Sunday, April 3, 2011

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, A new theatre, and the Cast of a Storm

I went to see a musical on Friday night at the newly renovated Monroe Theatre Guild-You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
The theatre? Beautiful. Nothing like the crappy, scrappy old department store we used to use all of the time. Even the workspace, which was once nothing short of treacherous to walk on barefoot or in sandals is now a beautiful SHINY hardwood floor. So everything, absolutely everything is different and new.
But honestly, I don't know how I feel about that...
You see, I'm kind of a creature of habit, and only things that are truly traumatic or a very very long period of time can change my way of doing things. I don't know why this is, but it could be because my constant stream of bad luck has lead me to believe that any tip of the scale will have my hanging onto anything left for dear life...
ANYWAY...the reason for my hesitation about the gorgeous new Theatre Guild set-up is probably because about three years ago, this is where I met Riley.
Also, it really pisses me off that he didn't get to see it now. He would have loved it...
The new set-up itself is completely different, except for the costume shop, which they haven't gotten to yet, but wasn't even that bad to begin with. We have that whole hard-wood rehearsal space, a new make-up room (YES! we've NEVER had a WHOLE ROOM for putting on make-up!), multiple new bathrooms with one including a shower, a kitchen for food prep, and a brilliant and cunning little Black Box theatre.
The show itself was the first show that has been performed in the theatre, and it was cute.
The whole cast did brilliantly, and I especially loved the character of Snoopy.
My favorite part actually had to be during the song: Glee Club Rehearsal, where everyone was fighting about something:
Linas took Lucy's pencil, because she took his crayons; Lucy said that if Linas didn't give back her pencil, then she was going to tell Sally what Linas had said about her, which provoked Linas to withhold the pencil until Lucy promised not to say anything. Well, Sally overheard and wanted to know what Linas had said so she took the pencil from Linas and told Lucy she'd give it back if she told Sally what Linas had said about her.
and Lucy told her:
"He said, he said: You're an Enigma!"
at this, in the audience, I burst out laughing.
I have a history with being called an Enigma, and this was just one of those moments where I have to wonder why my life is set up with both shocking coincidences and tragic irony.
I wonder if this is all coined the way that it is so that one day, I don't have a choice in being a writer anymore.
In fact, the way I see it, I could probably write a book right now, and it wouldn't be half bad. I mean, it might not be half good either, but if you're one of the very few who reads this blog, you'd know better than I would anyway.


It's raining right now, outside my windows.
I haven't been able to sleep in my own bed very well at times, so sometimes I sleep on the couch in the rec room. It's particularly nice tonight because of the storm.
I love storms, but they always make me somewhat morose, and right now they have me thinking about all the things I miss.
I'll try to dismiss that, though, and focus on what the rain is:
The rain is cool, as smooth as silk.
It's quiet, like a whisper. Like rain, when you hear a whisper, it's often soft enough that you don't even realize you're hearing it until everything else fades away and it's just you and the whisper; you and the rain.
The thunder could never sound threatening to me, even when it echoes like a canon. It just makes me feel warmer, and safer where ever I am.
Except now, but that doesn't matter.
When thunder rolls, it almost seems to me like it's upset that it has to make sound. Thunder doesn't want to scare children and wake the sleeping. It doesn't relish having a reputation for sounding angry, but Thunder is peeved, therefor even though it doesn't really want to sound annoyed and loud and disgruntled, it will anyway.
Lightening is another story...Lightening is aloof. It comes and goes when it's called, but only stays long enough to make the appropriate entrance and then leave. You can see it as it goes: a few veins of white and blue light that spirit across the sky faster than your eyes can change focal points.
Some say that Thunder and Lightening go hand in hand, but I disagree. I think that Rain is the real star of the show, the one that's always loved and worshiped and the one that people kiss each other standing in. Then Thunder is the side-kick, the one that people hear and either like or dislike, but based on the reputation adapted from the opinions of nearly every dog, child, and light sleeper in the world, isn't very happy with his lot in life. Lightening comes last, but that's because Lightening chose to do it that way. He doesn't mind or care. He has other things to think about, and illuminating the dark world for a few milliseconds isn't the biggest worry he has; hence the reason he's always late to work: lack of care.


The rain still hasn't stopped, but I might now just sit and listen to it.