Inauguration Day

I collapsed last night after a two hour costume fitting that started after rehearsal and woke up this morning at 6am feeling as though a jolt of electricity was coursing through me. It’s inauguration day!!

Strangely, I dreamed about George W. last night. I was at an estate belonging to my father, Henry Fonda. I was looking down from a second floor window and saw Dad on the lawn hanging upside down on an inversion machine. George W was wandering around, looking lost. Duh. He stopped to talk to Dad who was still upside down! I went and gathered up all my baseball caps—dozens of them–and went down to give them to W so he wouldn’t feel so lonely. I remember thinking that if it had been Cheney I wouldn’t have cared.

Anyway, that was last night. Today is another matter. I got dressed watching MSNBC and marveling at the crowds and mounting excitement—and the sun had barely risen.

We will rehearse till 11:30 and then all go to Joe”s Pub which is part of the Joe Papp Public Theatre where we will watch the inauguration together with all the other actors and theatre people working at the Public Theatre. My friend, Judith Bruce, is joining me. We haven’t seen each other for way too long and tomorrow she leaves for one of her many journeys to Asia, Africa or Latin America where she works with programs aimed at the empowerment of adolescent girls.

I have known Judith for almost 15 years. She is the lead writer and researcher at the Population Council. I met her in 1994 at the time of the United Nation Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. I was the Goodwill Ambassador to the UN Family Planning Agency and Judith was someone I went to to learn about the issue of global population stabilization. It is from her that I came to understand the critical role girls play in this effort.
 

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Rehearsal went well this morning. I think partly it had to do with how full of emotion and happy we all were knowing the day would end with America having a new and totally different president. But also we are beginning to synthesize and incorporate what Moises has told us over the past week.

At lunch, I was blown away by the sheer masses of people gathered in DC to witness this historic moment in our history. Then Aretha sang and we cried (and cheered her dramatic and wonderfully outrageous hat). Every time the cameras (CNN) cut to the Obama family there were cheers and tears in Joe’s pub. Didn’t you love it when Justice Roberts goofed up in administering the oath of office to Obama who remained cool and certain in spite of it? He knew what he was meant to do even if Roberts didn’t! I thought Obama’s speech was magnificent. I look forward to studying it carefully but I share my son’s special fondness for the line, “Leaders will be judged not by what they destroy but by what they build.” I also loved the words, and I am paraphrasing, “If they will unclench their fists we will shake their hand.”

Troy, by the way, watched the inauguration from a remote Russian air force base where he is filming while on the phone with his wife, Simone, who is in Sundance working on events with the SEIU. They both worked for Obama and Simone is black, so today was personally and deeply resonant for them. I must say, I was impressed that, when the ceremony was over, the Obamas walked George and Laura Bush to their helicopter. I’m told that has never happened before—a newly sworn in President walking the former president to his plane. Classy!

After this unforgettable event, we went back to the theatre to resume rehearsals.

Two women from the American ALS Association came to speak to all of us about the disease. I asked many questions the loss of hand mobility, what the proper physical therapy moves would be. I spoke to them like someone with ALS and they told me I was right on target. This boosted my confidence. Moises and I were both struck by how caring and loving the two women were…the kind of people you would want around you if you had this terrible disease.

We ended the day by learning a minuet. It is a stately dance that was done in royal courts with many curtsy-type steps, one knee bent, the other pointed forward. Danny Pelzig, the choreographer, explained why the dancers didn’t simply point the toe but turned it out to show the side of the heel: It was because the royal dancers wore shoes with precious gems embedded in the heels of their shoes! My character enters the dance at the very end, joining the others in a series of circles that, I am told, is very moving. 

What an unusual play this is!!!

I had time, finally, to take a Pilates class after rehearsal and will go to sleep tonight feeling physically and emotionally happy…and spent.

See you next time.