Oct. 16, 2006
Monday
Workshops, and interviews. Today was workshops and interviews. I agreed to do whatever I could to help promote the show, since I'm only going to be here half the week. Oh, I should talk about that! See, these two gigs - Salt Lake and Melbourne - are taking place <b>AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!</b> Just worked out that way. I was supposed to spend a week at each, but the dates kinda collided, so I am spending half a week in Salt lake, cramming in all the stuff I can to help get a crowd, then jumping on FOUR PLANES to get to Melbourne for the rest of the week. The fight alone will be almost two days long.
Did I mention I'm THE WRITER?
The workshops went well. The first one was at a local high school, the second one was at the theatre. The kids were really good, willing to play, and the teachers were really involved. Some teachers seem to think visiting workshops are just a chance for them to lay their burden down for 45 minutes or so, but these two were interested and everything.
And by the way, these people are doing a great job of advertising! There are 1984 banners up and down the street!
After the first workshop we did an interview on the local PBS radio station. That was very interesting. It was a panel. There was a guy there - an Orwell scholar - another was a Republican who runs a kind of legal think tank at the University. I thought this was going to get very messy - one saying I had no business soiling a classic with my stinky philistine ways, the other calling Homeland security to see if it's too late to deport me back to Africa.
But again a surprise. Both of them were very nice - and not that fake, pod person nice. And when it came to why 1984 is so relevant to the U.S. right now, we all agreed. The show went well, we had some good questions - it was almost like Berkeley...
This is Utah?
And then, after the second workshop, there was a meet and greet where one of the funders invited me to dinner with one of the theatre's most generous supporters, who happens to be... this big , out lesbian millionaire. In Utah. Now, don't get me wrong - she wasn't Medea Benjamin with bucks- thought that the Estate Tax should be repealed, and she argued since she is rich (with inherited money, which I guess slipped her mind), anyone should be able to generate wealth with just some simple, common sense. Which I guess her parents used to put her the position to give away tens of thousands to the arts. But still she's a "liberal" out lesbian. In Utah.
Utah?
Just to remind you, here are some pictures of the Mormon Tabernacle:
Now think - reasonable Republicans... hunky boyfriend... millionaire lesbian... Either these people are incredibly brave, or this place isn't so cut and dried. Or both.