Monday, July 9, 2012

me kissing Martine

Here's another theater person from my weekend with the Landing Theatre Company. This is Dr. Martine Kei Green-Rogers. She's a dramaturg and teacher and she moderated all the talk-backs after the play readings.

Dang, she was fun. Lively and smart with a format for talk-backs that I'm totally stealing if/when I conduct one. I've already told her this. It's brilliant in it's simplicity.

As you might guess from that smile, she pretty well embodies the very idea of joie de vivre. I'd say how I hope to cross paths with her again, but she's leaving Houston soon to pursue a post-doc opportunity up in Utah. But the conversation at the bar stimulated some thought and clarified some aims as I make my way back into performing and performance-making and she vowed to return to Houston now and then. I hope this wasn't my one and only chance to visit with her. I need more smart, joyful people in my life.

me kissing Jennifer

This past weekend, I participated as a production assistant in the the Landing Theatre Company's first New American Voices Play Reading Series. This evening, after the fourth and final fabulous play reading (really, all four plays in the series were quite good), several of us went out to celebrate the series and just sit and visit with each other. You know, see, be seen, talk about whoever wasn't present. Theater stuff.

One of the Landing's partners in this venture was Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company. Perhaps you've read about them in American Theater Magazine. (Well, I have.) Anyway, Jennifer Decker, Artistic Director of the company, was there.

And as you can see, I kissed her.

I've known of Jennifer for some time and I have friends who have worked with her, but this is the first time I've actually met her. I found her to be smart, quick-witted and in general a pretty cool person to hang out with in a bar. I look forward to crossing paths with her again.