The Designated Mourner Reading with New Ambassadors

10/31/2020

Last night I had the great honor to perform in an online reading of Wallace Shawn's The Designated Mourner. That reading can still be seen on New Ambassador's YouTube page here. It's a very dark play of course (and has sadly never been more relevant in this country than now), but it was an absolute joy to rehearse & perform. We only had four hours total of rehearsal which can't even really scrape the surface when it comes to the writing of Wallace Shawn, but it was enough to remind me how very much I love to act, to work on a script, to delve into great writing & just play within the structure of the words. Ironically perhaps, this dystopian play reminded me to take time for joy. Because acting is the thing that brings me the most joy in all the world and too often I shove it aside for things I think are more important. Well, arguably, they are more important (like volunteering to get out the Blue vote, so that what happens to the country in The Designated Mourner doesn't happen here, or just doing the things I need to do to pay the bills)...but. But. Joy. Joy makes life worth living, right? I love Congresswoman Ayana Pressley's quote, "Joy is a necessary act of resistance." I am so grateful to Paul Pakler for inviting me to play and to New Ambassadors for producing the evening, and that I chose to take a little  time to do the thing that brings me the most joy.