Wild, Wonderful West Virginia

That is apparently the tourist slogan for West Virginia. Or at least that's what the sign that displays the time outside of the bank proclaims on Main Street, Berkeley Springs. Which is where I will be spending the next five weeks of my life.



Where to begin?

I am starting this blog because I will be away and alone in a town that is, really, unlike any place I have ever lived before. And it seems like a good way to give the people that I am lately so terrible about keeping in touch with a glimpse into what my life is like here (there?). Maybe this will end when I return to DC. Maybe I will only keep it up when I work on shows out of town. We'll see.

But I vow not to include information about my personal life (because really, who cares?), or about anyone else's personal life, or anything incriminating or insulting about any of the people I meet or work with here, or elsewhere for that matter. Deal? Deal. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I've seen too many blogs go awry, and not everyone ends up getting a book deal like Jessica Cutler.

So, I head back to DC for my last week in civilization tomorrow morning, after three days in the WV. I'd never been to West Virginia before, at least not that I remember. I think I drove through once. And first I must say -- it is really beautiful here. As an East Coast girl who is easily pleased by foothills (and more than willing to call them mountains) I was quickly wooed by the terrain, the trees, the clear and starry night skies... it truly is lovely. The home I stayed in this time around is gorgeous, built by an urban DC couple who still commute back and forth regularly, so they have the tastes of Cap Hill dwellers on the property of WV natives -- which is the perfect combination. The romantic in me can idealize it, "Yeah, I could do this, live in a beautiful house on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere... with Wifi, and a phenomenal kitchen... sure... I'd escape, I'd write a play, I'd cook, and I'd learn Italian (three things I always think I want to do, but can only imagine doing if I lived on a hill in the middle of nowhere)." But of course, I'd be itching for a downtown and a metro system in no time, which is probably why said couple still commutes back and forth regularly. And besides, I couldn't afford a house like the house in my dream. Maybe a trailer.

Now mind you, this dreaminess is the "house on the hill". Entering the actual town is an entirely different experience. I can hardly scratch the surface in one post. The headline gives a good start, "Wild and wonderful West Virginia". That is said without even the slightest hint of irony. And that's what makes it TRULY wonderful.

I am here to direct a play. It is a play about women in the south kvetching about their lives while in a hair salon. Only they wouldn't ever use the word "kvetch". I don't think there are any Jewish people in Berkeley Springs. There don't appear to be any black people. The Mexican restaurant on main street (right between the new-agey crystal shop and the classic movie theater that shows a different movie every week for $3.50 a ticket) tips me off to the possibility that there might be a few Latinos. Though in three days, I certainly haven't seen any.

This place is all at once bizarre and fascinating and charming and creepy. One of the women I am working with, who moved here about a year ago from DC said she felt like in living here, she had stepped into a Christopher Guest movie. I cannot imagine a more apt description. The funny thing is the reaction that people have when they hear I come from DC. "Ohhhh. DC." Like it is the bustling metropolis of the modern world. Now, DC has grown on me, but I still find it to be a pretty provincial town, without the truly urban feel of NY or even Chicago. Maybe the provincial feel is what I like about it. But knowing how disdainfully my NY friends look on DC, like it may as well be West Virginia, it made me laugh to see DC perceived as "the city". I mean, we have a Kiehl's and a baseball team now, which makes it a much more viable city than it ever was before (and as I write this, I believe the Nat's are still first in their division) but still, DC is not, and never really will be "the city". Funny how it is all about perception and what you know and understand.