"The 91 Owl" First Readthrough Party

Last night's gathering and readthrough of "The 91 Owl" was a signature accomplishment for Bernard Norris, our writer/director. In this beautiful dance studio in the Mission, we were about 20 people, including Bernard's mother and his grandmother, some of his best friends, and the entire cast of characters. Sure, there was as a bit of last-minute double or triple-casting for some tiny parts, but mainly, we've been cast. The play really comes together when you hear every voice delivered by such talented actors of every race, every attitude, every age, and lifestyle.

Sotto vocce, Bernard asked me to stand up for my reading of the Evangelist. She has powerful new lines, in Spanish and English, and this surge of energy overcame me, and the script, with its Biblical roots and implications for our precarious environmental state, carried me aloft. A wave of applause followed. We were high on our roles, maybe a bit on the drinks, and also on receiving our first "91 Owl" paychecks.


The above image is of The Laughing Owl, an extinct New Zealand owl, by John Gerard Keulemans, from G.D. Rowley's Ornithological Miscellany, 1875-78. Public domain.