windmills and spies
On September 30th, I made the quick 2 hour drive to Eugene (aka Springfield), Oregon, to see Esther K. Chae do her one woman piece, "So the Arrow Flies." I had just returned from driving all over Northern California and was pretty tired after all the reunions and work down there, but I had to catch up with Esther and finally see this work in its entirety!
She was brilliant; so much energy and range of expression in this one-woman-as-4-people performance. From a spy to an FBI agent to a heavily-accented Korean mother to a teenage daughter. I won't try to give a show review here; that has never been my strong suit in writing. I will say, it is definitely a piece with depth and the kind of work that I could easily watch more than once; with each viewing, I would collect more of the many threads so carefully and elaborately woven. I know it is not easy to keep switching multiple personalities while carrying the ego of each character simultaneously, but Esther made it look effortless. It was especially moving that she was giving this performance for close friends and family. I wish I had taken a picture to post here, since so many other photos were beeping during the show. I knew that my chirping camera (that is my shutter sound) would be loud enough to make someone look for the lost finch in the rafters, so I let it go. It wasn't worth distracting Esther and missing an important part of the multi-layered monologue in an attempt to silence my "bird." It was wonderful to see another Fellow doing her thing and to go out afterwards to share some of the past few months since TED. Shortly before we parted, Esther got a text, "yep,(smile) it is TRielly about William."
at "Third Place Books" in Seattle, Washington Then on October 5th: "of course I will drive to Seattle to see William and Bryan talk about wind-harnessing!" My enthusiasm hooked me into the 3 hour drive up, 2 hour visit, 3 hours back Again, I felt warmth and admiration to reunite with Bryan and meet William after watching his passionate, inspiring talk from TED Global.
signing a book to me Bryan told me to watch William on the Daily Show on Wednesday.
Now, today, I hear that The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is #18 on the New York Best Seller list. Congratulations!!
Fabulous good news!!
My dog, Plum, is riding a giant snail to celebrate~ *
Posted by Colleen Flanigan
