It was a nice day today.

Today I treated Minneapolis like a newcomer.  Well, first, I had breakfast and coffee with Ben at our regular place (where they see us walk in and begin making our order without asking...that's always nice and comforting, huh?).  But after that!  Ben had a concert with friends to attend and I found myself on my own with nothing to do.  I called many old friends, even a cousin, to find someone to hang out with, or dinner or a movie or something.  When none of this worked out, I got sad and thought how different this summer was than last, when the social group was ever-present.  Then the Revolution inside of me said, "Dammit Nikki!  Get your groove back!  You don't need people to have a good time!  You're an artist!"  And then I said, Thank you, Revolution, fuck yes.

First I went to the Playwrights Center to see a reading of a new play imported from Japan.  First of all, Minneapolis is the playwriting center of the country and I do theatre.  How silly is it that I have never been there?!  Even sillier, it was in an area of the city that I had never been in.  I have no excuse for not having been to a section of this city.  I used to get up every Saturday in Boston and explore a new area of the city.  It occurred to me today, while I was parking in this foreign neighborhood, that I had not given my own dear city the same treatment.  Shame on me.  So this reading (a staged reading is another thing that I have never attended...and I call myself a director) had amazing actors (all Equity), stunning direction (amazing resume from this guy) and I ended up sitting next to the playwright and talking with him.  Another really exciting thing is that this is the second weekend of readings and there are three readings a day of five different plays...and all of the shows are sold out.  Beautiful!  It made me tear up a little.  

After the play, I noticed this grocery store called Seward Community Cooperative.  I stopped in and discovered this place is the pre-Whole Foods.  All of the food is home grown and where it was grown is listed below the price.  The place sells MN goods for the most part and it's just lovely.  Also...it was virtually silent in there.  Have you ever been in a silent grocery store?  I have no conclusion to come to from its silence, but it made me very aware of how different this shopping experience was than others.  

Next, I had been driving by this huge bookstore for months on Washington called The Open Book and had always wondered about it. Today I finally went in.  Not only is it an eclectic collection of literature, there's a book gallery, showcasing old books, the makings of books, etc.  It was really cool...and again, silent.  The second instance of dead silence in a public place made me think that silence was more for my benefit than an absence of action in these establishments.  Time to appreciate it, perhaps?

From there, I went to dance show called A Woman's Choice, choreographed by former JAZZDANCE dancers, one of whom is a teacher of mine form Zenon.  Again I was in an area I had never been to before, despite living about five minutes away from it for the last year at Ben's.  Upon entering I ran into an old college friend who I hadn't seen in five years.  Apparently I hadn't gone to the show by myself afterall.  We caught up and it was great fun.  The show put a fire into about getting back to the studio something fierce.  It also made me appreciate the technical staff and support that I have been so spoiled with for most of my theater "career".  I shall never under-value a sound technician again!  Nor will I ever think I'm a hack choreographer again.  I also realized that, for a girl whose first and longest love has been dance, I sure don't go to a lot of dance shows.  But you know what?  The whole time watching, I just kept wishing there were more plots in the pieces, more facial connection to the movement, and more abandonment of spirit--in short, I wanted more theatre in the show.  So I am in the right field afterall.  Not that I've ever really doubted that.

And now I'm at home waiting for Ben to get home, excited that I just had my day and he just had his...and really curious about what other treasures there are in this city that I've overlooked by habit.  Hoping for new adventures...