Butterfly - Ashley Antoinette

So, I visited home and connected with a friend of mine who equally loves books and at the end of the meet up, she gave me this novel she had just purchased, Butterfly. We both got really excited about it because we knew, given the genre, that it would be racy and thrilling. It didn’t disappoint.

BOOK

The story follows a main character Morgan Atkins who is torn between several loves, actually. She doesn't know that yet though. We learn that she has money, we learn that she is from the streets, she’s very young, and she has twins by a guy she used to mess with who left her in some reckless way that keeps getting hinted at, but not explained. He also left her one million dollars (???). Her new life/family, which is with some respectable (read: not hood) other black guy is prim and proper. The family is paying for her to go to medical school and they’re gonna get her placed in a residency program. They also love and accept the children and the guy is ready to go ahead and get married, per the family’s expectations and the way that things work in his social class. She is always keeping ties with her family and friends at home.

At a charity event she (or her new family) is putting on, her old friends from back home as well as her dance partner and best friend, come to visit and she starts to “notice” one of the guys romantically. He gets his money illegally, he’s very rough around the edges. She likes that because she’s bored with the nice guy. They proceed to have a torrid affair and eventually the friends find out and they really need to make a decision about who they want to be with. Meanwhile, the original guy she was in love with who hurt her is not dead. He’s plotting how to get her back, with the ultimate goal being marriage.

OPINION

I love these dramatic romance books, so I had a fun time reading this. A few things though: I was never actually clear on whether or not Bash knew that the children were not of his biology. She mentioned that he accepted them as his own, but later it seemed like it was possibly a secret that they were not his biological children.

About the million dollars that the dead ex left her: I guess I get it because that’s the romantic in him or whatever. But would any dude actually do this? I mean, I guess the thing was he loved her and thought that he would die, but what about his mom? That’s who they would usually leave it to. Not their baby mama. Or, they would bury it, or leave it to a family member. I just don’t see someone in the hood being like okay, I’m gonna leave this to my baby mama. But who am I? Maybe nobody has loved me that much. That was odd to me. But it is a romance, so it’s fine.

It was also amazing to me how much time she had away from her kids. I know that her stepdad or father figure liked to have time with them, but it seemed like a lot. And at one point, she was definitely having a full affair with the guy who was visiting. And I’m sitting there like, at this point, you just need to say something to your fiancé, because this is definitely out of control. Also, if someone leaves your kids alone because they’re angry, it’s really a hard no. That was very fucked up and I don’t know why he tried to act like it wasn’t.

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the use of music throughout the book. This is something I’ve thought about often. How do we include music or reference music in a book and will it help to set a mood or will it make the world feel less timeless? What I found here is that I didn't know most of the songs, so it mostly didn't have an effect, except for when it did (when I was familiar with the song) and in those cases, the emotion came through for me. I also don’t think that all of the songs from the playlist were quoted throughout. So when do we use those? The last book I read that utilized musical references so heavily was set in the 80s and about a band, and I think that they were reaching for nostalgia purposely. A lot of the songs were classic rock hits. And the book was specifically about a band. So it wasn’t used as background emotion, it was used to push that nostalgic feeling to forefront. Obviously, I wasn’t around then, so it wasn't nostalgic for me, but the way that the characters engaged with the music made it so that it came through in their feelings.

QUESTIONS

What do you guys think about the million dollars situation?

Whose team are you on, love interest wise? Good boy or bad boy?

Does Bash know that those aren’t his biological children?

-Blithe

Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid

BOOK

The overall theme here is liberal whiteness using blackness/black culture to prop up whatever underlying agenda that may exist. In the book, we see two examples of this in main character Emira’s life. One is with the family she works for, an affluent white family whose child she babysits. The influencer mother tries very hard to befriend her and cross the line between their employer/employee relationship into friendship after her husband is publicly accused of racism on television and social media. The actions she takes; higher compensation, gifts, more intimate and leading conversations, are meant to lead to a genuine friendship between them. Later, when they’re featured on a news segment together, it crosses into a very performative “clean-up” type scenario. 

The second example is with her boyfriend/new guy she is dating. What we know about him is that he definitely wanted black approval in high school, and went out of his way to get it and that trailed him into adulthood. First we see a flashback where he’s dressed like a basketball player, which - lol. And whenever we see him in adulthood meeting up with Kiley, he is flanked by black friends. It sounds like he’s only dated black women, or at least, for the most part. That’s his thing, he’s into it. 

OPINION

I actually loved this book and I wasn’t sure if I would  because the person who gave it to me said that they didn’t like the ending. The ending was fine. 

The theme was super interesting and the book reminded me of Get Out, the movie. I felt very mind fucked at the end, but not surprised. Any mention of this book I’d heard before reading it always said something like black girl is accused of kidnapping white kid and it all unfolds from there. So when I read the book and that happened at the begging, I was like oh wait what? This is not what the book is about. It can’t be if we’re here already. She’s either gonna go to jail or not go to jail at this point…

As far as Mrs. Chamberlain using Emira to prop up her agenda, I do really feel like it’s normal to do that, like a self-soothing thing. To misstep, or in this case, have a family member misstep who you’re trying to protect and try to get close to someone or a type of person who isn’t a fixture in your world and make yourself feel better, then begin to overcompensate out of guilt. However, obviously a line was crossed when the manipulation came into play. Manipulating the release of a video and turning it into a television appearance, making this hesitant younger person declare something publicly that she hadn’t intended to share or a situation she didn’t plan to be in, was where things started to get off for me. Add in the power dynamic and general feeling of being lost that Emira was experiencing and the next several years would have been a slog had she not had friends who cared about her. 

As far as her boyfriend Kelly *eyeroll*. One time in college, I dated a guy who used to have white dreads, but any chance he got, he put on a “bro uniform”. A button down, and like…some shoes. Already graduating from the dreads, he started out as this tree hugger, no shoes, almond milk type, and then by the time I ran into him during our 5th year, he was a fully polished bro. Meanwhile, I had done those things in the opposite direction (cool—> less cool), so we obviously didn’t grow together. When we met in Spanish class, it was pretty clear (to me) that he was angling for one of the black girls in the class. It was also clear to another friend of mine who had met him who wasn’t even in the class, so I wasn’t making this feeling up. I was the more liberal of the two us and he had a 16 pack and had cut his dreads off by then, so I slid in there.. We dated for 3 or 6 months. It was fine. We were young and expectations or whatever were low. One time during studying together, I picked up a book with a non-distinct cover, but on the inside, it had silhouette images of girls with afro hair kneeling in front of men with straight hair/one of those old- timey wigs. The book was about sex and slavery. I commented on it aloud to him and his response was “well, despite the tension during that time, people were still getting jiggy with it.” I knew that the relationship wasn’t going to work. I get that slavery is an uncomfortable topic (obviously), but if you’re unable to have a frank discussion with me within our relationship or acknowledge that slavery existed, by having a real opinion, or not using the word “jiggy” to describe rape, it’s not gonna work. I’m not asking for a dissertation. But be able to talk with me within our relationship about what we’re doing. And I know that we were young, etc. so I wasn't upset with him, but it did dull the light a little bit.

Back to Kelly. The ending of this book was so disappointing (emotionally) because I was rooting for him. We knew he hadn’t sent the video and when Emira found out, I was like omg, she’s gonna get her life together and find love! But it was such a let down once the author broke down why he loved her, EVEN THOUGH, I feel like there is a reason that there’s love there, or that the love is mentioned, etc. I know that a part of it is just science, but does that count for nothing? In a world where it’s very socially acceptable to, on a dating profile, for example, say “I’m looking for someone outgoing, adventurous, likes kayaking, enjoys good conversation, but NO BLACK GIRLS”, does the motivation for love matter? And I’m asking that having felt the way the reader was supposed to feel at the end of the book, which was “I’m actually good on Kelly.” And no, i’m not advocating for “getting what you can”. It just seems to me that men generally view a beautiful woman as a prize and black women often are often not considered to be beautiful or prizes. If a light-skinned (or white) girl is a prize to a black man or a young girl is a prize for an old man and love is allowed to develop, is that love really less valuable? If a black woman is a prize to a white man and they also find things in common and love develops, at what point or is it possible for that love to be valid? 

See also: Slave Play

See also: Most of my dating experience.

Recommendations: Slave Play

QUESTIONS

When Mrs. Chamberlain’s black friend (the Uncle Tom character) says that Emira won’t have the motivation to maintain a career, is she correct? Can anyone elaborate?

In a culture where women are prizes, does any “real” love exist, and what does that qualification require besides the chemical reactions that lead to feelings of love? 

-Blithe

Come With Me - Helen Schulman

BOOK

The most prominent theme I found in this book was the concept of immortality vs death. A secondary theme may have been midlife crises. But I think the midlife crisis idea was just used as a backdrop to the theme, because I guess that would be the biggest time where people would be questioning lots of decisions leading up to where they’ve “ended up” so to speak. 

Throughout the book, we spend a lot of time following central character Amy, who is a Silicon Valley adjacent mom. She lives in and raises a family in San Francisco, she’s vaguely involved, maybe employed by or consulting for a tech start up that’s run by a friend’s son. This start up is centered around the idea of multiverses, what it would take for people to pay for a service like this and how to set it up legally, considering personal boundaries and things related. The company has decided to target a middle aged-older audience, as they think this will be the easiest sell. 

Throughout the book, we learn more details about how Amy and her family have come to be and how they’ve come to where they are currently, how many children she and her husband have, how she and her husband met, the city and home they live in and, their children and friends and their respective professions. It all boils down to the fact that the makeup of this picture of life is the result of several small decisions made over time. Decisions that seemed correct at the time, decisions made as sacrifices for the good of the family or the benefit of the overall unit or just better for the individual. 

Donny, the character exploring multiverses is a baby tech genius with a start up idea who wants to explore the concept of every other decision a person could have made that would have lead to different outcomes. The way that the program currently works is that it uses VR to actually show the user living these alternate realities as though they’d made the “other choice”.

This becomes relevant because Amy and her husband Dan begin to start experiencing some midlife fatigue, commonly referred to as a midlife crisis. Dan has been out of work for a while and feeling less than. Amy has been resentful about this, which leads to resentment about some of her other decisions, such as taking a lower paying job in order to prioritize Dan’s career and not trying harder to make it work with a previous relationship that she suspects may have worked out better for her. Feeling this way makes multiverse options sound very appealing. 

When Donny initially creates a multiverse VR experience of Amy’s life, watching it feels very much like a violation for Amy. Things happen that are deeply personal and watching things happen to you that did not or have not, in fact, taken place, feels very manipulative to her and invasive. The astounding thing, is how easy it is for her the next time to desire to get lost in these possibilities and the questions that come up that she’d like to “solve” by participating in this technology again, even after having a strong averse reaction to it during the initial viewing. And the thing that sparks this is her growing dissatisfaction with her own current life. 

Near the end of the book, Amy’s son’s best friend Kevin commits suicide, I think this plot point serves as a contrast to remind us that trying to relive or rethink these small life decisions that make up the whole, is a moot exercise. This boy, who had so much un-lived potential, doesn’t get the opportunity to ever experience more decisions and outcomes, good or bad. 

OPINION

I thought that this book definitely had an interesting concept, which is why I put it on my list in the first place, but I did find it difficult to get into once I started. There was A TON of set up, just describing who Amy is, who her family and peers are, who the children are in personality and physicality, who the dog is, everyone’s temperaments, routines, etc. By the way the beginning was so drawn out, I thought there would be more plot line around the children or like schoolyard bullying, but now I think that maybe those beginning scenes describing Theo’s temper were there in order to talk about Dan, the dad, aging. There was just a lot of set up that I won’t say was unnecessary, because I’m not sure, but it took a while, in my opinion, to get into what the actual story was. 

Later, when she watches her VR multiverse life for the first time, the repetition of the sequences confused me (my faulty, not the author’s). But I had to go back and read that a few times to make sure I wasn’t reading the same page I’d just read. 

Then, the situation with Dan and Japan and that whole “affair”. Did he or did he not go? My understanding was that he went to Japan and nothing physical happened. And then he lies to his so about it and sticks to that lie?? He also discusses it later and the details really get muddled for me. I wondered if this was a device, as in virtual reality/the multiverse, no one was there to witness the thing/make those decisions, so no one knows what really happened, so he can shape the story the way he wants by lying and/ or telling himself a different truth? Or was the writing just confusing for me? Please, someone tell me what happened with Dan. 

A note on the running: I wonder if this resonates more with people who enjoy running.

Even though we only saw “the tip of the iceberg” with Amy’s multiverse life, the fact that she was only truly happy in one of them is at once upsetting and reassuring, just because it serves to let the reader know that life isn’t perfect, etc. Or a more bleak angle: You’re not likely to end up happy so just try to be appreciative. Which I guess isn’t that sad, because even in that model, there will be times of joy, etc.  

Overall, I didn’t love the book, though I did appreciate the themes. It just seemed like a lot of build up to a little bit of hope, then back to regularity. 

QUESTIONS

What is Dan’s deal? Is he lying, or what really happened with that?

Why does Kevin’s mom care that he never experienced sex? Is this because he’s a boy or is it some reproductive thing?

Would you watch the multiverse outcomes of your own life, if given the chance?

Slave Play

After a long debate about whether to spend the money to see this show, I decided to go. It wouldn’t have been a question had I lived in New York, but I don’t, so I had to buy two flights, one of which I missed, so I had to buy three flights and go through security twice. But I was in too deep by the time I missed the first flight, so I had to commit. The second flight got in to JFK - JFK (!!!) at 1pm, which left me one hour to catch the matinee performance (not my first choice, but again, the flights). It was also gonna take about an hour to get to John Golden Theatre from the airport. I was on top of it, but of course the train was twenty minutes behind, so I suffered on the train platform watching time slip by and debating whether I should spend $50 on an Uber that was gonna take the same amount of time. I decided to wait. THEN, I had the option of getting another train or just walking after exiting Penn Station. Rather than try to figure out one more train that was a two minute ride, I decided to run. I tied my jacket around my waist and literally ran from 31st to 45th to get to the Theatre 10 minutes late. Luckily, they were allowing late seating and after thanking everyone I had to slip past in the front row of the balcony (my favorite spot for children) I tuned in right in the middle of Kaneisha and Jim’s Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy session.

The white male/black female couple of the three in therapy, Kenisha was there on all fours moving her ass while Jim awkwardly tried to find the language to tell her that that was what he wanted her to do. She seemed to lead the session, and he, clumsy with the whip, tried to give her what she wanted. After a few uncomfortable false starts, they finally made it to sex, then we went to the next couple, a white woman, black man combination who acted out a sort of cuck fantasy, which, it turned out was how they'd met in real life, and there was also a gay couple, always interesting because gender dynamics don’t cloud other factors.

The set was an astroturf deck surrounded by three walls made or mirrored panels and a projection of a plantation that was projected onto the mezzanine level and therefore reflected back onto the mirrors on stage and integrated into the set that way. A section of the mirrored panels would open up and a platform would slide out with a couple on it fun-house style and their scene would begin that way. It was a fun concept, except I didn't understand the choice to both front and backlight the couples.

I think that the overall point of the show was to demonstrate to white people that they’re taking up too much space. Lots of taunting white men by making Jim inconsiderate as fuck, talking out of turn, announcing himself and his thoughts and opinions aloud, commanding attention, taking over the room’s discussion. The two therapists leading the study were recent graduates from an Ivy League (Yale?) who were studying relationship dynamics in interracial relationships and the psychological effects of not having a language to describe the oppression or earsure or otherness felt by the black partners in interracial relationships. The dynamic was demonstrated in the relationship between the therapists as well when the white-passing therapist would talk over the light-skinned black therapist. This wasn’t demonstrated extremely well, because the black therapist would also talk out of turn and her character was so over the top that sometimes, her points were missed because her voice was so crazy and the words were rushed out. At one point, she had her own “moment”, which I believe was intended to be a learning moment for the audience. She cried and had a breakthrough, but I had not understood what she’d said and heard people around me going “what?”

Out of the three couples, two of them were able to have breakthroughs and finally come or have sexual satisfaction, but the third couple Kenisha and Jim, barely spoke at therapy. They were the only married couple. Jim was actually the only one to use the safe word “Starbucks” and bring all three sexual therapy sessions to an end, not enjoying the role play al all. It was surprising because it seems as though if you put a white man in a position to act out that fantasy, he’d be all over it, but it also made me think that maybe he was the only one who didn’t need it because white men still have power in the real world and for everyone else, a position of power in an escape. The other couples were having a stellar time trading places. The white woman got to dominate her partner, a black gay man got the opportunity to be in control, but Jim, the white male, sincerely did not want or need this fantasy. It was his wife, a black woman, who was pushing and pushing for him to take control of her and he reluctantly trying to explain that he didn’t want to treat her that way.

At the end of therapy, Kenisha finally speaks up and tells Jim and whole room what’s on her mind. How she thinks Jim is a virus, how she thinks “the elders” (the souls of dead slaves) are watching her and not necessarily disapproving, but wanting her to acknowledge that she is sleeping with the enemy or going against them (which they’re okay with if she does so “gracefully”). She finally has an OCD breakdown and goes back to her room. Jim meets her there and she continues to monologue to him for the longest five minutes while he sits there and listens politely. Just when you think they’re about to get a divorce, he goes fully back into his Slave Master character (great accent) and begins to dominate and tease her for a long while that finally leads to sex. She has her release and he recoils completely uncomfortable into a corner of the bed. He does not like it. She thanks him and the show ends.

The show also seemed to say, that no matter how “good” your interracial (one white partner) relationship is, there will always be underlying slavery era dynamics rooted in it. You can choose to address or unpack them or not, but they are there and if you do choose to unpack or discuss them, you’ll be doing so forever. It was exhausting. Your class or your “whiteness” will never transcend you being black and if you’re with a white person, there’s always some fetish underneath that can explain the attraction.

Lastly, there was male nudity in the show. Jim full frontal. A black dildo waved around, but no real life black d*cks were exposed. Now, I think the rule in theatre is that you don’t do nudity unless you *have* to. Why did we need to see Jim’s white penis, but not see the black men exposed in the other sex scenes?

This feels obvious.

Originally Published January 20 2020 at amiikelle.com

-Blithe

Amazing Night at Davenport's Piano Bar

About a month ago a friend of mine who I won’t put on blast texted me a photo of an ad poster for a show at Davenport’s Piano Bar with the caption: “Are we gonna be front row, or what?” My reply was likely something along the lines of “Obviously.” The show poster was a moody black design, featuring that reminiscent- of-the-20s font; the one always used for The Great Gatsby and front and center, our former co-worker Lindsey Prerost. We had been waiting for this. We were fans of her everyday (imagined) life, and now she was subtly drawing us in dim light and exposed garters. Hell yes.

Glass Half…”A cabaret of love, loss and light” featured Lindsey as the main vocalist with accompanying pianist Peter Broman. The entire event was a fundraiser for the BBRFoundation. Happy to support a good cause, but I was not there for the charity. I knew it was gonna be a sexy night with some emotional songs and heavy pours with friends.

The show started off with a light bouncy piece that was likely from a musical and it’s probably called “Right Hand Man”. Because it’s never difficult to figure out the names of those songs once you get them stuck in your head and you need to hear it again. It was beautiful. The chemistry was great between her and Peter who sang the male role. It showed off her ability to belt and control her voice at that pace. On the final line “man”, she dipped her voice really low to imitate a male voice. Flawless, funny; landed perfectly.

There were some duets where the chemistry was not there. I believe the show may have also doubled as a portfolio piece, which is pretty standard for entertainment folks who have to promote their acts. For that reason, there was a range of styles and features in the performances. There was a guy with slicked back hair - they weren't really connecting. There was another guy who did the first duet - he was very strong as a vocalist and the chemistry almost worked. She also sang with another woman (“For Good”) and that went better than I’d anticipated. Sorry I don’t know the other vocalists - there was no program. Overall, Lindsey didn’t really need to share the stage with anyone. The other vocalists seemed sort of eclipsed, if not because of weaker vocals, just because of overall stage presence. The two male vocalists smiled uncomfortably during the duets.

The strongest numbers were:

1.Time Heals All” a solo performance deep, lovely, strong. The topic was lost love. Performed beautifully.

2. “Right Hand Man” (that’s what I’m calling it). Fun, Showed nice range.

3. “Guitar Song at the End” Another lighter piece that was very strong. The chemistry really came across with the other woman and the guitarist with the curly hair and blazer. It seemed maybe country in genre.

Interestingly, the pieces that were the best were not deeply romantic and dramatic. They were lighter, which is not what I would have imagined her strength to be based on her look. She’s less Jessica Simpson/Daisy Duke and more high cheek bones, tight lips.

Everyone from Drury Lane came out so that was super fun. Chris Sargent, Matt Crowle, Joe Capstick small swoon, and everyone from backstage. We’re all hoping she goes back to red. Between songs, it wasn't much to keep the crowd entertained. She was hot and she was talking to us, so that was fine. She mentioned a few times how she isn’t great at words so she’ll “just sing” - fine. The night ended with some hugs, longer-term farewells and catching up with friends, then we left! When we started down Milwaukee, we saw some friends outside who ignored us and we realized a few seconds later that their passenger side car window had been smashed out. There was more glass later and we figured out someone had been going down the block doing “smash and grabs”. Ugh. Grabbed one more drink at Sportsman’s club and headed some. Great Night.

-Blithe

Attending the Theatre

It’s easy for me to declare that theatre is under-appreciated or that young people aren’t engaged in the art, etc. but I’m not actually sure that’s the case, and perhaps I’m just not engaged enough. But a major complaint that I hear often is that it’s too expensive, which, relax. It’s relatively expensive because you’re comparing it to other entertainment that requires sitting and watching like Nextlix, which is $9/month or movies which are $9. Theatre has to be reproduced every time. It can’t be copied and mass printed and distributed on a large scale. That is not the medium. People show up every day to perform for you and those people deserve to be compensated. I’d like to see you try and be that entertaining. That said, there are lot’s of ways to get cheap tickets. We’re all on a budget.

First thing, if there’s a show synopsis that really speaks to you or a show that comes highly recommended, do not be afraid to pay full price. Just go see it and pay for the experience.

But I know that everyone loves a discount especially if you go to the theatre often or are underemployed which, apparently, a lot of people are these days due to the gig economy, so I get it. Every dollar counts.

(1) Attend Previews

Previews are normally sold at a cheaper rate because they’re unfinished/not finalized versions of the show. If it’s a new work, this matters, because there’s actually a lot of work being done on the script and music, so that show may change drastically between 1st preview and opening. If it’s a show that’s been produced before a million times like some big box musical, this will barely make a difference, so you’ll see the same show for a lot cheaper than the normal run will be sold for. Plus, the designers are still there, so that’s very exciting.

(2) Discount Websites

Hottix.com is the one i’ve heard thrown around often. I have not used them, but I have used Goldstar, which occasionally has deals that I like.

(3) Special Offers

When I attended previews for Realistic Jones(es), Jeremy Wechsler offered the entire house half off a ticket to opening. I didn't end up going, but that’s a deal and a party, so, “yes”.

Once you begin to attend shows, the theatres will add you to their mailing lists, which is annoying, but sometimes comes with deals hidden in the emails or a flash sale on social media.

(4) Rush

Some theatres offer Rush tickets or student Rush where ticket prices will be sold for half off one hour before curtain if there are any left. I am not the biggest fan of this process, because I like to plan ahead and stay in control and comfort, but it has worked out for me before. The best time to attempt this would be during the week because weekends are packed all the time for most things in life. And don’t get your hopes up and become too committed to the idea of seeing a show/the show you’re trying to see, because it’s truly a toss up and you may lose. Again, do not be afraid to pay full price when necessary.

(5) Raffle

If you’re going to a Broadway in Chicago show, which I’ll allow, because it’s cheaper than flying to New York, the theatres sometimes offer those raffles where you enter a drawing the day of the show. The way that it’s set up is extremely inconvenient. I did this for Book of Mormon and they wanted me to enter [the raffle] before 5pm during business hours, then be back at half hour for the winner announcement, so I had to go to the theatre twice. That said, when I got there for the announcement, there were people still entering so it seems like they don’t enforce that, but I am a safe person who doesn’t like to take that sort of risk with situations that can be sussed out ahead of time. They also drew a lot more names than I was expecting them to draw and a friend of mine said that that happened when he entered also. So there seems to be some flexibility within this process. The night that I went for Book of Mormon, a few cast members from the show I was working on at the time were also there and they won and said that the tickets they were given were excellent, so they don't fuck you on the tickets either if you win, apparently.

(6) Ask

If you don’t have any shame, just ask someone on the creative team, especially for larger theatres, because they have lots of seats to fill. I asked Gutierrez if I could attend one of his openings. He said “no” and that’s the worst case scenario. Wechsler, on the other hand, offered tickets to his opening, so you never know. And if you know anyone on crew for a show, which I’m assuming you don’t because if you’re reading about ticket discounts, you likely don’t work in the industry; they have tickets too! Go see something, please.

-Blithe