Last weekend was full of unusual happenings: my show, "Carter's Play," closed with much fanfare, we spent time with Neil and Amanda, who were in town for Neil's commencement address at the University of the Arts on Broad Street, and we were given a private tour of the Penn Museum's hidden archive by Dr. Brad.

I'm discovering I'm the worst person at self-promotion, having been quiet about my show until after it opened, and then trying to make up for the lost weeks when I could have been dropping hints and letting loose tantalizing glimpses into the rehearsal/production process. But it's always difficult for me, when I'm in the midst of early rehearsals, to take what at the moment is a mass of halting lines and questionable character motivation and present it as a finished, polished, professional piece of theatre to the public. I need to be better at that. Because Carter's Play was good and I'm sorry not more people came to see it, and I must take my share of the blame for that. And so, in that spirit, I shall tell you now that my next project is "The Laramie Project: 10 years later," which will be performed throughout the month of August in repertory with other plays for the Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival here in Philly.



On Thursday, before my performance, I ran down to XIX, high atop the Bellevue, and met Kyle in the intimate bar there, ordered a Roy Rogers (what a taste of childhood!) and we were soon met by Neil and Amanda, who were the most relaxed I'd ever seen them. It occurred to me that I've only ever been around Amanda when she's about to perform and there is organized chaos surrounding us... which gives one a somewhat skewed perception. It was a completely different experience to simply sit over drinks and chat about life and projects and travel. The four of us were quickly joined by our friends from Locust Moon Comics, who had just had an anthology published, which they wanted to give to Neil. This all coincided with Amanda hitting 15,000 donors on her epic kickstarter, so there was an impromptu photo call with Locust Moon holding Amanda aloft as Neil wrote on her leg with a sharpie. Before Locust Moon left, Neil asked them to sign their book for him, which, I think, would be like Vanessa Redgrave asking me to sign a theatre program for her. Eveyone had a wonderful time.




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As Neil wrote in a blog entry that made me weep, one of the purposes of our visit was for Kyle to take the final image for the Bed Song Book, a book that will be such an unimaginably beautiful work of art, it defies description. I was touched to be there, holding lights, as the photo was taken, witnessing the tenderness and love this couple feels for each other. It was an incredibly moving experience. We celebrated at the end, when Brad arrived, with champagne and chocolate and stories and plans for the future. And then we walked out into the early evening and parted ways as they went off to dinner at Square 1682 and I floated off to my performance, knowing there was much I couldn't say, but being ok with that.

I thought that was my goodbye to both Neil and Amanda, but Neil was in town for an extra day, so Kyle, Brad and I met him for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mad Mex, and then walked to the Penn Museum where Brad had promised us an exclusive tour of the stored Middle East collections.

No matter how many times (but it's only been twice for me,) Brad opens those secret drawers filled with amulets and figurines, I feel chills and wonder about those people, not so different from us, who handled these everyday artifacts so many thousands of years ago. Brad writes about it beautifully in his blog here. It's always the gaps in knowledge that I find so fascinating... the details we don't know or can only guess at... and I'm amazed by what we do know. Had I been the first to discover a duck weight, I would still be wondering what it could have signified to that long ago, buried culture.




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I walked Neil to a cab afterwards and we said our farewells, and then he went off to DC and the Nebula Awards, where he won the Ray Bradbury Award for his Doctor Who episode. Life is so gloriously improbable... it's best not to think too much, but to simply do.

There's a very nice review for my show, Carter's Play. I'm back on stage tonight at 8:00pm! There's a special $12 rate for artists, and the production ends on Saturday.

Hope to see you there!

Today, for the 2:00 matinee of Carter's Play, we're offering free tickets. All you have to do is say "paper" at the door. The show is not really child friendly, however. I hope to see you there! 1417 N. 2nd St, 2 blocks north of Girard Avenue.

Tonight is the opening night of the new play I'm doing, "Carter's Play," by Josh McIlvain. We had a preview last night and kylecassidy, who is not a flatterer, told me it's the best acting I've done. I've certainly had fun with it, playing the role of an actress in a play within the play. I remember in acting school, I always looked for scenes where I could be Bette Davis... and Josh has written a role not unlike the Bette Davis I know and love. So, yes, it's great fun! Performances are in the White Space at the Crane Arts School on N. 2nd Street, and performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8, Sunday at 2pm this week, and Thursday through Saturday at 8 next week.

And, because I absolutely love it, I'm sharing an image Kyle took to publicize an event at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Heartless Revival provided the gown, the Sketch Club provided the wall through which I walked, and Kyle Cassidy provided the artistry.

Sunday was our day of departure, and I lay in bed after waking up, fighting a sense of post-euphoric depression. The sunlight and the promise of coffee pulled me up, and Kyle and I sat in Valya's backyard, reading and soaking up the Spring. They have the most beautiful fairy tree in their backyard, complete with old man, whistling through the bark, and a little door for fairy access. I know that carolynturgeon would have been inspired by the sight of it! So, it seemed appropriate to be reading Carolyn's latest beautiful novel, The Next Full Moon, while listening to the sounds of Spring.



Valya had planned a Sunday afternoon Creative Co-op, part of a monthly event, where area artists and creatives gather to discuss their projects or their hopes or their brick walls and seek inspiration and encouragement from each other. I've been hearing about this group for a long time, but it was even better than I imagined, to sit in a circle and derive hope and energy from the group, and Carl was exceptional at getting people to work at defining their goals and perceived obstacles. My natural shyness didn't even get in the way of participating. It was such a perfect cap to a creatively rich and fulfilling weekend. Thank you, dear valya for your inspiration and energy!

And in addition to seeing many of the people from the previous evening, including Debbie, who was part of the Terra Mysterium theatrical group and was able to offer some insight and encouragement in creating a one-person show, our own Molly Robison was there! It was wonderful to see her again after so long, as she was preparing for her senior recital the following day, (which she nailed!)




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When the meeting was winding down, Kyle and I packed, said our sad farewells and were driven to Midway Airport by Mark. In many ways, it felt like we were saying goodbye to family and that we had spent a month, not a weekend, with them. We certainly filled that weekend with a year's worth of memories.

We will never forget it.

Saturday morning started out like any other morning: coffee and breakfast in the kitchen, although this breafast was made by Valya, who I really believe is capable of anything and everything. Here she'd planned the equivalent of a Royal Wedding and she was still making sure her house guests were well fed and caffeinated!




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Beautiful Valya in the sunlight, above, taken by Kyle... and below with Mark, taken by 8 Eyes Photography. What a wonderful shot of them!



We were to leave the house by 11:30 to head to the venue, stopping off for a bite of lunch at the Happy Buddha first, so after breakfast, we all made our preparations. Valya had her long hair beautifully braided and looked like a Renaissance painting, dressed in kambriel, and Maura (tigerinvaseline) was all silvery starlight in her vintage gown, and the dress that Heartless Revival designer, Autumn Lin, created for the event was such fun to descend staircases in... and feathers!!!!




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A wonderful shot of Maura as captured by Madeline Matz.



Madeline Matz came by with an extra car and we all piled into our various vehicles and were off to have one of the most beautiful adventures of my life.

In Valya's words, "I became involved with the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame because I believe that Chicago has an important literary legacy deserving of attention. After two induction ceremonies where we celebrated historical writers, it was time to look at the contribution of writers living and working in Chicago."

Based on the local guest list alone, I am convinced that Chicago does indeed have one of the most vibrant and welcoming literary circles I could ever imagine... and the heatfelt tributes from fellow luminaries of modern literature to Mr. Wolfe, who was the kindest, most humble of subjects, were incredibly moving. I sat there, soaking in the words and anecdotes and alternately beaming and weeping, like so many others in the audience.

It's no wonder The Sanfilippo Estate is called Place de la Musique. It is filled, as far as I can tell, to capacity with victrolas and vintage organs, music boxes and carousels... and where there's not a musical instrument, there's a Tiffany style lamp or a steam engine filling the "void." It is a feast for the eyes and a curiosity seeker's paradise.




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View from the balcony.

We arrived early enough to take a self-guided tour of the house and grounds, walking back to the Carousel Pavilion to meet Neil Gaiman and Maria Dahvana Headley, who had traveled together on an impromptu authors' road trip. While Neil and Kyle discussed a secret collaboration, Maria and I caught up with each other. She has such infectious joi de vivre, it's hard not to glow in her presence... but who would fight it?




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We took the glamorous golf cart back to the main house for the start of the Fuller Award Ceremony, my feathers threatening to send me flying over the tree tops, meeting up with our friends, Michael Swanwick, who had also traveled from Philadelphia, and the hilarious and dapper Peter Straub from NY. There were so many new faces, it was nice to see friendly, familiar ones too.







Madeline and I took in the ceremony from the balcony and seemed to be experiencing the joyful and poignant moments as one person, looking at eachother in sympathy and amusement. Having read Gene Wolfe now and heard from Valya how sweet and kind he is, I didn't expect him to be as rib-achingly funny as he is.







Other people have already spoken about Neil Gaiman's presentation speech and his wonderful reading of "Solar Labyrinth" (Michael Swanwick talks about the story in this 2007 article) and the great peformance by the steampunk theatre troupe Terra Mysterium, and I was so often on sensory overload and awed by the presence of my literary idol, Audrey Niffenegger, that the whole event was a beautiful, colorful, eloquent whirl of music, costumes, words and people.

This was taken by Eight Eyes Photography, a glorious duo, Pat and Ellen Prather, with three of my favorite people, Maura, Maria and Valya.



As I prepared to leave the house for dinner at the pavilion, Kyle called me over to introduce me to Peter Sagal, who was, for me, the most delightful surprise of the evening. He's fascinated by the world, interested in everyone and everything which makes him a delightful conversationist, as was his wife, Beth, and when he found out we were from Philadelphia, he was able to talk about the Philadelphia theatre scene and our local playwrights with depth and understanding.

This was taken by Carl Hertz, a rare moment when Kyle was not behind the camera.



At dinner, we were seated with Valya and Mark, Peter Straub, Neil, and Luis Urea and his wife, Cindy. Peter Sagal was the master of ceremonies and introduced all the speakers, saying that since he didn't know who everyone was, he would simply make up facts about them, which he did skillfully and humorously. Kyle was the second speaker and I'm constantly amazed by how easy he is in public, devoid of nerves and seemingly improvisational. I'm in awe of that ability; maybe when I'm 90, I'll no longer care and so gain the public speaker's ease.

Dinner was followed by an invitation to ride the antique carousel, and it was so much fun to see the lions of the liteary world become children again, for the space of a song. I had a race with Michael Swanwick, and even though I was riding side-saddle, I won!







I love this shot of Jill Thompson, Neil Gaiman, Peter Sagal and Beth Sagal sharing the joy.

I had begun to think that the evening would go by without actually meeting Audrey Niffenegger, and I had concluded that it might be for the best... when Kyle, who had shared vodka with her in a coat closet earlier in the evening, offered to make an introduction. So I stood, trying not to tremble, while she made preparations to stand up from her table and Peter Sagal fluffed my feathers (yes, it was that kind of an evening) and I didn't embarrass myself too severely... I don't think. And now I can continue on with my life.







I hope I was saying something semi-bright to Carl and Audrey; she did wave goodbye to me when she left!

When the event was over and we had said our farewells to the pavilion, with future invitations extended to us all, and said goodbye to Neil, who is exceptionally kind, and Maria, we returned to Valya's, where a small after-party that included Gary K. Wolfe, Peter Straub and the wonderful Jennifer Stevenson, (who taught me how to become a roller derby girl by hip butting her in our finery!) was in full swing.

Here we are with Peter Straub, after I'd let my hair down and taken off the crimson corset....






From the distance of a week, it all seems like a dream... and that wasn't even the conclusion of our weekend in Chicago.

And I have to include this photo because I look like I'm the life of the party, which is what I love the most about still photographs. I could caption this: "Doing my Charlie Chaplin routine for Neil Gaiman, Valya Lupescu and Maria Dahvana Headley." And no one would be the wiser.

One day, a few years ago, the image of a woman with a beautiful, contagiously happy smile and a wonderful way with words appeared on my livejournal friends list. For several months, she was known in our household simply as "the smiling lady"... and then, in 2009, we had our wedding party, and the smiling lady became a reality. Valya (charyvna) traveled all the way from Chicago to celebrate with us, bringing her warmth and support and intellect and creativity with her. My life has been the richer for her friendship... and the world is a more stimulating and exciting place because of her presence in it.


Valya and me during one of her book tour visits for her beautiful novel, The Silence of Trees.

Over the years, kylecassidy has had the opportunity to visit her during various photography workshops, organized by Valya in Chicago, but something has always prevented me from joining him, until last weekend. When Valya originally told us about An Evening to Honor Gene Wolfe, it looked like we wouldn't be able to attend... but with a few pulls and tugs at the schedule, we RSVP'd and began planning for what promised to be a glorious event. Preparations for me included reading everything I could, in the time permitted, of Gene Wolfe's life's oeuvre. Not an easy task considering the breadth and beautiful density of his work. However, after reading Soldier of the Mist, I am bent on reading the entire series and discovering what becomes of Latro. Does he regain his memory? Does he find his home? His family and friends? Or is he still wandering out there, somewhere in the mist?

kylecassidy and I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon and were met by Carl Hertz, a friend of Valya's and now ours too, who took many of the stunning photos over the weekend. We met up with another friend, and fellow-photographer, Braden, at the vegetarian Chicago Diner for a delicious lunch before driving to Valya's lovely home, where we were met by the entire family, including Valya's husband, Mark, and their three amazing children, who completely charmed me with their antics and crooked glasses and desire to eat vegan food. When Kyle ran off with Braden to photograph the local Roller Derby league, I stayed home to enjoy more of family life, and then, after the children's bedtime, helped Valya stick signed book plates into 150 copies of A Walking Tour of the Shambles, co-authored by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe.

The following day, Valya and Mark were going to the event venue, the Sanfilippo Estate, to drop off items for Saturday, so Kyle and I took the opportunity to explore some of Chicago, a city I'd never visited, but always heard so much about and longed to see. We went to the local station to catch the Metra train into central Chicago, and met tigerinvaseline there as she was coming into the station from Wisconsin and our train was just arriving. It was all very Anna Karenina and would have been sad, if we hadn't known we'd be seeing eachother again that night and spending the rest of the weekend together.

The entire weekend was unseasonably warm, and I feel we were cheated out of a part of our "Chicago in the Spring" experience; no winter parkas and no snow boots for us! The entire city seemed to be rejoicing, enjoying the beauty of the lake and the clear blue skies. Even President Obama was in town, having a fun-filled day, I'm sure, and foiling our plans every time we turned around... first blocking our entry to the pub where we wanted to eat and then making it almost impossible, with his motorcade, to cross the street to see the Art Institute. This actually all added excitement to our experience and a sense of comraderie between us and the other people lining the street.

We also made a point of walking down State Street, since I love the Frank Sinatra song and couldn't resist documenting our visit, stopping traffic in the process, like every good tourist.



While we navigated around the president's entourage, we met the power rangers, who were trying to maintain order.



We were afraid we'd miss seeing silveringridd on this visit since she was tied up playing host all weekend, but it happened that this was the day she and her brother were also enjoying the beautiful Chicago weather, and we were able to meet for drinks on the Navy Pier, a meeting that was all too brief.

When we left silveringridd, we headed over to The Steppenwolf Theatre Company to see "Time Stands Still," by one of my favorite playwrights, Donald Margulies. His plays are always so thought-provoking and often deal with questions of ethics in the art world and the complexity of human relationships. One of my most challenging and rewarding acting experiences was playing Lisa in his "Collected Stories." This particular play touched on ethics within the photo-journalistic world, and forced us to question how we want to put our stamp on the world. So, it was a thrill to see such a beautifully staged production of a great play at a theatre company I've always wanted to attend, in a city not my own, with the man I love. It's a play we're still thinking about, and will be for a long time to come.


I snuck a photo during intermission of the incredible set. Every item seemed handpicked by the characters themselves, which made our minds paint scenarios of where they had been and what they had done in their lives. The art of set-dressing at work!

When we arrived back at Valya's, nearly midnight now, the house was full of people all wildly making last minute adjustments to programs and packing away books and name tags. I sat next to mcmatz, the phenomenally talented artist, whose work we've been following since she created the picture of Steampunk Roswell, now amazing i-pad merchandise you can buy!, and we cut and pasted and chatted and ate vegan marshmallows until the job was done and it was time for bed.

Always having been a lover of French and Russian Literature, I used to dream about hosting the sort of circles and salons that my heroes of the plume held in the 18th and 19th centuries. The lovely image of George Sand scribbling away while Chopin played haunting melodies or Pauline Viardot sang her compositions and Turgenev wrote sketches for all assembled to enact, while Delacroix drew caricatures of them all, was always before me. But it was only ever a dream... and seemed so elusive in the 21st Century, where people seemed to be moving at twice the speed of sound, headphones on and eyes locked on personal computer screens. Where did such circles of people, artists, thinkers exist?

But somehow, through the magic that is this house and the chemistry that happened when my friends merged with Kyle's friends and my dreams merged with his, we now have the sort of life and host the sort of events I always hoped were possible. Since I've known Kyle, we've had concerts and readings and performances....

Which brings me to last night's stunning event. Josh Hitchens is a fellow company member of Curio Theatre, where we're both currently preparing to open "Slaughterhouse-Five." I've known of his one-man "Dracula" adaptation since last summer, but something always prevented kylecassidy and me from attending... which made us feel like terrible friends. I had resigned myself to this state of things when Kyle suddenly said "Why not have him perform it in our living room!?"

That is the beauty of the one-person format. It can be performed anywhere! And all we needed was one spotlight, which Paul Kuhn from Curio happily provided, and about ten imaginative people.

The performance was absolutely brilliant -- the audience went on the entire journey with Josh, willingly and rapturously. It was more than I ever dreamed it could be: subtle yet powerful, sensitive yet menacing... and that one spot light did more in our living room than any number of footlights and wing space could have done in the largest Broadway theatre. My eyes kept darting up to the ceiling, where Josh's shadow crawled about, spider-like, threatening to devour us all.

Kyle took this with his cell phone during the performance (we get to break the rules sometimes!)



And then we took some fun Dracula photos afterwards -- I wore the Kambriel Medea Gown, which seemed appropriate.





My life feels so complete. As Kyle would say, go make your own circle of artists today; add a little magic to your own home. Create some chemistry... even if it's finding a kylecassidy of your own who inspires you to do wonderful things.

I realized that I never posted the link to the interview between Carolyn Turgeon, author of Rain Village, Godmother, and Mermaid (and the upcoming children's book, The Next Full Moon, which is on pre-sale at Amazon) and me from December 1. I find I really love being interviewed in this format, where you can think about your response and ponder life in the sea before giving an answer to a question. Plus, Carolyn comes up with wonderful, tailor-made questions for each of her interview subjects, from Tim Gunn to Michael Kaluta.

Visit her I Am a Mermaid page immediately for immediate edification and entertainment.

And stay tuned for a Spring house reading of Carolyn's next novel, here in Philadelphia.

In case you were wondering, I am an authority on mermaidly things because the great Annaliese Moyer photographed me two years ago in her Mythic Mermaid Tank and I soaked up all that siren knowledge.



Click on the link below to go directly to my interview!

My thoughts on being a mermaid.

It's been a particularly busy couple of months, chez Roswell. Immediately after closing "Pardon My Invasion," which was a great success with audiences, Kyle and I hopped on a plane bound for the Northwest, where we've managed to have Thanksgiving dinner every other year since just after we met. We both happened to have close friends living in Portland and Seattle and have now adopted both sets as our family away from family. It's always far too short though, espcially as we're splitting three or four days between the two cities and trying to cram two years' worth of catch-up into them. This means that we fail at seeing new friends we've met in our travels, and the Northwest seems to be filled with interesting, delightful people who deserve a separate trip of their own.

In any case, we arrived in Portland on Thanksgiving Day and met up with our friends, Roger and Carolee, who made a fantastic dinner and then transported it all to the home of Lee Moyer, artist extraordinaire, who lives in an amazing Arts and Crafts home filled with wood detailing and built in china cupboards and Art Deco light fixtures. I could have eaten all that wood quite happily in its butterscotch splendor. Beautiful. After Carolee rushed Lee to the hospital to have his wrist and hand looked at after a tumble he took down those gorgeous but potentially lethal stairs, we talked art and life and travels.

The next day, before driving with Carolee and her mum to Seattle, Kyle took some amazing and creepy shots of Carolee as a living mannequin in a warehouse.




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It was hard to say goodbye to them, but good to say to hello to our dear friends, Anna and Gus and the new addition the their family, Audrey. Who is now 2! It seems like a moment ago that I was knitting the baby blanket for her and now she's playing with trucks and looking all cool in sunglasses!



It's been fun looking for cute little outfits for her and dump trucks she'll enjoy... although she's at the age where she enjoys the bubble wrap more than the gift inside. She's pretty adorable.

And since Thanksgiving, time has been taken up with working with Santa:



... and going to holiday parties with famous archaeologists:



... and dressing up for the orchestra with my sweetie:



I'll try not to go so long without an update as things seem to pile up... and Facebook's new "improvements" leave me wanting something more.

I hope you all have a fantastic New Year!