Coffeeshop Reflections

I'm sitting in RBC NYC, a coffeeshop in TriBeCa that I'd never been to before. This is a shame, as my cappuccino was excellent, there is WiFi, and it's SO near The Flea! I'm better informed now! I needs must know where every blessed non-Starbucks establishment is in this city. I NEEDS MUST KNOW!!!

Well, it was a doozie of a week, but in all ways wonderful! I had a couple of rehearsals for this concert I’m singing in next week for the 99th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (March 25th, 1911). The text of the song in which I have the lead vocal is from a famous speech Rosie Schniederman gave a couple of weeks after the incident at a memorial service held at the Met Opera House. I’ll include the text here, as it’s very powerful:

"I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting. The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. We know what these things are today; the iron teeth are our necessities, the thumbscrews are the high-powered and swift machinery close to which we must work, and the rack is here in the firetrap structures that will destroy us the minute they catch on fire.
This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers. Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life of men and women is so cheap and poverty is so sacred. There are so many of us for one job it matters little if 146 of us are burned to death.
We have tried you citizens; we are trying you now, and you have a couple of dollars for the sorrowing mothers, brothers and sisters by way of a charity gift. But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable the strong hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us.
Public officials have only words of warning to us – warning that we must be intensely peaceable, and they have the workhouse just back of all their warnings. The strong hand of the law beats us back, when we rise, into the conditions that make life unbearable.
I can't talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement."
– Rose Schneiderman, The Triangle Fire(April 2nd, 1911)

She’s a major figure in the first wave of feminism, as well as in reform for women’s labor laws in the early part of the twentieth century. Apparently, Schneiderman’s granddaughter will be at the concert, which is really exciting. The concert is on Thursday evening!

I went to Boston on Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day...in BOSTON...all of the bars were packed with college students sporting green, green, green) to see my acting teacher (Karl Bury) in PARADISE LOST at the ART. I’ve hitherto only seen him on film or television, so this was grand! He was excellent, as expected. I can’t say I loved the production, though most of the actors were fantastic, and the play is great (it’s Odets, c’mon!). I had a few quibbles, shall we say, with the direction. He made some choices I felt were arbitrary and detracted from the telling of the story. The trip was well worth it, though, not just to see Karl, but also to spend the entire day walking around the city. The weather was glorious, and perfect for being outside…I would love to go back to Boston for a gig. I wouldn’t want to live there permanently, and certainly not in January, but during the spring and summer, it’s a gorgeous place to be.

On Friday, I performed in A TIPSY CABARET, a show I set up with some girls from my acting class and various gigs. We rented a space, hired my friend Michael to play for us, and invited our friends to come watch us perform - for free! Too often do we have to pay something like $25 to see our peers perform, and it adds up. So delightful to be able to offer the opportunity to watch us with no charge.

I opened the show with “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” preceding it with, “In the spirit of performing things we probably shouldn’t be doing at auditions…” It got a nice big laugh when the vamp began, and everyone recognized it. Later on, I sang "Moments in the Woods" from INTO THE WOODS, "So Far Away," from Carole King's album TAPESTRY, and "Class," from Chicago, with my amazing friend Melissa Dowty, who just returned from a 9-week gig in TN. SO good to have her back, and to get to sing such a ridiculous song with a comedic genius like her. All in all, the evening was a success, and a nice reminder for all of us that it's good for the soul and the creative spirit to sing for yourself sometimes, and perform for an audience, rather than a bunch of people behind a table who are reading your resume. Woo!

I've also begun work again on my own cabaret show for the character of Lady Jo...so far, I have a very (VERY) rough draft, and am excited to meet with my friend Phillip to discuss where we can go with it. YES for taking initiative and creating projects and jobs for ourselves! Actor Empowerment. Let's get with it.