Peanut Butter Plays

J-Man and I have this friend who has amazing ideas.  For example, our very first summer in NYC this friend, DG, decided to organize a subway party.  A crew of us met up at a house party where we admired the bromantic haircuts he and ED had given one another, before heading downtown.

We, along with a craigslist-recruited band, boarded the first F Train leaving the station after midnight, equipped with mini water bottles filled with "coke" and "water." Someone had warned the passengers of the car by boarding one stop early, and those who decided to stick around for their late-night commute got to enjoy our music, spirit, and spirits.

There were maybe 20 of us that first year.  I held onto J-Man as someone called us "lovebirds." We hadn't yet had the I-love-you exchange, but the night was magical nonetheless.  By the end of the trip we were at Coney Island, dodging the police, cleaning up the confetti litter.  While DG's plan did crumble here, and everyone turned back, J-Man and a crew of 6 Barnard girls (who had accidentally boarded the second train after midnight) took in the beach and the lightning over the water.  I decided I would have to say those three little words to J-Man very very soon.

This Train Party tradition has continued every year thanks to the legacy of DG and the persistence of ED and J-Man, but this was just one of DG's ideas.

His most recent plan includes his girlfriend, whom we'll call Swarthmore.

So DG and Swarthmore are in transitional stages of life.  They're in the mid-20s slump that many of us have hit where our degrees seem so distant from our desires, or our desires seem so distant from livable wages, so we tread water for a bit.  And to make that soul-searching part of these years go a little more interestingly, they have requested that their friends challenge them.

We got the invitation letter along with $10 to spend on ourselves while we brainstorm.  Shaking our heads we thought, only DG.

After the unbirthday party we submitted a range of challenges.  Some about engaging strangers or crabcakes but one, that they chose, was about theater.

The challenge: Write a 10 minute play in iambic pentameter and perform it in a public place within earshot of at least one stranger.

The result - This Butter's not for Hurting

And along with the strangers within earshot we enjoyed this theatrical performance, fully memorized, enunciated clearly, and certainly entertaining.  You just never know what you'll get into on a weekend with DG.