Twenty-two years and two months ago, as we celebrated his last Christmas together, my father turned to my brother Oliver and me and said it was time to play King Lear with the ties. We understood him immediately.
Our family could boast no estates, no fleets of cars, no vaults of investments waiting to be parceled out. What he possessed in abundance was a magnificent collection of neckties.
Davey Marlin-Jones had reviewed films on television for the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., through the 1970s and 80s, so he had to dress to impress. He had also worn ties even as a student at Antioch College in the 1950s, when most students at that progressive campus chose not to. Over time he gathered hundreds of them. When he prepared to divide the collection, he proposed a limit of thirty apiece. He wanted us to treasure the designs, the colors, the textures, and the memories of each gift.
For years, I wore one of his ties to every class I taught at UC Davis, a quiet way to keep his theatrical spirit close to my heart.
This past Saturday, that spirit followed me to the Richard Brunelle Performance Hall for the premiere of my first play: America, Happy 250th Birthday! A gifted actor gave voice to my words. A full symphony orchestra carried the emotional weight of the scenes. Pixar-style animations brought the images of my play in verse to life.
Across ten acts, the play follows the solitary mission of a deep-space astronaut who feels the pull of home as the nation approaches its 250th birthday. His shuttle slips into a wormhole and carries him back through time, offering the audience eight vivid snapshots from American history.
Here’s a sample:
The Solo Astronaut, Far from Home on the 4th of July
He floats beyond the orbit of the moon’s cold arc,
apart from every star he knew,
his breath a quiet tether to the past,
and only blackness for a view.
The ship keeps ticking softly when he wakes,
aloft in a capsule of steel and air,
while distant celebrations light the states,
a glow he cannot share.
He feels the weight of duty on his chest,
the oath he vowed to keep,
and wonders what he traded for the stars
and the loneliness that haunts his sleep.
He thinks about the river near his home,
the scent of fields at early dawn,
yet all he tastes is filtered metal now,
the world he loved long gone.
A message from the ground arrives delayed,
its warmth a trembling spark,
and though he reads it twice to feel its pull,
the fragile signal breaks apart.
He pictures flags unfolding over crowds,
a chorus raised in sunlit cheer,
while here he steadies drifting tools that spin,
his solitude severe.
He calls to Earth through static-ridden waves,
his voice half-claimed by cosmic dust,
and waits to hear some comfort in return,
signals from home that he can trust.
He marks the nation’s birthday on his board,
a red circle around the 4th of July,
and imagines parades through summer heat,
the fireworks brightening the skies.
Following our time-traveling hero, we witness moments of quiet courage and grand consequence: Washington relinquishing power not once but twice, Franklin coaxing electricity from a storm with his invention of the lightning rod, and the unnamed Chinese laborers who blasted and bored through the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada so a locomotive could travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific. You can see video of the performances here.
Local composer Andy Tan’s score soared. The high school musicians played with energy and precision. The actor Cody Craven’s performance brought a fullness to the lines that left me smiling through tears. The animated images by Gabriel Villasenor made history come alive. Angelo Moreno conducted with vision and conviction; the entire project sprang from his imagination. The excited conclusion of the show featured the professional bagpipes of Rob Duncan.
My father directed more than a thousand productions over the course of his career, many of them one-act plays at the Washington Theatre Club, where he earned the Margo Jones Award for advancing American theater. In college, in New York and Washington, on television, and later as a professor of drama, directing, and playwriting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he inspired countless artists with his command of pacing and his faith in the power of imagination.
I never asked him to teach me how to write a play. I told myself I wanted our relationship to rest on shared love rather than instruction. I still treasure my memories of our evenings at the theater, our walks around Glover Park in my hometown of Washington, D.C., our long bike rides along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, our discussions about films. With regard to his critiques, I didn’t want to give him additional reasons to find me wanting. He was a demanding critic.
But on this past Saturday, I felt certain he would have applauded my work. I imagine him standing up in the back of the theater when he saw he come out on stage to be recognized for my play while wearing one of his favorite ties.
We have been hosting SO many teams recently, well more than 30. I appreciate so many of you coming out to join the fun and remaining patient as I grade your submissions as fast as I can. The rain will see us crowding indoors tonight, I suspect, so come early to reserve a table. The regulars and irregulars will meet for the social event of the week featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on music performed in your lifetime. Today’s pub quiz comes in at 979 words.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: plants, hometown heroes, fluids, hyphenated names, twilight zones, light sources, green surprises, risings, Cubans, jungles, struggling actors, Ohio, notable families, kindnesses, novel genres, lovers, anniversaries, people with X names, American portraits, carrying cases, palaces, children, flowers, halls of fame, eyes, ankles, underlying technologies, princesses, redundancies, usage spikes, bond discussions, tigers, registered voters, coastlines, knights, living cast members, ordinal numbers, continuous affirmatives, Baltimore, pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.
We have over 90 Patreon members now, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.
Best,
Dr. Andy
Three questions from last week:
- Mottos and Slogans. Using the clever slogan “Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty,” Good & Plenty is the oldest continually produced American candy brand. The treat is made of tiny candy-covered cylinders of what polarizing candy flavor?
- Internet Culture. A shortage in which of the following recently resulted in a 10% drop in shares of Nintendo: lithium-ion batteries, memory chips, or rare earth metals?
- Newspaper Headlines. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. is on track to import around 290 million pounds of what fruit from Mexico in the four weeks leading up to the Super Bowl?