All in the Family

Week 91: San Jose, CA

You may recall, from my San Francisco posts, that I have family in San Jose. My brother Alex, who has worked for Apple for many years, and his wife Patricia have raised their family here in the Silicon Valley. They have become a part of a great community of people, many who come from Alex's workplace, others who have become friends through Patricia's work as a doula, assisting births. They have three terrific kids--Ben, 17, a senior in high school and a talented musician and water polo champion; Zoe, 14, a straight-A student and a budding actress; and Isobel, 12, also a precocious performer and creative writer with a firecracker of a personality. Because these relatives live cross country from me, and because we all get caught up in our own busy lives, I have not had much opportunity before now to really get to know them all as a family. This week I made up for lost time by staying with them in their home in San Jose.

It has been such a delight to get better acquainted with these intelligent, articulate, motivated and well behaved kids. But the real joy for me has been in witnessing my brother and his wife perform their roles as parents so wonderfully. They are passionately and devotedly involved in their children's lives; encouraging them, nurturing them, applying pressure where needed, but always with a sense of fairness and with love. Watching my brother come in from a long day at work and sit down immediately to assist Zoe with math homework, or proudly show me video of Ben playing water polo--it's hard to describe the feelings I have knowing that of all of Alex's great achievements, his greatest is as a terrific father. I am very proud of him, and I think he has one hell of a great family. I have also enjoyed being the visiting actor uncle, and had the pleasure of coaching Zoe on her very first Shakespeare monologue--Juliet's balcony speech--and of visiting Isobel's drama class at her middle school. I love speaking to kids, especially young actors.
Even though I grew up in a theatrical family, I still received a great deal of discouragement and negativity from teachers and people in the business when I was coming up as a fledgling artist. And I feel like that kind of talk is cheap. What kids need is encouragement. Sure, they have to know that they are contemplating a highly competitive career, with a great deal of rejection and potential for heartbreak. But more than that, they need to know that if they believe in themselves and they persist, they will have opportunities to do what they love. I warned Isobel's teachers that I love the sound of my own voice and will go on and on and ON, but they let me go, and I filled a 50 minute class with my "words of wisdom." Mostly I told these bright eyed, expectant kids to believe in themselves, to take good care of their bodies (no smoking, no drugs), and to find ways to be well rounded and have a full life--nurturing not only their artistic aspirations, but their relationships with friends and family--and cultivating many interests, developing other talents and abilities. I got a real charge out of being able to be an inspiration to them. It reminded me that when I was 12 or 13, I was just like them--stage struck and hungry to live out my dream. Come to discover, I STILL AM.

San Jose, the tenth largest city in the U.S., and the capital of high tech Silicon Valley, is really a very attractive and rapidly developing fine city. The downtown area is attractive and modern, with beautifully designed pedestrian malls, a plethora of restaurants, a state of the art light rail system, and sleek office buildings and upscale hotels. In addition to our venue this week, the San Jose Performing Arts Center, there are other performance venues, including the San Jose Rep, where I had the pleasure of auditioning this week. I also stopped in for a visit to the San Jose Museum of Art. The "historic wing" of the museum is a beautiful Romanesque revival building from the late 19th century, an historic landmark which once served as the San Jose post office and then a library; the "new wing," a slick modern space, was added to the museum in 1991 and the contrast of the two architectural statements is striking. Interestingly, the current main exhibit of contemporary art focused mostly on artist's statements about our abuse of the environment, of the dehumanizing effect of the proliferation of technology, and on corruption in our political institutions. A thought provoking collection of art for a city that owes its existence to the success of high tech corporations. In addition, there was a nice exhibit of Alexander Calder, encompassing his paintings, his jewelry and his famous mobiles; and again, there was our old friend Ansel Adams--this time in a small but striking exhibition of his very early work as a landscape photographer.

Since we were so close to San Francisco this week, I stole a day and drove up there to get a last shot in the arm of that great city's energy and beauty, before I return in a few weeks to the east coast. I got to meet a couple of my new friends and catch up, and then drive around the city again, from Twin Peaks through the Castro and Golden Gate Park, to Lincoln Park, where I stopped at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. This is one of the great museums of San Francisco that I didn't get to visit during our engagement there, and I am so glad I had the chance to see it this week. The museum is perhaps best known for its splendid collection of Rodin bronzes, marbles and plaster sculptures; indeed, one of his most famous pieces, The Thinker, greets you as you enter the building. The collection is exquisite, and beautifully laid out so one may pass with ease from gallery to gallery representing all periods of European Art, with representative works from many of the finest old masters, from Rembrandt to Rubens, and the great Impressionists, from Monet to Degas.
My favorite pieces were perhaps the most theatrical ones (surprise, surprise). These included Thalia, Muse of Comedy, , by the 18th century court artist Jean-Marc Nattier, a playful female nude draped in satin and paying winking homage to the theatre with the mask she bears; and an extraordinary canvas by Spanish artist Jose Jimenez Y Aranda from 1879, Holy Week in Seville. This gorgeous, almost photographic depiction of an 18th century public square full of interesting characters is a fascinating slice of life, brilliantly rendered. I had such a nice visit to San Francisco, all too brief, but it was great to see the fog drift across the Golden Gate Bridge and reconnect with the recent memories of the wonderful time I spent there this year.



I connected with another San Francisco friend when I found out that Lorraine, my dresser from the Golden Gate Theatre, was to be working with me for the week here in San Jose.
Several of our wardrobe workers from that engagement have joined us here and they are all such terrific people. It really was nice to see Lorraine again and of course, a great bonus for me to have a seasoned pro who knows my show assisting me. Thanks, Lorraine! And so it is with regret that I leave Alex, Patricia, Ben, Zoe and Isobel, not knowing when we will next see each other, but confident that we now share a closer connection. It's a great gift to have such people in my family and in my life. Three more performance weeks of "Spamalot" to go, folks, hard as that may be to believe. Tucson, AZ is next for us before a week of layoff and the final push in Costa Mesa, CA. More from Tucson next week. Meanwhile, if you have a brother or sister you haven't called in a while, pick up the phone. You'll be glad you did.