The updating to the present sits oddly with a play that talks of period bandleaders like Xavier Cugat and where the feel is of an America on the verge of postwar economic expansion.
And the trail among the scattered ancient boulders is studded with young hemlocks, reinforcing the sense that eons of time have peeled away and past and present sit together, right before your eyes.
As always, Gopnik shows himself to be a skillful manager of complex concepts and nuanced reflection, but, like others who seek to understand the dharma, he would do well to take the advice of Zen teachers past and present: sit down and shut up.
Not only does that table remain in place during the entire first half, but Pendleton also sees to it that throughout the proceedings, one or two characters not meant to be present sit or stand visibly as witnesses.
Jenne Lombardo, the founder of the Terminal Presents, sat on a makeshift bench of hay bales in the old-schooler zone.
Obama presents Sitting Bull as a non-denominational healer: Sitting Bull was a Sioux medicine man who healed broken hearts and broken promises.
Among the roughly 1,200 listeners present, some sat or sprawled on the hardwood floor, eyes closed in deep contemplation.
