towards the end, so I was not terribly disappointed, plus I did not really like his book. So the next session was for Elizabeth Kostova who wrote one of my favorite books, The Historian. I waited in line for an hour and a half and did get a signature, but when all is said and done, what was the point really. I mean if I had known it wold take that long I certainly would not have bothered, but once I was in for a half hour and realized how long it would take, I just sucked it up and waited it out.

After the book signing, I decided I should listen to some authors speak about stuff. So I heard on mystery writer begin a talk and a non fiction writer end one on engineering risks, but walked away unfulfilled. The format was not terribly different than that at Politics and Prose which I love, the difference being that I get to choose the authors I go to see. Maybe if I could have planned out my day better to see the fiction authors I liked (Julia Glass, Diana Gabaldon, and Isabelle Allende were there too), I perhaps would have appreciated this more. Maybe next year I will do that.

Yankees @ Orioles

It has been a long time since I made it out to Camden Yards, probably close to 15 years. And Sam had never been. One of the first event tickets I purchased upon moving to DC was for when the Yankees would be in town against Baltimore on a weekend which it turned out did not fall until September. We drove out and parked in the stadium lot and walked over. We briefly walked around the stadium, seeing some of the bars in the area, which were all crazy packed. Headed inside and had the traditional bar-b-que beef sandwich, bucket of fries, and some craft beers. It helped out that Andy Petite returned from the DL and pitched a gem.

H Street Festival

The fall is a time for festivals. It seems that each neighborhood hosts one in September and October and since we love the H St area, we wanted to make to this one. Too bad we had to continue on to Baltimore later in the day as the food, drinks and music all appeared to be superb. We stopped for a beer at the H St Country Club, and the soon to open tavern, Smiths. We also tried some street food there. Only problem is that the lines for every food vendor were extraordinarily long.

In The Next Room - Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Sam and I ushered together at the Woolly Mammoth for the first time and what a great show to work at. This play by Sara Ruhl is a tale of gender norms, from the late Victorian era, but the stereotypes and emotions echo into the present day. Of course, the other device here is the story of how a vibrator was originally applied by medical science of the age and the sexual hilarity that ensued. One good way to tell the success of a play I think is to measure how long the discussion after wards lasts. Sam and I talked about the play the entire drive back and stayed up for a while discussing it too.

We came to the conclusion that the laughter generated by the sexual innuendo serves to break the ice in the audience, opening them up to receive some of the other messages. Because this play was far more than a sexual comedy. It was a play about the loneliness people experience even in their relationships, and how we can shut ourselves off from each other, how sometimes our spouse can be a complete stranger we share a home with.

The actors in the play were phenomenal. The actress that played Mrs Givings, Katie DeBuys, was especially brilliant in a difficult role as her character must come across as flighty, but with moments of emotional outbursts.

We also had a great time ushering, for I think the first time, ending up with great seats practically sitting on the stage. Some of the other ushers were enthusiastic about some of the other plays by Sara Ruhl which apparently Woolly Mammoth has put on, so we look forward to seeing others too.

All's Well That Ends Well - STC

Sam was upset she missed out on the best Shakespearean play ever made so was looking forward to going to the next one. While this was very good, it did not quite live up to the last. Our seats were in the very back row as I got the under 35 tickets so we had to do the bob and weave to see the performance. Also, there are just too many shuffles and whispers between us and the stage to not miss out on some of the lines. Also, just as Twelfth Night showed just how many tools an actor can bring to deliver their lines, this play showed a bit of their absence.

Which is not to say that their were not good performances, as their were. In fact I hate to use Twelfth night as the benchmark against which to judge that which follows. This was a high quality, enjoyable production... just a few notches below their last.

Russia House

I do not really get into the food critic posts but I have been taking advantage of the DC Daily Coupon trend and made reservations for a bunch of restaurants of late so will say a brief word about them.

Russia House we have been hearing about for a while as a trendy lounge destination so having dinner there seemed like a good introduction to it, especially after spending the previous week with several Russians at a wedding. The interior was cozy, a converted old town home with all the individual rooms still intact. The decor did not really do much with it though. I had an excellent Lithuanian Stout and Sam had a Russian wine that she said she liked. For dinner we shared a salad with roast duck and a salmon wrapped in phylo dough. Food was good, a bit heavy, kind of like comfort food. With our gift certificate we only paid a little more than half price so it was worth it, but I don't think I would ever come back to pay full price.