Escape from New York

I attended a play festival in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois last night, basically because I had a ten-minute play in the festival.

I was struck by the high percentage of people there who had lived in Queens.

Me, of course. I lived in Kew Gardens for a while in the seventies. An audience member near me, the mother of another playwright, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the North Carolina. And Vicky Snyder, an actress in my play, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the Bloomington-Normal area.

So, basically, just overhearing things, I found 2 other former Queens residents. Is it just a quirky coincidence?

It occurred to me that New York is a very strong theater town, and that early habits die hard, so that maybe you can expect to find ex-New Yorkers in disproportionate concentrations in the world of American small-city theater.

It occurred to me that people flee New York. People swarm in there, people swarm out there - there's a lot of churn.

Lots of people from Queens.
I'm not sure what it means.
You can give my theories a glance
But probably it's just chance.