“In 1965 we decided to get married.” That is the line in the play – which is followed by “In August of 1966 we got married while we were still in college. I moved out of my family home into our first apartment near campus until we finished undergraduate school.”
That is, Susan and me. “Susan Meryl Kalmans, that was her maiden name.” (All quoted material are lines from the show.)
We are looking forward to celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary in August of this year. In the meantime, I am delighted to be performing The Actual Dance, my one-man play about “what love really means.”
I decided to perform the play this year on Valentine’s Day in New York at the Opera Center of New York. Most of those reading this blog post know that this solo-show is NOT literally about dancing nor singing, though there is live music. It is instead a theatrical piece about love and what it means to “be the other half of her whole.”
It has been such a journey for both Susan and me, but me in particular to find an expression of love that I could not have imagined. It is true, I thought I loved Susan in 1965 and 1966. I thought we were in love so much that we got married! One of the very big surprises for me now is to come to understand that what I felt then and thought was love was really not. It was a lot of different things, but perhaps most of all a very immature reaction to a complex family and life situation that made it feel like what I needed to do. And yet, that relationship evolved from “that” -- whatever “that” was -- to today a true, deep everlasting love.
It is as if we were meant to be --B’Shert in Yiddish. (I’ve written about that before)
So what’s the point? This Valentine’s Day – 50 Valentine’s later – come celebrate our love with us. I invite you to become a part of this journey. My performance in New York is at the Opera Center of America in New York in the beautiful Marc A Scorca Hall.
If you live in New York please join us! Tickets are here. Be prepared to laugh and cheer and think and feel. The performance will be followed by a discussion led by Gregory Johnson, the founder of EmblemHealth Insurance Care for the Family Caregiver program in New York.
This performance features original, live music performed by Eli Zoller, Music Director on classic guitar and Kristine Kruta on Cello. The show is directed by Kate Holland. Gabrielle Maisels is the dramaturg.
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