Hey, Lisa, how's that bagel? We've all survived the last four weeks of the summer Pre-College Program in Musical Theater at U Arts, but it's been a wild and crazy month! Fifty-four teenagers from all over the US coverged in Philly to study singing, acting and dance with me and Charlie's Angels (Patty Raine, Nancy Kantra and D'Arcy Webb). As always, it seems to be a life-changing experience - they leave deeply affected by the experience. Friday morning, I rediscovered a verse from the Bible that deserves a SAVI card of its own: "I will sing with my spirit, but also with my mind." (I Corinthians 14:15). If you know me, you know that quoting scripture ain't a daily event, but this quote captures much of the essence of the work I was doing with my students this summer. I even set it to a little gospel tune, soon to be heard in a classroom near you.
As if that wasn't enough, I jumped on a train at 4:00 and went to New York for the Asssociation for Theater in Higher Education conference (ATHE), where I appeared on a panel along with Rick Simas from San Diego State, Roger Grodsky from Cincinnati's CCM, and Mary Jo Lodge from Central Michigan Univ. Our topic was issues relating to copyright and licensing pertaining to classroom materials for musical theater. It was a fairly informal discussion between the panel and the dozen or so participants who came (it was scheduled for 7 pm, and so many of the conference attendees were off at Broadway shows already), and not terribly conclusive - not that there was any expectation that it would be. It seemed particularly bizarre and disorienting to plunge into Times Square after the frantic activities of the day back in Philly. By 10 pm I was on my way home, having a long-anticipated tete-a-tete with mister Samuel Adams and looking forward to a day or two of rest.