So yesterday morning I picked up Vanities and House of Blue Leaves at Drama Books with the rest of the gift certificate that I had gotten as a director gift from the cast of Chamber Music this summer, and the best bit was that they gave me the change in change, not in another gift certificate like they did last time!

It was very thrilling, as I am po' as a churchmouse and $15 makes a big difference, baby.

I spent the day reading the scripts, and immediately cast my three girls in their respective roles in Vanities.

It was pretty much as easy as I thought it would be though I wasn't entirely certain at first whether Sri or Deva would play Joanna or Kathy, while Marisa slotted into Mary immediately.

Funnily, I had forgotten that Sri is black when I was casting, not that I thought she was white, I just really didn't think about it, but when I was describing the play to her, she said "A black girl in Texas in 1963, those were tough times!" and as I was reading the play, I realized that she was right.

It's not period for any of the characters to be black in that place and time when they are the most popular girls in high school, and I cannot ignore that fact. At first I thought of Sri for Kathy, but when it comes out that she is head cheerleader, I knew that that wasn't possible. I can just about justify her being there, but not her being the most popular of them all, so I switched her t Joanna and realized that it actually works that way.

Joanna is more of an outsider than the other two, and as the piece goes on, she becomes more and more of an outsider, and there is also a bit in the second scene when they are trying to decide what to sing for a sorority thing, and someone suggests West Side Story, but nobody is Spanish, and then Joanna says, "Porgy and Bess?" and they just look at her. Well, her being black makes that work in a different way, but it works!

I'm excited about this show. And Deva accepted, so I just have to wait for Marisa.

And why did I get House of Blue Leaves I hear you ask?

Because the reason that Le switched the dates of the show that I am directing is because he wants to consider me for the mainstage, which is Blue Leaves, a show that I love and adore. I always have wanted to play Bananas, but she really has to be skinny and I am so not, but he wants me either for Bunny or one of the nuns.

Now, all of the parts are good and I'd just love to be in it, but boy howdy do I want to play Bunny! I want to for once play the pretty girl with the high heels and the big tits, and she is supposed to be a little heavy, probably not as much as I actually am but I have lost weight and can lose more. I want it. I want to play Bunny.

Lullaby for Momma was wonderful again with another tiny audience that was better than half of the big audiences that I have ever had. And Mark was in it!

He's managed never to see me act before, since he doesn't like going to the theatre and thinking that he could do it better (a terrible attitude, might I add), and he skipped my show this summer, which really hurt my feelings, and since he had to be there anyway for the 9p show, he had no excuse not to come, and he did.

As soon as we started I heard his laugh, and I was just so happy that he was there and he was liking it. And he did! He came back to the dressing room afterwards and told me how good I was and so on, and also said, "Thanks a lot for depressing me right before Christmas!" meaning The Long Christmas Dinner.

I don't find it a depressing show, I like it, but there is a huge amount of death in it, so I can understand how people can feel that way, but let me tell you, last night it was not The Long Christmas Dinner, it was The Long, Long, Boring, Lugubrious Christmas Dinner.

It started out slow and dull and low energy and long long pauses between every line and John hemming and hawing, and baby I have ten lines and I have to die almost right away, there wasn't much I could do about it! I came offstage and whispered, "It's dying out there, the next people who enter, enter with energy!" and they tried, but there was only so much that could be done at that point.

It was like trying to pep up the Dormouse.

Mark's show was messy again and I thought that he would put his fist through the wall.

He gets so upset when things go badly through people being stupid rather than just the mistakes that can occur, and between the hideous errors in the booth and the hideous errors all over that stage by that one actress, he was about to burst like Pompeii.

When Tony came round afterwards, I offered to run the lights and sound for the last two shows. "Would you?" he said, all liquid-eyed at me. Here's the way I look at it: I don't like Mark being so upset and if I can fix it, I will. And I can.

Amusingly, I was talking to the actress playing his wife, and she said that she had always thought that he was pretty easy-going. "O no!" I answered, "Mark is a roiling cauldron of rage at all times, and the trick is to keep the top from blowing off!"

Some girl came to see him in the show, one of his bar friends from Jersey, and I was very suspicious of her. I could tell that she liked him, though he seemed to be completely oblivious, as usual. When he was so angry, she said, "You need a backrub!" "Not from you, bitch!" I didn't say.

He completely ignored the backrub comment. Nobody's giving him backrubs but me, dammit.

Remember, if anyone who wants a Xmas card from me this year had best send me their address, because remember? No computer means no Xmas card list!

Today's horoscope:
Unfortunately, you're not independently wealthy. Not yet, anyway. While you're waiting for your ship to come in, while away the time with witty, irreverent friends and family who also enjoy take-out and videos. Start tonight. At your place.

One year ago today:
Of course I already read the great Pine Barrens Debutant, but I would like to particularly point out the greatest Christmas carol entry ever. I mean, honestly, who spends paragraphs ragging on the latter verses of Jingle Bells? And I didn't just find it so funny because I spent last night making Christmas mix cds.

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Last Updated Sun 12 December 00:27:09 2004