Chance = Change

...of family, we are at calm and cool peace here at 890 West End...All the Yonka clan departed yesterday and Peter proceeded to fall deep asleep for hours on the sofa in our cool cool living room...the humid heat keeps him awake at night in our bedroom...the Yonka clan is warm and loving and fun and funny, and I now count them among my best of friends...this trip, particularly, I had the chance to speak at length with Genevieve, Pat's Mom, whom Peter lovingly calls Busia, which is Polish for Grandma...she and I sat on our bed in the night heat, and talked and talked, overhead fan going at a gentle attempt to keep us from melting...she is a genuinely strong and interesting woman who has gone through many of life's nightmare's with a generous grace and humor...to survive the suicide of a beloved son is something beyond my ability to imagine, and she is here to tell that tale, among others...I love that woman, even if she was not Peter's grandmother...All in all, as crowded as our large apartment became, it was fun and then more fun to have them all here. I am lucky to have married into such a group.

Today at 4:00, Peter and I will go see Ed Dixon's FANNY HILL in a backers' audition on Theatre Row, and I look forward to it. The last time we saw it was in a rather overblown production at Goodspeed's Theater at Chester, and though I know the cleverness and true wit of Ed's work, at that time I was dismayed at how that particular production obscured it. Today will be a better representation of this delightful show, I bet. Ed D. has such terrific writing talents, and I am sure he has gathered an impeccable cast to give it life.

After that , I must scurry over to my rehearsal for this piece I agreed to do: KIKI BABY, directed by Lonny Price. The more I read it last night, the more I liked it. And now I have to hear the score, which no doubt will enlighten me further. I look forward to that. We rehearse until 11:00! A late night for me lately. I have been such a retired slug of an actress!! But soon, classes will start and I will be too busy again...I will work to make that not so...

Tomorrow morning I have been asked to attend a workshop especially for Board Members of Non-Profit Arts Organizations...on the subject of how to create an engaged board...one that actually cares and works...from 9:30-1:00...that should actually be interesting. And then another rehearsal tomorrow night.

Our home feels so spacious after feeling so crowded with 5 guests.

Drew E. leaves for Goodspeed Opera and Julie Andrews today, and I will miss him, even though I will be watering plants and picking up his mail...he sounded so excited on his farewell phone call earlier. Actors are always having new adventures...he is about to embark on one. And Goodspeed is such a pretty place to work.

More later, dear readers. xxev