Splendid news.

A friend of my Mother's from work is an usher at The Goodman here in Chicago. As such, she gets to see the shows for what I've been told is a relatively easy workload. She has invited me to user with her next week for two shows, Hephaestus and The Good Negro.

I am, obviously, very excited at this proposition, and will be sure to post a full write-up about both pieces.

Hephaestus is certainly the less exciting of the two, though I'd be hard-pressed to pass up a free performance of anything in Chicago. Dance, and other related spectacles, tend to get a little boring after the first ten minutes, and I rapidly find myself wishing I was watching a piece of drama. I fully admit that this is only a personal preference; I cannot in good conscience condemn an entire medium. What I demand from theatrical performances is narrative. I've been told over and over that dance indeed has a narrative, and I seem to miss it every time. I wonder, though, if without the aid of the program handed out before the show, one could cobble together a narrative from most of the modern pieces I've seen, because fuck if I can. I fully acknowledge the beauty of the human form, and marvel at the grace and strength needed to perform such pieces. But this appreciation is no different from the appreciation I feel while watching an athlete perform.

And at least I can stand up and cheer at a sporting event.