What Now!: To the Sequel

The holidays really mess you up. You try to get things done and keep up with work and ideas, but it never seems to happen. If you’re like me, your family doesn’t live too far, just far enough that you never have the chance to see them; close enough to meet for dinner, except you have opposite schedules. Such a pain; so holidays and birthdays are big events that always take precedence. No, no, no I’m not complaining, just observing how lazy I am during the holidays and thus have not posted much!

I did see some cool “stuff.” Josh Leftkowitz’s “Now What?” was everything I expected it to be. Here’s what I started over the blessed holiday season…

Nothing could be better than a great performance, followed by an entertaining sequel. When does that happen in the entertainment industry?

Spilling personal experiences on stage to strangers is not a cup of tea everyone can drink. Josh Lefkowitz, author and orator of autobiographical monologues, including a new piece, “Now What?,” has a smooth earnestness to his work. Perhaps what makes it so ear-friendly to a diverse crowd is the topic matter; a future in performance is tough to accelerated, but Leftkowitz has a way of taking a seemingly obscure career path and relating it to everyone in a room. You feel like he’s a long lost friend, informing you of the episodes in his life that you missed.

“Maybe you should write about this,” whispers Leftkowitz’ keen internal voice whenever an interesting escapade ensues. This echoing thought process is pivotal for his piece. It offers incredible insight to his world, and who and what muse him.

The focus on his relationship with Anika, his girlfriend, in this piece seems to portray her importance in his life. We can all relate to a soured, or souring, relationship. The process is not fun; however as Leftkowitz shows us, it's a catalyst for great writing.

Of course live theater can not save you from the audience. An audience's ability to comprehend the language and scenarios can make or break a piece. In this case, Leftkowitz’s Auschwitz jab produced silence (he is Jewish); except from me. I appreciate when people can poke fun at their demographics; how many blonde jokes have I heard? How many womanizing slanders are hilarious? This might sound silly, but I think you understand (of course there are limitiations).
Anyway, there are also the stutters and stammers and the timely search for lost words, which are heard quite conspicuously. These are the trials and tribulations of the stage. Yet, these minor flaws seem to prove the sincerity of the piece and the honesty of the content.

For me, theater is more than saying “this was good because, this was bad because.” I like to see the truth of the piece brought to life. When an artist speaks from the heart, there is no need to try and dig deeper for their message; it’s pretty transparent. This is what Leftkowitz does. He says what he means and feels and that’s all there is to it. It’s pure and true.

As he says is his closing, “It’s real.”

Art doesn’t get more beautiful than that.