Evening: COURTYARD THEATER: WORLD TRADE CENTRE

Tamo Nara is very pleased. He had organized this sumaang lila play about 9/11 for us specially. Rather, he had it added as a special feature to the Sumaang Lila Mini-Festival that started yesterday. He tells me it is shorter, as we had discussed. Maybe a tad too short? I missed some comedy routines. And the additional dialogue in English was not as helpful as they might have imagined. Better to translate.

Erin was in stitches. She and Bonnie in particular had been looking forward to it. Tamo Nara had talked about Bonnie in his introduction. How she helped get an invitation from Lincoln Center Out of Doors, only to have it rescinded. True, and yes, because they were afraid, but not quite because our Osama actor was so lifelike that the presenters feared he might be shot on stage. I wonder who started that story. Certainly not me, but a dramatic story nonetheless. It will live on I fear, but no harm done.

Bhabesh does not come. I am a little disappointed that he didn’t because I was looking forward to having a Manipuri journalist question us, especially Downtown New Yorkers, about how we felt seeing a play about 9/11. About seeing a performance in “white-face.” Oh well.