2 girls in afros head to Athens, Ohio

Last night as I obsessively surfed the internet, I found out that the touring company for the musical Rent was coming to Ohio. Rent is by far my mostest favoritest musical in the entire world. Hubby and I saw it in NYC a few years back and I’ve been a Rent-head ever since. I know every song by heart and had to resist the urge to bop and sing along.

Now, one would think such a reputable production would land in a major city in Ohio. Not so much . Before yesterday, I have never even heard of the town Athens, Ohio or knew of Ohio University but that’s where they were playing. Given that it was a day off work for me, and I’ve been in the mood to spoil myself this week, I would be remiss to pass on a spontaneous jaunt to new lands.

So I call The Falster, my fellow natural sista, last night and she agreed to go. ‘Twas an adventure to say the least. It’s about 1 1/2 hrs outside of Columbus so it’s not too bad for a spontaneous road trip. I must say, although it was pitch dark most of the drive, the scenery was kind of beautiful. I chalked Ohio up to a state that is as flat as my chest, but I was wrong. We took a nice drive out into the mountains. The campus surfaced out of nowhere. To my surprise, I was kind of feeling the campus area. It had a neat bohemian vibe to it, kind of like the vibe I got when my hubby and I went to Asheville, NC. Me and The Falster didn’t seem so out of place. That is the beauty of academia…free thought. Corporate America spends more time abolishing your thoughts and infusing your brain with a mindset to make you an obedient offspring of their core values.

Back to Rent…We missed the first 10 minutes mainly because of our inability to parallel park my big ass car into a smaller than normal space. We were determined sistas, though. The only other option was a parking garage that only took quarters as payment. What kind of backwards, *ish is that? Oh ya, I was in Athens, Ohio. I’m sure if I stopped for gas I’d be at one of those old school pumps where the numbers circle as you pump and you pay some old Pakistani who you can’t help but to scratch your head on how he landed in a town like this.

I forgot how sad the show gets towards the end, but as always, the performance was sheer brilliance. Groupie me wanted to stay after and get the actors to sign my playbill, but it was already a late night and I knew The Falster needed to go to work the next day. I did load up on overpriced paraphenalia which satisfied a bit of the Rent-head in me.

Afterwards, we stopped at Donkey coffee house. Apparently, it’s the #1 coffee house in Ohio according to Ohio magazine…at least that’s what they had posted. Neither of us are coffee drinkers so it was hot choco and muffins for the ‘fro ladies. I’m so glad to have a chick friend that’s willing to do the spontaneous adventure thing.

I was expecting to feel out of place, but I guess the campus life, even in the boonies, is pretty open. Plus, we were around the theater crowd.

2 thumbs up to a night well spent in unchartered waters. I think I’ll venture back there in the spring during daylight hours and see what’s up in that region.

Big up OU! I don’t know if you slept with the producers and the cast to get them to come to your school, but whatever you did was totally worth it.