Summary: Israeli breakfast with Aviva, bike in the park, rehearse with Yoram's company "Muse"
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OK, I aim to make this SHORT because it's Wednesday already and I so want to write my Playback reflections (which I'm keeping elsewhere) before more of them pile up.
Perfect warm sunny spring-like day. Our grandmotherly host Aviva made us an unexpected "real Israeli breakfast" with a lemon-drenched salad of cucumber, red pepper, tomato and flat parsley (she let us use her chopper that diced it all into perfect tiny cubes), herb omelet, creamy lamb's milk yogurt,
buckwheat rice cakes, a spice spread called something like zatar... and we eagerly talked shop, drawing out her decades of experience as a Playback director and psychodramatist.
Cut the visit short so we have time to walk to the park, pick up our bicycles (the store still owed us a few hours use from our last rental) and enjoy a heavenly hour's ride in the sunshine to the shore and alongside an airport runway (which was a little ugly but interesting!) Track down a highly recommended gelato store and gleefully consume a giant four-flavor cone. Nap, hang out at the corner cafe writing, second nap (knocked out by sunshine!) and off to yet another Playback experience, joining the group "Muse" at their weekly rehearsal.
As with our other Playback visits thus far, the troupe is incredibly welcoming and clearly thrilled and stimulated by our exchange (from 8-11pm, we trade off teaching each other). It's so touching! Surprising! Gratifying! Here they are in a city with dozens of troupes, but other than the annual conference it seems most groups never do an exchange. Is it simply daily busy-ness that keeps troupe members from visiting each other? Or the uneasy competition between the companies, which we escape by being exotic foreigners? Whatever causes it, the result is that actors seems starved for outside stimulus. As we teach we see light bulbs flashing above their heads as well as grins on their faces. We leave with warm hugs and hopes to see them in Boston one of these days. I think a lot of people are getting the idea of doing a "Playback vacation" in another country!
____
OK, I aim to make this SHORT because it's Wednesday already and I so want to write my Playback reflections (which I'm keeping elsewhere) before more of them pile up.
Perfect warm sunny spring-like day. Our grandmotherly host Aviva made us an unexpected "real Israeli breakfast" with a lemon-drenched salad of cucumber, red pepper, tomato and flat parsley (she let us use her chopper that diced it all into perfect tiny cubes), herb omelet, creamy lamb's milk yogurt,
buckwheat rice cakes, a spice spread called something like zatar... and we eagerly talked shop, drawing out her decades of experience as a Playback director and psychodramatist.
Cut the visit short so we have time to walk to the park, pick up our bicycles (the store still owed us a few hours use from our last rental) and enjoy a heavenly hour's ride in the sunshine to the shore and alongside an airport runway (which was a little ugly but interesting!) Track down a highly recommended gelato store and gleefully consume a giant four-flavor cone. Nap, hang out at the corner cafe writing, second nap (knocked out by sunshine!) and off to yet another Playback experience, joining the group "Muse" at their weekly rehearsal.
As with our other Playback visits thus far, the troupe is incredibly welcoming and clearly thrilled and stimulated by our exchange (from 8-11pm, we trade off teaching each other). It's so touching! Surprising! Gratifying! Here they are in a city with dozens of troupes, but other than the annual conference it seems most groups never do an exchange. Is it simply daily busy-ness that keeps troupe members from visiting each other? Or the uneasy competition between the companies, which we escape by being exotic foreigners? Whatever causes it, the result is that actors seems starved for outside stimulus. As we teach we see light bulbs flashing above their heads as well as grins on their faces. We leave with warm hugs and hopes to see them in Boston one of these days. I think a lot of people are getting the idea of doing a "Playback vacation" in another country!
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