[Mb-hair] Bridgeport get together

[Little Birdie]

What an amazing night last night was! How incredible to see good friends, 
and to “meet” others who have been friends for years but never seen in 
person before! To get to hug Sib, Sally, Leo, Sherwin, Barbara, and Ross in 
person, and to put faces to the writing and in some cases voices on the 
phone, were all truly wonderful moments. To see, in addition, so many good 
friends at the same time – Michael B, Robert, Debbie, Mike, Bill, Natalie, 
Dale, Michael A, Jeff, Meredith – What a joy! There were many photographs 
taken (a copy of every one to the Archives please folks! I can’t wait to see 
them!) so there will be some to share soon.  I also got several generous 
donations to the Archives, including photographs from the April 23 LaMama 
event. I will post a few to the list as soon as I can scan them.

The show was good, but it paled in comparison to the reunion. There was so 
much love in the room! After the show we walked a block to a local pub who’s 
owners and lone waitress looked overwhelmed as all 27 of us walked in, 
however they rose to the occasion, put many tables end to end and made us 
one large table to gather around, catch up, and enjoy each others company.

There was a drama teacher at the show last night who teaches at Laguardia 
High School for the Performing Arts in NYC. He is directing Hair there next 
December and had seen the listing for Bridgeport Hair and gotten tickets for 
himself and his wife. He recognized Michael B and introduced himself before 
the show, and found himself stumbling into the midst of what he described as 
the most amazing resource for research and support for his production that 
he could possibly imagine. He and his wife were lovely people, and they 
joined us for the party after the show. He shared with me that he was amazed 
at how welcoming we all were, how willing to help support his production, to 
share thoughts and ideas, to include them in our evening. I explained to him 
that that was what Hair was all about. That he was just starting a journey 
that we all had been through; that now he was part of the Tribe. He is 
planning on joining the list in the near future, and looks forward to 
hearing everyone’s thoughts and ideas regarding Hair in a high school 
setting (albeit one with closer to professional level talent pool than most 
other high schools). I am looking forward to seeing Hair done with actors 
closer to the true ages of the characters, and with such a committed 
director. It was the most perfect start to a production of Hair that I can 
imagine!

I find myself at an unusual loss for words at trying to describe what a 
special evening it was. Speak up others who were there – perhaps someone can 
write a more eloquent report on the evening than I am managing.

I’ll close with one of my favorite lines of the evening. Looking very 
pleased with her life a certain 13 year old said “My mother takes me to 
productions of Hair the way other mother’s take their kids to Disney 
movies.” I feel very lucky, as does she, that life affords me this wonderful 
Tribe for her to grow up around. I can imagine no better influences than 
those around her last night.

Save September 10th, 2005! We’ll do it all again, on a larger scale at 
LaMama. Details coming as we know them…

Love, love, love,
Nina

The Hair Archives
http://www.michaelbutler.com/hair/holding/Hair.html