Kathryn Erbe at the Cherry Lane Theater 5-8-2012

Thankfully, the rain held off until after Tuesday afternoon's reading of ODE TO Joy took place at the Cherry Lane Theater. Although the sky was overcast most of the day, the temps were in the balmy 60's and the humidity was palpable. Quite the contrast from the chilly weather in New York when I last met Kathryn Erbe in Greenwich Village while she was appearing in the play "Yosemite" at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, not far from the Cherry Lane Theater. Kate looked stunning, as usual, in a sleeveless top, blue skirt and black sweater with flats she wore onstage for her reading with actor Arliss Howard, looking natty in an all black outfit ;) and black beret. Kate was glad to see me again and said so as we greeted each other with a hug after the 2 PM reading ended at 4:10 PM. I presented Kate with a gift bag containing a small box of Godiva dark chocolates, a pack of tropical Skittles, a Mother's Day Card and four paper flowers made by Alberto. Before looking inside the bag, Kate smiled and asked me "Let me guess. Skittles?" She told me that the Rattlestick gang ate every bit of the Skittles I had brought to the theater last January-and that box contained 36 packs! Kate promised me that the next time we meet, she would have a gift for me. Awww! She showed me her arm tattoo while we spoke about her hilarious and moving performance as Adele in Craig Lucas' new play. The tat on her left arm near the elbow is a lovely heart design that I noticed when she took off her sweater onstage during the second act of ODE TO JOY, and it's one of two that Kate has. After I got to check out Kate's heart tattoo, we spoke briefly about the play. I remarked on the humor in the play and told Kate how I enjoyed seeing her play such a funny and sweet character onstage. She told me she hopes the play will be produced for a future run on or off Broadway. I certainly would like to see Kate play Adele again. The playwright and director Craig Lucas came over briefly and expressed a similar sentiment while giving Kate a new direction regarding her howls of pain in the third act, saying that he wants the howls to be even more intense than in the reading. Whoa! Before I left the theater, I asked Kate to sign two ODE TO JOY programs and my LOCI shirt and cap that Vincent had previously signed, and she was happy to do so. I'm sending one program to Antje, author of the Lovely Kathryn blog, and I E-mailed Antje a photo of the signed program on Tuesday night. I may auction off the signed cap on Ebay to raise money for the Central Park Challenge event benefitting the YAI/NIPD network that provides services to people with developmental disabilities, such as my brother Alberto, who has autism. Our family is participating in the 3K Walk as Alberto Acevedo's Team once again this June 2 in New York City and our team page can be viewed at www.yai.org/cpc. I also mentioned to Kate that my brother is applying for admission to the new YAI Art Gallery. We're working on his portfolio as we speak. :) Thank you for a lovely afternoon, Kate, and I will see you again soon. Happy Mother's Day!