Tonight my favorite Russian is taking me to see another Russian cultural masterpiece, Anton Chekhov's
The Cherry Orchard at
BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music)
.
The performance is part of a collaboration called The Bridge Project between BAM and London's Old Vic theater for performances of The Cherry Orchard and A Winter's Tale, directed by Sam Mendes (as in, Kate Winslet's husband, also won an Oscar for American Beauty).
It is sponsored by Bank of America, which is the primary reason we're able to go tonight. Thanks BofA, and thank you Serge!
On a tangent, the other day I got a call asking for a contribution to Carnegie Hall. The caller and I had a very frank conversation, but I felt quite torn because going to Carnegie Hall itself was the splurge. Nobody needs to go see a play when there is already so much uncertainty around job security etc, and it can definitely be hard to justify seeing a concert or a play for pleasure. Yet arts and culture are probably the first budget to be slashed, so really, a recession is all the more reason to support the Arts.
It is kind of win-win, in that case, if the act of going to see a performance is supporting the cause. A monetary contribution does provide additional necessary resources, but it is not the only way to become involved.
A performance is creative and thought-provocative, engages you in your local community and is a very healthy reminder that there are more important (and optimistic) things out there than the bad news emanating out of the Wall Street Journal.
In 10th grade English class, I think we read the play, The Cherry Orchard together. BAM is America's oldest continuously operating performance theater and one of the preeminent performance centers in the world. Not to mention tonight's event features a pretty thick roster of talent that will blow Mr. Clopton's 10th graders out of the water!
