Emile Cioran

"Tell me how you want to die, and I'll tell you who you are."

"It's not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late."

"The obsession with suicide is characteristic of the man who can neither live nor die, and whose attention never swerves from this double impossibility."

Emile Cioran (8 April 1911 - 20 June 1995)
A Romanian writer who spent most his life in Paris writing 'a philosophical romance on modern themes of alienation, absurdity, boredom, futility, decay, the tyranny of history, the vulgarities of change, awareness as a agony, reason as disease.'

Otho from 'Beetlejuice'

"You know what they say about people who commit suicide, in the afterlife they become civil servants."

In Belarus, Theater Goes Underground («Chicago Tribune»)

Top-flight artists fed up with government censorship step out of the spotlight to perform furtively in cafes, bars and even apartments

Yana Rusekevich has performed Shakespeare at Minsk's Yanka Kupala National Theater, the top rung of state-sanctioned drama in Belarus. But on this opening night, she finds herself inside a dingy cafe far from the capital's luminous downtown avenues, not on stage but on a tile floor just a few feet away from the audience.
Rusekevich and the rest of the Belarus Free Theater troupe will perform Pavel Pryazhko's "Bellywood" in an area roughly the size of a living room, wedged between bubble-gum pink walls adorned with plastic roses and a faded Marlboro bar light. They won't get paid and they won't get reviewed.
They will, however, perform an evocative glimpse into Belarusian society that doesn't surrender to government edicts about what can and cannot be said on the stage. It won't be polished with backdrops and spotlights, but it also won't be censored.

"What's important is what you have to say to the audience, even if it's in a basement with bad lighting and only three people watching," said Rusekevich, 29. "The main thing is having something to say."

The Belarus Free Theater has plenty to say to its nation of 10 million and finds itself forever scouring for places to say it. As with virtually everything else in Belarus, theater is carefully filtered by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president. On state-sanctioned stages, productions of dated classics are deemed safe enough to allow; plays that probe contemporary Belarusian life almost always are banned. Consequently, what does not appear on state-sanctioned stages must go underground.
Since it began a year ago, Free Theater has endured cat-and-mouse antics with Belarusian authorities, shuttling among friends' apartments and small, hidden cafes and bars for rehearsal space and performance venues. In the two weeks before the "Bellywood" premiere March 12, the cast used five apartments for rehearsals, said Natalya Kolyada, who co-founded Free Theater with her husband, Nikolai Khalezin. Each time, the apartment owner feared retribution from authorities and asked the troupe to move on. Threats move the stage.
A December production of Natalya Moshina's play, "Techniques of Breathing in a Vacuum," had to be moved from a Minsk club to an apartment the day of the performance after the club's owner had received a call from Lukashenko's administration, Kolyada said. A friend of Khalezin's and Kolyada's agreed to allow the performance at his apartment.
"Then he got a call and was told he would have problems with his publishing business if he continued to help Free Theater," Kolyada says.
The troupe relies on announcements on sympathetic Web sites and on word of mouth to advertise upcoming performances. Audience members' names are checked on a list at the door to help keep government scrutiny out.
"It's the price we pay for what we do – we live in a dictatorship," said Khalezin, 41.
Khalezin knows firsthand just how far Belarusian authorities will go to muffle free speech. Police threw him in jail for 15 days in 2002 for organizing a rally. Three newspapers he once ran were shut down in the late 1990s after their circulation began making steady gains.
He and Kolyada founded Free Theater in March 2005, using the honorarium that a Moscow theater paid Khalezin for one of his plays. Actors working in state theater joined, eager to perform in productions free from state-imposed constraints. Two months later they staged their first production, "4.48 Psychosis," a work by British playwright Sarah Kane about suicidal depression.
The play's director, Vladimir Shcherban, and two actresses, Rusekevich and Olga Shantsina, were working in state theater, where their involvement in Free Theater did not go unnoticed. Shcherban's bosses at the Kupala theater cut his wages twice, and while they keep him on the payroll they have effectively stopped giving him work. A play Rusekevich wrote had been performed at Kupala for two years, but when Kupala officials learned of her involvement in "4.48 Psychosis," they dropped its production. One night when Rusekevich walked into a women's restroom inside Kupala, she saw that the scenery from her play had been cut up and used as floor covering.
"In spite of all this, I still work at Kupala and still work here at Free Theater," Rusekevich said during a break in an afternoon rehearsal of "Bellywood." "They used to call me into their office every day – now it's less often. There've been times that the [Belarusian] KGB has called me to ask why I work at Free Theater."The answer, Rusekevich says, is simple: "At Kupala, I'm constrained compared to what I can do here."
`Our guardian angel'Free Theater toiled in near-obscurity until British playwright Tom Stoppard appeared in Minsk in August to watch the troupe perform. In October, Stoppard wrote a 3,800-word article in London's Guardian newspaper, praising Free Theater's courage in the face of Lukashenko's repressive regime. Stoppard and former Czech president and playwright Vaclav Havel joined the theater's board of trustees.
"Tom Stoppard coming to Minsk changed the situation dramatically," Khalezin said. "He became our guardian angel. In many ways, Stoppard and Havel's involvement shielded us from harsher steps from the government."
As more than 100 Belarusians file into the cafe to watch the "Bellywood" premiere, Khalezin and Kolyada are beaming, in part because the building's owners did not carry out plans to shut off electricity to the building on opening night. With everyone seated, Shcherban and Khalezin introduce Pryazhko and apologize for the bad acoustics. Seated in the first row, Yulia Shevchuk says no apologies are needed.
"Lighting and stages don't matter," said Shevchuk, 21, a regular at Free Theater performances. "What's important is what they perform. In state theaters, we're not exposed to modern playwrights. They show us fairy tales."

Alex Rodriguez, «Chicago Tribune», march 19, 2006

World Weary

It may be the fact that he's a playwright, but I was very moved by what Andrei said about the clear blue sky. I can only imagine what it must have looked like, and it helps me understand what he's going through. Somehow there is hope in that sky. His current struggle enables me to keep my own 'trials and tribulations' in check. I am not fighting an oppressive dictatorship. All I'm attempting to do is produce a play in a city relatively unknown to me. The mountain I have to climb is but an anthill to what those Belarusians are fighting for. Puts everything in perspective.

We are doing norway.today come hell or high water.

digiddy

More from Minsk

My Dear Friends,

I think it’s very important for me to tell you my impression of what's going on today in Belarus. I’m not politician. I’m not even a person who is involved in real political activities. I don’t like political art, so I’ve never written a political play. But I believe in the ideals of freedom and democracy. I have a civil position. And during these last few days I tried to act as a citizen of a free nation. Together with thousands of people I've spent the last days on the streets of Minsk. And today’s evening is first I’m spending at home analyzing what's happening. I really don’t want to write a political speech full of obvious dogmas. I just want to share my impressions.

During the last twenty-four hours, I have had only four hours of sleep. I still don't know where my friends are who tried to bring food to the people on the Square. Some of them were on the Oktyabrskaya Square, standing in a circle, tightly holding each other's hand, around the small tent camp, guarding it with their own bodies. The temperature in Minsk is dropping too -10°C. There wasn't any help; no one was able to get through the police and KGB special forces, who have blocked all the entrances and exits from the Square. No one was able to bring them hot tea or sleeping bags. I know that from my own experience. There were some of my students. Many of them have spent more than fifteen hours on the Square. Some – more than twenty-four. I tried to be with them as long as I could. During the last days they matured by ten years. We all did. These days have contained many things and perhaps they have changed lifes of thousands of young people more than I can imagine now. Belarus is different. And it is our victory!

Even now, the participants of meetings are covered with monstrous lies from Belarusian medias. But I see truth on international TV channels. During last days more then 600 people were arrested. Prisons are overcrowded. Today peaceful demonstration was crashed by special forces of police. I’ve never seen such a cruelty! It was war! Civil war! Police kicked old people, students, women, priests, journalists – everybody! I remember myself running in horror…

On this day my play “SKY” (about life of young people in Lukashenko’s Belarus) was presented in Austria. I was not allowed by the Government to go, in order to stop me from telling truth about life here. I’m now a prisoner in my own country. But it cannot stop me from communicating with the world.

Today the sky was clear blue, but the land was red because of blood. But the sky was blue, as blue as I have ever seen such colour in my life. I will always remember this marvellous blue sky over Minsk. I hope it’s just a beginning. And everything will be great!

Hope to stay in touch, See you soon,

Yours, Andrei

Belarusian Protests

This is an email I received today from Andrei Kureichyk, our friend and fellow revolutionary in Minsk. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet him after our reading last June of Playing the Victim. We are attempting to get his plays translated/produced here in the States.

Dear Doug,
Thank you so much for your letters. What is going now in Belarus is wonderful and terrible at the same time. The country is changing. People are beginning to believe in freedom. They begin to struggle for their rights. I see revolution in minds and hearts. I spent last 4 days on streets. I saw thousands of people who went to peaceful demonstrations. And I saw how hundreds of people were arrested, bited and put in prison. But I believe that it is the agony of dictatorship. This process can not be stopped. Tommorow will be the main manifestation. I believe in Belarusians. I'll be with them till the very end. I'm now in a kind of stress, out of control, so I'll write you details later.
Hope to see you,
Andrei

For those who don't know, Alexandr Lukashenko won a new five year-term by a landslide in a vote denounced as a farce by the opposition and criticized in the West as undemocratic. The tension began as peaceful protests over the rigged March 19 elections resulted in the police storming a tent camp in the main square. Hundreds were arrested in the pre-dawn raid Friday. The European Union and the United States said that they will impose sanctions on Lukashenko, who they say has turned Belarus into Europe's last dictatorship since his first election in 1994, and both called for an immediate end to the crackdown on the opposition.

Verona - "two households both alike in dignity in fair..."

I am so inspired.

Not however by the enormous Gucci stores or the graffiti covering the walls of the house of Capulet and the swarms of high school students who crowded under Juliet´s balcony and fondled Juliet´s breast and write there names on the walls "trevor and amy 4 eva!". Apparently there is an Italian tradition that if you rub Juliet´s heart then your true love with come. The right breast has an amazing sheen. I guess those students haven´t yet taken anatomy. Was I ever that dumb? Yes.

RWPjr

Venice...

...is like being in a painting. The streets don´t have a systems of names or numbers so you inevitably get lost. I spent my first day roaming the streets with a Chinese dancer-turned golf account exec-turned unemployed. Apparently, they work six hour weeks. Yeah, totally shoot me. Then I spent the rest of my time in Venice with an Alabama teacher (second in line to be the Marlboro man - true story, he told me) and his son and his fiance. We found a place where you can fill your water bottles with wine from the family´s winery. Why aren´t places like that everywhere?

RWPjr

Back in the BK

It's good to be back in Brooklyn, if only for a short while. If all goes well this weekend, I'll find a sublettor and be out by April 1st. The work week is almost over and I've actually managed to get some done. I sent the check out for insurance, which will go into effect 4/1, allowing us to do the Hamlet workshop in Leonia, which in turn will pay us enough to produce norway.today in Chicago. Margreth sent out the official invite to Igor the other day. I also mailed $600 in donations to be deposited through The Field, as well as our security deposit on our Wicker Park digs. Martin and I had a good dinner last night. He's already bubbling with ideas. Nice to finally put him to work on what he does best. Not that the website doesn't look fantastic. I'll stop now.

digiddy

WARNING: Committing Suicide Causes Death

I felt after posting those two previous entries, I should offer a precursor. On the off chance that more than the half dozen people who already know us are actually reading this, this is not a site that endorses or encourages suicide.

The information posted is research for the play, norway.today. We are theatre artists working on a production about two teenagers who meet in a chatroom and agree to jump off a two thousand foot cliff in Norway together. The story is true. The play is fiction.

If you've found yourself here by mistake and need to talk to someone, please call:

1-800-784-2433

Chicago Mailing Address

Between April 1st and June 15th, any and all correspondence
to Richard and Doug should be mailed to:

THALATTA! Theatre International
1040 N. Marshfield Avenue
Apartment 1F
Chicago, IL 60622-3827

Stats

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one million will die from suicide this year. One person ever forty seconds. Mental Disorder, particularly depression and substance abuse, are associated with more than 90% of all suicides. However, suicide results from many complex socio-cultural factors and is more likely to occur during periods of economic, family and individual crisis.

Each year, over 30,000 Americans die by suicide and many more attempt.

An American dies by suicide every 17 minutes.

Suicide deaths consistently outnumber homicide deaths by a margin of 3 to 2.

In 2002, twice as many Americans died from suicide than from HIV/AIDS.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24.
In 2001, 3,971 suicides were reported in this group.

Of the total number of suicides among ages 15 to 24 in 2001,
86% were male (n=3,409) and 14% were female (n=562).

In 2001, firearms were used in 54% of youth suicides.

Suicide rates in the U.S. are lowest in the winter and highest in the spring.

'Shall we die together?'

CHICHIBU, Japan -- The dirt is still black with charcoal on the mountain road where police found six bodies slumped inside a van, a stove still smoking inside -- another in a spate of group suicides officials think can be traced to the Internet.

The five men and one woman, all in their 20s and from six prefectures across Japan, likely met on the Internet before dying together in a forested area 50 miles northwest of Tokyo, authorities said.

Internet suicide pacts have been most common in Japan, where the suicide rate is among the industrialized world's highest. A record 91 people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases last year, up from 55 people in 19 cases in 2004, according to the latest figures from the National Police Agency.

In March alone, at least 18 people have died in five separate cases of suspected Internet-linked group suicides in Japan, including three found dead Tuesday in western Japan.
In all those cases, the victims suffocated themselves inside cars using charcoal stoves, often sealing the windows with tape. Most of the dead have been in their 20s and 30s.

"Youngsters find that on Internet chat sites, they can talk about the most intimate of issues with total strangers, including vague notions of wanting to die," says Mafumi Usui, a psychology professor at Niigata Seiryo University. "Most of them aren't serious (about killing themselves). But say one chat participant starts suggesting concrete plans... That's when the Internet can encourage suicide," Usui said.

A chat room entry dated Feb. 9 and signed by a participant who identified herself as AQUOS reads: "I live in Kyushu, and I have everything ready except a car."

"I'm willing to go anywhere to die. I don't want to fail,I want to die with certainty," another chat room participant, Haru, replied two days later. There are no further entries from the two.

Experts suggest the Japanese are influenced by a traditional reverence of suicide.
In feudal Japan, ritual suicide was considered an honorable death under the samurai warrior ethic. "Chushingura," a saga about 47 loyal samurai who avenged their master's death and then committed mass suicide in 18th century Japan, has been made into countless movies and TV dramas.

"Japanese see suicide as tragic, yet beautiful or somehow sincere," said Usui, adding that was perhaps why so many used charcoal to die. Through Internet chat sites, "young Japanese have learned asphyxia doesn't damage the body, he said. "They think it allows them to die beautifully."

Here's Julie

This is Catherine [Kat(i)e] deBuys

La Dolce Victim

How stupid do Italian robbers have to be to steal from a black New Yorker?

And in this case, even one from Deleware.

da vinci

Chicago - Day 8

I had the chance this morning before leaving Chitown to meet with some actresses for 'coffee callbacks'. I am sorry to say I am no closer to a decision. They were all sweet, thoughtful and funny young women. They all have different qualities that would suit the character of Julie. Now I've got to determine who fits best with Richard. And since he's not here and I can't predict who he'll be when he returns from this wild adventure, this will be a shot in the dark.

digiddy

Rome - Day 1

I chose a sleeper car to Rome from Nice that left at 9pm to arrive at 6:45am. On the train I was greeted by two couples who were to share the sleeper with me. A couple from New Zealand, Linley and Tom and two guys, from San Francisco - I think that one of their names was Ron. Such a relief to have everyone speak English.

I managed to fall asleep after a disturbing story told by Linley. She recounted a friend of a friend's story about how the gypsies in Rome wait for you outside the train station, follow you to your hotel and rob you at knife point. I decided to brush that aside, I thought to myself, I am from NYC, I can handle myself.

I think it was 3AM when I abruptly awaken by Ron screaming at the top of his lungs, "NO STOP," to the people that were reaching into the couchette trying to steal our luggage and all of our belongings. I saw him slam his hand in the door, then the robber was off. I felt around under my head for my wallet in my jacket that was folded neated under my head underneath my pillow. I then found a cut in the inside pocket of my jacket where my wallet should be. My stomack sank as I started to feel ill. I frantically search the bed around the cart. Nothing. Then it caught my eye. The wallet was stuck in between the bed and the wall. Apparently, Ron's screaming stopped him in time. I said several small prayers and slept with my eyes open, and all of my things tightly held in my arms. From then on until the time we arrived in the Rome, the robbers attempted our room twice more....

CIAO ROMA!

RWPjr

Nice - Day 3

I thought that I was so productive yesterday that I did it again.

Nice - Day 2 ("Why do I judge my day by how much I accomplish?"

In NYC I did that everyday. Often times beating myself up for not staying in my personal definition of being "productive." During this trip that word has taken on an entirely new meaning.

Today I:
1.) sat on the beach and contemplated life's problems - 1 hour
2.) visited the Colline du Chàteau, from there talked to my mother and watched the beach - 3 hours
3.) walked to the farthest tip into the ocean and watched the waves (and tried to learn my lines) 1 hour

Nice being in Nice.

Nice - Day 1

Ben and Brendan told me that I could leave , "without a pint of Guinness. For fuck's sake, it is St. Patty's Day" - It was 11:30am. The departure from Lyon was a sad one. Because for the first time, I wasn't thinking of my retrun home.

I got on the next train to the Còte D'azur, Nice aka the French Rivera. I wondered whether I would continue to meet more great people and like that last hostel, "would the showers work in thirty second bursts of hot water"?

I had little trouble finding Hostel, Chez Patrick. After settling,and grabbing something quick to eat, I was back at the hostel again for some down time. I ran into another set of Irish guys - two from Galway- and 23 year woman who teaches English in France. After we exchange names and some small talk, I was told not to take off my jacket, because "for fuck's sake, it's St. Patty's Day!"

RWPjr

Chicago - Day 7

So auditions are finally over and the difficult task of casting begins. The good news is that I saw a number of wonderful actresses. The bad news is that I saw a number of wonderful actresses and now have to pick only one of them. My extreme thanks goes out the DChap for all his help and for being a 'third (and fourth) eye'. And of course, much thanks to Zygmunt and Lela for letting us hold two days (or eight hours) of auditions for free. For a company with limited funds in a new town, it's been a real blessing.

At this point, I think I've been able to narrow it down to three women. They all are beautiful and talented. The only question remaining is 'which one will be able to grab Richard by the balls and lead him around the stage for 90 minutes'? I'm hoping to meet up with each of them for coffee tomorrow before I head back to NY so I can get a better sense of who they are as people. Whoever it ends up being is going to have to deal with all the BS-baggage Richard and I bring with us (and I don't mean all the trendy clothes Wayne will pack). This is certainly something I'm gonna have to sleep on. Since the nightscape will move into my star sign, Aries, tomorrow, I can only hope the universe enables me to make a wise and confident decision. May Dionysus be with me.

digiddy

Luck of the Irish

Where else but Dublin's should I go for corned beef and cabbage & a frothy Guinness on St. Patty's Day?

Lyon - Day 4

The trek to my first hostel in Lyon, France seemed to be like hiking up a mountain with a bag the size of a small person on my back. The view from the garden and my bedroom made the hike worth every step. The entire town was in view from where I slept. The streets are paved with cobble stones and midevil and renaissance houses. When you cross the river, you find it lined with bars and clubs on boats not far from the university and the town centre.

Inside the hostel, I find two roommates and the two people that I will spend every waking hour with in Lyon. Ben and Brendan welcomed me to enjoy France and all that Lyon had to offer like no other Irishmen could - to be perfectedly completed on St. Patty's Day. These passed few days proved, surprisingly, to be full of laughs and thought-provoking conversation. We plan to meet up again in London. "Awesome." On to Nice!!!

RWPjr

Chicago - Day 5

Happy St. Patty's Day!!! I forgot to bring anything green, so I bought a Chicago Shamrock t-shirt to fit in with the natives. Now all I need to do is find the best corned beef and cabbage in town.

I visited with Nicole Crane at the Goethe Institut Chicago and then Margreth Trumpi at the Consulate General of Switzerland yesterday. Both women are incredibly supportive and intelligent. We had wonderful conversations which did manage to get around to norway.today. Things are progressing well and they've both offered as much help as they can provide.

Thanks to my fine feather Chicago brethern, DChap, I was able to see the new adaptation of A Flea in Her Ear by David Ives at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. I'd never seen or read it before, so it was a special treat. The show was directed by Gary Griffin, who directed the Broadway version of The Color Purple, and was also my firest directing teaching 14 years ago at Cherubs. Though he had absolutely no idea who I was, he was nice enough to pretend. I find it so funny that I've already seen more theatre in the span of a couple days here in Chi-town than I have in NYC in months. Always takes going away to take advantage of what's around you.

digiddy

Lyon - Day 3 (I don't know what day of the week it is and....

I think that is great.)

The objective today was to leave Lyon and go to Nice or The French Rivera. Those plans were thwarted by a massive hangover and missing the alarm.

Last night we found ourselves cooking an excellent meal at the Hostel, then heading to a Pub in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. We were directed by a local to the young hot spot in Lyon. We were warned that we would be venturing down the roughest street in Lyon, which turned out to be the equvalent to St. Mark's Place at 8pm on a Wednesday. We arrived at the door to find two huge security guards give the two Irishmen and the New Yorker a once over and decided that we were worthy enough to walk in. The sound of bad 80's music and Beyoncè pumped through the speakers. I looked over the crowd - saw the same crowd that I have seen 100 times over in NYC but now I was in another country - no one knew or cared who we were or that we didn't spoke the language, except for the Austrailian and Canadian girls we found in the corner of the bar. Though this was the same scene, I was more confident that anything could happen.

RWPjr

Chicago - Day 3

Fhew! Though I've spent nearly a quarter of my time thus far in the Windy City on the computer, this is the first chance I've had to collect my thoughts. If only my thoughts were deep.
The two main goals while here are to find an actress and an apartment. I'm happy to report that I've succeeded in the latter. I spent most of the day wandering around the city looking at places which were completely inappropriate for our needs. That is until I met Bobby Baird. He's the managing editor of a literary magazine and is heading to Italy for three months. His place is absolutely perfect. Affordable, spacious, and only two blocks from the Chopin Theatre. I told him immediately that we wanted it and he was game. Yippee!!! As for the actresses, we'll have to wait and see.

In order to take advantage of my travel time (and so Richard won't have all the substantial cultural stories) I went to the Contemporary Museum of Art for the Warhol and Beckett exhibits. I was really impressed by the work of American artist, Jenny Holzer. She uses 'truisms' in her pieces. Some of the ones I really enjoyed were:

Dying for love is beautiful but stupid.
Confusing yourself is a way to stay honest.
Freedom is a luxury, not a necessity.
Ideals are replaced by conventional goals at a certain age.

I also bought a discounted ticket to see Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance at the Palace Theater. I planned on seeing a Mamet play, but decided instead to appease my Aussie roommate, Kasey. I've only seen Edna on TV, and let me tell you, she is 1000% better live. I laughed for two and a half hours straight - to the point that I think people started getting annoyed. If you've ever got the chance to see his/her show, I highly recommend it. It brings the art of improv to a whole new level, possum.

digiddy

Lyon - Day 2

I felt relief as I left Paris. Sorta the same relief I felt when I left NYC. NYC is Paris without the cheese, the French, the Mona Lisa and the Eiffel Tower.

Lyon is absolutely breath-taking. The hostel brings an upbeat youthful vibe. You sacrifice comfort for good conversation. More to come.....

RWPjr

Paris - Day 2

Ok so I was a bit melodramatic yesterday.

A wise person I know commented that there are worse things than being lost in Paris.

RWPjr

Brooklyn - Hour 3 of 20

so i have finally made it back to the BK. 40 days and 40 nights in jersey might as well be the great flood. when i arrived home, there was a stack of headshots waiting for me. that makes nearly fifty actresses scheduled to audition next weekend for norway.today. let's hope our perfect Julie is waiting to be discovered.

i did make a brief trip into the city on thursday for a few hours to have lunch with an old friend and my favorite canadian, jeffrey simlett. we had a delicious chinese lunch on 2nd ave and walked around the park. when it's 60 degrees in ny at the beginning of march, everyone and their domenstic help are out and about. we had fun playing the game - 'nanny or kidnapper' as well as 'homeless or hipster'.

i then went to have drinks with the swiss playwright, metin arditi, and gabriela eigensatz, the cultural director from the swiss consulate, at the carlyle hotel. little did i know, it was tea time. i nearly asked billy bush, the annoying guy from that entertainment show, who was sitting at the next table, to pass the sugar. metin, gabriela and i discussed metin's play about the final hours of vincent van gogh's life called last letter to theo. it's a memorizing piece about an artist struggling with his soul. metin said something very beautiful (though everything sounds good with a french accent). he described van gogh as a cactus. There were thorns and scars on the outside, but fresh, fragrant fruit on the inside. hopefully we'll be able to present it in the states in the near future.....

...that is as soon as the madness of norway.today is over and we've has a long vacation. well, i've had a long vacation, since richard is actually on one. off to chicago tomorrow morning. let's hope the weather holds and there aren't any more tornados in kansas. eh, toto?

digiddy

Paris - Day 1 (Note: Nothing is Open in Paris on Sunday)

I seem to keep finding myself in these gothic churches.... Thinking maybe I need salvation after this morning. I think I am committing blasphemy on some strange level, due to the horrible case of gas that I have. Nevertheless, the church is giving me solace - a place to recover and get my thoughts together.

I arrived at 6:30am via coach not really knowing that I had arrived, after several suspicious stops on the side of the road. My arrival followed an hour and a half ferry ride from Dover. It included two double gin and tonics and a long conversation with an Englishman who was interested in the political views of an African American, had a somewhat wayward step-son, and was fanatical about the rugby game he was attending in Paris. (by the way rugby is a viscious sport! geeeze these guys are crazy - made American footballers look like pussies, with thier pads - ha!) I dont think that I have ever been on a ferry - good time.

I walked out of the metro to find a ghost land. There was not a soul to be found. And EVERTHING was in French, including this fucking key board which does not help with spelling.
I was quite safe in London - now thinking I should have stayed. My stop was Opera which seemed to make sense at the time. I walked around for what seemed like hours. At this rate I would never find the hostel I planned to stay. All I wanted right now was a warm place to sit. The tears on my face started to sting, I didn't know if it was from the biting cold wind or the horrible feeling of being a lost Americaine in Paris.

RWPjr

London - Day 5

So I went to the British Museum, the Tate Modern then finally Globe. There was two people on the tour so I chatted up the tour guide. Happy to finally have a signifigant conversation with a Londoner. An actress/writer in London who makes extra cash by giving tours. We talked about acting in NYC vs. London and also a little about the Globe, of course. I made my first friend! It only took me a week! Now I am leaving. Off to Paris. Lets see what France has in store.....

RWPjr

London - Day 3

seconds after I posted yesterday, I went into the coffee shop down the street and as soon as i get my coffee in hand, I turn around to almost spill it on Neve Campbell. She smiles, as if to say; "I know there is no need to introduce myself, so you are excused." I smiled back slid past what appeared to be her mother to my seat. I tried to forget my brief encounter, to concentrate on learning my lines for norway.today.

oh, yeah the show was OK. - the acting was better than the play. Certainly a long way from Death of a Salesman.

So, the British Museum. I saw the Rosetta Stone today, and it was a rock.

The real events today happened durning the two hour adventure on the London Tube. I got lost, very lost. My trip to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was thwarted. -So I went to see Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. I was happily surprised. Nothing like seeing an American movie in a foreign country.

RWPjr

New Jersey - Day 36

I only wish I had something nearly as exciting to report as going to St. Paul's. All I got is that I fixed the toilet (which I felt particularly manly about) and got a headlight bulb replaced. Oh and I went shopping at three supermarkets. Ain't the suburbs grand?

Good news to report on our plans for norway.today in Chicago this spring. We got word from the playwright, Igor Bauersima, that he is happy and able to come over to see the show sometime in May. Second piece of good news is that we have actually have a car to get us around while we are there. Sure it may be a '91 Camry, but she's only got 71K miles on it. I'm quite confident she'll get us there and back (and if not, then that'll just be another story to put up here).

digiddy

London - Day 2

So yesterday, I was a little bummed, my back hurt from carrying that huge backpack, and I hadn't spoken to anyone really. I think it's just jet lag. Sooooo today I was determined to really see London. I ran my finger across the bus map and it landed on St. Paul's Cathedral. It took an hour to actually find the bus that goes there but as soon as I got on the triple bus, I got excited. "This is cool. I am totally a tourist." As soon as a walked up the cathedral steps, I was stopped by a woman asking for 9 lbs. Um... "Isn't this a church," I said to myself but paid the woman anyway. The next step into the church, I felt overcome with emotion. The walls, the ceiling...Everything was absolutely breath taking. Going down into the crypt, I was overwhelmed by the ghosts of very, very, very, very old white men including Churchill. It gave me chills. Then I climbed the thousands of stairs to the gallery to overlook all of London (in the pouring rain, in case I forgot to mention) - again breath-taking. I have never before felt so small. This building was built in 675 AD, and I was on top of it - next to some German high school student who keeps sneezing. On my way out, I paused again to marvel at its beauty, said a prayer for the homies, and was out.

Next, on to see Resurrection Blues by Authur Miller starring Neve Campbell and Mathew Modine at the Old Vic. This should be interesting...

I think I may stay in London another day. - Pictures to come shortly.

RWPjr

London - Day 1

The wings of an airplane fascinate me. To think that those massive structures operate in the least like the ones that I created in grade school is quite the invention. The flight is 75% empty. I have an entire row to myself which relieves me. Because if I am to have my inevitable panic attack regarding my vacating my apartment and quitting my job and seeking solace on another continent upon lift off, I would at least like my privacy... the panic attack did not happen - at least not yet

I proudly present my passpot at customs. The woman's accent behind the counter makes me giggle. I HAVE ARRIVED! I wanted to scream to her. - I presented my American passport proudly beaming from the ears. "why did you come here?" she asks politely. I begin to rattle off in short form this week's experiences leading up to today. I finish with a exasperated sigh. Her smile disappears and her once polite tone turns flat. "Frankly, um.. checking your passport again, Mr. Prioleau, I am concerned that you have left your apartment and quit your job and have decided to come here." Inside I scream, "SO AM I LADY!"

RWPjr

So these are the Roll Dogs.