I prefer my sappy romances with a twist. A gay twist, to be precise. In Thomas Bezucha's Big Eden a New York artist returns to his home town in Montana to help care for his ailing grandfather, and even as he struggles with his feelings for his old (straight) best friend it's entirely clear to his fellow townspeople who he should really end up with. Their gentle scheming provides some of the funniest and most touching moments in the film, and I sniffled quite a bit at the end. I also have a powerful desire to take a small road trip through some distant mountainous landscapes now.
I got to see some of the mountains that are close by earlier today when my parents and Aimee and I drove to Woodside to see AtmosTheatre's fantastic production of Amy Freed's Freedomland, performed in the company's gorgeous outdoor space. The play itself tells the story of three adult siblings as circumstances conspire to bring them together at their eccentric father's house, where it becomes clear that each child developed a distinctly different coping strategy after being abandoned by their mother. One daughter becomes a successful painter of hobo clowns, the other an unpublished scholar of Greek epic poetry, and the son a very particular kind of patriot. I adored all the discussion of art and myth, and the ensemble cast works beautifully together, delivering some hilariously funny (and raunchy) lines and real emotion besides. I highly recommend seeing the whole play in the AtmosTheatre woods, but they will also be performing a small piece of it at the SF Theater Festival tomorrow afternoon if you'd like a free taste.
I, however, will be DJing:
3 - 6pm PST, Sunday, July 27
KALX Berkeley 90.7fm
This will be my last show in the Sunday afternoon slot for the foreseeable future, so do tune in or stream the station if you can! Where I'll turn up next, nobody knows...
