I Want to Run Another Marathon

In 2009, I caught my first marathon theater. A day or so before Alan  Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests was scheduled to close, I purchased tickets to see all three parts in one day. I believe the first part started at 11:30AM in the morning and the third part ended late that night. I wondered if I would have the endurance to spend what was practically the whole day at the theater. You know what? I did and I absolutely loved it. The Norman Conquests was one of the most clever productions I have ever seen and the cast was perfect. Since that time, I've craved to relive my marathon experience but have not been able to to do so.

Last season, I caught all three parts of Horton Foote's The Orphans Home Cycle at the Signature Theatre Company, but unfortunately they were over three separate evenings.  While this wonderful production was engrossing and extremely well-done, I was never able to fit a marathon day experience into my schedule. There was also Angels In America (again at the Signature Theatre Company), but that was over two evenings - hardly a marathon. There was the ultimate 12-hour Dostoyevsky play on Governor's Island, but I don't even know anyone who was able to secure tickets for that production.

And as I noted in my Ode to the Shows I Missed, I tried (oh, how I tried) to get tickets for Gatz at the Public Theater last fall; however they quickly sold out and attempts to get standby tickets resulted in nada. However, that changes next month. For four short days, the six-hour Gatz by Elevator Repair Service plays at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton NJ and it is official - once again, I will "run" another theater marathon.