edge of the continent

I haven’t been to theater and performing arts performances with any regularity for some time and have missed the experience, so I purchased tickets to several local performances taking place this spring. This week I attended the first of these, a Moxie Theatre production of Rhubarb, or How to Play With a Rollergirl running through March 9 at the Lyceum downtown.

I’ve attended performances at the Lyceum for many years but hadn’t noticed the smaller Space Theater, where Rhubarb was being staged, adjacent to the main stage. My ignorance made for some confusion as my arrival downstairs where you enter both theaters coincided with the intermission for the show running on the big stage. My first thought was that I had misread the curtain time and was incredibly late, but I was directed to take a seat in what was a surprisingly intimate performance space. The audience was very light that evening, so choosing my seat (it was general admission) and getting comfortable was easy.

The play revolves around a particular and uptight artist (Cecelia) in need of a roommate and a freespirited stick-it-to-the-man rollergirl (Karen) in need of a room. Over the course of a week, it becomes increasingly clear that they are having a strong effect on each other: Cecelia, confronted by Karen’s openness and attitude about life and her sexuality, comes to better understand and own her own, while Karen — all in-your-face brashness and independence — grows to find that there’s room in her life for love and relationships.

The play was well cast: Jeannine Marquie’s Cecelia embodied neuroses and artistic frustration and Chrissy Burns’ Karen reminded me of an old friend whose bad-ass/crusty/fuck-you exterior was mere cover for the big ole’ softie within. The oracles, who interacted with the roommates in their sleep and served as a Greek chorus elsewhere, were down-to-earth and wry.

A nice take on the “odd couple” theme, I enjoyed the play and thought it was well done. Karen’s arrival challenges Cecelia’s ordered world where she stocks backup pain relievers to the three varieties already on hand “just in case”, isn’t “currently developing a social life”, and paints vegetables out of ability rather than inspiration. Initially seeing her roommate as a possible casual tryst, Karen is surprised when she finds herself deeply attracted to and protective of Cecelia. There were a few scenes that didn’t quite work — I think it’s really difficult to write and portray drunkenness well, for instance — and the beginning of the second act felt particularly slow. Yet much of the dialogue was witty and well-crafted and it felt natural coming from the roommates. Plus, they had a poster of Kat von D hanging on the wall next to the vegetable still-lifes; that was pretty hot.

I learned about Moxie Theatre last year and was excited to find a local company that focuses on creating “more diverse and honest female images for our culture” — how could you not love that (or their name, for that matter)? Their next show, Blue Bonnet Court, is a collaboration with Diversionary Theatre that sounds promising and will definitely be added to my ticket list.

Oh February, I hardly knew you.

I’m taking three courses this semester that I am enjoying, particularly my world religions class. There’s a great mix of religious and spiritual backgrounds and experiences among the students and our instructor encourages our questioning and respectful conversation. I’m behind on my reading for everything, however, and am making a mad scramble to catch up and keep up before my carefully laid plans of efficiency fall even further apart into a hot mess of non-productivity.

I’m looking forward to some required reading that I need to start soon (read: two weeks ago), particularly Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. It’s been on my “to read” list for years now, but there’s nothing like getting tested in a class to motivate a person to get around to it already. I’m also finally starting Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, yet another victim of a reading list languishing pitiably in a corner somewhere. I’d read and thoroughly enjoyed his earlier work, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World and have no real excuse for taking so long. He’s got a new book out already, damn it!

On a less self-flagellating note, my sister and her family came back to San Diego for a few days as part of a week-long SoCal vacation. Various groupings of family members met up for pizza at Woodstock’s, an all-day excursion to the zoo, and a post-rain frolic in the sand at Silver Strand State Beach. I blew a weekend’s worth of studying and it was completely worth it to ride the Skybucket with one niece and to have the other tell me that the ridiculously enormous millipedes in the insect exhibit were ‘icky’. So fun.

Haven’t been taking many pictures lately. I will remedy this soon.