Sunday 2 – June 10th.

They actually let us off early today – I think it has something to do with everyone wanting to watch the Tony’s (except me) although I did see several nominees. I actually met and had cake with and talked to Bob Chambers who is up for three Tony’s. The cake was because it was his birthday. Of course the play The Coast of Utopia was done at Lincoln Center. I just saw that Bob won two Tony’s tonight.

Today we had a clambake. But before that I need to tell you some more about New York.

Anywhere there is construction, which is everywhere, there is a plywood wall to keep the gawkers out. And on every plywood wall, every square inch is covered with posters. For the most part these are big posters – maybe four feet high and 30 inches wide. They are an art form in itself. Here are some that I walked by on my way to Lincoln Center today:

Rebok is there in large numbers. Here are a few samples:

Run to the beat of your own drummer. Run easy. Rebok.

A ten minute mile is just as far as a six minute mile. Run easy. Rebok.

Stop and smell the garbage. Run Easy. Rebok.

One had a picture of a cow with “Inject care not hormones.”

From Blue Cross: In 1995 250 New Yorkers were bitten by rats and 1401 were bitten by humans.

I don’t know where this one came from: Every day 340,000 New Yorkers walk to work burning 2,380,000 pounds of fat a year.

From Fresh Direct: Our food is fresh. Our customers are spoiled.

Here is a true fact from yesterday: Someone asked me if I was a dancer. I told them no. They thought I had a dancers body. A great compliment I think.

Now to the clambake. Not a clam in sight. Not a bake in sight. For whatever reason a clambake is an opportunity for directors and designers to get together and talk and look at the designers work. I’ve already told you how impressed I am with their work. Today just reinforced it. These guys are really good and really add a lot to the production.

We had a long discussion period at the end of the clambake to talk as a group. On designer told us his best job as a designer: The director of A View From The Bridge, Michael Mayer, who was directing the Broadway premier came to the first production meeting and said “This play sucks. What can we do about it?” Every one pitched in.

Another thing I learned was from the designers was “ The directors tells the story with the actors the designers tell the same story with the set, the lights the costumes and so on.” You can bet next time I do a play, I’ll involve the designers much more in the vision of the play.

After a nap, I went over to Amsterdam Street and found a quiet bar and worked on a new play. This one is getting pretty long for me. We’ll see how it turns out. One of the things I love about traveling is the time to write. I have trouble finding time to do it on Orcas. So far I’m pretty impressed with this play.

The only down side to today was an e-mail I got indirectly from Orcas Center. Why do I always have to fight them? Some times I just don’t feel up to it but I have to defend our program or they’ll just take us apart piece by piece.

Yuck. What a crappy end to a nice day.