10 am - We've grabbed some breakfast to bring to Kim's good old man Italian friend, Mario Fratti (http://www.mariofratti.com/) at his house. Such a classic Italian man--ten steps in, the first things you notice are A) there's art everywhere and B) most of the art is of sexy women. He was so so so kind to us. Ha... while also kind of ignoring Brandon. (He's not a woman, if you didn't guess.) Mario, if you didn't follow the link, is a playwright, most famous for his musical, Nine. And he's also a wonderful, insightful, Obama-loving man.
We probably sat on his patio for 3 hours talking. Here are some of the highlights:
1) One of the pieces of advices he gave us was to look into playwriting and journalism--"real careers"--to back up our acting dreams and pay the bills. Well... I like writing. :)
2) I got to play Katherine Hepburn's piano, which she left to him.
3) He gave us signed copies of a couple of his plays.
4) And best of all, we had amazing open discussion about sex, money, religion, and politics. Three things not often discussed back home outside of class.
He's 80-something and has more energy then I do. Damn.
And we must not forget that it's St. Patrick's Day in NYC! After bidding Mario farewell, we headed to Central Park amidst crowds and crowds of green sporting peoples and explored Central Park. Which is truly gorgeous. I started to get a little over whelmed by the amount of people, especially while watching the parade, but then the crowds thinned a little and it got better. As the day progressed, I grew hungrier and hungrier. When I was little I always felt like a loser when I ate before everyone else, but now I’ve learned… I turn into kind of a crabster when I’m hungry. Headaches and everything. By the time we finally got food, I was doing everything I could to hold back tears…. from hunger. Which leads to TIP #?: If you’re like me, then either a) travel prepared with a granola bar or something or b) get the balls to order some street food and look like a loser. Most likely everyone in your group will just be jealous and order some when they see that you got the balls.
After our explorations today, we met up with Kim’s other playwright friend (drum roll please)…. Neil LaBute.
Yeah. Be jealous. It was awesome.
We grabbed tea and dessert with him and tell you what, he is funny and fun to be around. We were expecting more insightful conversation, like we had with Mario; instead, we had laid back, pleasant, fun conversation. I’m actually acting in one of his plays right now—Some Girls. (Alex Bahney’s directing it for his senior show.) And I just stage managed another one of his plays, Fat Pig (Brandon Hanson’s senior show). I think he may have even laughed at some of my jokes today. Which is a rarity for me. Every day, I feel like I’m getting less funny. Everyone is used to my mannerisms now I think.
Then, Anna, Brit and I snagged some cheap student rush tickets to the last showing of W;t, starring Cynthia Nixon. It was fabulous. We even got her autograph.
After the show, we attempted to meet back up with various other people from USF but, what seems to often happen in groups larger then 3 or 4 people, there was a lot of waiting around for people, division on what to do exactly and a little confusion. So after an hour or so of the messiness, we three broke off again with the intentions of hitting up an Irish Pub in the Village and then heading back home. What happened instead was us getting lost. For a long time. But that’s ok.
People in New York are actually pretty kind and helpful for the most part. I haven’t met any douche bags yet anyway.
Yup. Still loving life. A lot.
Today's Count: 2
Today's Count: 2
Whose autograph did you get?! Sounds like an awesome trip so far!! I'm the same as you - literally always hungry and I too have learned to be prepped for that. Street food's not so bad!
ReplyDeleteCynthia Nixon! Forgot to out her name in. :) just edited it. She's mostly famous for Sex in the City. But she was stunning in W;t.
Delete