Susan and I haven't seen our friend Susan Koozin in around 25 years. We all used to live in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where we did theatre (acting together, being directed in plays by one another) and became great friends. When Susan K.'s husband, Tim, a music professor, got a job at the University of Houston, they moved to Houston. We have stayed in touch via social media, but we haven't visited in person since they moved away.
Until this weekend.
(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)
Susan K. has made quite a name for herself on the theatre scene in Houston. Recently Susan M. and I saw on Facebook that Susan K. would be playing the lead role in a play at the Alley Theatre, a major regional theater in Houston. She and I looked at each other, paused, and said, "Should we go?"
So we bought tickets to the play, bought plane tickets, and made hotel reservations. We didn't tell Susan K. that we were coming ... we just went. The Lancaster Hotel is right across the street--so once we had taken a Lyft from the airport to the hotel and checked in (Friday afternoon), we walked only a few yards to supper at Birraporetti's and then just down the sidewalk to the theater.
The play was a new stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's murder mystery The Mirror Crack'd, and Susan K. played the lead role, Miss Marple, the amateur sleuth who solves the mystery. Even had we not known Susan K., Susan M. and I would have loved the show. It had great production values, the acting was impressive, and the mystery was engaging (and new to us because we had never read the novel).
After the show, we went out into the alley and waited by the stage door. When Susan K. emerged, Susan M. called out her name; and when it registered with Susan K. just whom she was looking at (us!), she had the greatest reaction of surprise!
Kevin, Susan K., and Susan M. outside the stage door in the alley of the Alley Theatre. The surprise was a success!
Susan K. autographed our program, signing as "the other Susan Lynn" (both she and Susan M. have the same middle name).
A bonus: our friends Chad and Audrey Donner live just a couple hours north of Houston, so we arranged to see them, too, while we were in the area. In fact, Chad and Audrey reserved a room at the same hotel ... and bought themselves tickets to the show Friday night!
However, we didn't get to see much of them until yesterday. We had breakfast together at the hotel, visited the Downtown Aquarium, and enjoyed cocktails and snacks at the Lyric Bar in the afternoon. In the evening, we joined them for drinks at Gloria's Latin Cuisine.
downtown Houston
Susan M. and Kevin
Ron, Susan K., Kevin, Susan M., and Tim
Susan K. had shows at 2:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. yesterday. When we parted Friday night, she said that we should meet her at the stage door around 4:30 P.M. after her first show the next day (yesterday), and she would take us to a restaurant to meet up with Tim and with Susan K.'s dad, Ron Oltmanns, who happened to be in town from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he now lives. What a treat: Susan M. and I knew Ron, too, from our Grand Forks days because we were all members of the same church.
Susan K. drove us to The Original Ninfa's, where Ron and Tim were already waiting. The food was great, but the company was even better. It was so fun to catch up and notice how easily we picked up right where we had left off a couple decades earlier. The time together was way, way too brief, but it was all a bonus anyway. We're so grateful that Susan K. could make time for us in between shows.
Many thanks to Chad and Audrey for driving us to the airport this morning on their way back home. It was an impromptu vacation that lasted just for a night, a day, and a morning; but it was a terrific weekend with terrific people.
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