After parking our car in Mason/O'Farrell Garage we headed for the Box office to collect our tickets. The beautiful, historic Geary Theater in San Francisco city is hailed as the “perfect playhouse”.
Dubbed a “splendid temple of drama” by the local press of the day, its stage has been graced by the performances of such notables as Sarah Bernhardt, Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, Boris Karloff, and Mae West. This is where our beloved nephew Jason Kapoor was performing in a show 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' based on the 2007 novel by Khaled Hosseini and adopted by award winning playwright poet and screenwriter Irish Indian Ursula Rani Sarma. We opted for the Matinée show.
When the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake ripped a gaping hole in the ceiling, destroying the proscenium arch and dumping tons of debris on the first six rows of orchestra seats, the San Francisco community decided the show would go on—they rallied together to raise a record-breaking $30 million to rebuild the theater. The Geary has since been home to a number of groundbreaking productions of classical works and new translations creatively colliding with exceptional contemporary theater.
Jason Kapoor has grown into a tall, handsome and fine gentleman who is actively doing theatre and is passionate about his profession. Jason is culturally respectful as he bent to touch our feet one by one for getting blessings from elders when we met him in green room at the back stage of theater. I just recall how I took one year old Jason into my arms while riding a horse on a Mexican beach in 1991. This was Just to give relief to his Dad/Mom Jag Kapoor and Pammy Kapoor who had been carrying him for too long turn by turn. The same toddler today is an attractive young man and easily the best marriageable bachelor in town. Jason is soft spoken, firm and moreover too passionate in the involvement of performing theater.
This reminds me of Sir Ravindranath Tagore who born with a silver spoon in his mouth, had turned away from the family business to pursue his own passion of Art and ultimately succeeded in winning a Nobel Prize.
Jason did his part remarkably well for all the three characters he was asked to do. In my opinion, he could easily shoulder even heavier roles. I came to know later that he had been also prepared for back up role of Rasheed in the drama and was standing-in for Haysam Kadri. This play is about the immense strength and endurance of women and how they can survive tremendous suffering to keep those they love alive. It is also about how, even in the darkest of times and places, love can grow and sustain the human spirit beyond all pain and hardship. The play is about friendship and loyalty, courage and selflessness, grief and violence, says the playwright Ursula Rani Sarma. But there is a lot to say about love, endurance and survival and we the contemporary audience loved to listen and feel the touch of beauty and strength at the heart of this novel. As per novelist Khaled Husseini a story like 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' can remind people that every person under a veil, every refugee walking across plains - every single one of those people has a universe inside them, a life, an entire history, and a long, long history of things they wanted, of hopes that they have.
Khaled Husseini Ursula Rani Sarma
Shiv and Shilpy went the evening show. As Shilpy had read through the above Novel, remarked that performance was close to the book version. The theater is indeed one of the best mediums to explore complex human relationships like performed in 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'. Reading the book is a solitary experience while in theater there is a collective experience with the audience. And if delivered in an fantastic environment like that of A.C.T. Geary Theater, it makes a last longing effect on one's mind.
We wish you all the best to Jason Kapoor and all other participants.
All the 1040 seats of the Theater were Jam Packed even on Oscar Night
Golden Faced Stage.
Jason With his fans
Harvinder, her nephew Jason and me
