My parents were visiting me for two days last week. Their stop in LA was the end of their vacation, but it was timed that way for a show that we had tickets for (that I’ll be writing about tomorrow). They had visited my brother and sister-in-law for the beginning of their trip and then they were in Catalina for several days. Their trip to Catalina was a bit more adventurous than the trip I did earlier this year. They did a lot of hiking, kayaking, and exploring while they were there. So I wanted to make their LA stop as relaxing as possible.
They got to LA on Thursday afternoon while I was still working. Even though they could have come over to my house while I was working, they took a bit of time to themselves to check in to their hotel and do a walk around Culver City. They came over when I was done, which was probably for the best since work has been picking up a lot lately.
Before my parents came, I had asked them what they wanted to do the night they arrived. We didn’t plan anything for that night and I knew that just sitting around and doing nothing wouldn’t be the best option. They asked me what I usually like to do in the evenings, but I knew my typically after work stuff wouldn’t be right. We weren’t going to go to Disneyland for a few hours, I wasn’t going to bring them to a union event, and I already knew being lazy wasn’t the right thing. So I started looking around for shows that we could potentially go to.
My parents don’t go to plays or musicals that often, but they do enjoy them. Unfortunately, it seemed like last week was between the seasons for so many places. But I did remember that a friend of mine sent me information regarding free preview tickets for the Mark Taper, so I took a look at that and my parents agreed it would be something interesting and different to do.
We also made dinner reservations downtown so we could just drive there and stay there. Of course, we were driving during rush hour traffic and it took us a long time to get there, but we gave ourselves plenty of time to drive so it was fine. We parked at the theater and made it to the restaurant right at the time of our reservation.
Sorry for not having any dinner pictures, but I was more focused on spending time with my parents. Even though I talk to them all the time, it’s different when you get to spend time in person. They were asking me things about the election and the upcoming convention. This is my 3rd convention, but it’s still a weird concept to even union members who aren’t a part of it. And I know even more now than I did before so I could explain what happens more. And my parents had seen some of the news about the election and I could update them on some of the craziness.
After dinner, we went up to the theater. My mom hadn’t been to the Mark Taper since she lived in LA (so at least 50 years ago) and my dad had never been there. It was cool to get to introduce and re-introduce my parents somewhere. And we were at the theater early enough to get to spend time on the patio in front talking more and enjoying the view of downtown LA.
The show that we went to was “A Play Is A Poem”. It is not a full play but actually 5 different 1 act shows that aren’t directly connected. The only thing they have in common is that all the 1 act shows take place in America.
We didn’t know much about the show and sometimes that is a good thing. I figured I would just be enjoying the different plays and hopefully my parents would enjoy them too.
This was the second night of previews for the show, so I don’t know if anything will be changing before it officially premieres. I did enjoy the show overall, but I didn’t love all the 1 acts. There were 2 that I thought were really great and would actually like to see as a full-length show, 2 that were good but not my favorite, and 1 that I didn’t enjoy. My parents felt the same and from listening to people leaving the theater, many people had the same opinion. I’m still glad we went because I love going to the theater, I just wish that it was a show that we all loved and were super enthusiastic about.
After the show, my parents drove me back (which was significantly faster than our drive there) and then they headed back to their hotel which was only a few minutes from my house. They had a busy travel day and I knew they were probably tired because I was exhausted. And my dad and I had an early morning the next morning for our workout.
Plus, we were all excited and wanting to get some sleep for our exciting outing the next day. But I’ll be writing about that tomorrow.
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