Running Rocky's Roads

The Philadelphia Marathon begins and ends at Eakins Oval which is situated right in front of the Rocky steps or as we in Philly like to call them, the steps to the Art Museum. A statue of Rocky was placed at the top of the steps for one of his movies--3 I think it was--and it caused a lot of controversy over the meaning of art; was the statue art or a movie prop? Rocky now resides at the bottom and to the right of the steps. Tourists can take their picture with Italian Stallion before or after running up and down the steps.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday as we lined up in our corrals for the race. Brian and I were near the back because as I've said before, I run slow. We ran down to Old City, across Penn's Landing, over to South Philly (Rocky Territory), up through University City, by the Zoo (and a killer hill I might add), and finally looping back to the Oval.

It was a great race. I have run in Philly before when I'm working on a show and it's a bit difficult to stop and negotiate traffic and pedestrians. But Sunday was great because all the roads were blocked off and the sidewalks were full of well-wishers. Our names were on our bibs so people could yell out to us as we passed. That was extremely helpful coming down along the river during the last mile: as I turned to run up into Eakins Oval, I heard a man say, "That's it Kate, that's the way to go." And it spurred me on to run in at full speed (okay, full speed after 13 miles) across the finish line.

I so enjoyed my run even though, two days later, I'm still sore; I've never run so far or so fast before but I was encouraged by the other runners, the volunteers and the on-lookers. On Sunday, I really felt that Philly is the city of brotherly love and "sisterly affection" as the Mayor added.

After the race, we returned home and our neighbors all came over to cook us brunch and make us coffee and bloody marys. Brunch turned into early afternoon appetizers and wine as people stopped by to chat with us on the porch and the kids played in the field. They discovered that someone had tossed lots of bottles and cans into the stream so they spent a good hour picking up the litter. I was duly impressed at their civic mindedness. Such a spectacular day, what a way to kick off the holiday season!

Oh, what was my time? I ran it in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 59 seconds. I almost made the 10 minute/mile pace...maybe next year.

Seeing Red

At curtain call last night, after the final bow, one of the actors shouted out to the crowd, "It's 3-2 Phils, bottom of the 8th."

It took me a minute to realize he was giving the score of the Phils-Dodger game, the first of the National League Championship Series. Incidentally, the game started right after our curtain went up and was almost over when the show ended 3 hours later. A lot came happen in 3 hours.

I've been told that that Philadelphians LOVE their sports but seeing is believing. Growing up in Vermont, we didn't have any home teams to root for. Many of our neighbors were Red Sox fans but I grew up in a household of avid Yankees fans. Both my parents grew up in the Bronx, and my father worked concessions at Yankee stadium for a few summers.

I lived in Baltimore, MD for a couple of years, right when they built Camden Yards. That was exciting but the Orioles didn't get anywhere close to the world series during those years.

So living in Philadelphia has been a learning experience and a blast as well--one of my neighbors set off fireworks after the Eagles won an important game. Even the Septa buses scroll "Good Luck Phils" as well as giving their route number.

They start them young here which may be a reason for the wide-spread obsession with sports. My children announced this morning they needed to wear red today to support the Phillies (someone at school had suggested it). I didn't think much of it until we got to the bus stop and I saw all these other children with Phillies shirts on as well as baseball caps. I've never been a "keeping up the Joneses" mom but suddenly I wanted to run out and buy Phillies shirts. "Hey," I felt like shouting, "I support them too!"

There are no fair weather fans here in Philly which is nice when you think about it. It's been years since they won a championship and to think they are getting closer everyday. It's so exciting. I guess it's true what they say: Ya Gotta Believe!

Give My Regards to Philly

I just read an article on The Playgoer's website about how Broadway is often touted as the measure of success for theater folk. His point is that too many people (especially those outside the business) only think a play is successful if it's on Broadway or going to Broadway.

I can't remember running across this attitude in my career, but then I've never lived in New York City. In fact, since moving to Philly, I've realized how lucky I am to be in a town so supportive of its artistic community. Not only do most Philadelphia actors live and work here (without a lot of traveling to other regional theaters--a hazard of the NY actor), many of the ones I have met make a living exclusively from theater. And several theater artists actually support families with their earnings. It's a far cry from what is described in the article and another reason to take pride in my adopted hometown.

One of the ways that the artistic community is supported is through the Theatre Alliance. This group brings together all the Philly area theaters under one website. Theaters posts job listings, class offerings, auditions, and production information. In addition, the site hosts a listserv for actors to discuss topics ranging from how to critique a show to what is racism in the theater. Many also use the listserv to announce openings, look for long-lost friends, or ask for much needed props. We even have our own version of the Tonys called the Barrymores.

When my family and I decided to move to a city with a more vibrant theater community (Albany has Capital Rep and the New York State Theater Institute, both great places but two theaters do not make a vibrant community), Philly's Theater Alliance made searching for a job a whole lot easier. Washington DC has a ton of theater but I had to visit each theater's website to look for job openings. With the Theatre Alliance it's just click away.

As for patrons, I've met several neighbors who take pride in their season subscriptions to different theaters. I've met some who are loyal to one theater only and others who bounce each season from theater to theater. And not one of them mentions Broadway.

Let's Get This Party Started

As a French major in a previous life (and by that I mean before husband and kids), I studied pre-revolutionary France. With the court ensconced at Versailles, the Parisian aristocrats had run of the city. Those in the know met at Salons where they discussed everything from politics to art to the latest gossip. I am fascinated by the idea of a group of people getting together to discuss the arts. I find that happens a lot when I stage manage a production. Artists gather on their breaks to discuss the state of theater, the latest plays, new projects and how to make a living--especially when one has kids. A question, I most often receive when I work on a show is, "You have two kids? How do you do it all?" I honestly can't say I know except that I have an understanding husband who makes an awesome cosmopolitan.

Interestingly enough, my next theater project will be at the Arden Theatre Philadelphia this Fall where I will stage manage a production of Candide. Voltaire wrote Candide in 1759 to satirize the popular optimism movement of the time. Voltaire, the pen name of Francois Arouet, was very popular in the salons of his day because of his wit and imagination.

This past Spring, I did my first show at the Arden, The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. It was such a great experience that I am looking forward to this next project. As an added bonus, the rehearsals start in August and this is the first summer in two years that my children are not in camp. The days can get long.


My family and I are new to the Philly area. We moved here two years ago because I thought I wanted a full-time, day job in Theater. Not so much. I did write an essay published in the Philadelphia Inquirer about our move. It was published in June of 2007, I'm having trouble finding the link to it. A quick update on our situation in case I do get the link to it. We no longer live on the Main Line, we've bought a house in Abington Township. My full-time job at the time of the article was with People's Light and Theatre Company, another excellent theater located in Malvern, PA. But I missed stage managing and Malvern is too long of a haul from Abington. Luckily, as I decided to leave People's Light, the Arden was hiring stage managers so it worked out perfectly.


And here's another coincidence, the Arden periodically hosts salons that gather artists together to discuss, you guessed it, theater.

See it all comes full circle.