This land is my land, this land isn’t the landlord’s land…
Ever rented an apartment you grew very attached to, so much so that you considered it your own and not the landlord’s? A new play at the Irish Repertory Theatre in Chelsea explores just that theme. “The Field,” by the late John B. Keane, centers on a farmer who leases four acres of low-grade land from a widow for five years, during which time he turns the plot around into prime pasture. The widow, though, decides to sell the land to the highest bidder, and the farmer who’s been tilling it to perfection decides to take matters into his own hands. (Does this sound like the time the landlord said you couldn’t paint the living room red?) “The Field” had its American debut in Chelsea in June, and runs through the first week of August.
Nursing Roosevelt Island memories
They came, they saw, they posed. Nurses who worked at the hospital that was transformed into the Octagon, the first luxury rental on Roosevelt Island, returned to their old stomping grounds several weeks ago. The nurses, mostly now in their 80s and 90s (the hospital moved to East Harlem in 1958 and its buildings fell into disrepair quickly) took to the centrally located spiral staircase to re-enact a locally famous photo snapped in 1942. The nurses then had gathered on the staircase to sing Christmas carols in what was called the hospital’s Octagon Tower.