Thursday, January 6
So I am excited because we open tomorrow night. And aside from that being exciting in and of itself (woohoo), I am particularly pleased because I will get to take off one of the hats I’ve been wearing these past months: the producer Top Hat. It’s been fun and challenging juggling everything but there will be a joy to just honing in on the performance aspect of this show and being able to live in and play with that. I think my acting hat is more like a cool 1920s fedora, or a little 1940s red velvet lid, as they were called. I could also be a veiled riding hat from the 20s (yes, I just googled all of those). But if I think about Neci in particular I would say she’s more of that aforementioned fedora pulled low on the forehead. Maybe with a playful dash of red in the dark pattern.
As this has now become a fashion post, I’ll talk about my costume as well. I forget it’s a costume because the jeans I wear are these fantastic hand me downs I got from my former roommate (and a childhood friend). They are slowing falling to pieces and I’ve had to sew the button back on twice (I do not dabble in gastronomy-I am a full-out fan) and stitch the knees but I will never throw them out. A shout out to Biz who handed those pants down to me. My sweatshirt, turned inside out, is actually from a South African designer friend of mine named Hope. He works in Durban (where I used to live) and has this great line called 031, which is Durban’s area code. So the front of the sweatshirt, if you could see it, says Durban 031 on it. It reminds me of my time there and this great up-and-coming designer who is part of building the new South Africa. I love clothes that have a history (which my friends know as I constantly am parading around town in my mother’s vintage 60s and 70s dresses). I find new clothes boring (and everyone also has access to them which is kinda lame) so I try to find clothes with a life that started without me. Then we get to share a story and add to it together. Kind of like the collaboration between actor, director and playwright.
And now that I’ve tied that up neatly in a bow, I am off to get ready for the show tonight.