Alexandra Silber's Blog, page 14

"Spectacular" Accidents I have had: a List

the broken finger.- age four, I was on a scooter at pre-school, and accidentally ran the scooter over a rogue piece of chain and landed on my face

- age five, on stage during a camp theatre performance of Heaven Hop. A Jealous older girl tripped me during the tap break. I fell flat on my face, the audience gasped, I got right back up and kept tapping. PRO! (There is video.)

- age sixteen, an innocent scratch turned into a corneal ulcer in my right eye at summer camp. Almost lost the eye. I didn...

Things I want to remember about this week 5/3 - 5/10: a list

 - Two little kids in masks, looking longingly at the playground that was locked up.

- GET THIS: A CORGI *PUPPY*

- New growth on my plants

- Alec learning all about how to cook with salt. Adorable.  

- Sunday, a gorgeous day by the river

- Monday, a miserable day by the river in which I kept saying “MISERY” out loud until Alec relented and agreed to go home

- A reunion of our London Indecent company for what would have been our final

performance. Ale Brider.

- Tati asleep in the middle of the bed L...

WhatsOnStage Q & A: Pandemic Edition

1) Who are you locked down with?

My extremely fabulous and famous cat Tatiana Angela Lansbury Romanov, who is a great teacher in this time of self-isolation. She leads by example, you see, for Tati has been practicing social-distancing and an excessive amount of permissive self-love, every day of her fabulous life.

Tati is not a doing she is a being. In times of anxiety I will gaze over at Tati and ask: Tati, what would YOU do? And her forthright little face will silently say Why yes Hooman,...

Almost-free things that bring me joy: a List

Joy.- New growth in my potted plants

- A perfectly smooth duvet on a perfectly made bed

- [The rush of love I feel] watching Tati lounging luxuriously in the sun

- The sound of rain on the windows

- Long white pillar candles 

- Spring

- Hand-written postcards and letters from friends

- The smell of a freshly cleaned apartment

- An Epsom salt bath 

- Podcasts

- Tatis sweet little meow

- The smell of a fresh pot of coffee

- The majesty of a raw amethyst

- Sunlight through the leaves 


-...

Dressed by Jess!

OMG OMG OMG.
SO.
When I met wardrobe professional, dresser extraordinaire, smart, cool, genius human Jess Kenyon at Chiacgo Shakespeare Theater in 2018 into 2019, I told her she needed her own TV SHOW.

Cue: PANDEMIC.

CUE: JESS MADE A SHOW! "Dressed By Jess" is a conversation with Jess herself discussing the unparalleled power of costumes and clothing: the visual storytelling, the creativity, and the collaboration. These are not just "costumes" these are the characters' clothes.

On her show Jess...

On this, the First day of May: a List

Blossoms, noted

Long days [of soft, painting-like] light, noted

The heart-crushing need to control my pandemic experience, relaxed

Spring, sprung

Grain-free loaves of bread, made

Values, re-assessed

Alec, adored

Tati, worshipped

Murder, She Wrote, [all of it, all twelve seasons, Im not kidding,] watched.

Hallway, living room AND kitchen, re-painted [for the first time since 2010]

Other [quite splendid] DIY, underway

It's been sixty-ish degrees Fahrenheit here in New York [on this, what feels like...

Things I Want to Remember about April 2020: a List

The Quiet.- The slow closing up of the world

- The Quiet. The beautiful, terrifying Quiet.

- Pink blossoms in full bloom on the corner of 33rd and Broadway, with beautiful Edison bulbs hanging inside them. It took my breath away!

- a two-hour conversation on the phone with Tyne. My beloved friend and mentor.

- An extraordinary email from Ruthy Froch, that left me reeling

- Sending and receiving postcards and letters.

- Watching Trump destroy our country and himself, being filled with anger but...

"Today, Another Universe" by Jane Hirshfield

Today, inspiration comes from Maria Popova's glorious site "Brain Pickings."

I'll simply quote her brilliant self:

"Few search-artists have served as greater agents of transmutation than Jane Hirshfield a poet of optimism and of lucidity, a champion of science and an ordained Buddhist, a poet who could write So few grains of happiness / measured against all the dark / and still the scales balance, a poet who can balance and steady us against those times when we go to sleep in one world and...

Things I [genuinely] wish: a List

- That I could play any instrument with extraordinary virtuosity

- That I had said that thing to that person before it was too late

- That my colon wasnt such a jerk

- That adulthood could be slipped on and off like a tailor-made couture dress

- That I could know Tatis thoughts

- That I had my moms cheekbones [ughhhh those cheekbones]

- That I genuinely loved singing more than I actually do

- That COVID19 had an available test, vaccine, and was no longer killing people

- That watermelon was a...

Things that got me through This Week, 4/19 - 4/25: a List

- Baths at night in the dark

- Gentleness

- Alllllllllll the leftover Pad Thai (we have only ordered delivery once since Quarantine began and on April 17, the one-month mark of my return from London, we celebrated by ordering pad thai for oh: perhaps a family of 10?)

- Gratitude

- Deep breaths

- This blog

- Seeing new growth on the new Chinese Money Tree I was sure I sun-scorched to death. (A metaphor?)

- Not passing a single scrap of judgment on my sleep schedule, outfit choices, or lack...