There have been multiple occasions when I’ve been in attendance at theatrical events in foreign languages and still managed to understand what was transpiring onstage. The first of these was Aristophanes’ The Frogs, presented in Greek by British students studying—yes, you guessed it—Greek. (I wrote about this in a recent blog post.) Fortunately for me,Continue reading “It’s All Greek, German, and Japanese To Me”
Tag Archives: Berkeley
A Spontaneous Moment to Remember
There’s a moment in grad school at Berkeley I often remember with great fondness. It was the first of many such recollections, and they do say we always remember our first. The moment happened after a performance of Aristophanes’ The Frogs. The performers were British university students who presented the work in Greek, sans subtitlesContinue reading “A Spontaneous Moment to Remember”
Roboshop
My late wife was an avid shopper. She would start moving through clothing racks in a very methodical way and you could see her calculating fabric, color, etc. as she went. I called this method “Roboshop” because she reminded me of the Peter Weller character as he would move and swivel his head to takeContinue reading “Roboshop”
“She Tipped Me A Crystal”
At Berkeley, we had a summer lunchtime theatre series. Each show rehearsed for two weeks (one week in the morning, one week in the afternoon) and then a week of performances. I directed two shows in two summers: Noel Coward’s We Were Dancing (in the Durham Studio Theatre) and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—which I cutContinue reading ““She Tipped Me A Crystal””
Don’t Tell Me I Can’t
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? One of the quickest ways to encourage me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it, or to speak the more passive phrase, “it can’t be done.” That’s precisely the motivation I’ve often needed to accomplish a goal. ItContinue reading “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t”
I Left My Heart…
Describe the last difficult “goodbye” you said. For most of the people I’ve said “goodbye” to over the years, it’s really been more of a “see you later.” We mostly still keep in touch, however sporadically, and I’ve lost only a few whom I’ve really cared about. But California, now… Well. That’s different. I leftContinue reading “I Left My Heart…”
CV, Success, ca va?
What colleges have you attended? I had planned on going to college right after high school. I had selected a private Pennsylvania school (though I didn’t know about the private vs. public thing at the time) because they had a major in Cinematography, and at the time I wanted to be a film director. NeverContinue reading “CV, Success, ca va?”
If I Had a Sports Team
If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be? To continue the song reference I begin alluding to in the title: If I had a sports team, I’d—actually I don’t know what I’d do. All bets would be off. It might be a sign of the apocalypse. I did follow theContinue reading “If I Had a Sports Team”
Favorite Place In My City…?
What is your favorite place to go in your city? I’ve lived in a few different locations up to this point; to enumerate them (and the number of different addresses in each): You can see why, when I have to renew my “I never molested children” clearances mandated after the Penn State/Sandusky scandal, I needContinue reading “Favorite Place In My City…?”
The Famous Ones
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met? There was a long-running TV game show in the 1950s and 1960s called What’s My Line? Regular people and celebrities would enter, sign in (please!), and then the panel would question them in order to guess who they were or what they did.Continue reading “The Famous Ones”
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