Eva T. Made Vaudeville's Open Salon Blog

Theatrical and Literary Endeavors, Travel; Problem-Solving

Mon, 28 May 2012 20:05:29 -0400

Read the following on the back of a teenaged girl's t-shirt this afternoon: "In case of emergency, use your problem-solving skills." I will try to remember that.

Yesterday I got an email informing me that I'd been cast as Hippolyta (the Queen of the Amazons, not to be confused with my friend whose nom de blogue is "Hippolyta") in a staged reading of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The reading is being done as part of this year's "Instant Shakespeare" season. I've belonged to the Instant Shakespeare Company since the year 2,000, 'though I've been mostly inactive during the last couple of years (playing a bit part in "As You Like It" the summer before last). The cool thing about being an Instant Shakespeare member is that we can pretty much perform as often (or as seldom) as we wish. Once you've passed the audition, you're a permanent member of the company. Every season, company members are emailed lists of the plays being performed, with the dates and the names of the "PlayMaster" (person doing the casting and minimal directing) for each one. If you want to do a specific play, you just "raise your hand" by emailing the PlayMaster and saying so. If you prefer a particular role (as I did with Hippolyta) you can express that preference, too, 'though there's no guarantee that you'll get it. I guess I was successful, in this instance, because what I told the PlayMaster made sense to him. I said, "I love 'Midsummer' and have played Titania in THREE different productions. I've actually always wanted to play Hippolyta and I think she's one of the few female characters in Shakespeare who should be played by a woman in her 40s or 5os..."

Well, she is. And she's interesting. I have always wanted to play her, even though Titania is a much larger role. I often find smaller, supporting roles much more interesting than the leads. (I really enjoyed playing Karlotte - sometimes known as Charlotte - the governess in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard.") Hippolyta is just cool. She's marrying a guy who beat her on the battlefield. It's clear that she wasn't easy to beat and the fact that he was able to intrigued her. She's all, "You beat ME in battle? Dude, that's hot!" And of course being Queen of the Amazons implies that all her previous romances had been with women. Then there's all that poetry about the moon. I think it's possible that Hippolyta howls at the moon when it's full...

So, it's just a one-time staged reading, about three weeks from now. The way it works is that you get your role and start studying the play two or three weeks ahead of time. Then, on the day of the show, you turn up at the designated library (all the performances are at Manhattan libraries) dressed in "Basic Theatre Black" an hour before show time. During that hour, the PlayMaster tells the actors the basic staging s/he has in mind (entrances and exits; times to sit and times to stand). You go through the staging once, make notes on your script and then do the play - with a bunch of actors who have never rehearsed it together! Admission is always free and we get pretty large audiences, which include friends/family of the cast, other Instant Shakespeare members, people who have seen the shows listed in the library bulletins and, in many cases, library patrons who came to take out or return books, realized there was a Shakeapeare performance and decided to stick around for it!

These performances are pretty seat-of-the pants but most of the actors are very experienced Shakespeareans and they can end up being very good despite the informality. Sure, people stumble sometimes (on the stage or in their lines) but we tend to cover for each other decently when that happens. "In case of emergency, use your problem-solving skills."

Oh. Just f.y.i...I have a second column published in Pretty Queer Magazine (www.prettyqueer.com). Most of youse know the basic "plot" of it, which concerns the weird week of Lady Lucia's mother's death and our Holy Union ceremony. But I use a different writing style (with different emphases) in Pretty Queer, so it probably won't seem too much like something you've already read.

I went to work today as did Lady Lucia. No Memorial Day Three Day Weekend for us. But we'll be going to Philadelphia for a conference on Wednesday and taking three days off from our day jobs. Though the conference is work (ministry) related, we plan to have some social time and fun as well. We've got friends in Philly, one of whom will be celebrating his birthday while we're there (full disclosure; the friend is the guy I've called "Sarek" on this blog. He's a former boyfriend - from our teens - with whom I stayed friends and whose wedding I officiated a couple of years ago. Sarek is a year younger than I so this is not yet a big deal birthday). We both like Philly. I think it's my third favorite city, after New York and San Francisco. (Alysa, I do expect that I'll love Paris, too, if I ever get to go there. And Lady Lucia speaks French, so she could be the interpreter while I stayed mysteriously silent.)

Anyway...that's what's going on in my life in these days. I hope y'all are having some fun. Don't forget those problem-solving skills!

Blessings and well-wishes,

Eva T.

Enough "Energy" To Kick Butt...

Tue, 22 May 2012 20:05:57 -0400

This afternoon, I received a call from an HR representative at a social service agency, whose craigslist posting I'd answered. I'd heard of the agency, which administers health and recreation programs for seniors in various nursing homes and residences; they were seeking a Program Assistant, who would oversee the general administration of the programs and supervise volunteers. Not exactly what I'm doing now but close enough. And the hourly pay they were offering was double what I'm making now (meaning it was actually a respectable pay rate for an educated adult). So, I was psyched! HR Lady asked when I'd be available for a 'phone interview and we scheduled one for 5:00 PM (this afternoon). I figured that would give me time to get home (I leave work at 4:00) go to the loo, eat a yogurt and catch my breath before the interview.

So...I got home and did all the aforementioned; then called the number HR Lady had given me. She started asking about the degrees I'd earned, the schools I'd attended; normal stuff. But then she said, "I notice you don't give dates next to your degrees; when did you earn them?" So, I told her the dates and admitted to having been a "non-traditional aged student." Since she seemed to be probing for my actual age, I decided to just go ahead and admit it to her. You'd have thought I'd said an "F-word" worse than "fifty!"

She started going on about how the job was "very physical" and "required a lot of energy" so would "probably not be a good fit." (In other words, she thought I'd keel over at work because I was SO OLD). I felt compelled to point out that the resume, which had intrigued her enough to make her call me, included description of my current job, which involves teaching daily exercise classes and playing sports with the residents and also mentions that I'm a former professional dancer and certified fitness instructor. (It didn't actually say that I could kick her snotty little butt but only because I hadn't realized that would be relevant when writing the most recent edition of it).

I said a quick "Thank you for your time" and got the hell off the 'phone so I wouldn't be tempted to say what I really wanted to say. I then got online and wrote a venting email to Lady Lucia (who was still at her office). Lady L wrote back with sympathy, and also the information (which I had suspected) that HR Lady's interviewing tactics had been borderline illegal.

Right Livelihood has continued to elude me. I've been at this sub-poverty wage job for nearly two years (my second anniversary is July 1st) and am getting tired of having my hopes raised; then dashed, over and over and over again. I try to cultivate detachment in this process but have never been any good at it.

Well, onward. I wouldn't want to work for anybody who considered me so decrepit anyway.

Blessings, well-wishes and struggling hopes!

Eva T.

Next Year In...My Dreams?

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:05:51 -0400

Lady Lucia was home for a week before she had to go away without me AGAIN. This time just for two days instead of eight, but still...

She's away attending a clergy gathering, to which I was also invited, but couldn't go because I don't get any paid time off from my "technically" part time job. Since we'll be attending a conference together at the end of this month (three unpaid days off for me) I simply couldn't afford it. Not to mention that, since I, officially, have no "allowed" days off, I might risk losing this sucky job if I took too much time off.

Lady Lucia wishes I could go with her, too. There will actually be two more gatherings this Summer, which she will attend without me, for the same stupid reason. We're both really impatient with it but I even more so than she, because I'm the one stuck home alone all the time.

When discussing this situation, Lady Lucia will sometimes say, "Next year..." (Meaning, next year I'll have a job like hers, with good pay, benefits and paid sick, personal and vacation days. And a pension, too). I think about the thing Jewish folk (and many of their non-Jewish friends) say at Passover seders. "Next year in Jerusalem!" Jerusalem, the true home, the place of freedom, peace and joy. Everyone needs a Jerusalem (probably even the people who live there).

I hope and pray that there will be a "next year" of that sort for me. A year that will find me in a better "place," professionally, financially; geographically ('though for me the only truly good place, geographically, is Manhattan, which might prove even more elusive than Jerusalem now that I'm with Lady Lucia in Brooklyn).

It's hard to keep on keeping on with the job search. To keep counting my blessings (wonderful as those blessings - my health and strength, Lady Lucia; Alice and Trixe - are).

This really isn't a long time apart compared to the last. She'll be here by the time I get home from work tomorrow. But it's one time too many, with more to come and I am running out of patience. My virtual ship needs to come in already. Like, yesterday!

I know I need to remember that I'm not the only person who feels this way. Times are tough all over and there are millions of unemployed and/or underemployed folk, who can't afford to live where they want to live or do what they want to do. Mine is a run-of-the-mill sort of struggle and suffering, which could definitely be much worse. But if anyone knows an un (or under) employed Fairy Godmother, there's a certain middle-aged Cinderella who could use a bit of help from her 'round now...

Blessings and well-wishes,

Eva T.

22 Hours and Counting...

Sun, 6 May 2012 19:05:18 -0400

I've washed my hair and cleaned the bathroom. Cleaned the kitchen a bit, too. It still feels too early for dinner, so, here I am, filling time and my computer screen with letters, like little ants marching in a line. This is the last of my EIGHT long nights alone. Lady Lucia and I will be reunited in about 22 1/2 hours. I've been counting since we reached the 100 hour mark. I guess I seem pathetic but this week has really been rough, even though I've done everything possible to "make lemonade from life's lemons" and use the solitude productively (writing, meditating, etc). Still...enough already! I want my Lady Lucia back. Alice and Trixie do, too.

The funeral for Lady L's mother was on Friday. Her Florida cousin (and the cousin's adult children) were there, along with some of her mother's co-workers and customers from the beauty salon where she'd worked as a receptionist. Lady Lucia said the funeral was "good but exhausting," especially because she was the Primary Mourner (as she told me on the 'phone) for the first time in her life. The Primary Mourner, she said, is expected to keep it together and make things run smoothly for everyone else. That's a tiring role to play.

There will be a memorial service on Long Island, for her mother's New York area relatives (of which there are more than the Florida handful) probably some time in early June. I will, of course, be by Lady Lucia's side for that service, as I wished, so much, that I could have been for this week's. (She will make sure it's held on a weekend so that neither I nor anyone else will have to ask for time off from work in order to attend it).

My friend Hippolyta, who is not a member of OS but who reads this blog regularly, said that she was surprised to read (in my last "Wedding and Funeral" post) that I was not out (of the closet) at my current job. She'd assumed that I was. One of my other ministry colleagues also expressed surprise at learning that fact, saying, "I'd just assumed you were out everywhere!" SIGH. I know it stinks that I'm closeted at this job. I hadn't realized, when I first took it, that I would need to be, but that became clear quickly enough. When same-sex marriage first became legal here (last Summer) I heard so many of the residents (as well as some workers) at the Home comment that it was "disgusting!" If I hadn't realized, before, that I'd best keep the nature of my personal life secret, it would have been obvious then. Anyway, never again! And I do hope and pray for another job soon, which will be better not just in terms of money but also the workplace culture. It's time for this regressive crap to be OVER.

I guess, maybe, it's late enough to start heating up my dinner now. 22 hours...

Blessings and well-wishes, with thanks for your virtual company!

Eva T.

One Wedding and One Funeral

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:04:44 -0400

Those of youse who have been reading this blog for a while were aware that Lady Lucia and I had been planning our Holy Union ceremony for nearly a year and would be having it in late April. (I hadn't wanted to specify the exact date on this blog until after the fact, for somewhat paranoid reasons, but it was yesterday; April 28th. Three days after my 50th birthday, which we celebrated simply, by going out to dinner).

Well, we had the ceremony and reception yesterday, as planned, and it was beautiful but bittersweet. Lady Lucia's mother, who had been ill for a long time, died the day before! We decided to go ahead with the ceremony and reception, which were held at the New Jersey Episcopal Church where Lady L serves, because, well, we had all the food and flowers and people were traveling to be with us. It didn't seem right to cancel (or postpone) on less than 24 hours notice. So, we had a lovely ceremony and reception but the very next day (this afternoon) after attending church with my congregation at the home, and having lunch with me, Lady Lucia had to get a cab to the airport and fly to Florida, to arrange her mother's funeral there, see her mother's lawyers and all those things that are necessary after someone dies.

'Though I had only met Lady Lucia's mother a couple of times, I liked her very much and am saddened, myself, by her passing. Wishing I could have had more time to know her. I also wish, with all my heart, that I could have gone with Lady L to Florida, to stand by her side and help her with everything. But we are not, legally, family, and it's not safe for me to be out at my current job (most folk at the Home think she's my room-mate). So, I must stay here alone with Alice and Trixie, while she goes, for a week-and-a-day, to do these sad tasks without the help that I long to give her.

I had already decided that this would be my last job "in the closet." I am telling all prospective future employers, in the "personal notes" section of my cover letters, that I am in Domestic Partnership with a woman. I actually have an interview, tomorrow, evening, for a job as Head Teacher at a downtown Brooklyn preschool. Those folk already know that the woman with whom I live is more than just a "room-mate." This is as it will always be, from now on.

On that note, I also want to tell y'all that I have had an article published, under my real name (with my real photo on it) in an online magazine called Pretty Queer. www.prettyqueer.com. The article is called "Coming (Back) Out" and will probably contain information that's familiar to readers of this blog but might be of interest anyway, if only because it's a "real" publication, for which I had to submit my writing and have it accepted by the editor. The aformentioned editor has already said he'll want more pieces from me in the future. I'm pleased about that. While I don't have great ambitions for a writing "career" as I know some of youse do, I do think that having my writing published is a good thing. It allows me to tell important truths and give people food-for-thought, in a way that's taken seriously. I've been published before, but mostly as poet. This is a new way to write for publication and, as far as I'm concerned, a good one. And yes, giving you this link means that I "risk" having my real name and appearance known on Open Salon. Well, it's already known to those who encountered me at the New York meet-up in March, so I'm really not worried about that, 'though I intend to remain "Eva" in this space.

I'll probably be around here a lot this week, assuaging my loneliness and sadness for Lady Lucia, with the help of your virtual company. As always, thanks for being interested and supportive, through so much of muchness...

Blessings and well-wishes,

Eva T.