"Gatz," by the ERS

I saw "Gatz" performed at the Public Theater a while back, by the ERS (Elevator Repair Service), and it was one of the most memorable -- for all the right reasons -- theater experiences I've had in my life. When they asked me for a donation for their benefit auction (which took place last night), I donated two hardcover "The Great Gatsby" editions, personalized with my own drawing. One depicts the suit Gatsby wore in the performance, a colorful delight. The other depicts Scott Shepherd in the role of the narrator, who reads the entire book while the rest of the ERS performs the action being narrated. It's long, but is over remarkably quickly because it's so engaging.

New Yorker cartoon caption contest this week!

Have a caption for this cartoon? Send it here!

Studio 360 interview: my "Aha moment: Cary Grant in Holiday"

NPR has a show called Studio 360, which I love, and they have a serial segment called the "Aha moment," where they call for listeners to contribute a story about a work of art/film/literature (whatever, really) that changed or deeply influenced their life. So, always one to pipe up, I wrote in with the story about the "retire young, work old" idea, as explained by Cary Grant's character in "Holiday," which I watched as a teenager at about 3am on a tiny old black & white TV in my parents' basement one night. My thanks to Britta Conroy-Randall and Jenny Lawton, for helping me not trip over my words and limiting my repetitions to only the ones they needed for the editing. 

Click here for the interview.

illustration by carolita johnson

adam wade

I've been working on this little cartoon for a great storyteller named Adam Wade, whose storytelling class I took over the summer as soon as I heard about it, because I'd always admired his storytelling. He's a 16-time Moth storytelling slam winner, and has a one-man show coming up, which will make you laugh till you cry. You might even be inspired to take his storytelling course at the Magnet Theater, and learn to tell a tale yourself. I did!

For details on the show, click here!

welcome!

Welcome to my new website! My old one, (carolita.org) was so hard to update that I switched to this one for now. Much more user-friendly. Hopefully I'll be just plain old carolita.org again soon, but with the better website. Anyway, I'm still learning the ropes (I hate reading instructions!), and I hope you'll like it! Please have a look around. Look under the closet door for options, on the right.