Chance = Change

...to have been away from the blog for so many days but I do believe I have melted into just one more New York City puddle and,hence, have been rendered armless and fingerless to type....IT HAS BEEN HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT here in this otherwise summer-charming City...that's HOT, HOT HOT....and pretty damned uncomfortable in the humidity range as well...it's all I can do to get from one appointment to another without any water left in my body, I have been perspiring so much...then the poor beleaguered body is SLAMMED with icy walls of conditioned air and every muscle that has practically melted is immediately frozen into a painful rigor...it has been a terrible part of the summer. I honestly don't recall such unbearable heat, such deeply unbreathable air and closeness ever before...

All that being said,CAP 21 classes have been proceeding swimmingly (the air-conditioning is broken down there too!!!!!) and the two classes I am teaching are filled with some of the best and brightest I have ever had the privilege to teach. The Pre-College group is amazing, and I amgrowing personally fond of each and every one of them, especially since they all work so hard and work even more, so that their scenes grow and they grow and the whole room is continually filled with those wonderful lightbulbs going off over their gifted heads...and I have assigned them some tough scenes too...that does not daunt them: they work and learn and work and produce results that would please any teacher...they make me cry with a sort of joy...I had forgotten what a room filled with extraordinary young talent is like...we feed each other on many levels...I am grateful.

The Professional Class is lovely, and also filled with sweet earnest spirits who love this music theater work so deeply. A pleasure. Also very open and willing.
Grateful!

Peter saw PRIMO a couple of weekends ago...starring Anthony Sher...he and I both went to see Mark Lamos' AS YOU LIKE IT in the Park last week...than you Mark for the house seats. Interestng design.

Went with dear Paul to s-end an entire day at the Upstate Chang Yen Monastery near the House, listening to Robert Thurman speak of the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism, and also about the Flower Garland Sutra..incredibly stimulating for me to hear about the dense poetry in a sutra other than the inimitable Lotus, which of course still rules supreme....The Flower Garland Sutra, Thurman says, is not like reading poetry, it's more like swimming in an ocean of words, such words so beautiful and repetitive and echoing the Buddhas's preachings over and over, that it becomes rather like a chant in itself...i understood the power of why we chant portions of the Lotus Sutra daily...so much of what he spoke about made lovely sense...besides which: he is charming and erudite and relaxed and funny and dear.....he has been a Buddhist for over 50 years, and was in fact one of the first Westerners ever to be ordained a Tibetan Monk!...That did not stop him from marrying a lovely woman and producing the gorgeous Uma Thurman, along with other kids...nor did it hurt him on his way to becoming Head of the Department of Religion at Columbia University! He also founded Tibet House...an amazing man. I was thrilled and moved to be in his presence.

It was also very good to spend time with Paul and catch up on the endless conversation we seem to be living in as friends and souls. Darling Peter styaed home in NYC witht he doggies. He knows how much I value time with Paul.

I wrote Paul and Steve a poem for their joint birthdays July 18th...to be printed here soon...they loved it and Peter mounted it in a fun and engaging sort of montage and then we framed the whole thing and gave it as the gift. Peter found a fun picture of the two of them and that was the center of the montage, with the poem surrounding it...looked so good.

More soon, xxev