Playing With the Kids

July 2014

Thursday, Lorraine and I drove down to Ashland. That’s in Oregon, just barely, but still in Oregon. The reason was to spend a couple days with the kids and see some plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We stayed in the Super 8 again, we just love punishment. Sonia and Bruce camped out by the reservoir. Shauna and Kevin ended up staying in some place in Medford. They didn’t seem impressed with their lodging either.

Elizabethan Theater at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon 

     That evening, Lorraine, Sonia, Cora, Adam, and I ate a picnic lunch while watching the Green Show. Shauna, Kevin, and family, did not come down until the next afternoon.

Three guys from Brooklyn, calling themselves Project Trio, put on this show. One played the cello, one played the bass, and one played the flute. The flute player was very entertaining. He moved to the music, jumping, stomping, dancing, plus several other moves, and made all kinds of percussion noises with his mouth and throat, some of which was blended into the flute playing. He was great. They did all kinds of music with their own jazzed-up twist. Between the three of them it was a good show.

     The play we saw that evening was ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’. This version featured an all female cast, and they did a great job. The one none-female cast member was a very large white Great Pyrenees. Yes, a dog named Picasso. He came on stage several times, and looked like he was bored to death. He played the part of a large white dog, and did it very convincingly. This part is so pivotal that he has an understudy named Lucy. I’m not kidding. These Festival people don’t miss anything.

     The following day we all had some lunch at the Greenleaf Restaurant, then Lorraine and I went off to see ‘Family Album’. We’ll get back to this play in a bit.

     The Green Show that evening was a group of improv actors. It was okay but certainly nothing I’d need to see again anytime soon.

     That evening Sonia, Bruce, Adam, and Cora were hanging out in our room, waiting for Sam to be delivered as he was going to stay with Adam that night out at the campsite. We were all feeling sort of tired and sleepy, so I suggested we find a Dairy Queen and get some ice cream. Lorraine, Sonia, and Adam, thought that to be a good idea so we piled into the car and headed out. Adam had gotten a fix on the local Dairy Queen from Siri. We showed up at the location she gave us and found a 7-Eleven. Adam went in and found that this indeed was where the Dairy Queen had been.

     We fell back on the only option we had readily available and that was Wendy’s. We pulled up to the order-board and I ordered four cones and one cup filled with ice cream. It was like I was speaking Swahili. After repeating this numerous times the order-taker asked us to come around to the window. We didn’t have a clue as to what they were going to give us. By this time, the other three occupants of the car were laughing so hard they were no help at all.

We pulled up to the window and paid our money. Then this genius handed out four cones setting in cups. I thought, “Well this is different, but just may be the way Wendy’s serves their ice cream cones.” Then I asked him for my cup of ice cream. This really puzzled him and he pointed out to me that I had just gotten four cups with ice cream in them. I explained to him, again, what I wanted. After paying him some more money, we got a cup of ice cream along with a spoon. None of this helped to calm down my companions.

Now the concoction that they were passing off as ice cream was more like partially frozen milk. Not near up to the standards to which we had been accustomed. It was an amusing interlude in the evening and helped pass the time.

 Shauna and Sam finally showed up, and everybody went off to their own abode.

The following day we had a picnic lunch at the upper end of Lithia Park where the air was about ten degrees cooler than the ninety-nine degrees downtown.

 

L to R  -  Shauna, Adam, Cora, Sam, Haley, Andee, Sonia 

That evening Lorraine and I, along with Shauna, Kevin, Haley, Hannah, Andee, and Sam saw ‘The Comedy of Errors’. This play was set in Harlem. It was well done, and a joy to watch.

After the show Lorraine and I left for Redmond, Sonia, Bruce and the kids left to camp in the hills for the night, on their way home the next morning. Shauna and Kevin, with family drove back up to Medford for some sleep before driving home the next morning. 

Now back to the world premiere of ‘Family Album’. The playbill says “_ _ _ _ middle-aged rockers torn between the artistic life and domestic stability_ _ _.” This play had a lot of rock music in it, which was okay as the actors were also good musicians. But the play really didn’t have much of a direction, making it hard to know where they were trying to go and therefore no way of knowing when they got there. The play lost a number of playgoers during the intermission. Shauna and family saw it after we did and didn’t remain for the second half.

Then there was the language. Four-letter words if used artistically can occasionally add to the medium being used. But this author used the “f___” word to excess and almost exclusively in places where it made absolutely no contribution to what little plot there was, nor to the understanding of the individual songs or conversations. There were a few people in the audience who obviously didn’t agree, because every time they heard the “f___” word they would start to clap with glee. Why? I was afraid to even think about that as I was stuck in the same room with these people.

If I was heading for Ashland to see some plays, I wouldn’t waste my money on ‘Family Album.’ There are plenty of other excellent offerings from which to choose.

Altogether, it was a nice couple days with the kids, and having Oregon Shakespeare Festival plays to watch did not detract from that at all.