Lesson #8
It's hot up here.
dictated but not read
I was a chaperone on my son’s high school band trip to Chicago this past weekend. It was a 4-day trip, nearly 40% of which we spent on a bus. But in between painfully long bus trips listening to high school music kids use the phrase “low-key” the way my generation used “like”, I took my son and one of his friends around Chicago, which was awesome.
We saw the Cloud Gate, ate deep-dish at Giordano’s, went to Clark Street Dog, rode the L around the Loop, and saw a pretty great lake.
My son and I had been to Chicago twice before (when he was 4 and when he was 9) but all he really remembered was the LEGO® store on the Magnificent Mile.
The first time I remember being in Chicago was the summer of ‘96. I’m not sure if we went for any particular reason. I remember 4 things clearly.
First, my girlfriend at the time showed up the day we were leaving with candy for my younger brothers (then 12 and 11) to have on the plane (she dumped me on a trampoline that coming Labor Day, then again a month or so later).
First, we saw Show Boat at the Chicago Auditorium Theater with Mark Jacoby, Dorothy Loudon, John McMartin, and Eddie Korbich.
Second, we went to the Art Institute of Chicago and saw Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat because of Sunday in the Park with George.
And third, we were driving on the highway and saw a Delaware license plate. My mom waved at the young woman driving the car and shouted: “We’re from Delaware too!” which is weird for two reasons: (i) the young lady could not hear her as the window was up, and (ii) we were in a rental car with Illinois plates.
On the 15-hour bus ride back (we made stops), between the screaming and the laughing and the “low-key”s, I wondered what my son would remember. The Neuro-Spicy brain is a fickle thing. He will sit stone-faced through an entire trip and then proclaim it to be “the best time he’s ever had.” So I don’t really know what he enjoyed in the moment.
I’ll remember travelling 30 minutes each way on the subway for a very good hot dog (seriously good) and walking around the Cloud Gate and thinking how rare it was that something lives up to its own hype. I’ll remember being impressed with how professional all 200 of the kids were when it came time to be. I’ll remember being impressed with how kind the kids were to each other overall. I’ll remember lots of things (or think I will). But I don’t know what’s sunk in with him.
But then I only remember 4 things from my trip at roughly his age, and one of them didn’t happen in Chicago, so maybe that’s enough.
Maybe he’ll remember going to the same mall in Toledo twice (once on the way out, once on the way back). Maybe he’ll remember there was no hot bar at the Giant Eagle in Cranberry Township. You never know what’ll stick. If it’s food memories, I hope it’s the deep-dish.
Hopefully he’ll remember the day out with his friend and me. Hopefully, he’ll have warm memories of it. You say “hopefully” a lot with kids. And more than that with neuro-spicy ones.
Or maybe he’ll remember we saw Moulin Rouge, which is low-key terrible.
- Patrick, mm/dd/25
pre-production
Talk to You Later
We have a meeting scheduled week-after-next. It’s happening!!!
coming soon
The Ferberizing of Coral
See, we’ve applied to, like, four festivals. And we can’t do anything until we hear back from them. So . . .
friends of the unknown penguin
How to Playwright
She’s sent a lot of folks my way, so I wanted to highlight Audrey Cefaly who’s Substack “How to Playwright” is a must for anyone who wants to . . . well, know how to playwright.
live on stage
Tinker Bell
available through Dramatic Publishing
Eureka High School (Eureka, IL) - April 11-12
Southeast Bulloch High School (Brooklet, GA) - April 28
South Sumter High School (Bushnell, FL) - May 9-10
The Velveteen Rabbit: A Toy Story
available through Theatrical Rights Worldwide
Conejo Players Theatre (Westlake Village, CA) - May 2-11
from the vault
Talk to You Later - “Shower”
Seriously, we made over 80 of these.