Fri. Feb.18: Playback Forum and market scene

Summary: Presented Playback North America to 19 Playback leaders, lunch with Playback founder at outdoor market.
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Everything is new, everything interesting. The way many boulevards have a wide median strip with a pedestrian walkway and separate bike path, and fruit juice stands strung with piles of oranges, pomegranates, bananas. The way staffpeople answer, “Of course!” to most simple questions. (Does it mean only “Yes” or “Yes, idiot!” as it sounds?) Rows of men playing fast paddleball at the beach,  (read more plus videos)
some with a paddle in each hand. Every block has at least three cafes, and every café has tables outside in the sun and a glassed-in non-smoking area (that protects only slightly from the smoke, as I can attest right now). All the tropical vegetation sweeps me into Hawaii-nostalgia: banyan trees, red hibiscus blossoms, palm trees, blooming lantana with their fruity smell, African tulip trees. All the women wear tall boots and tight leggings (and many wear babies, as well). Chic beauty salons and eyewear stores abound with flashy, modern art décor, and many shop windows feature fancy long gowns I can’t imagine any human wearing. Wide mix of ages on the streets. Many old, young and inbetween, many dogs, dog poop, Hebrew everywhere, plus a smattering of French. I hear no English except in reply to me.


This morning Lior drove us to the monthly “Playback Forum” – a meeting of conductors from 20+ troupes that has been meeting for six years. It was a historic moment in their group’s history, as today after much discussion and argument they signed documents that make them a formal Association (like a nonprofit organization) rather than a loose affiliation. We had 90 minutes on the agenda – shared our personal story (with Playback), took questions about True Story Theatre and Playback North America, and had them reflect in dyads about what has helped Playback develop in Israel and what might help it flourish in the future. The most exciting part for us was the barrage of invitations we received at the closing. “Come visit us! Come train with our group!”

Aviva Appel, the grand-dame who twenty years ago brought Playback to Israel, led us through a fabulous street market teeming with immigrants of every color and language and age, piles of gleaming fruits and vegetables, cheeses and meats and nuts and candies, everyone yelling, selling, greeting, getting ready for Shabbat. We ate shish-kabob and hummus and pita at a hole in the wall and heard her views on Playback here.

Home around 3:30 and threw ourselves into a long nap. Coffee and email and exercise… I had a first Skype date with Dakota… we made a simple dinner…but I felt out-of-it emotionally and physically and by 8pm we were was in bed asleep. Then up from midnight till 3am unpeeling some layers of distance that had been accumulating between us: “micro-irritations” as we call them, little comments that momentarily hurt or annoyed one of us but when explored reveal troves of misinterpretations and misjudgments and fascinating issues to explore and problem solve.

Slept soundly till 8am and felt much closer to each other upon awakening.

Beach photos:

Aviva at market:

Market scene: