It's been quite a week for refilling the creative well. Sometimes, being a writer means hiding out at home (aside from the occasional dance or yoga class), laser-focused on the project at hand. Other weeks involve going out and experiencing the world. This week was the latter, and it was great! Here's my Friday Five:
1) Being a dancer in NYC means having a network of friends who are constantly doing cool shows, and on Wednesday night, I got to go to a particularly interesting production. I fell in love with Third Rail Projects' immersive theatrical take on Alice in Wonderland, Then She Fell, last year, and so when I got an invite from a friend to be a "test audience member" for TRP's new show, The Grand Paradise, as they prepared to open to the public, I jumped at the chance. The Grand Paradise is set at a tropical resort in the 1970s. You wander the space, sometimes on your own and sometimes led by performers playing the staff and guests of this magical hotel. There are crowd scenes—like a disco party where audience members join in the conga line—as well as intimate one-on-one moments and conversations with performers in secluded corners and rooms. The performances I saw (and each audience member has a different overall experience) were spectacular. If you're into immersive theater and don't mind being pushed a bit out of your comfort zone, definitely check this out.
2) It's not just my dance network that puts on cool shows! Last night, I went with a musician friend to a concert at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. We were there to see Lindsey Luff, and I loved her music so much I've been replaying the songs and videos on her site for the past hour. There's one soulful song in particular (from last night, but sadly not up on her website at this point) that I can't wait to add to my writing playlist...
3) This is a little more than a week old, but since last week was All About The X-Files, I didn't get a chance to mention a wonderful book I read: Erin L. Schneider's SUMMER OF SLOANE, which comes out in May. Erin's a fellow YA Buccaneer, which made me even more eager to read her debut than I would have been otherwise. This emotional book is about a girl who escapes to paradise after her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend. In Hawaii, Sloane tries to forget about the problems she left behind in Seattle and rebuild her broken heart. She gets a little help on that front from a hot new guy, Finn. But sooner or later, she has to deal with the ways in which two of the most important people in her life have hurt her—and moving forward is never as easy as it seems. SUMMER OF SLOANE comes out on May 3, and you can learn more about it HERE.
4) Oh, um, that whole X-Files revival thing I've been going on and on about on social media, and on here, and to anyone who will listen to me in person? Even with a shaky first episode, I am so in. (The second one was better, and the one that airs on Monday is supposed to be a true return to form, so...wheee!)
5) Thanks to a fairly mild weather week, much of Saturday's blizzard snow has already melted, which makes getting around the city a heck of a lot easier. NYC's street-corner slush puddles are no joke, so not having to deal with them is truly a blessing.
What's got you pumped this week?
~Kathryn