Hot August Night

You have to be up to seeing certain films.

"Detroit" is one of them and when I offered Mac a choice of outdoor live music or a movie, she jumped at the latter because, as she informed me, the heat index was in the triple digits.

I hadn't bothered checking the weather since getting back from the beach, so I didn't know about all that. What I could testify to was that my afternoon had ended with a heat nap, so I wasn't going to be upset if I missed an outdoor show tonight.

But more importantly, as she pointed out, she also felt able to handle what we knew was going to be a heavy and difficult movie in the manner of "13th." We agreed that you can't go in to such a painful recreation of history if you're already having a bad day.

We ate in service of my hired mouth in a pleasantly air-conditioned restaurant before moving on to the briefest of mid-century modern architectural tours (one building) in the Museum District, landing finally at Movieland.

I'm at a decided disadvantage when it comes to violent movies (even when it's violence based on real events) given that I don't watch TV and, as a rule, avoid movies with violence. I go to talky movies, films that deal with feelings and thoughts, not beatings and shootings.

And there's a reason for that.

What this meant was that I reflexively and repeatedly closed my eyes during the harrowing scenes between cops and blacks. I'm sorry, I just can't watch that kind of inhumanity. It's gut-wrenching to see a police officer butt someone's head with a rifle or slam them into a wall, so the prolonged torture and beating scenes ensured that the audience stayed uncomfortable.

Close to tears, honestly.

When I wasn't wincing at how the incident in the Algiers Hotel unfolded during the 1967 riots in Detroit, I was learning of the Dramatics' role in it all, having been at the Algiers that night and some of the band members among the tortured.

As a long-time fan of the band - their 1971 debut, "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," gets regular spins on my turntable - I'd never heard a word about their role in the police brutality incidents that formed the heart of the film's story.

I've since learned that I need to read "The Algiers Hotel Incident" to know more and I intend to.

Walking out, Mac and I talked about how uncomfortable the film had made us and it wasn't much of a leap to see parallels to some of today's policing methods. If it's terrifying for me to think how little has changed in 50 years, I can't wrap my head around how difficult it must be for those more directly affected.

Lean into the difficult conversations, a wise person once told the two of us at a community conversation about race. It should feel unpleasant because what's been allowed to happen in this country is worse than unpleasant. It's a travesty.

I know it's a luxury to wait till you're up to see a film that brings you down. But see it we must.

Keeping It Real

It's common knowledge I brag about many things about my neighborhood - the central location, historic architecture, walkability, proximity to so many art galleries.

And right up there is how I can walk out my door and go to dinner and the theater without ever going near my car.

So with a light breeze blowing and the sun still requiring sunglasses, I sashayed over to Bistro 27 to meet a fellow theater lover for some pre-dramatic dining.

We knew we wouldn't be the only ones with theater programs in our evening's future so the surprise was all the gowned teenagers with wrist corsages. Prom season is clearly upon us.

After regaling my friend with tales of the gothic furniture maker and nimble tapestry artist I'd met, we thought it best to get started on ordering so we could get back to talking.

New on the menu was a crab salad which spoke to both of us, so we ordered two, a wise choice given how light and summery it tasted.

Lump crabmeat sailed atop arugula, corn and pickled red onion in an avocado buttermilk dressing for a dish I can say with 100% certainty I will go back and order again. Soon. Very soon.

It was a hoot watching all the prom couples and crowds walking by the big picture window, the girls so dressed up and obviously enjoying themselves and the boys looking a full five years younger and hugely uncertain of themselves and the evening.

When my veal sweetbreads arrived, our server also brought salmon for my date, the only problem being he'd ordered one of tonight's specials, spicy crabcakes over potato hash.

Oops. Our mortified server went back in search of the correct plate but my friend insisted I eat while mine was hot, so I went ahead and enjoyed the sweet/salty contrast of creamy polenta and amaretto demi-glace with the crispy sweetbreads.

One thing I like about my friend is that he can always see a way to fit in dessert, even when he doesn't finish his tardy course until half an hour before curtain, so dessert menus were procured and we each agreed to try something new off the dessert menu.

His choice was bananas foster, hot off the stove and sticky sweet while I chose a napoleon of white and dark chocolate which I could only half finish.

Proud of our dessert expedience, we made it to the box office to collect our tickets and pat ourselves on the back with seven minutes to spare.

Tonight was opening night for Cadence Theater Company's production of "Detroit," a play both of us had purposefully not researched so as to be surprised.

I did know it was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer in Drama and won the Obie for best new play in 2013. That's what's great about Cadence; you can always count on them to bring the latest award-winning theater to Richmond.

This time it was a story about the current state of our middle class, where people get laid off from jobs (don't I know it? hello, 2008) and have to concoct a Plan B.

Where suburban neighbors are no longer Ozzie and Harriet, but maybe just out of rehab and trying to live for the moment.

The November Theater's theater gym is a tiny stage but managed to hold two contrasting houses, one with a backyard full of leisure furniture and the other barren, a metaphor for how different the two couples' lives are.

Except that over the course of the play, we learn that there's not all that much difference because no one really has a lock on stability anymore and few people are who they seem.

By the time the play ends and all kinds of unexpected things have happened, our suburbanites should be upset and angry and instead they're realizing that perhaps a new frontier has opened up for them. It's really all in how you look at it.

"You've got to live this moment, Mary. That's all you can do," the crazy character Sharon insists, played to perfection by Chris Lindsay-Abaire.

Do you worry because your future is unknown or do you embrace it? I know where I went with that one.

Cadence's strong production reminded me that things can be different, but only if you want them to be.