Meeting Adam Driver, Seeing a Standout Off Broadway Play, and Editing for 'The Weekly'

A quick summary of today: MORE AWESOMENESS.

The highlight of my workday was an event for New York Times fellows featuring Sam Dolnick, the Assistant Masthead Editor who oversees The Times’s audio report, the paper's work in film and television, and other digital projects (he’s also the executive producer of “The Weekly”). He might be my favorite speaker thus far in this series — he shared fascinating insights about how The Times doesn’t really know what it’s doing in trying to reach people on emerging platforms, but also, you know, does, because these are some of the foremost experts in new media.

I also got to edit some really neat copy yesterday and today: I handled the social plan for the next episode of “The Weekly” today. That’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts.

I can also now share a fun (and high-fashion) project I got to work on yesterday: A story and accompanying slideshow showcasing 48 hours in the life of the artistic director of the Parisian house Schiaparelli in the lead-up to his haute couture debut. Please ask me about all the expensive clothing lingo (atelier and faille are new additions to my vocabulary).

After work, I headed to a performance of the Off Broadway play “Toni Stone” at the Laura Pell Theatre. The play tells the story of the first woman (Stone) to play big-league pro baseball. She took the field for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues in 1953.

Since it was an Off Broadway play, I could get away with buying a student ticket half an hour before curtain, as the theater only seats about 400 people. I’d wanted to see this play ever since reading a New York Times story about it when it opened. It’s the type of production I’d see at the Phoenix Theatre or the Fonseca Theatre Company in Indy (and hopefully one of them will produce it down the road, especially given the Indianapolis connection!).

April Matthis, who plays Toni, gave a standout performance. No surprise there -- she won an Obie Award in 2015 for sustained excellence as an actor (the Obies are the Off Broadway theater awards — Lin-Manuel Miranda has won a few). The way she embodied her character’s spunky attitude, sass, and vibrant personality reminded me of a young Octavia Spencer.

This play was easily in the top four theatrical productions I’ve seen in New York (we’re up to 13 now!). It runs through August 11, so definitely see it if you get the chance!

After the play ended, I headed one street over to the “Burn This” stage door at the Hudson Theatre. That show stars Adam Driver and Keri Russell.

I’ve been entering the lottery forever trying to get a ticket, but the show closes July 14 and is in a small-ish theater to begin with, so my chances weren’t great (I also work nights again next week, so no shows for me).

The only other times I’ve stage-doored for actors without seeing their shows were in London, when I met the “Cursed Child” cast right after the show opened (and ticket prices were astronomical) and when I met Ralph Fiennes right before “Richard III” closed (they were sold out of tickets). I may not be able to see Adam Driver's show, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to meet him!

Since my play started half an hour later than “Burn This," I didn’t have to wait long for Russell and Driver to come out, since their play had been over for about 45 minutes.

I should also mention another dilemma stemming from not being able to see "Burn This": What should I have Driver and Russell sign? I checked recent NYT arts sections in the newsroom and the most recent issue of “Time Out” magazine to see if there were any stories about the production, since there aren’t any promo cards for "Burn This" in the Times Square booth. No luck there (in London, I had a promo card for “Cursed Child” and a “Time Out” magazine story about “Richard III” to use — of course, the “Richard III” review blasted Fiennes’ performance and gave it 1.5 stars out of 5, but it was dark, and he didn’t need to know that!).

Anyway, I ended up grabbing an extra Toni Stone playbill and having them sign next to the “Burn This” listing. Every Playbill has a listing in the back of all the shows currently on Broadway and many of those Off Broadway.

So, on to actually meeting them. Russell was gracious and continued to sign even after it started sprinkling (cue a personal umbrella man who followed her down the line). Driver came out shortly after, wearing all black, which didn't help the inevitable Kylo Ren comparison (his hair is just as luscious in person). He’s the only actor I’ve seen who can bring an entire street to a standstill as people flock to him from both sides, holding their phones up to catch a glimpse of him. (Sorry about my low-quality photos — there wasn’t much light, and no flash or selfies were allowed with either actor.)

And finally, your daily food adventure: A scotch egg snack from Eastwood in the East Village.

This is actually a bar, but I just wanted to try one of their Scotch eggs, so I ordered one from the counter. If you followed my blog when I studied abroad in London a few years ago, you know the Tesco (English supermarket) Scotch eggs are my all-time favorites and were a staple of my grocery shopping list the summer I lived there.

For some reason, American restaurants always give you some sort of sauce with Scotch eggs, whether mustard or, in this case, tahini. That’s completely unnecessary! In England, you get them plain (and maybe sprinkle some pepper over them).

This egg was a disappointment, sadly. I haven’t had a U.S. scotch egg equal to the ones I had in England. (If you aren’t familiar, a Scotch egg is a soft-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs, and deep-fried). They must know some secret Americans don’t.

Anyway, coming up later this week: A performance of “My Fair Lady” with Laura Benanti and Rosemary Harris (she’s 91!) tomorrow, then Macy’s 4th of July fireworks on Thursday. I also booked the last student ticket for the run of “Ink” at the Samuel Friedman Theatre on Sunday afternoon [the show is about Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of The Sun in London in 1969 -- yay, journalism (should that go in quotes?)!].

And fun fact: I recently learned my unlimited MetroCard gets me free trips on the Roosevelt Island cable cars! Will definitely ride soon and report back. I love cable cars, especially free ones!