A few Laughs for Less!

The last thing I expected to be doing on a recent Saturday afternoon in New York City was reliving my high school and college theater days, but against my better judgment, my friends had talked me into attending a free improv class at the Sage Theater in midtown.

I love theater and have enjoyed my forays into acting, but improv has always been my least favorite acting exercise, I think because I've always felt this pressure to be witty, and not only to be witty, but to do so at the spur of the moment. I always much preferred acting out scenes because what you were supposed to say (witty or otherwise) was written right out in front of you. I was put at ease however, when Tim, the enthusiastic young man who was leading the class told us that the more boring, the more obvious we were, the more successful we would be. Whew!

I think any lingering nerves any of us may have felt about performing in front of strangers were dispelled after we played a rhyming game that ended with the phrase, "in my butt." Like most schoolday pursuits most of the improv exercises were done in a circle and involved us saying zany phrases like "Zip, Zap, Zop," and "Yah" and "Nien." At one point we moved from person-to-person around the circle and quickly answered whatever question was posed to us; one of mine was,"If you were a boy, what would your name be?" to which I quickly replied "Blake" without exactly knowing why.

Later we experimented with the physical aspects of improv after being assigned the role of being either high-or low-class. Low-class individuals were instructed to avoid eye contact and touch with others, while the high-class was to be friendly and interact with everyone. After spending time either shuffling around and looking at the floor or throwing out manic smiles, this was a great way to learn how we express ourselves using body language rather than words alone.

Other exercises I participated in with a partner and the group somehow involved me hiding behind cavemen at the Museum of Natural History and a hamburger eating a hot dog vendor in Central Park.

Cheap Chick Info: For the rest of January free classes are being given every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and every Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Just email improv@sagetheater.us to reserve a spot in the class.

Location Info: Sage Theater, 711 Seventh Avenue, 2nd floor, Between 47th & 48th St.
New York, NY 10036 (Near the Sbarro's, be sure to look for it, I had walked past a million times without realizing it was there!)

Subway Info: N/R/W to 49th St., 1/9 to 50th St., F/V or B/D to 47th-50th St.

(Cheap) Culture for the Couch Potato

If you find it hard to leave the comfort of your couch, but want to be able to tell your friends and co-workers that you actually did something over the weekend, then throw off the blanket, take off the sweats, and put that half-eaten bag of potato chips into the trash and head to the Paley Center for Media.

Despite numerous name-changes (such as the Museum of Broadcasting and the Museum of Television and Radio) the Paley Center is a great place to spend an afternoon catching up on your favorite and forgotten TV shows. For just $10 (less than a movie ticket!) you can spend an entire day at the museum (it opens at 12 p.m. and closes at 6 p.m. except for Thursdays when it's open until 8 p.m.) viewing classic and current TV shows in one of the museum's viewing areas, which range from small rooms to large-scale auditoriums that seat hundreds of people.

Here you can see Lucille Ball stomping grapes in a classic I Love Lucy episode, the pre-Elaine Seinfeld pilot, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, and the Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Other options may include specials and documentaries on topics such as women in TV and stand-up comedians.

If you're feeling nostalgic for your own childhood favorites (and I'm looking at you Bananna Splits fans...), you can head to the third floor where you can select the TV show of your choice from the museum's computer database and then view it on a private console with headphones. My personal poisons have included the "Getting Davy Jones" episode of The Brady Bunch and the Ally McBeal pilot. Once you find yourself humming the Cheers theme song one too many times (as I did) you might want to check out some of the museum's art and photography exhibits (some are in displayed in the hallways while others are in the museum's main gallery on the first floor), which have previously included art inspired by the TV show Family Guy.

The Paley Center also hosts events and public programs though many are out of the Cheap Chick's budget range, with prices starting at $20 and up, but there are some great programs if you want to splurge!

Here is a link to some upcoming events:
http://www.paleycenter.org/new-york-series

Cheap Chick Tip: Get to the museum around 4:45/5:00 p.m. and admission is free for the last hour the museum is open. Shh. Don't tell them I told you this!

Cheap Chick Info: $10, Free last hour of the day.
Location Info: 25 West 52 Street, New York, Closed on Mondays.
Subway Info: E or V to Fifth Avenue and 53 Street; N, R, or W to 49 Street and Seventh Avenue; 1 to 50 Street and Broadway; B, D, F, or V to 47-50 Street/Rockefeller Center.

Simple Pleasures, or a Central Park Picnic

According to the song "the best things in life are free" and I'm inclined to agree especially after a Sunday picnic in Central Park. Despite the chill in the air our group found a nice patch of sunshine in Sheep's Meadow where we could relax. I think one of the great things about the park is that it allows us to regress from our grown-up lives for awhile, even if just for a minute. Our poison was hula hoops, with some intrepid souls balancing more than one on arms and legs…and some places you don't want to think about. I saw others in the park playing touch football and throwing Frisbees. Our picnic was 21st century adult, with hummus, crackers, and cheese, but our music was pure 20th century childhood, including a sing-a-long to a ukulele rendition of the Muppet classic, "Rainbow Connection" (some people stared, but you know they wanted to sing along with us.) Despite my assertion above, this wasn't a totally free event (it was cheap tho!) since we all contributed to a potluck lunch, but as we relaxed on blankets and watched children running relay races, games of catch, and couples reading the New York Times as the sun set behind the Time Warner Center, it was definitely worth the cost of a bag of carrots.

I encourage my Cheap Chick followers to take advantage of all the diversions Central Park has to offer while the weather is still sunny (I know, not for long!). Take some snacks, a blanket, and a good book and lose yourself in a story among the trees, browse at the Strand Annex Store near the Fifth Avenue entrance, picnic with friends, take a boat ride, hike or bike the trails, and visit some of the iconic landmarks such as the carousel, the zoo, the Delacorte Clock, Belvedere Castle, and Strawberry Fields-and if you haven't heard of these sites, then get thee to Wikipedia!

Here are links to some interesting upcoming (free!) events in and around the park:

Pumpkin Festival
Saturday October 26th, 2008 (tomorrow)
http://www.centralpark.com/ev_details.php?showev=182.

The Chanel Mobile Art Exhibit (all-day, free, ticketed event)
October 20, 2008 - November 09, 2008
Rumsey Playfield
Check out art inspired by Chanel's iconic quilted bag.
http://chanel-mobileart.com/

The New York City Marathon
November 2nd, 2008
11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Watch runners from around the world compete in this NYC tradition.
http://www.nycmarathon.org/home/index.php

FIT for Free!

Chanel and coffins seem an unlikely combination, but on a recent rainy Saturday my friend and I saw both (for free!) at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (or FIT- http://www.fitnyc.edu/aspx/Content.aspx?menu=FutureGlobal:Museum.) There were two exhibits, "Arbiters of Style Women at the Forefront of Fashion" (until November 8, 2008) and the recently opened "Gothic Dark Glamour" (until February 21, 2009) borrowing from the museum's collection of 50,000 garments and 4,000 pairs of shoes.

The worlds of Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Diane von Furstenberg, and others were displayed in the Arbiters of Style exhibit, but the fashions of other lesser-known creators such as Ann and May Shogren, eighteenth-century designers who traveled from Portland, Oregon, to Paris and New York for designs and fabrics, were also presented. I particularly liked a red silk dress from 1715, designed by Ann a Maria Garthwaite, the only woman known to have worked in Spitalfield's, the London-based silk weaving center. I also enjoyed an 1840's evening dress covered in cherries, a gray net lace French evening dress from 1949 by Lucille Man, and a fabulous red and gold Rive Gauche dress by Yves St. Laurent. One of the more modern looks I coveted was a copper-colored Diane von Furstenberg dress from her fall 2008 collection.

After leaving the muted elegance of the women's fashion exhibit behind, we headed downstairs to enter the fashion underworld of the Gothic fashion exhibit. Out of the darkness skeletons leered at us from fabrics, while above us a moon glowed in between shadowy clouds. Coffins were used as accessories and one of the walls faded magically away to reveal mannequins. Mannequins were also placed between castle ruins or were trapped behind mesh cages, so the whole effect was rather that of a surreal dance club where no one moved. Most of it wasn't really my style, leather and studs isn't my thing, but it was interesting to look at. My favorite outfit was a dress shredded through with shades of purples, blues, and lavenders done by Gattinoni for the fall 1997 collection. I think my friend summed the Gothic exhibit up best when she said, "Some of it's beautiful, some of it's scary."

Source: Museum at FIT

Cheap Chick Info: Free!
Location Info: Seventh Avenue at 27th Street.
Subway Info: 1, 9, N, R to 28th Street or the C, E, F, V to 23rd Street.

The Write Price, Free Writing Classes September 22nd and 23, 2008!

Aspiring writers who want to get in touch with their inner author should check out the upcoming Gotham Writer's Workshop Fall Open House (http://free.writingclasses.com/CourseDescriptionPages/FreeWorkshopPages.php/type/L#). There will be 16 FREE one-hour workshops on September 22nd and 23rd, 2008 held at 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. at various downtown and midtown Manhattan locations. This is a great way to get an introduction to Gotham's course offerings which include one-day intensive sessions, private sessions, and 10 week writing workshops. I have attended these sessions before (and you may see me again, incognito of course!) and they have always stirred up my creative juices. Classes are taught by Gotham instructors who cover topics including fiction, creative writing, poetry, children's writing, screenwriting, and memoir writing. Most of the free sessions I've attended start with an instructor intro, possible class info (mostly consisting of that burning question, "Why are you here?") information about the genre (finding your audience, tips on getting published), and then will lead into some writing exercises, after which some students are usually called upon to share their writing. I would advise getting to class early, as late-comers may end up resting their butts on the floor, and though I encourage you to grab some of the free pens and notepads that are readily available, I would bring your own notepad and pen (the writing pads they provide are small) because you will definitely spend some time writing.

Cheap Chick Info: Totally Free!
Subway and Location Info: Varies, check website above.