Today I head for ACT to attend Scapin. This is the second time I have returned to the theater without Mary. I have picked the series where they bring a group of us in, serve lunch in the guest facility on the top floor, we attend the play and then return after the play for a dessert or afternoon aperitif. I am hoping this added social activity allows me to get through this successfully. We shall see. Besides, Scapin is a Moliere comedy.
A few months ago, I wrote that while we were dating in college, Mary introduced me to live theater. In St Paul-Minneapolis in those days we had the brand new Tyrone Guthrie theater, the prototype for all the repertory theaters across the USA now. The Twin Cities also had a large number of theaters and Mary and I attended shows at many of them, the "Showboat" being the most fun. It was an old Mississippi river boat permanently docked near the University of Minnesota and they put on fun plays (melodrama and comedy) consistent with their riverboat heritage.
The rest of this weekend is busy with friends and errands. Life goes on and I think I am doing fine. I got through the anniversary week without too much trauma and avoided the depressing state I hit at the 4th of July. That, I think, is a good sign.
My original posting about the theater from June of this year:
San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (ACT) invited me to lunch and to catch the last production of the season on Saturday (the last performance is in a week or two). I haven't seen a play since Mary presented her symptoms in March of 2009. In fact, we didn't buy season tickets for 09-10 and I zeroed out ALL of our charitable donations until we understood the cash flow issues with costs of all of Mary's treatments. The ACT staff was most gracious and the play/musical was great. I ended up as the play ended sitting and crying while everyone else, it seemed, was leaving the theater. Perhaps my emotions are a bit raw (he said perhaps?) but the story line of a couple who did not reconnect and did not have the love and joy and happiness that Mary and I had our 2nd time around really made me sad. The play is called the Tosca Project and it was written about the history of the past 80 years in San Francisco and placed in a local bar. I found it absolutely enjoyable and emotionally stimulating.
After the performance, I was invited to a post-performance reception where I met all the actors and chatted with several of them. It was a grand time. And, in the back of my head was the recurring thought that Mary should be here with me. She needed to experience this closeness to the theater.
When we were in college, Mary introduced me to live theater. We were fortunate to have the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and they offered a student rush just before performances. Mary and I saw many plays that way. The old theater had a projected stage and the student rush tickets tended to be behind the actors but hey, the price was right. More importantly, Mary introduced me to the theater. From that introduction, I have consistently attended theater for the past 45 plus years. Thank you, Mary!
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