My Nutty Valentine

Dear Mouse,

Happy (Belated) Valentines!

DAY OFF!

& Love is in the air ...(R to L: The Boo & Butley, The Theatre Dog)

Thanks for picking up the slack with two excellent posts while I was orbiting Planet Show. This was definitely the most strenuous, action-packed two weeks in my personal work history. The short version: it took two "10 out of 12" days and one "8 out of 10" to get through every technical cue in this multimedia epic ... once. Preview performances began last Tuesday. We rehearsed all day each day, made changes, and performed at night. Two nights in, the entire second act was rewritten significantly and put onstage within 48 hrs. We finally opened Friday night after a final day of rehearsal, breathed a sigh of relief ... and then performed the show twice on saturday and twice on Sunday. I stopped even pretending to get dressed in the morning, and the costume department has had to take in my first-act Guatemalan Shorts twice (a fringe benefit I suppose.) At the moment it is 630PM and I am already in pajamas, digesting a Short Ends Platter and a Coors Light from Gates BBQ and blogging from bed, where I will likely stay until our 930AM call to do the show for school kids at 10AM! tomorrow.

Let me say at this time that I realize nothing is more annoying than a working artist complaining about how exhausting it is to Live The Dream, so I will stop there and tell the whole truth: that my Valentine's Week was aces, and that I am feeling utterly grateful for the opportunity to work this hard, to learn this much ... and eat this sandwich:

The "Nutty Girl" Sandwich and a large LatteLand Coffee.

(this sandwich tends to sell out at LL. If you miss it there, go to the actual The Nutty Girl, a cafe & juice bar in nearby Westport, where I will be spending my next morning off. )

Nutty Girl at Home. Poor lighting.

So I realize that in the past I may have said the words "Best Sandwich in the World" before, maybe even more than once. But that doesn't mean I can't say and mean them again. After all, is there really only One Right Sandwich out there for each of us? For example, the "Spicy Godfather" at Graham Avenue Meats and Deli in East Williamsburg - that's a hell of a time. I'll never forget it. The first time I ate it, it transported me. It was exciting. It was (duh) spicy. It gave me so much - I had to give half of it to Leon - I thought I could never want more from lunchtime. It also completely destroyed my stomach before a matinee, but I went back for more. It was just that good.

Godfather, we'll always have Brooklyn. But a girl has to move on.

Call me fickle, but there's a new lunch in town. And I've been eating it for breakfast. It's glorious. What sounded like a list of wacky, mismatched ingredients turned out to be a charming little stack of tasty harmony. It is nourishing and sturdy and not-too-sweet. It will get you through tech. It is packed with energy and entirely plant-based. AND it is nutty, sweet, and orange - a little valentine to your 2nd chakra.

The Nutty Girl a la LatteLand KC

(because I'll have to make them myself back in NYC, let's all start now)

2 slices some kinda nutty/multigrain/sprouted bread

a generous slather of cashew butter

shredded carrots

thin slices granny smith apple

thin slices extra sharp cheddar

Love,

The Boo

Om Shanti, KC

Dear Mouse,

It's that time again.

a play and media project about our environmental challenges

Runs Feb 17 - March 19 at Kansas City Rep

Hello hello from Kansas City MO, where I'll be living and blogging for the next two months. I still can't quite believe that this is the fourth year in a row I'm working out of town Jan-March; I'm starting to think of it as my annual pilgrimage to... America. You know I've had a love affair with Going Away in general ever since my sandal-wearing, patchouly-scented, guitar-strumming Summer Camp days. But I especially dig the, say, liminal nature of the first night in town, before rehearsals start, when you have no idea what lies ahead. You land in a strange new world, navigate a new grocery store, unpack your clothes, listen to the SILENCE around you, breathe maybe a little differently, and ponder upcoming challenges. And when I speak of challenges, I mean figuring out how I am going to approach playing twin sisters (!!!), and also I mean things like this:

Hi, my name's Steve, I'll be your Fork for the next two months. Not kidding.

Yes, the lay of the land here in Kitchen Stadium is interesting.

No oven. Like the song says, I got two electric burners and a microwave...

Stay tuned. I think it'll be like camping. (Really, really nice camping). It'll bring me back to that herb-scented, celestially-seasoned self of yesteryear. Which already seems kind of appropriate. Because I've never been here before and really know nothing about this town, but if my first five hours are anything to go by...

... Kansas City is full of hippies!!

(Shh, don't scare them off.)

Evidence collected thus far:

* company manager picks Boo up at airport, beaming in the 65-degree sunshine (speaking of environmental challenges) and sporting a pair of sunglasses that say "love" on both sides

* Nature's Own, the organic grocery store two blocks away!! where I foraged this afternoon. The checkout girl told me she liked my hair. As I floated home with my arms full of turkish apricots, self-churned peanut butter, and Amy's organic frozen dinners, I stopped to gawk atPhoenix Herb, the homeopathic place next door with its rows and rows of mysterious leaves in glass jars.

* welcome packet at the hotel is definitely the best of its kind I have ever seen and includes the following:

-a bag of Zum products (all-natural frankincense/lavender/lemon bar soap, hand sanitizer, and aromatherapy spray, as well as eucalytpus-scented "laundry soap")

-'seventh-generation' natural dish soap

-reusable grocery shopping bag

-plastic baggies of raw cashews and almonds

-and this

Relax, relax, they're tea bags, they're tea bags.

But it took me a second too.

I went 'home', rolled out my yoga mat, sprayed my pillows with lavender/lemon, and fired up some quinoa and raw kale for dinner. I kid you not. And if last week I was wondering why this highly anticipated new show about climate change, planetary stewardship, and environmental responsibility was premiering so far 'out of town'... it is starting to make sense. Om shanti, KC, I think I'm gonna like it here.

Love,

The Boo

PS. Lest I give a totally skewed perspective, rest assured that this glossary of "BBQ Terms" was part of our welcome packet too.