Grief Journal 2025.09.15, 10:40: twelfth night
Last night was just the most incredible gift of joy amidst the grief of recent weeks. 4/5 of our household made it to closing night of
@shakespeare.in.the.park 's star-studded, but still FREE, production of Twelfth Night.
There's no way to talk about this experience without talking about gratitude. This only happened at all because Etcetera and
@gabrielfaith were up at 4 am (well, Etch was up all night) to spend SIX HOURS in line for tickets. A sweet and brilliant acquaintance I haven't seen irl in years,
@adawestfall , turned out to be an ensemble cast member and the understudy for Feste the Fool, who was played by
@moses with the falsetto of six angels and the elegance of all queer history. b broke our gay criminal hearts as Antonio.
@iamsandraohinsta kinda just broke my entire gay brain as Olivia. The best part was
@lupitanyongo 's Viola's reunion with her real brother
@juniornyongo as her theater brother Sebastian. They spoke some of their lines in Swahili. They recognized each other and couldn't believe they were seeing each other again. It was impossible not to think of other families separated by forces beyond their control. It was impossible not to feel some of that pain, and remember what we fight for.
The other best part was the curtain call, when director
@saheemscene said thank you to everyone who worked together to create this production. He took Lupita by the arm and told us about watching her perform Juliet in Nairobi, in a theater "smaller than the dressing rooms here." He'd been Mercutio in the same show and had stayed after his onstage death every night just to watch her shine. He said what a gift it was to get to share her Viola, now, with a theater that holds 2000.
Last night was the best kind of gift: the kind that was a gift for someone to create, as well as for you to receive.
Last night, leaning against my exhausted loves on the train home, I felt that if my job now is to go on living, I might just be doing okay at it.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
