Onwards and Upwards...

So where was I? Ah, yes...still in Vancouver, awaiting what turned out to be an additional two sold-out shows. Go Vancouver! A word though on the second screening, where I had the chance to reconnect with an old friend, James Wilson. James and I met when we part of a renegade faction of volunteers during 9/11 that set up a Tent City along the West Side Highway and didn’t budge for 12 days, effectively and efficiently doing what the ‘official’ bureaucracy couldn’t – doling out supplies, hot food and coffee, and *humanity* to the rescue workers.

That’s a whole other lonnnng story, but the bottom line is, James and I met on the side of the road under the worst of circumstances and became friends at the tail end of his three (?) years in NYC as an actor/student, and then he moved back to Canada – Vancouver to be exact. So my festival visit was also a reunion for us. And even better, I found him in the midst of heavy rehearsals for a new play he was directing for his own reACT Theatre Ensemble. Break a leg, James!James joined in the festivities at a post-screening celebrational dinner with Eva (my Swedish hostess extraordinaire), Elvira (my now friend-for-life via Halifax), Graham (my Q&A leader extraordinaire), and of course Carla, my editor turned official festival sidekick.

The following morning, the sun was ablaze for the first time since the day I arrived, which was just the airport send-off I needed to remember that fair city with all the fondness it deserves. We shall meet again, I’m sure.