I got a phone call a few days ago from Lisa, a former dance instructor of mine and a current St. Paul's mom. She and some other moms from the school had apparently accompanied their middle school-aged daughters to the east coast for a series of camps and some touring. I've worked with all of these girls at one time or another in some capacity - coaching, teaching summer school, etc. - although none of them were in any of my full-time classes. Lisa said they had an extra ticket to "Our Town" and wanted to know if I could join them. I finished reading it just a few weeks ago, as luck would have it. While I knew it was supposed to be one of the great American plays, I was a little underwhelmed by it, but I decided to go anyway; how many plays are good reads anyway? They're written to be watched, not read.
I headed down to a tiny theater on Barrow Street in the Village. Lisa and Co. had some problems finding the theater, but once they finally arrived and we were ushered in, I discovered that our seats were not only in the very front row, they were actually on the stage! I was explaining to the girls that the play was perhaps best known for its lack of scenery and props - the narrator describes everything and the actors pantomime pumping water, eating with silverware, etc. - when the lights dimmed and a woman walked onto the stage holding out a cell phone. I looked at the phone, thinking someone must have dropped it in the lobby and that this woman was trying to return it to its owner before the play began. It didn't look like mine, so I moved my eyes to her instead and I just about fell off my chair when I realized it was Helen Hunt.
As she started to speak, the moms and I frantically sought out each others' faces, and I saw my own surprise and delight reflected in their expressions. The girls watched politely and quietly; we learned during the intermission that none of them knew who she was. Turns out that Helen Hunt was playing the role of the narrator. Because of our fantastic seats, she was literally two feet away from me many times during the show, and because the narrator is supposed to draw the audience in, she really looked at the audience a lot. She made eye contact with me several times. The seats were in a semi-circle around the stage, so it was easy to see the other audience members, and they all looked riveted, although whether this was because of her performance, which was very good, or because of who she was, it's hard to say. She's never been considered a knock-out, but I think she's a beautiful woman. It was funny to see her so close up, particularly since she was wearing jeans and a simple button-down shirt, a loose, messy ponytail, and virtually no make-up; pretty different from the way she appears on the red carpet.
The play itself was wonderful, and I'm glad I got a chance to see it staged rather than just read it. Being so close to the actors gave us a chance to see every facial expression, which is rare in theater (at least it is if you can only afford nosebleed seats, which is usually my situation).
After the show, the girls and I posed for pictures in front of a poster, in front of the theater, and with several of the actors who wandered out after it was over. One of them, Anne Dowd, was exceptionally friendly. She had played Mrs. Gibbs, and was one of the better performers in a cast of great performers, in my opinion. She couldn't thank us enough for coming. After chatting with us for a bit, she mounted a brown bicycle with a basket on the front and pedaled away. We saw a cab pull up near the side of the building, and one of the stage hands opened the door, then opened the stage door and Helen Hunt emerged with her head down and quickly jumped into the cab, which sped away. No one tried to hassle her, but I'll bet she's probably had to deal with that in the past.
It was really amazing to be so close to a woman whom I consider to be one of the great acting talents!
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