Recently I had the opportunity to spend a “virtual” evening with Jason Alexander, best known for portraying George Costanza on the long running television sitcom Seinfeld. Alexander had been a scheduled presenter at the Pittsburgh Speakers Series’ 2020 season when his performance was postponed due to the pandemic.
The rescheduled event took place last week at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts. Subscribers were able to attend in person or virtually through Zoom. Due to our schedule we opted to watch the performance online.
While usually the format of the speaker series is a lecture followed by a lengthy Q & A session with the audience, Alexander’s approach was refreshingly different. The evening’s playbill program included 20 or so topics that the live audience could request Alexander address. As patrons shouted out topics, Alexander would take 10 – 15 minutes to share his observations on the subject requested which included: diet & exercise; magic; the Broadway shows of Pippin and Merrily We Roll Along; the movie Pretty Woman (in which Alexander co-starred with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts); and of course, Seinfeld.
During several of the monologues I was struck by the insights that Alexander shared from his life experiences. I was particularly moved by how he would intersperse the levity and joy found in humor and music with serious life lessons.
While I am unable to share the recording of the presentation I saw, I did find a four-minute video on YouTube which is a good example of Alexander’s thoughtful approach to how he views his craft. I hope that you’ll be encouraged and inspired by his observations by clicking on the link below.