Tag Archives: desi
Divali and election greetings
Q&A with author of “Marrying Anita”
I had a lovely online interview with journalist, author, and hottie (pictured below) Anita Jain, whose book Marrying Anita: A Quest for Love in the New India came out earlier this year. We did the whole thing on Google’s email chat feature, and yes, it’s been a long time since I did any reporting, because I was *thrilled* by the fact that gchat saved our whole interview. Way easier than the olden days of transcribing voice interviews. All I had to do was add punctuation!
Of course, some bits were edited out. We were chatting right after my LitQuake show last weekend, and I mentioned that I’d just come from the event, where I read a couple of selections about sex.
anita: don’t you know indian women don’t have sex?
me: lol dammit, i keep forgetting!
Obviously our conversation was off to a good start! Read the interview as published on MSNBC.com here: Looking for the right man in a foreign land: Author Anita Jain talks about the search for love and sex in the New India. There’s also a video interview on there, which had nothing to do with me.
Women Authoring Change
Tonight my home was filled with good food, creativity, and twenty amazing women. It was an alumnae potluck for a place that those who have been there know simply as “heaven.”
of year, Diwali — the Hindu new year and festival of lights. I was feeling a bit out of sorts because I had no community or family to celebrate with, and although the cook (ahhh, the lovely Hedgebrook cooks! a whole other essay!) did her best to create an Indian meal and we lit candles at the farmhouse, it didn’t feel the same.
Performance highs
Nine nights for the goddess
Navratri is my favorite holiday. Here is a bit of what I wrote about it in Leaving India:
Slacker City
A couple of Saturdays ago, I was sitting in my car, sick with the flu, with a half-hour window in between a mandatory class and a mandatory rehearsal, thinking about all the things I needed to do, just trying to breathe — literally, since my chest was tight from coughing and being sick — and to grab a few moments of rest so that I could go on to the next thing. And I had one of those flu-delirium revelations, which was: Why am I living like this?
Stagestruck
Showtime!
Dress rehearsal tonight, opening night tomorrow, could I be more excited!!?
“Hey, Sailor” in the news: Kate Raphael of KPFA Women’s Magazine did this wonderful interview with QU Productions on KPFA (24 minutes in, on the MP3 link). We talk about feminism, trans politics, and desire!
And here’s a great blog piece about the show.
And get your tickets now; it is a very small theatre!
Already got your tickets? You rock! Let me know what night you’re coming, and we can hang out afterward.
Yes, you need to know this: I’ve been told that once the show starts, there will be NO late admissions. The theatre is very intimate and it would be way too disruptive… so please, please, please, all my dear friends who are as chronologically challenged as I am, please do what ya need to do get there on time! Doors open at 7:15 and the show starts at 8:00. Run time is about an hour and a half, plus there will be a 10-minute intermission.
Where is it again? The Omnicircus, 550 Natoma (click here for map) , between 6th/7th and Mission/Howard, downtown SF. There is street parking but do allocate some time to navigate the one-way streets and find a spot. The 6th St side can be kinda sketchy so please be careful if walking alone. I recommend parking on 7th St and coming in from that side.
Hungry? There is food nearby at the Yerba Buena/Metreon complex around Mission & 5th, including Samovar (which I love) and a swanky food court; a Custom Burger at 7th & Natoma (yummy but not as quick as you might expect; it takes about 20 minutes for a burger if there’s no line, because they make each one); and a chain sandwich shop at 7th & Mission. If anyone knows other good food/drink spots in the immediate area, including late-night places to hang out after the show, please share!
See you soon!
Backstage at “Hey, Sailor!”
No one in my real life has seen me much lately because I’ve been madly rehearsing for the play I’m in, “Hey, Sailor!” Last week we moved from our rehearsal venue to the actual theater. It was, frankly, terrifying!
The rehearsal space, Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, had been warm and fuzzy for me, since I’ve worked there previously on other performance projects, back when it was the Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts. It was the perfect artistic incubator: a just-right-sized, cozy room with black floors and walls.
By contrast, the theater (a) is new and unfamiliar, (b) serves as crash space for several visiting artists whose living spaces somewhat overlap our rehearsal area, and (c) is full of terrifying looking robots, built by its owner and used in his own performance work, with many sharp edges and automated moving parts. And most importantly (d) it’s an indication that we are not just goofing around with beautiful text and enjoying the playful energy of acting like characters, but that we’re working toward an actual production!
with actual audience members!
who pay money for a good show!
and who will be sitting excited and expectant in all those empty seats!
(Fill the seats: Buy yer tickets now. We have nine shows, 8pm Thurs/Fri/Sat, starting September 18.)
So I got terrified, had my mini-freakout, wept in and out of rehearsal, received and accepted fabulous support from my fellow actors and genius director, and am now better adjusted. It also helps to have a couple of days off to do my laundry, catch up on the rest of life, keep memorizing my lines, and get excited about going back into rehearsal Wednesday night. At least that was the plan, but now I have a sore throat which makes it hard to talk let alone run lines… along with flu-type symptoms, grrr … so I’m trying to rest up, take Tylenol every six hours, and drink lots of miso soup and ginger-honey-lemon tea.
Meanwhile I love love love my character, Squeak, and am working toward the right balance in her of vulnerability and street toughness, naivete and manipulation, humor and anger. With each rehearsal I learn something about her, and also, in some mysterious way, about myself — the ways that I am like and unlike her.
And I’m appreciating how cool the theater really is. It started life as an illegal liquor hall and brothel during Prohibition, went through phases as a speakeasy and a machine shop, and is now a performance space, mostly for robot shows. It’s located downtown (550 Natoma near 7th & Mission) and is called Omnicircus. The link is worth checking out because it includes the robots, who all have names and personalities and are created & choreographed by artist/owner Frank Garvey.
The space couldn’t be more perfect for our show. It gives us an amazingly textured, gritty, industrial-urban backdrop without having to engage a set designer. And the centerpiece of the stage just happens to be a giant whale skull, which is just crazily spot-on since “Hey, Sailor!” is inspired by the novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville, who is better known for his whale epic Moby Dick. Wild!
I may not blog again until after the show opens. See you there!
love,
Minal
PS: A note on access: Most of the seats are balcony-style, up a short flight of stairs. Floor seating is available for those who use wheelchairs or do not climb stairs. The restroom is not wheelchair accessible.