Current mood:

happy

Shakespeare and Halloween


Last night I ushered at the Shakespeare Theater for the first time. It was my first time (outside of volunteer orientation) to even enter this theater. The show was "Taming of the Shrew." I am glad that I had the opportunity to work at the Lansburgh Theater (7th street - the original theater) first, since the next few shows I work at will be the brand new, much larger Harman Hall (F Street). I attempted to reason with a disgruntled, elderly couple immediately before the show began, so I was quite distracted during the first 30 minutes of the show, but it was definitely Shakespeare's typical comedy with everyone pretending that they are someone else. I was quite disturbed by certain parts of the "taming" process - yanking of the hair, starving, sleep depriving, taunting, and such - but a co-worker who also volunteers at the theater said that this version played down the taming. I am now tempted to read the original to see how Shakespeare originally intended for women to be tamed!

If anyone else is interested, volunteering seems to be a great way to see shows for free. I was required to be at the theater by 6pm (show started at 7:30pm), they provided us with coffee and cookies while assigning us jobs and giving us on-the-spot training. We then sat around until the theater doors were opened. At that point we each did our respective jobs (taking tickets, checking coats, working concessions, or ushering) until the show started. The one down-side is that you stand in the back until approximately 30 minutes into the show (which kills your feet if you wear boots like I did!) and then if there are free seats they will show you where to sit. Had there not been available seats, I would have most likely left and returned to volunteer another day when there were seats - standing in one spot for 2 hours does not sound like much fun!

On another, unrelated note today is HALLOWEEN!!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!!!! I am at work dressed in all black, with spider jewelry, and a black cat scarf around my neck. I'm counting down until this evening when I will be going trick-or-treating on Embassy Row with Things to do DC! Tonight I will be a flapper. Friday night I will be a belly dancer! Last Saturday I was a wench. Hopefully sometime next week I will be able to post pictures of all of my costumes!!!! I have realized that I am a complete costume whore. I think it's a disease!

As a last note, this post is in direct response to addictionkitten's comment last week in CT during survivedestiny's beautiful wedding, asking for me to update more often. I promise to try!!!!!