Woke up lateish. The yo yo waking time was starting to get to me. Puttered around until Chern woke up. We went out for lunch in the West Village: sushi. I was determined to eat stuff that I hadn’t been able to while eating with Titanic. Mmm, sushi. We were going to walk around that neighborhood looking for a gift for El… I was thinking a necklace. However, we ended up in Soho because it was the blind leading the blinder. In Soho, we saw the Apple Store (drool over the 17 inch PowerBook in the window, and meh for the 12 inch PowerBook on display). Outside there, a street vendor was selling necklaces so I picked one up, after much deliberation and hemming and hawing from Chern. In the end, we were satisfied with the purchase and continued on our way exploring Soho.
Then we went to Ground Zero.
I’d never seen the towers in person, so I didn’t get the same “skyline has a huge hole in it” feeling that New Yorkers have. The site is truly immense. I walked by the viewing wall, reading some of the info signs. What really got me was seeing stuff tied to the wall. Flags, ribbons, those I expected. But then there was a little rope bracelet, with a heart charm. Even with the signs posted saying that articles would be removed, someone had put one of the last remembrances of their loved one up. When I finished looking at everything and everyone (a vet was playing Taps on a horn), Chern and I took the subway back to her place.
Took the subway down to NYU for the show. The space was pretty dorm roomish, but luckily Mike had trekked those lights from Chicago for a reason. But then he discovered that he’d left the halogens in Mamaroneck. He only had the smaller ones and the stands. We set them up anyway and it really made the stage look more professional. Can’t imagine how bright the halogens would have been.
I warmed up the team in this little hot dance studio, which reminded me of the hot dance studio we used to rehearse in back in Evanston (very briefly). Again, I told them “Unlock the joy,” and “chase the fun.” Wondered for the umpteenth time if my coaching was crappy and if there was some magic exercise I could do that would take their energy and focus it and on and on but I was just too inexperienced to know what to do. Silently yearned for them to have an amazing show. Something to remember.
The incubators went on and opened the show. Their show had some really deep and serious themes, which I worried was getting lost on the audience. They also had an funny scene about Midwesterners in New York that I appreciated. I was manning lights and keeping eagle eyes on time, after all the Thursday bullshit, even though we had no real limits for this show.
My team took the stage and had an absolute rockstar show. They had great energy. They made interesting choices. They called back little details with little flourishes. Favorite moments were Jenny’s pantless character running through a park, Jessie playing a scene with herself, and the “That’s Amore” song they made up. But there were many great moments. I think everyone had one moment in the spot that felt glowing and golden. I was bursting with pride.
Then there was an intermission.
The NYU team (vorp’mimprov) went on with a form they call the “Harry” (as opposed to the Harold). It was basically monologues and a series of scenes. It felt a bit stilted, but hey, I was feeling pretty cocky (which is bad, bad, yes I know, but after a week of struggle, allow me just a bit of gloat, please). After, all the teams did a bit a freeze tag and then we closed out the night.
After the show, we packed up and headed for pizza in Greenwich Village with the founder of the NYU team, who I noticed talked with the same rhythms and cadences as our old piano player Otto. Then we headed over to a party thrown by one of vorp’m’s members at a dorm.
I’ve never seen security like this. We had to be signed in in groups of three by NYU students who actually lived in the dorm and present photo ID. This security officer was getting noticeably riled by the mass gathering in his lobby. MIke was lacking his ID due to his night in Jersey barhopping but somehow he managed to get in. We also had to keep track of the person who signed us in because they had to sign us out when we left.
The dorms were apartment style and pretty nice. The party was lacking in booze, which I felt bad about since we’d brought 20 people just by ourselves so I cajoled people into paying into the jar. Bonded with the Asian member of vorp’m, who looks so much like Short Round/Data (in fact, he’s playing Data in Goonies: The Musical). His name’s Brian. We talked about being Asian improvisers (what else?) and drinking.
We left and split up. I went with one group to a jazz bar in Greenwich Village that is BYOB. Since Mike had no ID, I was the only supplier. There’s a liquor store around the corner that totally gouges its prey sent over from the bar. I bought two six packs (Newcastle and Red Stripe) and it cost 24$. I did get a bottle opener, so I told myself that it was worth 7$ and resolved to keep it as my New York souvenir.
The jazz was cool, but I was really running on fumes and the beer wasn’t helping keep me awake. Said my goodbyes after the second song of the set.
The subway took forever to come. I probably could have walked back faster, but I didn’t want to walk alone at night from the Village to Chelsea.
Back at Chern’s place, finally, I walked in and she was still up! “You didn’t wait up for me, did you?” I asked. “No, just insomnia.” Yeesh.
Collapsed in a pile. The meeting time for the next day was 4PM in Mamaroneck, which gave me plenty of time to sleep in.