"The most expensive mistress in the world is Art." ~Diaghilev (at least, according to a film about Nijinksy I once saw)

Madame Glinka stepped out the other night, to see the latest effort by the Boxcar Theatre Company, which is part of this year's San Francisco Fringe Festival. Their play 21/One, which is a "re-imagined" reprise of the show they presented at last year's Fringe Festival, is a partly improvisational, partly scripted Bachelorette Party that takes place on a chartered bus which roams around the city streets for an hour. Meanwhile, various short dream-like vignettes take place at locations that the bus passes by. It was an interesting theatrical experience...My favorite moment: a vision of a young female jogger, played by my "daughter" in ZEN, Dana Lau, jogging around a grassy circle while eating a slice of pizza from a big pizza carton. Absurdly surreal!

Donning my Madame G. personna takes a lot of psychic energy, as many of you know-- this time I didn't decide until 3pm that day to shave off my goatee and go for it-- which meant I had two hours to get it together, paint my nails, make a quick bite to eat and feed the kitties before running out the door and trying not to trip down the hallway staircase in my evening gown! Luckily I can practically throw on my drag blindfolded (Do the results show???).

The Exit Theatre, where the festival is based, is located at the edge of the lovely Tenderloin neighborhood, and I was fairly worried about the local denizens of that part of town harrassing me. But they turned out to be quite charming, coming up to say hi and complimenting me. I think they can generally relate to Madame G. because she looks like she too has rolled around a gutter or two in her time.

I think that the best line of the night was from this rather odd fellow who approached me on the bus ride home: He asked, "Are you a nice clown or a mean clown?" I replied, "It depends on the situation."