Opening night of the play! I skipped the pay-what-you-can preview last night and went tonight, fresh without even seeing a rehearsal. (Plus there was a champagne reception afterwards.)

I tend to write ambiguity into my plays. Theater is more accepting of unanswered questions than film, and I try to take every advantage in this somewhat dying medium. I do it because I think it challenges an audience, it makes the piece last longer when they're discussing it on the drive home. One person can see something completely different from another -- and both opinions are equally valid. One of my favorite pastimes is eavesdropping during intermission.

(This can backfire. A few years ago, I was sitting behind a guy who clearly didn't care for the play and asked his friends. They didn't seem to have a problem. He said, "I don't know. It's not the acting, it's not the directing... it's the writing." My heart sank. I wanted to quiz him, find out exactly why he thought that way, what I could do to make it better. But instead, I just hid in the back hoping no one would come up to me and have him realize the playwright was sitting behind him ready to strangle.)

A couple weeks ago, when the director emailed me and asked for my ideas while writing the piece, I hedged and changed the subject. I do have specific thoughts and reasons, but I prefer the director come up with her own interpretation and not let me influence. It makes for a more interesting piece, and I get to see something I may not have thought of. Unlike screenwriters, playwrights are still respected. But having started in screenwriting, I'm comfortable with the director making it her own and my not overseeing and approving everything.

She persisted, so I gave her six possibilities... none of which I was actually thinking while writing. She emailed back, describing what she and the actors came up with -- and she nailed it. They had the same idea I did. (It would still come across as ambiguous to the audience, but it helps if the actors have concrete answers for themselves.)

So I felt it was in good hands and didn't feel the need to be involved. I'll sometimes sit in on auditions, particularly with this theater company. The artistic director likes to improv along with monologues, so I feel like I'm getting a full day's worth of free entertainment.

There were three music cues -- Being John Malkovich opened with the track from "Puppet Love" (inside joke -- the play has a Charlie McCarthy dummy). It did set the mood quite nicely, though whenever I hear that score I always think of Malkovich. Then some from "Twin Peaks" (David Lynch was an influence on writing the piece) and The Crow. When she was bouncing around music ideas, I mentioned Donnie Darko, particularly "Mad World," which would make an excellent exit song. Alas, no Donnie.

Because I like to make things even more difficult (I mean, challenging) for others, I wrote in British accents. Forcing accents pretty much shoots you in the foot, because if it's not convincing, you're constantly pulled out of the play thinking how bad an accent it is. And unfortunately, the male actor wasn't as deft with it as the female actor. Some of his words were clipped and difficult to understand.

Overall, I was very pleased with how it turned out. And I just adore my female actor (the one I coincidentally sat next to last week at Cooking with Elvis). She has such a presence onstage. Washington, D.C. has a strong theater community (we actually have the third or fourth largest number of theaters in the nation -- I know, hard to believe), but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she moved to New York as soon as she hits Equity.

The central idea is two kids locked in a closet (the director later said she actually rehearsed a couple times inside a real closet). Walking through the sold-out crowd, I overheard people mention things ranging from "the brother's torturing the sister" to "it's Nazi Germany outside."

And I didn't have to hide in the back.

I love theater.

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The Hammer Challenge, or O Desafio Do Martelo to our Portugese readers (I found out someone translated pokergrub.com into Portugese!) is now at $25 (er, $19.87EUR)! We passed the previous record for the first two challenges, so I thought I'd add something else to the prize package.

I'm all out of "Real People" t-shirts, but how does a brand new, genuine leather wallet sound? Oooh, ahhh. Now I know y'all use rubber bands to hold your bankroll like good poker players, but sometimes you might find yourself out in public and a rubber band will not impress the in-laws.

Therefore, win The Hammer Challenge III and I'll stuff the cash inside the wallet and mail it off to ya.

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When I got home, played a few no-limit SnGs to nurse my ailing bankroll.

Two 24+2 qualifiers for the big game (#1: almost won but took second for $25; #2: lost QQ to AA). Two 30+3 (4th in both -- did I tell you how much I hate being 4th?). And three 50+5 (won one, placed 3rd in the others). A total $283 buy-in and a $450 return.

I did get lucky on the way to placing 3rd in one of the 50+5. About six people left. I had about T1500, I get 99 UTG, and I raise T300. I'm reraised T700 from a guy who was almost all-in. He didn't put himself all-in but left himself with a T56 reserve. Because he was shortstacked and left that extra T56, I put him on AK. So I reraised him all-in. He had AA. But the flop and turn gave me quads! I only had two outs and I hit both. Finally, I get to be the one who sucks out on someone else for a change.



lunch:
McDonald's chicken McNuggets
fries
Welch's mixed fruit (real fruit juice!)

3 Diet Cokes

dinner:
banana oatmeal
Wendy's chicken nuggets
fries
champagne
cheese & crackers & cookies & fruit

grub: 10
poker: 167