SUNDAY IN THE PARK, PLUS, PLUS

I received this email from Ken today and thought everyone would enjoy reading about his Sunday adventure.

I had quite a nice day yesterday. It started off with a good night's rest, which is always nice. I have such a nice view of the Manhattan skyline from my view. The morning breaks on New York and it is rather nice. 

I took off around 10:00 for the city, but found it rather necessary to get some food. One of the things I love about New York is that every neighborhood seems to have these neighborhood markets that have a deli where you can the most delicious sandwiches. I got the deli version of a Sausage Egg McMuffin, walked my 100 yards to the station, ate my delicious sandwich and then boarded the subway to Manhattan.  (Ken stayed in Queens.)

I went to 86th on the "4" Train. I wanted to go to a different ward building than the one I've been to a couple of times where they have the Temple. I found the building and went to Sacrament building. It was very lovely and the organist was amazing. He played the interlude hymn (#260, Who's on the Lord Side?) between speakers as if it was carnival ride. It was rather amazing with all the slides and rocking fun style. I've never heard anything ever like that at a ward building. Even the speaker commented on it. It made me say "Amen" at the end. The speakers included a guy who joined the church. His wife is an opera singer in New York. The congregation seemed to have a lot of amazingly talented speakers. The 2nd and 3rd speakers were this young couple. They were most impressive. All of the talks were on Charity and very good. The last speaker was a 25ish very polished young man that you can tell has a bright future. He spoke most eloquently on the subject focusing on that Charity begins in the mind, then goes to our words and finally to our actions. 

After the service I walked up Lexington (It's the block next to Park Avenue) where this amazing street faire was going on for what seemed like miles. It was rather lovely. I went about 8 blocks up it before cutting over to Central Park. It was about 1 pm, but I knew I had some time before the program (The Fork) began at 4pm. So I strolled through the Park. It was an amazing day weather-wise and really I enjoyed strolling through various spots. I put on some music and just visited much of it including Jackie O's Lake, the Castle, the Sheep Meadow and so much more. It is an amazing piece of real estate. I walked to the end, which is about 65th. I just decided to walk to 43rd where the production was going to be. I figured by now I'd walked 5 miles and had another 3 or 4 to go. My leg was feeling it, but not so bad that I couldn't make it. I strolled the remaining miles through the streets of New York. It was fun. New  York is such a place. Everyone is a no one yet someone. When you live in New York you know you're somewhere where things happen. You feel special just seeing everything. But, then there are so many people there that you can't help but notice it. It seems to produce people that are quite independent and very confident. Everyone just seems to do their thing connected by a city, which is really a massive amount of small neighborhoods (each with a nice deli, I might add). 

In any case, I made it to the theater about 3:45 pm with 15 minutes to spare. I knew it would be chaos as I'm beginning to realize that organization is not the theatrical world's expertise. I also knew that I had no money to buy the $20 ticket. But, I figured I could try and use my writer's credit and get a free ticket. I saw that the guys running it weren't really confrontational so I just walked past them and into the theater and selected a seat. I'd imagine that there were 50 to 60 seats in this small theater. It was in a building where lots of creative things happen (dancing, casting, theatrical efforts, etc.). It was old and very NYC-like. We were on the 4th floor and the elevator was a classic thing. 

Now getting there early was rather bold of me. It meant that I would sit through all 10 productions prior to The Fork. The night before was tough since I had only a few hours of sleep and the actors/story lines on two or three of the productions were killers. One of them was a Sherlock Holmes mystery that went 24 minutes the night before and almost made me want to scream. (The productions are supposed to be 10 minute plays.) But, I didn't. From the previous night, after all of the productions, the organizers, who were definitely not young, polled the audience for the shows they liked and counted the votes. Since we were last, we had one advantage because a lot of people left (or just committed Hari Kari after Sherlock or the Ode to Hitler piece). In any case, the prior night we had about 12 votes with the next highest being 8. 

So, this time the show was at 4 pm. Much of the audience was enthusiastic this afternoon and the productions were better. The audience laughed a lot more on Sunday at each of the shows so I was bit worried. Plus, they didn't leave, even after the significantly tightened (this time just 20 minutes on Sunday) Sherlock production. So, when The Fork went on I was thinking this could be tough. The changeovers between acts were very fast. Ours had the most props by far. But, we had a stage manager and she was fast in the setup. The play was cut down by Dennis by 3 pages so a few of our lines and laughs were cut out. Still, by the time the waiter says "As big as your head" at 90 seconds in, the audience is into it. I recorded both nights and you can really hear the audience laughing. When the meatball makes its presence, the whole place just rolls over in laughter. From there it just keeps going. In the end, most shows received about 8 votes with a couple getting 0 (Sherlock's 20 minutes, shockingly didn't please folks). When they asked for votes on the Fork, I saw most hands go up and I knew we had one. They basically counted everyone, but after about 20 votes, just announced that The Fork had won. It was a slam dunk. They invited Erik up to receive the $75 cash prize (retirement!!), but more importantly to receive the applause. Erik (the director) was kind and acknowledged me. I would have put up a picture of Dennis, but I wasn't carrying one. In any case, there was much love for The Fork. It is a fun 12 minutes (I know, I know). 

Afterwards, we had a lot of handshaking and congrats. I took a few pics with the Crew/Actors. Erik Orton was very good. The actors were all quite excellent. I'd say that they did a very good job. It was different than Utah (and they had less of the material), but they did very well. Some of it was funnier than Utah and they innovated on it. I love that about theater. 

In any case, eventually, I went with Erik and told him my plans. I want to move to New York in 2013 with the family/business. It just feels right. I now know a few people and believe that we can make this theatrical/Triac combo work. Who knows. Could be great. Besides, flying from JFK/La Guardia is easy. 

I carried home the Meatball on the subway and through the streets of NY. I received many, many looks, inquiries and laughs. Its just funny that Meatball. 

Ken