Yesterday, A was down again, and decided that the best way to cheer herself up was to go to a play; so she chose the Kirkwood Theater Guild , where there was a production of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Wall”> The Fourth Wall </a> by A R Gurney , an American playwright.
The play was very much in the style of Ibsen and Shaw, both of whom were extensively quoted in the course of the action…and though I felt that the cast were rather self-conscious (well,it was a self-referential, deconstructionist play to begin with) about their being actors on a stage, they warmed up as the play went on , and it became very enjoyable. Much of the political humour, though, it topical, and the playwright would have to keep updating it or changing it if the play is not to become dated or stale. Steve Callahan was Roger, Ken Lopinot as Floyd (an excellent comic assay), Colleen Malone was Julia, and Janet Roby Schwartz was Peggy. Jan Meyer directed the play, and Danny Austin was the asst. director.
The rest of the credits:
Tech Director: Danny Austin
Stage Manager: Stage Manager
Set Designer/Master Carpenter: Jason Weissenburger
Set Decorator: Kristin Meyer
Lighting Designer: Geoffrey Harris
Sound Designer/Operator: Frank Lewis
Sound Engineer: Paul Thomas
Costume Design: Judy Lewis
</lj-text>
The Kirkwood Theater, in many ways, including size, and acoustics, reminded me of my favourite theatre space, Ranga Shankara. The major difference was the audience....and I must say something about it. One: with the exception of KM, AM and myself, and one other black couple, the entire audience was white...as was the average hair colour of the audience...when it *had* any! It is certainly disheartening to see that only such an elderly audience seems to be coming to theatre...but DnA say that it was because it was in a distant suburb like Kirkwood; they say that a theater in the Loop area, for example, would draw a more mixed, and younger, crowd.
And, in a place like Missouri, where many people are Republican, I don't know if all those anti-Bush jokes would go down well....
Oh well, a very enjoyable evening, followed by injira (pancakes, soft and spongy, made of teff, a kind of meal produced in Ethiopia) and wat (a kind of lentil/meat stew)..shiro wat, missir wat, lamb wat and doro tibs, which is barbecue or roasted chicken wat at an Ethiopian restaurant that is DnA's favourite, and which KM and I liked a lot as well, in spite everything being doused in the Ethiopian version of ghee, called "nitter kibbeh".
We finished it off with Ethiopian coffee that came out of ethic, wooden coffee pots into small cups....delicious, with or without sugar.
Our first "normal" evening since coming here....
