Two trips to New York during the Lincoln Center run of South Pacific and I could never get a ticket. That’s often my problem because when you travel on business you can rarely plan ahead far enough to score good seats to a sold out performance unless you have friends in very high places. I told myself I’d wait until the national tour came to San Francisco. The wait was worth it.

I had no idea when I was trying to salve my disappointment that Braden Toan would sign on as Associate Conductor so I would not only have a chance to see this marvelous production and incredible cast but I would get to watch a good friend conduct. That by the way is a bittersweet announcement because it means that Braden won’t be available to be with us this summer but that’s really celebrating what we’re all about. “Promoting and Developing the Growth of Artists.” We want our faculty to be working professionals and the beauty of it is that our circle of master teachers just grows as our teaching artists work. Braden will be replaced this year by an equally qualified and accomplished musical director. Watch for the announcement!

Back to Braden and South Pacific. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Listening to the talented, mostly local, full orchestra under Braden’s deft baton, playing a score that is almost operatic in its scope, was a rare treat in this day of pared down orchestras.

Talented was the word of the day. That’s the next “wonderful.” Each and every actor brought James Michner’s original story adapted by Oscar Hammerstein and Joshua Logan to life. Revivals are hard. Comparisons are normal but this musical stands its test of time and each of these actors stands on his own. Carmen Cusack is a charming Ensign Nellie Forbush and Rod Gilfry makes you forget that anyone else ever played Emile de Becque.

I had met Keala Settle the day before when Braden, Craig and I had breakfast. We did some “talk story” about the good old days on the North Shore of Oahu so I was more than curious to see her performance as Bloody Mary. Wow! She made me laugh and she made me cry. I believed her and I understood what she wanted to do for her daughter. Sumie Maeda was a charmer as Liat. She looks and acts 14 on stage and it was a surprise to see her leave the theater later and realize that she was truly a grown woman.

I could go on and on but this isn’t meant to be a review. Just a little talk about an escape to a south sea island. I certainly wasn’t disappointed and I don’t think you will be either. If this production comes to your city make sure you get a ticket. You won’t be disappointed either.

I have learned so many lessons over the years from my grandson. I am in awe of his grace, his poise, his fearlessness, and his talent. I’ve silently watched him play the role of family peacemaker, big brother, “man of the family” and observer of life. He has the ability to take the best from his parents’ qualities and try them out while learning to make them his own.

Ben is the oldest of our eldest daughter’s three children. For many years, through his mother and father’s separation, divorce and subsequent remarriages, he was an only child. That put him front and center in the spotlight of two sets of parents. He ably negotiated mine fields in two houses mediating and pleasing and emerging as his own person. Soon the attention shifted. He became a middle child. Two brothers in one household and two sisters in another with many years difference between them. Rather than competing for attention he gracefully found his own way.

Both Ben’s parents are artists. His father, a former actor-turned general contractor, is skilled with his hands. He’s an accomplished woodworker and sculpture and Ben has surely developed his artistic eye. He’s so visual in his approach to life, seeing everything in terms of pictures. His mother, an award-nominated actress at a young age who now coaches actors, is not only frighteningly intelligent but also creative and articulate. Ben’s ability as a young filmmaker to tell visual stories with a unique voice  certainly draws from this part of his mother’s character.  His ability to garner the love and devotion of his young brothers and sisters is also a testament to the loving, nurturing qualities he possesses.

My grandson has also taught me to let go of judgment and look deeper at the more important things under the surface. Ben is an extraordinary skateboarder. Did I just catch you in a moment of judgment? Do you have a preconceived idea of the skateboard culture? I admit I did. Now I understand it for what it is and I have great admiration. I see the fearlessness and the skill. I see the camaraderie and the community support. I see interaction between generations as the original skateboarders pass down their skill and tricks to the new generation of skaters.

Clearly I am proud of Ben. For me he stands as a reminder for all the good our youth embody. When I swell with pride for him, I can’t help but think that he mirrors the millions of teens world-wide whose own uniqueness is making our world a better place. It is heartening in times when our news media screams out with the reports of violence and underachieving teenagers and the doom ahead. I only have to think of Ben and I know better!

Today is Ben’s 16th birthday. I spoke with him a little while ago. Instead of “hotrodding” on the highways he was at the skate park practicing his newest jumps. Soon he’ll head home for a birthday dinner with his whole family. So Ben, today your grandfather and I wish you a very happy birthday. May you continue to grow strong, skate with precision, speak to the world through your films, and love your family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN.

Writing about seeing “August: Osage County” last week gave me the opportunity to coalesce my thoughts about live theater. One of my questions to myself was, “If acting is acting then what makes the theater experience different than a performance on screen?”

First it begins with the written word. The text. The difference between a play and a screenplay is the number of words on the page. They both need a good story and they both develop a compliment of interesting characters. But, here’s where they begin to differ. In a play, the dramatic action of the words drives the story. The screen, and therefore the screenplay becomes a visual storytelling device. Add to that the ingredient of what happens when the action is live and you can see that the audience receives a very different performance experience.

The problem is that not enough people can or choose to see live theater. The reasons vary of course. Sometimes it’s the price of the theater tickets. Sometimes it’s not having venues where live theater is produced or presented. Sometimes it is just not having been exposed to the exhilaration of the experience.

There is an interesting move afoot that might change all of that. The Metropolitan Opera started it all several years ago through its presentation of their selected opera productions on large screens, first at Lincoln Center and then in Times Square.  Then they presented the Peabody Award winning hi-definition telecasts of operas live from the Met in selected movie theaters. It is an incredible screen experience of a live performance. Not one edited for the screen but a performance seen as it is happening. Affordable and exhilarating. Now in it’s fourth season Live from the Met promises an exciting season of broadcast feeds at a movie theater in your community. Now, no matter where you live, you can have season tickets to the Met!

The newest entry into this live experience is theater. This time you can sit in your local movie theater or art museum and see live theater direct from London. The National Theater opened its season on June 24 with its heralded production of “Phaedra.” There are three more plays to come over this season. Think of it. You can experience a great company of actors performing wonderful plays at the very moment they are happening without flying to England. Amazing concept. I’m planning on organizing a theater party. Not just locally but I intend to get my daughter and her fiance, who live in London, and several of our London staff, to join our US USPA staff at the same performance. That way we can have a company outing at the theater together! Maybe you’ll join us too. I’m hoping that next year dance companies will follow suit and we’ll be able to enjoy the performances of the world’s renowned opera, theater and dance companies as part of our yearly entertainment.

My short commute to work this morning led me past two schools opening their doors for the new school year. A middle school and a high school. As a consummate observer of people it was fun to watch the various scenarios playing themselves out in the early morning.

First there were the excited neighbor children. The girls comparing their first day back to school outfits and the boys showing off their new skateboard tricks. Then there were the groups of middle schoolers walking to school, talking and gesturing and calling out to friends as they approached the school. The final groups were the high school students. They’re diverse in their dress, yet somehow the same. They’re diverse in attitude, yet all showing a certain sense of apprehension. Even when you’re returning to the familiar it’s different. Friends may have changed over the summer. New teachers are waiting your arrival. Even you have changed!

Suddenly I thought of YOU. Those of you who have managed your middle school and high school years and spent the better part of last year planning for your next four years. Those of you who agonized over college acceptances and choices, finally mailing in your letter telling your chosen to get ready, here you come. Now, like the bride and groom at the alter you stand poised to honor your commitment.

Are you feeling nervous? Are you “second guessing” yourself? Do you feel less sure of your major than you did last spring or even last night? Did you wake up in the middle of the night declaring, “What am I doing?” Everyone of these thoughts, whether whispering in your head or shouting out at you are very normal. Very few of us ever make BIG decisions in life without some trepidation. It’s how we proceed that’s important. Facing our fears head on most often exposes them for their lack of substance. After all, you didn’t step on to this academic stage, just as you wouldn’t appear in a play or begin a film, without lots of thought and preparation. You are ready for this new experience and in a few weeks, with just a little more preparation, you will be well into the swing of things in your new environment and the butterflies will be long forgotten.

Where to start? Let’s start with the obvious. Getting organized and getting packed. The organizing part is critical because that keeps you from over shopping and over packing. We joke in our office about the fact that no one reads anymore and yet we turn out reams of written material. Usually everyone waits until two or three days before they leave for our summer workshops and then discover they need to prepare monologues or purchase needed dance shoes or they need a new flash drive or mini dvd. Your colleges are also sending you reams of material. Read it and read it early. Read it more than once. It contains very helpful information. Not just about orientation and classes but about campus organizations and your dorm living accommodations. You may even be given your roommates’ contact information as a helpful way to plan what you’ll bring.

Don’t over pack. Your dorm room probably won’t be much bigger than 12′x19′ and only half of it (or less) will be yours. I’m always a little amused when parents complain about their students accommodations in our summer programs which is generally two students to a room that is often occupied by 3 or 4 students during the regular academic year. Not to mention the visitors that cram in to hang out. If you can’t communicate with your roommate(s) ahead, then perhaps it would be better to buy the new big items when you get there or to have the ones you already own shipped later.

So, with some of these thoughts in mind, start to make lists, shop, plan last activities with your family and friends, and enjoy the last days of summer…and get packing for your new adventure!

“But first and foremost, I remember Mama”, begins the 1948 play and popular 1950s television show by John Van Druten, I Remember Mama, about the ups and downs of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco. Every time I read the play, see the movie, or remember the television shows a happy warm feeling fills my being. It could have been any cultural background because it was the family that we related to. It is the solidarity of the family that toasts the soul. It didn’t matter what adversity they faced. They somehow solved it together and in the end it was with a great sense of love.

Today, “first and foremost” I am remembering my mother. If she were still here we’d be celebrating her 92nd birthday! She left us in 1991 and I still can’t bring myself to say that she’s “dead.” By definition that means no longer alive and yet she is so alive in my heart. So present in my life. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t hear her words echoing in my ears or her magnificent imaginary singing voice filling the strains of some music I am listening to. As I pass through the rooms of our home I see her artwork adorning our walls or a piece of sculpture on a table and smile at her living presence.

It is accepted convention today to complain about the dysfunction of one’s family. It is so hard for me to relate to the discussions, even the ones from my own children discussing their childhood, because my view, my perception, of my childhood are memories so glorious that I choose to glory in them. Don’t get me wrong. My family’s experiences were not storybook rosy but it was the way they dealt with the adversities that made memories to laugh at and to cherish.

I am reading a book right now, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, in which an important mantra is put forth: That which you manifest is before you.” I see now that I was blessed with a family who always kept the high goal in front of them. Who always saw the light at the end of the tunnel. My mother didn’t take much to pity parties and certainly wouldn’t let us indulge in them, much less the blame game.

My mother was/is something else. A strong courageous woman pretty typical of her day. She was also a talented and beautiful woman. (I so wanted to post her photo on this blog but our IT administrator is out of the office today and I couldn’t get the scanner to work.) When I say she was typical of her day what I mean is she set aside her promising singing career to be the “woman behind the man” and to raise a family. Both of which she did very successfully.

My memories of my mother are very much idealized because 50s children were pretty much sheltered from the fears and concerns of finances, job and social status and marital relationships. Perhaps that’s what preserves the happy childhood memories. It wasn’t until my grownup years when I sat for long hours with my mother while she was ill that we talked about some of those feelings and fears that we all share. By that time I had some life experience and perspective and was able to understand her sacrifices…and I could be grateful.

Yes, I knew some of the stories of my mom’s life before she and dad were married. I knew about the reviews of her singing comparing her to Dinah Shore and I knew about her aspirations to be an artist. I remember her singing around the piano with her good friend Rosemary Clooney and hearing Rosie ask her why she stopped singing and she very simply said she had other things to do. If there was any regret she didn’t manifest it. (”That which you manifest is before you.”)

I do remember her pursuit of art which, I am sure, along with her love of music forms the base of my love of art…and music. Art, once the technique was learned, was something she could do from home. She was always taking painting and sculpture classes and once perfected her oils and sculpted clay became beautiful manifestations of her creative thought. It wasn’t unusual to hear her singing as she painted with our dog, Brandy, lying beside her easel  as her beloved audience of one.

There are so many more memories, but for today I raise a toast to you, Mama because first and foremost, I remember and love YOU.