The Syringa Tree

My computer broke last week when I cleverly left it on the couch and Riley knocked it to the floor. I haven't been blogging because it is such a pain to use Marc or Maddie's computer. I know, I'm a baby.

But tonight we saw the play The Syringa Tree at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Wow, it was good!

When I found out it was a one woman show that lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission I thought, "huh." And when it started with that one woman on an almost bare stage swinging on a swing suspended from the ceiling talking like a little girl I thought, "really?" See how I like to stay open minded? Wondering if this might be a teensy bit dull but willing to give it a chance?

It turns out Shannon Koob, the main (and only) actor, plays something like 20 different characters to tell the story of Elizabeth, a little girl growing up in South Africa during apartheid. She is amazing in how she portrays the different characters who are white, black, men, women, young and old. I know it sounds confusing, but by the end of the play she has scenes with multiple characters talking in such different voices and with such different faces and body language that you can tell them all apart.

It made me think of one really amazing dance.

Anyway, off to bed (last insurance class at 8a.m. tomorrow) but I had to post in case, you know, Shannon Koob reads my blog and wants to know how I thought she did. I thought she was incredible.