Anticipating Miles

I laughed. I cried. It was better than Cats.

You read through someone’s journal, and there’s a point where you have a pretty good idea what they’re about.

What it lacks though, is a layer that only surfaces when expressions, gestures, and a voice flush out the words.

I drove up to north tonight to see some folks I’d never met before (and some I didn’t know I’d meet). The 2004 Columbus Gay & Lesbian National Theatre Festival was the setting and I was there to check out a play.

Take all the good parts of a life changing event: laughter, revelation, some tears—cut out the boring crap and cram it into an hour. Throw in some wonderfully bad poetry for snorts and staff it with the folks that lived it to re-live it onstage.

At one point, I wondered how much of this was acting and how much of it was the natural chemistry of the two characters, but that notion falls by the wayside with the simple integrity of the piece.

There’s no dancing chorus mind you, and the set is spartan. However, after the lights come back up, you feel like you know these people. And they’re good people.

If you’re near Columbus, there’s two more shows left of Anticipating Miles, and be sure to check out Bobaloo‘s Do Not Pass Go while you’re there. I’ll be in the audience for the latter tomorrow and looking mighty forward to it. View the whole schedule of performances.

Oh yeah, there was a Last Supper after the show, and I met a slew of folks from the world of online journalin. It’s late and instead of linking up all the names I’ll just say this: Time and time again I’m reminded how much prettier folks are in real life instead of a 100×100 icon.