Big Easy Theatre Awards Ceremony

What a great night for the New Orleans theatre community! Last night was the 20th annual Big Easy Awards for Theatre, the second time in as many years the event has dealt strictly with theatre. The music awards will follow next month in a separate gala affair. The picture above was taken at last night's gala that drew several hundred devotees of local theatre. I serve on the Big Easy Theatre Committee and helped to nominate the actors, actresses, producers, directors, music directors, choreographers, set designers, lighting designers, and productions that were presented last year for Big Easy Entertainment Awards. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Becky Allen, the local star of stage and screen who is almost a caricature of herself (seen with yours truly). She is such a joy to behold and yet as unique a character as one can imagine. Becky has been on stage since a very young lady and was featured at the ceremonies in a montage of photos and videos that captured her very impressive career for the last four-plus decades. Sean Patterson and Ricky Graham, Becky's partner in crime for many years, made the presentation. Congratulations should be extended to All Kinds of Theatre and Southern Repertory Theatre for the run of awards they garnered for "Doubt" including Best Supporting Actress (Andrea Frankle), Best Actress (Claire Moncrief), Best Actor (Jamie Wax) and Best Drama for 2007. Another set of impressive wins was achieved by the NOLA Project and Southern Repertory Theatre for "The Lieutenant of Inishmore," a very dark comedy complete with body parts and blood. John Biguenet's "Rising Water" won Best Original Play and he was selected as Theatre Person of the Year based on that play's nationwide success and Pulitzer nomination. Le Petit Theatre's Sonny Borey and Derek Franklin picked up the Best Musical for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," while Gary Rucker got the nod for Best Director with Rivertown Repertory's "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Best Musical Director went to Jonne Dendinger for Le Petit's restaging of "Tunes," first mounted by Ricky Graham and the late Freddie Palmisano. With performances peppered between presentations, the night was a splendid tribute to the entire New Orleans theatre community, which has rebounded nicely since Hurricane Katrina, but still has some big challenges ahead.

Why do men cheat?

Now that the dust has settled over the New York and New Jersey governors' offices, there is an abiding question that must be asked. Why do men cheat? Why is it necessary when so much is at stake that a man can risk it all -- his family, his job, and his station in life -- in order to act on an affair of the heart that on cursory examination seems tawdry and fleeting in substance? This obviously crosses all sexual preference lines. It matters not if the marriage or commitment is recent or long-standing. Given an opportunity to stray and frolic through Cupid's groves, man will literally jump at the chance, if he feels he can do so without getting caught. After all, there are repercussions to this behavior. Someone once suggested that men act impusively because of the ice cream factor, i.e. there are so many varieties of partners available that they want to sample them all. Perhaps that is the case for some, but speaking for myself, I don't think I could keep up with the demands of that many partners to make myself happy. To be sure there is a certain satisfaction that a man experiences -- a type of benevolent mastery over his lady or partner -- wherein he feels completed. Some men go to the extreme here demanding unreasonable accountablilty and obsessive behavior, which can lead to stalking. That is a very unhealthy relationship and I won't consider that in this discusson. However, I believe there may be an underlying reason as to why men feel the compulsion to cheat. It is not that they no longer love their partners, although a loveless marriage or commitment might act as a catalyst. Instead, I believe it is a way of dealing with their own mortality. By having multiple partners, a man considers that he has cheated death and in a bizarre fashion, he fancies himself as above other mortals, at least for the moment. Once past his dotage, man is as faithful as a lapdog, but given full use of his faculties and physical health, he will choose to act on his impulses. I'm not particularly proud of this behavior, but I do accept it as part of man's nature. As there are many who are attracted to "bad" boys, the tendency is to forgive these indiscretions and to somehow overlook the darker side of man's nature. Perhaps that is why Pat Boone was never seen as any great challenge to Elvis Presley or why John Travolta's portrayals of Tony Manero and Danny Zuko are still the rage today. I would welcome any comments.

Nutritional Tidbits

Our "Biggest Loser" group met with a nutritonist about what foods we should be eating and vice versa. I am the only male in the group. No surprise there. However, I was very surprised to learn some things about nutrition that I had not known before. For instance, taking vitamins supplements every day in very much de rigueur and at least one of them must be a multi-vitamin. Vitamins should always be taken with some sort of food item to help transport them through the system. I knew that already. But what surprised me was a one hour window before or after taking vitamins for coffee drinking. Apparently, caffeine cancels out the restorative effects of the vitamins if taken in close proxmity. I don't eat eggs that often, but if I eat two eggs, I must get rid of one of the yokes. If I eat a sandwich, I must lose one of the pieces of bread or the top of the bun and I'm allowed only one-half a bagel. Also, I am only permitted to eat red meat once a week. That means turkey, chicken and veal are in, hamburger and steaks are out. That will be a problem, but I will deal with it. This diet is complicated by the fact that I keep kosher in my home. This puts me at a distinct disadvantage because many of the items that I need to keep, such as whole wheat bread, tuna or salmon steaks, are only available through kosher locations. Fish that is fresh, but not cut with my own kosher knives would not be considered acceptable. So, if I want to continue to keep kosher and to lose weight, I must now eat mostly frozen foods purchased from the local kosher market. I am looking for alternatives, but it is vexing. Ironically, the local Chabad Rabbi Zelig Rivkin and his family kindly sent over kosher candies and hamantaschen as shalach manos (traditional food basket) offerings for Purim. It was literally a very sweet gesture. Unfortunately, I would be completely off the diet were I to enjoy the little morsels with the high calories and off-the-scale sugar content. Meanwhile, more exercise is the way I am attempting to deal with all of the new rules. Steady and slow goes the course.

The Biggest Loser

For those of you who recall, one of my previous blogs ("When the Lights Go Out" - January 15) dealt with my height deficiency. Don't get me wrong. I am happy with my body. It's just that I'm not as tall as I should be for my present weight. I am endeavoring to understand why in the last several years my pants have been shrinking too. Perhaps I should be changing my detergent. What do you think? In any event, the local JCC (Jewish Community Center) to which I belong is holding a new contest patterned after the successful TV series "The Biggest Loser." I have been recorded as to size and weight and I am now working with a professional trainer to shed inches and pounds between now and the next five and a half weeks. Whoever wins gets another 10 personal trainer sessions to really get trimmed. It's a great opportunity for me to work with a trainer and make some healthy lifestyle changes. I know I need to eliminate a lot of sugar from my diet and I need some help with other food choices. I will be meeting with a nutritionist as part of the program this weekend. Meanwhile, even if I don't win the contest, I will be be burning more calories and working out more often. It can't hurt.

Happy Purim and Happy Easter

Most of my readers who are not Jewish won't understand much about the holiday of Purim that begins at sundown tonight. Likewise, most Jews would not understand about the meaning of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday or Easter other than to know that it deals with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the resurrection that is core to the central belief of Christianity. Purim is a fun holiday that commemorates the redemption of the Persian Jews about 500 years before the time of Jesus. Most everyone recognizes that the execution of Jesus that is remembered on Good Friday is a most somber event, while Easter, two days later, is celebrated as a joyous time. Purim is not unlike Mardi Gras, originally linked to the Christian observance of Lent leading up to Holy Week. Purim participants read from a special Hebrew scroll called a Megillah and are encouraged to wear costumes and to make noise, while adults are allowed to drink alcohol freely throughout the day (woo hoo!). Jews eat three-cornered pastries (like a triangle) filled with poppy-seed or fruits that are called hamantaschen. They are delicious, but they hardly compare to Heavenly Hash or a solid chocolate bunny rabbit. So, not matter what your observance, enjoy your holidays. I wish you all a meaningful and fun time with family and friends.

"The homeless, tempest-tossed"

Believe it or not, New Orleans has achieved another new record. Once again, it is one that we would prefer to pass on to some other American city, but it is a bleak reality of post-Katrina life here. It's our homeless population. Recent figures released from UNITY of Greater New Orleans, a homeless advocacy group, show New Orleans has a homeless population of 12,000. What that means is that one out of every 25 residents living in the city is homeless and it is double the pre-Katrina statistics. That translates to a 4% homeless rate, which far and away leads all other major metropolitan areas. By way of contrast, Atlanta has a 1.4% rate, while Washington, D.C.'s rate is slightly under 1%. No other city is even in the running for the unenviable title. According to city officials and advocacy workers, many of the homeless are victims of the hurricane who returned following the storm, but don't have jobs or fell through the cracks of the federal recovery programs that were put into place. Many are out-of-state workers who had come to New Orleans with the promise of work, but lost their jobs and are now stranded. Some are mental patients who are in severe need of care, but roam the streets due to a lack of treatment facilities. A gruesome reminder of this is the case of Bernell Johnson, a mentally ill patient now housed in the Orleans Parish House of Detention. Johnson stands accused of killing 24-year-old New Orleans police officer Nicola Cotton on January 28, following a seven-minute struggle for her weapon when the much-smaller two-year veteran tried to place him under arrest for a suspected rape violation. The tragedy of that event pales when one considers that Johnson is one of several thousand similar dislodged, mentally unfit members of New Orleans society who are in true survival mode. Throwing money at the problem doesn't seem to work, despite the many professionals on the city, state and federal levels. What we need is a better infrastructure and more programs in place to serve these underserved individuals. Many of the programs set in place to help the homeless have not been reopened since 2005. We have the figures to show the problem. We have the tragedy to illustrate the problem. What can we do to eliminate the problem?

Bar Mitzvah Blues

Today marks the 41st anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah at the original Carondelet Street location of Congregation Beth Israel in New Orleans. Both my son and I happend to share the same Parsha (Torah portion) and Haftorah (Prophets reading). That portion is known as Vayikra, the first chapter of the Third Book of Moses also known as Leviticus. My son will celebrate his anniversary on March 20, just two days from now. It is interesting having that Torah portion because the name appears along the walls of many Jewish houses of worship that identify the Five Books of Moses by their Hebrew names. Beyond that, though, there's nothing much more special about Vayikra or Beresheit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Bamidbar (Numbers) and Devarim (Deuteronomy) other than those are the first words in those books of the Torah. When I became a Bar Mitzvah, the biggest joke (which I didn't really get) was the one about the little Jewish boy making his speech and thinking about all of his gifts when he ascended the bimah (pulpit). "Today I am a fountain pen," the joke went. It was hilarious back then, but today, I am afraid, no one really knows what a fountain pen is anymore. Perhaps an update would be "Today I am an Ipod."
Republicans Poll: Don't forget to vote at the lower right for whom you feel would make the best running mate for John McCain. There's only a couple of days left. (Democrats can vote, but you should vote like a Republican. That means you should try to come up with the best (not worst) running mate.