Last Monday, when theaters across the country were dark, 25 theaters turned the lights on for a special event: a nationwide staged reading of “The Other Woman” by Victoria Zackheim.
I attended one of the readings. I thought it would be something different to do on a Monday night and I love theater, even mere readings. For those who are unfamiliar, a reading consists of actors sitting on a stage and not moving about. There are no sets and no action. If the play includes stage directions, there may be a person onstage reading those aloud, too. It’s subdued and can be fabulous.
The reading I attended was amazing. I won’t go into each actor or the writers of their respective parts, but I absolutely want to share a bit about one writer: Aviva Layton.
Ms. Layton was the only writer to read her own words. (The other parts were read by actors, not writers.) And this chick was fascinating. In her 80s now, she shared scenes from her life with poet Irving Layton, beginning in the late 1950s in Canada. As she spoke of intimacies of that relationship, she told of living arrangements, travels and a particular long-time friend: Leonard Cohen.
By the time the reading had finished, I was astounded at what each woman had brought to the stage and I was inspired to see the world differently. Good art will do that to you. “The Other Woman” is definitely good art.
Upon meeting Ms. Layton after the reading, we talked a bit about how she had been the only writer on-stage. She said she had wanted to be an actress since she was a little girl in Australia. And that it had only taken her 80+ years to do it. I said it just goes to show – it’s never too late. She agreed and we parted ways.
It would have been easy to have stayed in Monday night. To have kept my house lights dark, like most theaters. Instead, I ventured out into the Los Angeles darkness and was rewarded with an evening of powerful entertainment. I hope the next time I’m offered the chance to see something different, to experience something outside the norm – that I say yes. It certainly paid off this time.