Oxygen by Ivan Vyrypaev...

Oxygen by Ivan Vyrypaev...

I've been waiting three or four years to do that play ever since R.Q. handed it to me.  It was this past Friday, the day before New Year's Eve, when M. from Taffety approached me about doing it, and then read through it with E., who would be playing HER, and L., who would be directing.  They might even get S.P. to be the DJ.  Initially I thought of it as a larf, to read through something that had been so elusive to me for the better part of 1/2 a decade.  There were at least 3 different attempts to get it (somehow) off the ground myself...and now...I decided to jump on board and perform it with their company...by the end of February.

During the reading E. just kept saying, "I love it...but I have no idea what this is."  I have to agree.  Three or four years of reading, and occasionally rereading the script I still have no idea what it is.

After discussions with Y.U. last year over coffee I at least learned that Vyrypaev wrote the script as a generational response to years of Russian psychological and subtextual playwrighting.  It was my understanding the playwright, and Russia itself, were tired of trying to read between the lines, especially when they're not even sure what lines to read between anymore.  Judging from the sentiments in the script, and the recent events in Russia, that's exactly what that script is generally about, but still, even Y.U. said, "The script has no specific meaning.  It is a blueprint for performance.  It is...what you make of it."  I told that to E. and she just laughed.  We also agreed the first four pages or so are incredibly daunting...for me.

I told L. that although I've been pining away over doing this script for so long that I don't want to treat it like a sacred cow of some kind.  Best to just focus on communicating the thoughts in it and finding what structure we build with this blueprint.

Now all I have to do is resolve my car issues, whatever is happening with C., and resolve to take that class for my teacher certification later in March.

Yeah.  It's going to be an interesting trip on this one.