And What Did YOU Learn Today?

What am I doing? Oh hell. I don't know.
I guess I'm going to co-direct this play. It's a production of Sylvia, a play written by AR Gurney, the same playwright who wrote the play Later Life which I was in a production of about a year and a half ago.
I think.
It was first performed in 1995 and Sarah Jessica Parker and Blythe Danner were in the cast.
So, okay, we couldn't talk SJP into performing at the Opera House or Blythe, either, but we shall persevere.
Kathleen, Judy and I recruited our Sylvia when we were at the hospital a few weeks ago for Kathleen's biopsies and scans. We were having so much fun, the three of us (in between Kathleen being poked and drained and scanned and wanded and finding out she had cancer and so forth), that the woman who manages the ultra sound department wanted to know just who the hell we were and started talking to us and it turns out she's from Monticello and when she heard about the Opera House and how much fun we have there, she said, "Oh. I want to do that!"
"Mmmmm," we said. "Dreams can come true. What's your e-mail address?"

We had our first read-through tonight and she is going to be fine, our Sylvia. She's cute as hell, adorable, really, and I think she really wants to do this. All she has to do is learn to throw herself into it and let herself become the character. Easy-peasy. If she can run an ultra-sound department, she can do this.
It's a great part. Sylvia is a dog who becomes the third person in a marriage. Marcy is playing the wife, Jack the husband who brings home Sylvia, and Jon is playing three other characters. AR Gurney loves to do that one-person-playing-a-bunch-of-roles thing. I think I played five or so in Later Life. Again, I can't remember.

I could call Kathleen but she's probably already in bed with all her kids. She had a call from the doctor at home tonight and he wants to start the chemo sooner than he had thought. He wants to hit this now and hit it hard. And it's going to be a very strong chemo and everyone at the Opera House knows that if I need to step out to take care of that girl, I will. Jan can do it by herself and right this second she's probably wishing she was. The first thing we did tonight was go through the play and cut out or replace all the fucks, shits, balls and so forth. Even the Jesus'es.
I think our Sylvia was pretty relieved about that but of course I was PISSED!
Jesus.
But I understand. We're doing this play in Monticello, not New York City.
Which doesn't mean that I didn't bitch about it. And inform Sylvia that I have a terrible potty mouth and in fact, plan my entire day around how I can fit the most obscenities in.
Ah. This poor child. She is going to learn SO much from me.

Of course I'm the one who's going to be learning. I don't know shit about directing a play. But the Opera House is a great place to learn the theater arts. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming and helpful and giving and forgiving and gracious. Well, except for me, of course. I'm just Ms. Potty-Mouth.

All kidding aside, I do want to learn. Why not? I never once thought about directing a play but when I think about it, I love to boss people around so why not? I can add the experience to my resume. If I ever try to write a resume up.

And Freddy the film maker called and I guess that I'll be doing a little bit of acting for him on Sunday. So there's that. I hope I don't make a fool of myself.
Because you know me- I hate to lose my dignity or anything like that.
Mostly I hope I don't fuck up his film and he has to figure out how to nicely ask me to leave and never come back.

But in all of this rambling what I'm really thinking about learning is how to take care of a friend getting chemo the very best I can. I've done it before but I didn't go a good job. I think I was too freaked out. I'm older now and Kathleen is such a different sort of person from anyone else I've ever met. I've made her promise that as the process goes along she will ask for what she needs and wants as things arise. She has said she will. I think she will.
And the very idea that she will trust me enough to ask for what she wants and needs, whether it's a pan to throw up in or a piece of toast or a bed with clean sheets or for me to do her laundry or, well, whatever, makes me feel good.
Not as good as it would make me feel if we were going to go somewhere incredibly fun together. But sometimes you don't get to pick your journey, you know?
But we get to pick, sometimes, who we go on those journeys with.

I'm learning a lot these days. None of it anything I ever thought about learning. But so what? We're alive, we learn, we take what we learn and use it, we go on, we learn more.

Yeah. I guess that's a good thing to think about. I guess that'll do for tonight.

Sweet dreams, y'all. I'm going to bed.