Check It Out

I suppose the "educational" portion of the New York Arts Program has begun - for yesterday the Theatre & Drama students had their first seminar with Dana Tarantino (remember? The savvy the adviser...). We meet once a week to learn fun things about theatre and life and all that (hot) mess. For our first seminar, we basically just introduced ourselves and explained our internships, and then chatted for a little bit. Next week should be even better - Dana got us all free tickets to The 39 Steps, which comes complete with a post-show talkback. Should be fun times.

And now for the big story of the day - today I got my New York Public Library Card! I am officially experience life as it should be in New York City. Kelly and I explored the Mid-Manhattan branch of the library and found it to be treasure trove of wonderful literature and media. However, I found it particularly difficult to find a few items I desired - for none were on the shelf, as the catalog stated. Luckily, I was able to track down one book on a stray cart lingering far away from the book's Dewey Decimal placement. My first checkout from the NYPL: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

So Much to Do in New York

So I was right - this weekend was fabulous. Lots of shows, lots of people, lots of fun times. It all started on Friday, with Race Music - okay, this show was actually pretty bad, but it was free so I'm not complaining. But the evening was topped off with a delicious late-night dinner in Chelsea, so it's all good.

Not too much happened on Saturday - except for 90 of the greatest minutes of my life. Sally, Kelly, and I got standing room tickets to God of Carnage and it was absolutely perfect. The cast came out to the stage door, and they were all so nice. Unfortunately, Jeff Daniels signed with such agility that we couldn't chat about Michigan. But Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden were incredibly kind. James Gandolfini didn't come out, but that's fine. The play was absolutely amazing, and the performances were flawless. And once again, the performance was followed up with some delicious Jamba Juice (we need to start practicing some self-control in that department...).

Sunday was incredibly eventful - the morning brought Broadway on Broadway to Times Square - the casts of all the Broadway shows came and performed for free! We were incredibly far away, but it was still cool. The highlight of the event: Seth Rudetsky made an appearance. Even better, we spotted Seth later in the day outside the Avenue Q theatre - we thought it best not to say anything, so I just took some creepy stalker pictures instead. But anywho, Broadway on Broadway was a wonderful experience, and came complete with a confetti-splashed finale.

Later in the day, we stopped by Radio City to see the red carpet action at the VMA's. We arrived at 5:30, and once we realized that nobody was actually arriving till 8:00, we promptly left. One fun thing came out of this though: my first subway ride of the season! Yeah, I think I might stick to walking - it's way cheaper and not that much more difficult.

Okay, I have just one more show to report - tonight Kelly and I saw Altar Boyz, which was absolutely hilarious.

So that's the weekend - lots and lots of shows for very little money. Now I'm back to work. If anyone is wondering about the internship scandal - I have sent in applications for some other internships and should hopefully have some news before the week is out. Hang tight, y'all.