Saturday, June 08, 2013

Great Plains Theatre Conference 2013

What was it like in Omaha?
Well...

I made a ton of new friends. Really wonderful, funny, smart, sassy, irreverent people. My brain went into high gear thinking up was to make them laugh and keeping up with some brilliant conversation.
There were bees, whales and invisible rabbits. The magic bus. Superman and Lois Lane, King Tot and Robert Oppenheimer. Unrepentant Nazi's. Heroes and villains. Universes expanding and collapsing.  Aliens and Zombies and Shiva. Adoption. The forgotten elderly. A barbershop. Afterschool specials and middle school teachers. Kitchen sink dramas that REALLY had kitchen sinks. Vegetarianism. Food, food, FOOD and more food. Lots of booze, including an almost fatal dose of moonshine on my first night.

There was a brilliant portrayal of Walt Whitman. Spur of the moment, and beautifully voiced. Oklahoma and San Francisco. There was a profane old lady. An Oscar ceremony There was horror at McDonalds. And torture and military secrets. Greek tragedy. And the birth of modern gynecology. And an ode to a stolen wine opener. There was SO MUCH I DIDN'T SEE which makes me want to kick myself because what I did see was so effing good. There were young loud lovable actors from New York. There were actors from Omaha, serving the new plays so beautifully.

The quality of the plays was high, so high, so very high. The fact that Silueta was included in this bunch must mean that it was very good indeed.

It was summer camp for smart people. I loved every damn minute.