Life is improv

"...we are living in an imperfect world, with imperfect arguments and things that are insane, illogical, and irrational. And the only way we can live with that fact is to laugh."
--J. Barsoux

Highlights from an amazing Saturday evening.

the guests:

Jeannie Bertoli
Dominique Carlier
Truly Herbert
Scott Royster
Heather Russell
Mendi Sossaman
Jonathan Sousa
Adam Stennett
Gwydion Suilebhan
Henry Thaggert
Soteri Tousimis
George Washington
Shawn Westfall
Karen Yankosky

I read everyone a quotation that said: "Never throw a dinner party where you're the most interesting person there." This was true about each of our guests.

the chef:

Tim O'Rourke who has worked at Cafe Atlantico and Citronelle, and now works as a private chef.

the menu:

Antipasti
Caviar on blinis with crême fraîche
Manchego and membrillo
Mini crabcakes with chipotle rémoulade

Zuppa
Sweet pea soup with parmesan ficelle toasts

Intermezzo
Tomato and mozzarella with basil balsamic reduction

Primo
Saffron risotto with jumbo prawns

Secondo
Filet mignon with sautéed wild mushrooms with port wine peppercorn reduction and
grilled asparagus

Insalata
Baby arugula salad with red onion banyuls vinaigrette

Che dolce
Coconut crème caramel

the art:
Thirteen Fish and Two Mice (2005)
72" x 72"
Oil on linen

We began the evening with several bottles of Veuve Clicquot, which created an air of fesitivity and merriment. The champagne would prove necessary for the evening's later activities.

After a couple glasses of Veuve, Adam talked about the painting, which had arrived from his New York gallery only a couple hours before guests came to the door. He talked about how punk rock philosophy has influenced his art and about how the mice symbolize small things in life that we often don't notice but that make a huge difference.

the activity:

Shawn regularly leads classes in improv comedy so I asked him to teach our dinner group a lesson in improv and he happily agreed. After the Intermezzo course, Shawn began his lesson by telling us a few important things about improv, the most important of which was that life is improv. We then stood up and he led us in a few simple warm-up exercises. Nothing that required being funny, only that we stop thinking about how to be funny and just say the first thing that came to mind. (Even the chef participated! After we'd gone around the circle a few times, someone said she liked risotto, and the next person said risotto was good, and Tim said, "The risotto is cold." It was a clear message for us to retake our seats to continue dinner.)

When we came back to the dinner tables, instead of sitting at the same places, I had everyone pick up their napkins and silverware and switch seats so we could all talk to different people. The south table led the way with toasting and noise making.

Before dessert, we commenced with the improv exercises. The first activity required two people to play out a scene, for example, ex-lovers who meet at a bus stop. Each person took turns saying lines that begin with a successive letter of the alphabet, starting somewhere in the middle of the alphabet and coming all the way back around. The next exercise required four people, each assigned an emotion. The first person acted out his or her emotion. When the next person entered the scene, everyone had to act out the new person's emotion. And so on. Then the process was reversed. I had no idea how funny our friends were.

the best line:

"unexpected sex"

the end of the night:

We ended the night on the terrace drinking more champagne. The moon was almost full and a surf video played in the background.