Little Suzy Tried to Milk a Cow

I had the chance to take an adventure over to America last night and it was fantastic! My friend Andrea and I parked by Pike Place Market and walked to Belltown to dine at Wasabi. There were no tables available, so we had to shimmy up to a little granite island where there were already 5 people seated and only one vacant stool. One of the guys sitting next to us gave up his stool in an act of chivalry. We happened to be seated by a great guy, Adam, who works at a wine shop in Kirkland and gave us an extensive and informative lecture about different kinds of sake. He even bought everyone at the granite island a bottle to share.

After awhile, two seats opened up at the bar. Our food was fantastic; we shared the spicy tuna roll and the rainbow roll. )Kudos to Dawn for introducing me to sushi while I was Arizona this fall :-) ) Looking up at the ornately lighted bottles of liquor that lined the wall, I was struck by how the labels on some bottles evoke memories stronger than the scent of grandma's sugar cookies baking in the oven. I find it hard to look at a bottle of Midori, while Belvidere vodka has a fond place in my heart (try swapping stories with friend the next time you're sitting at the bar.)

Next, we trekked back to Post Alley and grabbed spanish coffees at the Alibi Room. The gum wall across the street was a bit much for me, but it framed our final destination of the evening: Theatresports.

Now, when I was in middle school, I was in an after-school group called The Hysterical Society (get it? Historical/Hysterical...tee-hee). We would meet once a week and play improv games. And although I have acted in many plays since middle school, they have, for the most part, been scripted.

The teams that were competing at Theatresports were "Back for the 4th Straight Week" and "Knuckle Manwich." About 30 minutes into the first half of the show, they decision was handed down that both teams needed to play games involving an audience member. Many hands went up, but I was chosen, even though I was in the back row.

My appearance got off to a rocky start. The team leader of Back for the 4th Straight Week asked me if I had ever seen a pop-up storybook. Now, of course I know what a pop-up storybook is, but I had become so nervous at the thought of (gulp) improvising in front of a hundred people that I thought he meant had I ever seen this particular game played and said "No."

"Um, you mean you never had a pop-up storybook as a kid?"

"Oh, well, YEAH, I know what a pop-up storybook is, but I thought, uh, um, that you were talking about if I'd ever seen this game before, but no, yeah, I totally know what a pop-up storybook is and have seen one before as a child."

(raucous audience laughter at Katie's awkwardness)

"Hmm..yeah, you're doing great" said the team leader dubiously, hestitantly gave me a thumbs up and went on to explain the game.

Basically, whenever the narrator turns the page, the actors onstage strike a new pose in the pop-up storybook that he then has to justify to drive the narrative forward.

"Can I get a suggestion of a title of a pop-up storybook from the audience?"

"Little Suzy Tried to Milk a Cow!"

And we began. It so happened that I ended up being Little Suzy. Luckily, Little Suzy was pretty nervous that she had just turned nine and had to learn how to milk a cow. She got down on her little-girl knees in udder-yanking position to find out that the cow she was trying to milk was actually a bull. What was Little Suzy to do?

Channeling my inner Sarah Palin, my last pose of the game showed me brandishing a rifle. That's right folks, Little Suzy may not know how to milk a cow, but she can sure shoot! And I think she can see Russia if she squints from the porch of her Iowa farmhouse...