I've been thinking about Christine Ebersole at the Cafe Carlyle and trying to come up with a definition of what I called 'a moment'. What makes a show or performance special. I did some research looking at Aristotle's poetics and what others have said about Aristotle's term catharsis. Catharsis strictly translated means purging. My main source F. L. Lucas makes reference to the fact that the Poetics was written in response to Plato's remark that poetry, including theater, music etc., encourages people to be hysterical and uncontrolled. For Aristotle it is the opposite, poetry purges the soul of its excessive passions.
The best definition for "the moment" comes from Bob Marley when he said: "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." It can come from many places.
Sunday it was at a matinee of The KEEN Company Production of Tina Howe's, "Painting Churches".
It was momentous. I could have walked on air, painlessly. Kathleen Chalfant, star of the original production of "Wit", John Cunningham, who was in the original production of "Company" and Kate Turnbull who is new to me, are the players. I could not find a recorded production of the play through an internet search, so it is just there, for now, at The Clurman Theater on Theater Row. If I didn't have so much on my plate I'd go back.
