Scout read all your compliments on her chapeau and she says thank you. Although, to be brutally honest, Scout knows she is pretty. She just does. Even if I never told her how pretty she is (but I do – all the time) she would still know.
My pretty white kitchen table is currently covered in research materials. I have begun text work on The Merchant of Venice. Today I spent hours in my sun-filled kitchen reading, note taking and immersing myself in the play. Tomorrow I go to Manhattan to work with the lead actress, who plays Portia. We are doing a little pre-rehearsal work on the text. I’m not officially under contract until the end of the month. Since we are due for another snow storm Tuesday night and Wednesday (sigh), I scheduled my 2 sessions with the actress around the dreaded weather. The other session will be on Friday, which gives us enough time to shovel out, once again, from several inches of snow.
I have this pattern of behavior: I tend to put off gathering up all my research books and beginning my text work. ‘No, I’ll wait. Let me finish my crocheting,’ or ‘I have to do the laundry first’ or any one of a number of reasons I give to delay the process. But once I begin – especially with Shakespeare – I become immersed in the research and detective work. No matter how many times I have worked on a particular play, I always learn so much. There is such depth, such rich language and such truth in his work. I guess that’s to be expected when working with the greatest playwright that ever lived. And perhaps the greatest writer that ever lived. I’ve always said that if I could go back in time I would want to meet Shakespeare. We would sit down in a pub and I’d ask him how he knew what he knew. How did he become so wise about human nature? How did he know so much about the complexities of the human heart? How did he write in iambic pentameter and do it so beautifully? How?
That would be quite the conversation.
I’d like to talk to Mozart, too. And Gershwin. And Rachmaninoff. And Abraham Lincoln. And Fred Astaire. And Frank Capra. And Jane Austen.
And Harper Lee. But she is still with us. She just doesn’t grant interviews. Oh, I have a long list of questions for her.
If you could go back in time, who would you like to chat with? I’d love to know.
Jane Austen would be on my list too. I would like to go back and talk with my grandmother, my mother’s mother, who passed away when I was only weeks old.
I had to plan my return trip home around the snow too. We had more this morning and lots more on the way. I’ve also had my fill of it. Spring cannot come soon enough for me this year.
Have a safe and enjoyable trip Claudia and the best New Year ever!!
I think C.S. Lewis would top my list. Maybe Stieg Larson now as I just completed the triology and wish for more. Thanks for telling me about those three novels.
Best wishes with your new task, Claudia.
Florence Nightingale, as she was such a hero to me as a young girl as well as Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. I would also like to talk with Martin Luther King Jr., but only if I could talk about present day issues and ask how he felt about them.
On less serious matters Margaret Mitchell and any of the cast, crew, directors, producers involved in the making of THE movie.
Of course, I wish I could go back and talk to my parents again.
I look forward to reading who others would choose. Ann
I would like to chat with all of the above mentioned, and I would add Winston Churchill, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, Brian Boru, Shelby Foote, Maya Angelou (but I might get to meet her the end of the month and have seen her speak in person!), Vivian Leigh, Mynra Loy, Jesus, Billy Graham, Beethoven, Chopin, George Sand, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty (long story about that), Audrey Hepburn, and any number of ancestors I’ve researched.
Have fun on your project. I think it would be fabulous to do what you do, Claudia. How fascinating!
XO,
Sheila :-)
Hello Claudia,
Your work is so exciting and requires so much talent. I admire you so much and enjoy reading your well written, from the heart, posts.
I would have like to have known all of the people that you have mentioned including Pearl Buck, Katherine Hepburn and many others.
Best of luck on your newest project.
hugs
Sissie
Good luck to you.I would go back in time to meet Hemingway.Man, oh man if I could have had the chance to know him!
I would like to talk to Norman Rockwell, and Andrew Wyeth, two of many artist I admire , I think DaVenchi would be over my head , but what a brillent man he was.
Sharon
gosh, that’s a good question and one that i’ll have to think about.
loved yesterday’s post and meant to revisit and comment but got busy. the lentil cakes look fabuloso and i’m thrilled for you that you treated yourself to THE hat!
jeff lovesssss shakespeare. even listens to tapes of henry V in the car (meanwhile i watch TMZ) LOL
have fun in manhattan!
xo
elyse
Thanks for the fun post. I enjoyed hearing about how you approach a project. Interesting work.
Nice profile photo.
It is just curious about Harper Lee, isn’t it? I admire someone that does what she’s doing. After writing what she’s written. A class act.
Brenda
Wow! Any of the above would be amazing and I might have to add JFK in there and Marilyn Monroe, Dorthy Danridge, Betty Grable…you know me and my pin ups!! LOL!
Goodness, this
gorgeous project
ought to shake
out any blues still
hiding in there!
LOVED your little
trip and that hat
is oh-so-fantastic.
Scout most definitely
does it justice : )
Authors I’d like to
meet? Oh, there
are soooo many!
I’d love to meet
Rosamunde Pilcher;
she’s in her late
80’s but penned one
of my favorites,
Coming Home, in 2000.
Jane Austen, of course….
Margaret Mitchell…
I love Elizabeth Berg.
{I could go on and on.}
When is your play
going to happen? I’d
love to see it!
xx Suzanne
Hum, rather than talk to anyone famous I think I would love to talk to any one of those wonderfully brave strong adventurous women that traveled west to claim land….especially the teachers.I would love to hear about their dreams, and just about anything they’d like to share. If only I could. Thanks for another great post. Blessings, Joanne
Oh, what a wonderful question! I would definitely like to sit down with Jane Austin. In fact, I’d love to have her, the Bronte sisters, and Louisa May Alcott over for tea.
Other famous people I’d like to meet: Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Julia Morgan, and Mary Magdeline (to get the real scoop).
Okay, this could be a little more heartbreaking than I could actually really handle, but I’d like (with sincere respect) to have a small gathering with Marilyn, Anna Nicole, Heath, Elvis, and a few others that just went too soon. Hopefully, we’d have a heartfelt chitchat and a big group hug.
Oh, and there’s the list of those still here: Elizabeth Gilbert, Julia Cameron, Sarah Ban Breathnach, and Barbara Kingsolver… all such amazing women.
So many incredible people that have done incredible things… I especially admire that last group of women.
Hugs,
Jill
Oh, wise one. Have a great day in NYC we will be waiting to hear how it all goes. Make sure to have that camera with you now…
Hello Sweet Lady,
My all time hero was Katherine Hepburn……I’d love to have chatted with her for a long time. I’d love to meet you in person, too, as your lifestyle intrigues me, and how facinating it is the work you do. I’m so glad you’re enjoying your shadowbox……thank you for the comments.
God Bless,
Meri
Audrey Hepburn, springs to mind.
You definetely got a lot of guys on that list…
Have you ever truly explained what it is you do for a living? May have missed it, but it sounds so intriguing.
Good luck with the snow.
Somany have already mention some of those I would love to chat with. To add to the list would be Laura Ingalls Wilder, David Henry Thoreau, and my Grand father on my Mothers side. His life was such an adventure, being born to a musical family in Holland who played for the king, then through a long exciting process winding up in Hollywood as a bit actor, speaking 4 languages and so much more. Yes I would love to have had just an afternoon with him.
So glad you are working again!!
xo
How exiting it must be working like that-seartching,learning-and passing it on .
I find “your people” could be on my wish list,too, but I would have loved living a week with Tascha Tudor- I have alwayes admired her, and have the books made of her life.
Hugs,dear–
Dorthe
Oh goodness, this question is always hard for me, there are so many.
Thomas Jefferson
Abigail Adams
Robert Kennedy
Martin Luther King
Ted Sorensen, speechwriter
Lady Bird Johnson
Mother Theresa
This is really too hard for me. I could spend hours thinking about it.
If I had to choose 5 people to have dinner with currently though, I would choose, Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and Al Sharpton, or Congressman John Lewis…love him. I think one topic, I’d like to discuss with all of them, is integrity.
I love thinking up combinations for these sorts of dinner parties, and what we’d discuss.
All the aforementioned people would be amazing to talk to, but I think i would want to talk to my women ancestors. The men would be ok, too, but I would want to find out where the strongness that most of the women in my family possess comes from. I think I ended two sentences with prepositions, but I won’t worry about it.
Great questions! I like your list too. I would add, Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor, my grandmother, and Ghandi.
My children are huge Shakespeare enthusiasts. They are with you all the way on your thoughts about him as well.
Hugs,
Terri
I see that the blues is almost conquered :o) and that you are already engrossed on your forthcoming rehearsals.
Of course each one has a dream to meet one of his/her favorite authors but we might be disappointed by the meeting. But let’s dream…
Claudia,
I wish I was closer so I could come see you preform. I remember so well middle school English. Required reading ‘the merchant of Venice’. I had to memorize Shylocks ‘the quality of mercy’. Please forgive me Claudia for spelling errors. I haven’t read it since. The language was daunting for me to say the least. I have tons of respect for those who can speak Shakespeare’s tongue & make it entertaining & understandable. I know you’ll be a rockin’ Portia.
Lisa
Besides meeting with ancesters, I would like to meet with Herman Hesse or Buckminister Fuller and see what he thinks about the “future” present. Enjoy your research!
By the way… The people I would love to talk to:
Jim Morrison
Nick Drake
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix…
Not sure how old Nick Drake was when he died.. um 29 I’m guessing, but the other three were 27.
I want to ask them why they were done at 27? At 27 I wanted to have a baby. At 27 I was just figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.
I miss all four and am grateful for the very few years we had with them AND their art that continues to amaze me.
xo.
Because I love to travel and seem to be going places never expected this late in life, (yes, more awesome trips being planned!), I would love to talk to the women who adventured to – and some wrote books about – the unknown places of the world long before modern comforts were available……..including
Mary Livingstone
Isak Dinesan
Mary Ann Parker
Mary Kingsley
Elizabeth, Lady Craven
…also any of the amazing women who traveled to the West in covered wagons.
Modern adventurer and author – Marlena de Blasi – I could spend hours in her company, know I’d enjoy every second!
Not so famous but the best, oh to chat with my mother and maternal grandmother again….there are so many questions left unanswered!!!!!
Thanks for asking – I enjoyed thinking about how I’d answer.