Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

I've known Judith Barcroft Washam for nearly twenty years. I met her for the first time when I was in a play on 42nd Street's Theater Row in a Chashama space, a very special play by Craig Lucas titled "Mother Bird" that was being produced by the Circle Repertory Company LAB and Directed by Artistic Director Michael Warren Powell. All of Craig Lucas' plays are special, but this one in particular was special to me - it was a tour de force role in a play by one of the best playwrights of our time, with a company that I had been a part of since the year I first moved to New York City. The play was also special in the sense that it was not published at the time we were performing it, and in looking through the history of Craig Lucas as it is listed online, I can't seem to find any other performance of it. It was a powerful play, at a very special time in my life, and Judith Barcroft Washam played my mother in a role that, like every other role she plays, brought the character so much to life that it made my work on stage not work but pure joy.

These days I do theater projects once in a very great while, and I always tell people when they ask me if I would ever go back to acting in the way that I did once that being on stage, as much as I love it, causes me a great deal of stress. I have a writer's mind, and a heart and deep respect for artists of all kinds, and so I always end up memorizing not only my own role but everyone else's, the blocking, the direction, and of course all the lines that everyone has including every comma, question mark and pause. It's not that I want to play everyone else's role - I love the whole part of theater that brings people together to create something that can only be created by that group of people, at that time, for that time only and that each night is different for. I memorize everything because I want to respect the work that has been done leading up to the performances, because if anyone goes up on their lines, forgets a moment of blocking, doesn't sit when they were going to sit, is late for an entrance or doesn't pour that glass of sherry that leads to a bit of stage business, I want to make sure I can catch everyone up and get us back on track. I realized in recent years that I'm more of a Producer and Director. Though I still feel the need to keep everyone on track which can be stressful, at least I can be holding the script. But being on stage with Judith is a whole other experience, because she's so great an actress, so intuitive and sensitive, and she's also so professional and such a perfectionist that I can relax and do my role without worrying about her at all. In fact the only thing I have to do is try to match the quality of her performance, daunting in itself because she's an actress who performs every role at the highest level, but it's the type of theater work I love to do because it helps me grow and learn and fly.

Recently I received an invitation to the opening and reception for an exhibit that she is part of at The Church Of The Heavenly Rest in Manhattan. I had visited that church with her and her husband Wisner Washam ten years ago, at a time when I was in a reading of a wonderful play that Wisner had written, and I like the church so much that I visit on occasion though it is a bit of a subway ride from where I live. Before I received the invitation, Judith had sent a link to an online announcement with a photograph of one of her beautiful works of art, and there was a description of what the upcoming Exhibit would be. In all the years I'd known her, though I had known that she was very creative in many ways, I hadn't known that she was a painter. There was information about her background and studies, and because I already think Judith is amazing and the piece that had been linked was so lovely, I made a point to go up to the opening because I realized that this was the time to write about her. I'd been wanting to for some time, and now that this new information had opened a new avenue of my knowledge about Judith, the time seemed perfect.

The project is an amazingly beautiful and inspiring one. Using the concept of a Book of Hours, pairs of artists worked together to create a piece that incorporated visual arts with the art of poetry. Each piece in the Exhibit is a masterpiece, and together they bring you through the day with prayer and reflection in a way that is both contemporary and timeless. Though there are photographs online of Judith as part of the many professional plays and films and television shows she has been a part of and her history as an actress is extensive, there is another side to Judith, not only the lovely side of the artist, but also a spiritual one. She has had extensive seminary training and is connected to the life of the spirit in a way that is extraordinary, rare, and special. It seems somehow fitting that "Lauds / Before Dawn" is the hour she and her partner in the creative collaboration for this exhibit, Lisha Epperson, have created a piece for. There is something about Judith that seems otherworldly, a reflection of a higher realm that can be glimpsed at that magical hour just before the sun begins to break through the darkest hour to bring us glorious light. And in a beautiful echo of my own first meeting with Judith, the image in her painting is of a mother and child, the nurturing warmth and glow of God's love illuminating them. In a very real sense, the beauty that Judith Barcroft Washam wears and carries within her illuminates the paths of others she walks with.

Judith Barcroft Washam

With Her Painting "Lauds / Before Dawn"

A Collaborative Project With Lisha Epperson
Part Of The Exhibition "Illumination"
Tim Lively, Artistic Director Of The Project
The Inaugural Darlinton Hall Exhibition

At The Church Of The Heavenly Rest

1085 Fifth Avenue

New York City

http://heavenlyrest.org/