Spring Break Redux: The Repertory Theatre of Seattle: "Brownsville Song: (b-side for Tray)"

In preparation for my first visit to Seattle, I researched all manner of things to do.  I bought a ticket to the Symphony, for example.  I looked at a lot of theater companies and settled on a ticket to a production of the Repertory Theatre of Seattle.  But something went awry.  I think it occurred during one of my marathon planning frenzies between my original trip and the addition of a day on the front side.  Be that as it may, this is what ended up happening....

Remembered from a previous posting:  Man, I fucked up! For some reason that only my sub-conscious will ever know, from the moment that I purchased my theater tickets onward, I thought the show was on the 27th. It was ensconced in my thinking that it was on Sunday evening and all the subsequent evidence to the contrary never penetrated my preconceived notion. Therefore, when I arrived at the theater tonight and asked for my ticket at will call, they couldn't find it. The little foyer and seating area with tables was still festooned with "Luna Gale" posters, so I had no reason even then to suspect what a fuck up I had made. The lovely ticket girl then checked on the computer and looked up with an expression of forlorn confusion herself, and said, "Oh, Mr. Ash, we have your ticket but it was for last night's performance. And last night was closing night."

"Oh my," I replied. "What have I done?" (And in that inner space that only I can hear it was more like, 'Geez, Randy, you really fucked up this time!")

But then the young lady asked, "Would you like to attend tonight's performance of "Brownsville Song (B-side for Tray)?"

I smiled and said, "Sure!"

She then offered me a couple of options and I chose a center seat, 5 rows from the stage. Honestly it was better fit for me. My original notion was simply to see a play and get a sense of the Theater community in Seattle. I chose "Luna Gale" because I thought it fit my schedule, not because I was dying to see a play about the messed up child welfare system. But I researched it, and discovered that there were good reviews and good actors in it, so I told myself to be open-minded and I was looking forward to the experience.

"Brownsville" I'd read about in a local "what to see in Seattle" mag and thought, that's sounds compelling. So once I got over the embarrassment of my mistake--honestly, as my mama once said to me, "Boy, you fell into a pile of shit, but still managed to come out smelling like roses!"

The story of this play is about an African American/Asian blended family that has to come to terms with the senseless death of Tray a college bound 18 year-old who is gunned down when caught in an act of gang violence. The timeline floats between before and after Tray's death with his ghost even making appearances. The characters include Tray, his grandmother, his step mother, his younger half-sister, and a buddy his age from the neighborhood. The acting was wonderful, the story compelling, at times funny and times wrenching. I'm so glad that I fucked this one up!