All the world's a stage...

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention,

A kingdom for a stage, princes to act

And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

~Shakespeare, Henry V

So my darling and I went out to the theater last night. Went to the local Wells Theater here in Norfolk. Doing a little research, I found it was built in 1912 and opened in 1913 with The Merry Countess, a Shubert musical. (On a side note: Shubert's got a theater named after him on Broadway now - that's where we went to see Spamalot.)

In 1916, a movie screen and projector were installed making the Wells a first-run movie house too. Throughout the Great Depression, it also staged vaudeville shows and by the start of WW II, the Wells Theatre was presenting movies and vaudeville as well as burlesque, which attracted thousands of sailors stationed in Norfolk. Patrons of the 40s and 50s enjoyed its double and triple movie features but in the 60s, the Wells shared in the general decline of downtown Norfolk by converting to an X-rated moviehouse. (YIKES!)

The Virginia Stage Company took possession of the Wells in '79 and the renaissance of the historic theatre began. A $4.7 million restoration and renovation was completed in '86. So now's it's back to it's glory days on on the national historical landmark registry.

Anyway, we went to see the play Indoor/Outdoor written by Kenny Finkle and directed by Kevin Moriarty. While a "silly little play" according to my husband - I enjoyed it.

Basically the play is the tale of a kitten named Samantha, adopted by Shuman, a stay-at-home geek with a job in Web design, and the familiar affair that occurs between pet and owner.

That is until Samantha meets a outdoor alley cat named Oscar and begins to question her place in the home. And like in most modern-day tales, Shuman eventually finds himself in therapy - with his cat and a pet psychologist who may be hitting her own version of catnip.

It's really about more than just cats, it’s a look into the kind of unconditional love that all species sometimes share and seeks to answer the age-old question "is the grass always greener?"

Again, my sweetheart wasn't too impressed with the "silly little play," but heck, they were free tickets. A night out not studying or working was nice, us being given the tickets was even nicer.

So there's your local history lesson for today AND a play review. Wow, look at me being all cultural today.