A Play by Lauren Kahane

Clearly, it’s better to be a finalist than not be a finalist. And Danny and I have been a finalist twice recently. Regretting Almost Everything was a finalist for NAMT. And Mimosa: The Disobedient Plant was a finalist for Circle in the Square Theatre School’s Emerging Writer Residency.

Most recently, Danny and I interviewed for a week-long residency this coming summer to work on Mimosa. And Tommy and I have spoken with someone about the possibility of a workshop for The Girl Who Cried Different later this year.

In the meantime, I’ve started writing a play. It’s called, This is a Play by Lauren Kahane, and it’s inspired by the hellish process of my mom’s move from the house she loves into a senior residence. It’s been a frustrating process, for all of us. Particularly frustrating — in fact incomprehensible for me — is her attachment to objects she didn’t even know she had. Thousands of them. And her unwillingness to let them go, even though she knows she won’t have room for them where she’s going.

As a result of my inability to get rid of her stuff, I go home every day and go through my stuff. Which I then take to Goodwill.

The only thing I know about the play is that, at the end, the character based on me, will have completely emptied her house. She will not have a plate to eat off, a pillow to put her head on, or a change of clothing. And she will be blissfully happy.

Common and Extraordinary

It’s been about a year and a half since we released the Regretting Almost Everything concept album featuring the glorious Beth Leavel and inimitable Jeff Blumenkrantz. Because of Beth, Jeff, and our producers Kathy Sommer and Matt Anthony, the album is wonderful. And I’m proud of the songs Danny and I wrote. And the show, too.

William Finn told me to write what only I could write: The story of a long marriage. A story of extraordinary moments masked by the mundane.

I believe there’s a tendency to confuse what is “common” with what is “ordinary.” What I mean is, I think people reflexively assume that what is “common” is, by definition, also “ordinary.”

But that’s so, so wrong. Falling in love is common, but it’s not ordinary. Having a child is common, but not ordinary. Sex is common but, when done well, not the least bit ordinary. In fact, falling in love, having children, and sex are among the most extraordinary things we experience as humans. And that’s what Regretting is about.