Out of my head and into the world - starting with Sex with Strangers

As I continue to create my midlife crisis in 2011, I'm excited to move into April's theme - Inspiration. I used the frigid winter months to figuratively and literally clean house - take care of my body, my surroundings, my calendar, my mind. I've decluttered, pared down and cut back. Now I'm ready to get out there and seek  new ideas and experiences.  And April is the right month to get started.


It's still gray and bare here in Chicago; we're caught in the fifth season columnist Mary Schmich calls "Waiting for Spring." Her article about it in today's Chicago Tribune is hilarious. But I like e. e. cummings' sentiment for this time of year, 

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful."

I'm going to go out and splash around!


Originally, I wanted April to be the month of feasting on the arts. I intended to see at least 20 concerts, plays, readings, art exhibits and performances.  Then, I planned for May to be all about travel and experiencing new cities and sites of natural beauty. But real life has mixed up my schedule, so I'm adapting my plan and mixing up the months. I'll be traveling and devouring every cultural event I can for the next two months - and reporting back on how all this stimuli affects me. And I've already begun.

Sex with Strangers is hot!
Image from ChicagoNow. com
Photo by Michael Brosilow

Wednesday night I saw Steppenwolf's "Sex with Strangers", a play by Laura Eason that is right up my alley. It's about sex and blogging and literature and aging and hot younger men and privacy and trying to be true to yourself while attracting an audience for your work in this digital age.


My friend Mary and I have season tickets to Steppenwolf and we like to see shows there on Wednesday evenings after dinner and a half-price bottle of wine (Wino Wednesdays!) at the hip Landmark Grill across the street. Since we enter the theatre a tad buzzed, our first criteria for any show is - does it keep us awake until intermission? Sex with Strangers passed that test and more.


I loved it! And I'm jealous. I wish I'd written this play Laura Eason, you brilliant bitch! And I completely envy actress Sally Murphy who plays Olivia and gets to explore these powerful, topical issues for two hours on stage with her smoking hot co-star, Stephen Louis Grush. I've always been turned off by tattoos, but Grush's portrayal of Ethan is making me rethink the appeal of a heavily inked torso. 


I guess feeling jealous, envious, and turned on are signs of being inspired, right? April is off to a good start. Now I've got to go pack my suitcase for the weekend, cos I'm heading to  Philadelphia.


Sex with Strangers runs at Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre through May 15th. Go see it! Here's the link for tickets: http://www.steppenwolf.org/boxoffice/productions/index.aspx?id=505