Brits Off Broadway in NYC

This post is a month late, but let's put it here for completeness. Last month I was in New York City to see Alan Ayckbourn's Initmate Exchanges at the Brits Off Broadway festival. I saw 8 plays in 6 days! I wasn't sure how I would like it, but it's such a unique theatrical event that I did not want to miss it. Fortunately, I thoroughly enjoyed the plays. The 2nd act of the "Affairs in a Tent" variation was so funny that my jaw hurt from laughing so much. & I learned that acting is a very technical task. Because I saw so many versions, I saw some scenes 4 times, & the actors were very consistent from night to night. Part of the fun is that only 2 actors play all the parts. Bill Champion & Claudia Elmhirst did such a terrific job creating completely distinct characters that very quickly I forgot that each time one of them walked off stage they had to do a quick costume change. The trick became invisible.

Other highlights of my New York trip:

• The walk-through sculptures in the Richard Serra retrospective at the MOMA. Also the high-concept political cartoons of Dan Perjovschi drawn on the atrium walls.
  
• Rug crocheted out of Wonder Bread bags at American Folk Art Museum.
  
• The glass-topped Apple Store on 5th Avenue.
  
• The Saurischian Dinosaurs & 34-ton meteorite at the Museum of Natural History.
  
• Being taken to lunch by friends who are real New Yorkers.
  
• The MoCCA Art Fest in Soho's Puck Building. I wish I had had more time for it. Matt Madden showed me proofs of his soon-to-be-released book about creating comics. Matt Feazell showed me his sketch book. I picked up Will Dinski's beautiful silk screen print of his Scientology test results. The prolific Tim Fish sold me Strugglers, the (autobiographical?) prequel to Cavalcade of Boys. I made the mistake of passing up Andy Hartzell's wordless Fox Bunny Funny, but he lives here in San Francisco, so maybe I can cross paths with him again. Due to an unexpected personal connection, I got Free Shit from Charles Burns & an autographed copy of One Eye, his new book of photography.