I now have a copy of the recording of the TO DIE IN ATHENS reading, playing behind me right now as I write. It’s the best quality recording I’ve ever had of any of my work. Drew did so much with volume adjustment. The piano is a little creaky, but the whole thing sounds like an old BBC radio broadcast -really echo-y and rich.

Mandi, Drew and I had a meeting in Echo Park last night, listened to this, and talked. They have a really amazing concept about doing TDIA in club venues. I was stunned by how much they’ve dreamed about the project, and have come up with a way it could fit into a very different venue than traditional theater. And they’ve been listening to the recording themselves, which amazes me. We’ve made something other people want to listen to.

Audio is a purer way of capturing theater than video is. This was, of course, a reading, so there wasn’t much to see. But it’s making me wish I had a really nice audio recording of every show I’ve ever done. I’m thinking of taking the videotapes of AVW and BH and getting someone to make them into audio files.

You can listen, and imagine the play. It’s very effective. I don’t know if this recording is the one we’ll be sending out to lots of people – probably one more generation of rewrites to be done first. But it’s lovely.

Father, I do not know this place,
But the city is Athens.