4.13.2007
r.i.p. wanda june
Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. I have some really fond and funny memories of being in Ian's production of Vonnegut's play HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANDA JUNE which he made during my freshman year of college. I recall is it a sort of riff on the "return of Odysseus myth" but honestly I don't remember the story I think it has something to do with hunting.
Like Bungalo Bill.
Chip was in it, Anne K was in it. Ian directed. I just remember laughing a lot. I remember eating as many jelly beans (?) as I could stuff in my mouth during a scene, just to make everyone laugh. I remember coming to rehearsal and hearing that John Lennon had been killed. I have the vaguest memory that we may have done a scene from this in one of DRT's classes in high school. Anyway, I though of that show in lovely Pratt Auditorium at IUP this morning when I saw KVs picture in the paper.
Like Bungalo Bill.
Chip was in it, Anne K was in it. Ian directed. I just remember laughing a lot. I remember eating as many jelly beans (?) as I could stuff in my mouth during a scene, just to make everyone laugh. I remember coming to rehearsal and hearing that John Lennon had been killed. I have the vaguest memory that we may have done a scene from this in one of DRT's classes in high school. Anyway, I though of that show in lovely Pratt Auditorium at IUP this morning when I saw KVs picture in the paper.
# posted by The Noogerator @ 8:41 AM 
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yeah, one of those "early" productions that was just plain silly- we used the script in those days as more of an outline than actually following it for any sort of cohesive ideas(or plot or character).
I just told a story about that production last year to my Coriolanus cast- it had something to do with my walking out of a rehearsal in frustration (as I thought that's what directors were to do)only to be puzzled as to how I could return to rehearsal- so I just went across the parking lot to the student union and got some french fries- you know, so it would seem like I was not having a temper tantrum, only that I really needed some french fries.
My other thought of those Pratt Hall showcase productions was that we would catch a lot of flak for "doing it wrong." But, in hindsight, I learned as much from those goof-fests as I did by playing some character that was beyond my age and experience in the highly glossed mainstage productions. I think student artists need to have places where they can fail and fail miserably- on their own terms- because otherwise they're just learning the same old lesson that everyone else has learned and they just become cookie-cutters.
But maybe that's all just my rationalizing for being a screw-off.
When ever I read Kurt V, I'm always struck with how much better he is than I remember. I'll go for a decade without reading anything, then pick something up and think "wow, this is pretty good- why don't I like him more?" only to forget that I liked the book and wait another decade to "re-discover" him.
He wrote a novel about a Jackson Pollack type character that got panned that I liked a whole lot. I don't remember the name of it.
I just told a story about that production last year to my Coriolanus cast- it had something to do with my walking out of a rehearsal in frustration (as I thought that's what directors were to do)only to be puzzled as to how I could return to rehearsal- so I just went across the parking lot to the student union and got some french fries- you know, so it would seem like I was not having a temper tantrum, only that I really needed some french fries.
My other thought of those Pratt Hall showcase productions was that we would catch a lot of flak for "doing it wrong." But, in hindsight, I learned as much from those goof-fests as I did by playing some character that was beyond my age and experience in the highly glossed mainstage productions. I think student artists need to have places where they can fail and fail miserably- on their own terms- because otherwise they're just learning the same old lesson that everyone else has learned and they just become cookie-cutters.
But maybe that's all just my rationalizing for being a screw-off.
When ever I read Kurt V, I'm always struck with how much better he is than I remember. I'll go for a decade without reading anything, then pick something up and think "wow, this is pretty good- why don't I like him more?" only to forget that I liked the book and wait another decade to "re-discover" him.
He wrote a novel about a Jackson Pollack type character that got panned that I liked a whole lot. I don't remember the name of it.
I was hoping someone would post a Vonnegut tribute. Glad to know others appreciated his work as much as I. Vonnegut is an author whose works I enjoy passing on to my own children.
I met Vonnegut once. It was after he spoke at IUP. He was no nonsense, and didn't chit chat with many people. I was in awe and found nothing in my brain to say at the moment he looked into my eyes. But I do remember thinking how curly and lovely his hair was up close. How odd.
# posted by 
: 10:34 PM
: 10:34 PM
"if I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: 'The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.'"
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