On Being a Maestro
I met Allen Stafford over 20 years ago at Palm Beach Atlantic College (now University). We both took Ms. Caldwell's creative writing course at the time. It was an auspicious and appropriate beginning, as we were both fond of conjuring words for creative bidding. I recall standing outside the Administration Building after class one afternoon, chatting about another passion: film. He was the first person I met in college who had as aggressive an interest as I did in it. I clearly remember talking about Martin Scorsese, possibly because THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST fracas was still raging across campus.
My senior year, he asked me to play the male lead in his stage adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter's Rope for his directing class. Each student was to direct a one-act that would be presented over three nights at the end of the semester. At that point, I had not acted in anything since junior high school. It was daunting, yet exhilirating. As the story had only 2 characters, I had quite a bit of dialogue to memorize. Scary. Allen was also quite particular in his stage direction: one rehearsal involved my repeating a single line with different inflections for what seemed like hours. My experience on Rope could fill many entries. The performance itself (on a VHS I have stored somewhere) was also eventful, almost a NOISES OFFish affair. Memorable. Later, I even won the theater department's award for Male Lead in that, my last semester at PBA.
Post undergrad, Allen and I hung out, collaborated on a few things, saw lots of movies, and visited New York, him for the first time. It was exciting to see the city through new eyes. Allen would move there in 1995, and there he remains. That last point leads me into the real purpose of this post, to highlight Allen's most recent gig at Casellula, an eatery in Manhattan's Clinton (er, Hell's Kitchen) district. This is a choice interview, one which offers a good sampling of Allen's wit and great taste.
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/02/a-chat-with-allen-stafford-of-casellula-chees.html
My senior year, he asked me to play the male lead in his stage adaptation of Katherine Anne Porter's Rope for his directing class. Each student was to direct a one-act that would be presented over three nights at the end of the semester. At that point, I had not acted in anything since junior high school. It was daunting, yet exhilirating. As the story had only 2 characters, I had quite a bit of dialogue to memorize. Scary. Allen was also quite particular in his stage direction: one rehearsal involved my repeating a single line with different inflections for what seemed like hours. My experience on Rope could fill many entries. The performance itself (on a VHS I have stored somewhere) was also eventful, almost a NOISES OFFish affair. Memorable. Later, I even won the theater department's award for Male Lead in that, my last semester at PBA.
Post undergrad, Allen and I hung out, collaborated on a few things, saw lots of movies, and visited New York, him for the first time. It was exciting to see the city through new eyes. Allen would move there in 1995, and there he remains. That last point leads me into the real purpose of this post, to highlight Allen's most recent gig at Casellula, an eatery in Manhattan's Clinton (er, Hell's Kitchen) district. This is a choice interview, one which offers a good sampling of Allen's wit and great taste.
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/02/a-chat-with-allen-stafford-of-casellula-chees.html
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