Chance = Change

A shiny, red, crisp, delicious, sweet-tart apple...because you are all so wonderful. And i mean wonderful, in the sense I often use it: filled with wonders...and being able to teach you downtown at Steinhardt/NYU , either in the Acting Scene Study Class in the Black Box Theater, or in the Song Analysis Class in whatever room we are in that day...well...being able to be with you in those class times is such a privilege for me. It's like reading 32 of the most interesting short stories in the world...16 at a time...Each of you is like a book...i say that and i mean it...a book I have never read...and even if I have taught you before, still, your stories change so enchantingly as time passes, it is like reading you anew...

I feel grateful for the chance to do this....Bill W. at Steinhardt has been so generous in trusting me and giving me these opportunities to explore and grow. I owe him a debt of gratitude and hope to be able to repay it in some delightful way one day. The odd thing is I never expected to be burgeoning in these teaching discoveries at Steinhardt.I thought I would be making this journey at another place in NYU, and was, therefore, shocked when, after putting in major time building that particular studio, I was denied entry into their classrooms in any substantive way. People and their fears.

They seemed to have an odd reaction to my return from those years at Barter Theater, and the dissolution of the friendships accompanying that sad discovery, hurt for a while, but not for long, as I realized it was for the best, and the energy of my pain led me to Steinhardt and therefore to the place I am supposed to be.

In other words as ever, things happen the way they are supposed to happen if only we can fathom and bear that fact. Sometimes, it is nigh onto impossible to do that: tolerate the harshness of life's lessons...but...well...what are our options?

I have never had such exciting classes as the ones I now am blessed with at Steinhardt/NYU....I have written a lot about the collaborative atmosphere at this school, and the wish on the part of the administration of the Musical Theater Program to make it a place where process matters more than product...armed with the wisdom that a good human voice takes time to cultivate, these people understand the virtues of passing time, and therefore patience. A benign sharing of ideas is encouraged among the faculty. This, in itself, is a rare and refreshing thing.

Anyway...you all get the point: the start of the Schoolyear 2006 this past week has been so much fun. And NYU, the part situated around Washington Square Park, has been bustling with so much student activity, it's been highly energizing. Such excitement ,and that feeling of the Fall, even though it has been quite warm. That rushing headlong into their futures...the feeling that , not only are their books and clothing new and fresh, but so are their lives...that crisp apple feeling.

Which brings me back to the gift i want to give my students: that apple. And my promise to do my best to help you find your best. Since you are the next ones to step up and at least try to save the world, I am here to help you figure out your most powerful ways of doing so....,because the power is yours and the promise lies waiting. Actors act! And singers like you can entice the world into knowing its own goodness. So, let's explore all that...shall we?