[Title of Post]

Last night, after a full day of reading a dense New Testament text, I treated myself to a show. Through the Theater Development Fund's (TDF) ticket program (providing cheap tickets to students, arts administrators, and clergy) I got an inexpensive seat at [Title of Show] at the Vineyard Theatre.

The premise of the muscial was two guys who read that the New York Musical Theatre Festival is coming up, and decide they want to make a submission. The problem is they don't have anything. So they decide to just start writing, and then, at the deadline in three weeks, submit whatever they have.

This premise provides the platform to explore current conventions of musical theater, the creative process, and the life of young creative types in New York. It is spare (the set is four chairs, an electronic keyboard, and an answering machine), witty and irreverent. It contained lots of inside musical theater references, which most of the audience did not catch ("but, of course," he said in a superior tone, "I did") as well as TV references. It also had some inside New York City/Chelsea jokes, which I wouldn't have understood three weeks ago; now that I am a seasoned New Yorker (note tongue in cheek) I laughed along with the rest.

The evening was entertaining, and again showed the depth of talent that walks the streets of this city. It was a great diversion. And a great gift from the theater and TDF. Thank you for making it possible for someone on a student budget to enjoy some of the art that this city offers. How lucky I am.