my old friend John, theatre, and puppets

One of my friends (and for a short time roommate) back in college was a gentleman by the name John. John and I were both very much involved in theatre, but we came at it from different perspectives. John, who was easily the most gifted director our school has ever seen, brought many plays and musicals to life as an undergrad -- some in school and some in the local community theatre.

But John liked linear works. A normal play (or even a musical) that was fairly straightforward.

I, on the otherhand, was a devotee of the Theatre of the Absurd. Eugene Ionesco was my theatre god. I loved talking about Alfred Jarry's Ubu plays, or the works of Ionesco, Pinter, and Jean-Claude van Itallie among others. John admits that he didn't much appreciate my work during our college days, but one of the greatest compliments he's ever paid me came about seven years after we'd graduated when he told me that he still thought about the production of Ionesco's The Chairs which I directed, and how he wished he could see it again because he was just beginning to appreciate that form of theatre.

It had been nearly eight years since I last saw John, but we got together for a few hours this past weekend while he was in the area visiting family. John is the theatre department chair at a smaller, private college in California, and has been the founding director of Lit Moon Theatre Company, AND for the last eight years (that's right, he waited until I moved out of the area) has been the founding producer of an international theatre festival which performs in Santa Barbera, California.

I asked John if he had been to our local Shakespeare festival while he was in the area. He answered quite flatly, "No. It's not weird enough for me." John, it seems, has come to value absurdist/experimental theatre. He is currently planning his 2006 festival which he tells me will be an all Shakespeare festival, featuring performance companies from China, Russia, Scotland, and Australia. At least one of these companies while be using 10' tall puppets, he said.

How could I not laugh?

I recently directed a play in a high school and made use of 9' tall puppets. Of all my acquaintances and friends, perhaps John is the only one who would appreciate that work.

I'm already making plans with my wife so that we can be in Santa Barbera in 2006 when the festival takes place. My wife has been trying to get me to go back out that way for many years (she goes out for work three or four times a year), but taking the kids to Disneyland hasn't held any allure for me. But an international theatre festival...?! ...with 10' tall puppets...?! I love it!