Alexandria and Aristophanes

A last minute freebie gave me the opportunity to check out a theater premiere at the Guthrie Lab, an adjunct to the Guthrie Theater. I couldn’t find someone who could attend with me, so I ended going solo, kind of fun once in a while. The production was Lysistrata by Aristophanes. I find that there's nothing quite like a 2500 year old comedy about the war between the sexes to get my dramatic juices flowing.

I took my seat, right next to another singleton. A pleasant youngish woman with a bohemian appearance. We hit it off right away, and spent the 10 minutes till curtain in an animated discourse about theater, the Guthrie (note to non-locals: this theater is has an international reputation) and Sir Tyrone Guthrie himself, whom I had the chance to meet when I was a teen. 'Alex' was performance artist herself, the director of this production was her friend. We enjoyed the show, and continued our conversation in the lobby until the theater closed. Our 'play' was every bit as enjoyable as the staged one. Testing, sparring, checking each other out, quickly realizing that this night was for talk only, and we made the best of it.

About a year later, I was with my family at a east bank cafe, enjoying a night out before the boys went back to school. As our server approached I realized it was, in fact Alexandria. Not so bohemian this time, but Alexandria nonetheless. It was all business, but when it came my turn to order, a little smile crossed our lips as we looked at each other. She seemed pleased to see me, and also seemed that she was glad our accidental date turned out the way it had.