I loved returning to beautiful Santa Fe last weekend to attend the reading of my play In Ways Both Frivolous and Deep, which was selected for Santa Fe Playhouse's "Different Festival." The reading was directed by Barbara Hatch who did a wonderful job working with actors Matthew Montoya and Karen Ryan (with the voices of Ann Roylance, Katie Chavez, Michael Blake Oldham, and Vaughn Irving.) Such a treat to hear the play and the thoughtful responses of the Santa Fe audience. Thanks too to Vaughn Irving, Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Playhouse for selecting the play for the series, and for championing new work.
My only regrets were 1) I couldn't stay for the second weekend of readings to see the second reading of this and the other plays in the festival and 2) in the excitement I forgot to take a photo with Barbara and the cast so you are stuck with this attempt at a selfie that shows the playhouse marquee.
In case you're wondering, the title of the play comes from a line from a Truman Capote novel (one of his "lost" novels) called "Summer Crossing" which is:
“When we change our brand of cigarette, move to a new neighborhood, subscribe to a different newspaper, fall in and out of love, we are protesting in ways both frivolous and deep against the not to be diluted dullness of day-to-day living.”
And here's a description of the play:
When Millicent needs a time-out from her life, she ends up subletting Sparky’s grunge-infested apartment while he’s out on the road. She organizes his home and puts his life under a microscope as a distraction from her own demons. When he returns, she won’t leave. Her constant probing makes the mild-mannered roadie snap, and he unleashes some observations of his own. As the two strangers reach a detente, they help each other in unexpected ways.
Or, as the audience members said in Vaughn's post-show talk back, the play is about "modern relationships," "modern romance" and "communication."
I sure would love for this play to get a full production somewhere!