Tempest and Touchdowns

We spent a wonderful night last night in Spring Green, watching American Players Theater's production of The Tempest (probably my third favorite Shakespearean play).  My overly generous friend, Julie, got tickets for us in her stubborn effort to repay a favor, despite being told repeatedly not to do so.  My friends don't listen to me any better than my husband does!  At any rate, M, L, Hunter, and I went to the play.  We were worried about getting rained out, but the weather held up.  It was a chilly night, but we dressed in lots of layers and were pretty comfortable through the performance.

The show was FAN-fucking-TASTIC! The setting was beautiful! I was really impressed by the actors--they must have been freezing but they never showed it!  All four of us enjoyed it so much.  I especially enjoyed the actor who played Ferdinand.  I liked his interpretation of the lovesick prince.  In the interest of full disclosure, in addition to enjoying his performance, I enjoyed the hell out of looking at him; he's beautiful and built quite nicely.  ;-) The actor who played Caliban did a very nice job, too (and with a difficult role).  The goodbye scene between Prospero and Aerial brought me to tears.  The whole thing was just top notch!

The kids absolutely loved the cross-dressed male performers in the role of the sprites/chorus.  They giggled every time the guys came out.  They caught and giggled at some of the jokes but missed some too.  They didn't catch on to the funniest (and bawdiest) of the jokes, which was probably good.

L and I were mesmerized by the many bats flying around throughout the performance.  They lived in the high wooden walls around the stage.  It was the perfect bat habitat and they fit well into the theme/setting of the play, which was set outside on a magical island.  They did a great job at keeping the place bug free.  They were constantly flying into and out of the stage walls, and would climb up the walls and slip through the cracks between the planks and out of sight.  They were coming out of the same area under the stage as the actors were and often came in very close contact with each other.  Bats flew across and around the stage all night, sometimes coming very close to the actors--in some cases I feared there would be a collision (there wasn't), but the actors never flinched or responded in any way.  The actors never missed a beat.  It was impressive. 

This morning we went to watch our friends Logan and Colton play football.  Logan played last year; this is Colton's first year.  He looks so cute with his tiny self in the huge football uniform!

As part of L's aggressive campaign to get me to allow her to adopt two rats, she has taken up drawing rats and making rat art.  She made these two 8x10 canvases and put them on my bedroom wall but has informed me that my keeping the pictures is contingent on how I respond to her rat endeavors.  She's enlisted her sister's help, as her sister has also always wanted rats and loves the idea of being able to visit and play with them but not having to do the associated work.  (By the way, I ADORE rats and would love to have them too, but for many reasons do not think this is the appropriate timing for that.) 

She is also working on enlisting my friend Allegrea in the rat campaign.  Allegrea understands both points of view and will remain neutral.  We went downtown this afternoon to see A working on her plaster sculpture outside (poor thing was so cold!) for Art Infusion.  I knew L would find a way to work her rat campaign in before we left.  The child is relentless!