Selfish Interview

Oh, do I have things to say about early lunch, questionable naming practices, and my inner Golden Retriever!  Check it out here.

Get Selfish Live

The day I moved to Los Angeles in 2007, I hatched a dream to one day be an author reading her work at Skylight Books in Los Feliz.  On July 23rd, that dream comes true.  One of my essays is getting published in issue two of feminist magazine Selfish, and five of us content-creators will be publicly sharing our tales of woe, whoa!, and WOW.  The theme of the issue is "just one more," and as a preview of coming attractions, I can assure you we all went for it, natch.

Rabbits Bunny

This rabbit I know decided to go check out some contemporary art. I tried to convince the guy not to pose like a tourist, but he wanted to capture a moment of prescient identification with the work as he contemplated his own mortality. Plus he was certain the yellow plastic scarf was a good look and would photograph well.

Ice Cream Is A Journey

Ice cream is a journey, but not the one you think, according to this kid. Rather than a path filled with loss, it is an adding-on of colorful scoop after scoop that ends in abundance and sugar high. Hold your empty cones forth, friends...green flavor is on its way.  (Mint?  Kale?  Magical frog or dragon?)

Say It's Only A Paper Sun

What?
Yeah, I'm going to be here awhile, in aisle seven.
The joy radiating off these paper towels is mesmerizing. 

Rainbow Twins

Me and my bro like to hang out in Cupertino.  It's not just because we dig Apple products; we also like bubble tea, and there are so many good places to go that have the popping boba.  Look, I know he's way more visible than I am.  I'm like always second fiddle, the fainter refracted band of light in the sky, hovering somewhere above him like a cautious babysitter choosing between her job and her boyfriend's incoming call.  I was super sad about that until I read about how underneath every river there's an invisible river informing the ecosystem of the one you can see.  There's a Bette Midler song for that, but I'm going to keep my cool and pretend I haven't watched Beaches about a hundred times.  Shit.  No I'm not sentimental and crying.  That's just the rain.

That's What

Ernest in Oz

Ernest is trying to understand the issues of Israel and Palestine, especially since he didn't quite follow Amos Oz's speech while attending Princeton.

Lucky Charms

Here are some totems you can carry around in order to experience great happiness! 

* A hedgehog holding two maracas with stars on them, which functions as a stamp.  The hedgehog is a Julliard-trained musician with her spines dyed golden yellow, because she enjoys lions as well as rebelling against her parents' traditional values. 

* An emotional and round blue man who does nothing but express hopefulness all the time.  He's blissed out because doubt is totally beside the point, just like pants or opposable thumbs.

* A kitten made of paper mache containing a seed that may someday be planted and grow into a mighty tree.  What she fails to say out loud sprouts leaves and drinks light. 

So Much Cooler

Despite being considered super uncool for it, I still live by the unbridled enthusiasm this watermelon feels. Joy and the bouncy eyebrows that go with it are their own gift, but plus sometimes you meet a kindred spirit in a cucumber.

Bulldog Clear

Hey!  Welcome to my crystal shop, and don't mind my lisp; it's just the result of a piercing gone wrong.  What are you looking for?  I'll show you around!!

Over here are the bracelets, and also my water bowl.  Do you like jewels, or drinking?  I sure do.  All the stuff is gender-neutral so don't get a hang-up or whatever, they're for healing.

Here are a whole bunch of stones you can buy, sorted by type and color.  Looks good, right?  I love alchemy you can also call aesthetic.  Plus some of them are round like my favorite ball, which goes SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK oh, I'm sorry, I'll stop.

Finally, the medicine animal cards.  I keep pulling out Beaver, which I think is my owner rigging it to get me to pull my own weight around the store.  Hence my new position as greeter.  You feel greeted?  Good.  I got mantras to chant, kid.  You're on your own.

The Balcony Bows

  "Everything is lit up with an ultimate goodness..."

"The Balcony" at the Old Mint recap: nine shows, most of them sold out in advance.  Listed as #1 on a list of things to do Valentine's Day weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle.  And with a few sweet write-ups online, including this one and this one.  

I loved working on this production, with its brilliant site-specific staging and incredible costumes and best of all, talented and vibrant cast of friends old and new.  Through these performances, I remembered why I loved theater so much in the first place; how magical it can be, how transformative. 

 

 

And also how insightful.  After all, playing a giant hot-pink horse?  Typecast again.  Neighhhh!  Time to eat another yellow apple.  General, good night.

More information on the Collected Works and the production can be found here.

 

Poster image by Niki Ulehla.  Color photograph (and costumes) by Latifa Medjoub, with Nathalie Brilliant as the Beggar's Girl.  Black and white closeup by co-director Jamie Lyons.