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Included: Office in the West Barn (Tanglewood); Televising 'Antigone' at Julliard); Photographers during rehearsal of 'Krapp's Last Tape' at The Forum (Lincoln Center); Rehearsals at The Forum; Camera man for 'Antigone' at Julliard; Jessica Tandy watching Hume during rehearsals at The Forum; Paul Zalon, assistant Set Designer for Douglas Schmidt; John Gleason, Lighting Designer at the Beaumont; John Houseman during rehearsals at The Good Faith Shepherd Church, 4 plays in repertory with his just formed The Acting Company; Coffee shop on Broadway; Another Coffee Shop (wandering about NYC); Filming 'Antigone' at Julliard; Chats during rehearsals; The carpentry shop under Julliard; my studio apartment; The kitchen on West End Avenue; Back in the West Barn; Doug during rehearsals at Good Faith Shepherd Church, The Acting Company; Watching Hume rehearse at The Forum. - (These are part of a series of about 200 drawings.)

Working with Douglas W. Schmidt - I had an opportunity in 1971 to work backstage in the theatre in NYC with a fellow I went to school with. He invited me to join the group that summer at Tanglewood in the West Barn to do the sets for three one-act operas under the direction of Ian Strasvogel of the Washington Opera Society, and then he invited me to assist in NYC that fall and winter. He was the Resident Designer for the Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center with two major productions at the Beaumont for the 1971-72 season. Also --he was working with Alan Schneider to do three Becket plays with Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy at the Forum at Lincoln Center, he was working with John Houseman and his first Julliard School graduates (forming the City Center Acting Company, including Kevin Kline, Patty LuPone, David Ogden Stiers) --and --there were sets for 'Antigone' to be filmed at Julliard with Genvieve Bujold and Fritz Weaver for PBS Channel 13 --and there was more work with the Washington Opera Society at the Kennedy Center ('Mahagonny') . . . . . and 'Satyricon' for the Hague in Amsterdam (I was left in NY, where I sat in the sunshine of that West End studio watching and sketching the winter Olympics) . . . . . and 'Grease' was 'going on the road', so the sets had to be prepared for action! He introduced me to the resident designer at the Metropoliton Opera, who gave us a tour of the wonderful 'Magic Flute' drops by Chagall. I got tours of the Shops that build sets (Fellers, etc), and he arranged for me to apprentice with one of the best Italian set painters in New York City for a major production at Julliard --and he put me to work at Lester Polokov's school for Set Design. I really did learn something about set painting (climbed ladders to spritz 20'-30' flats and painted the illusion of wallpaper and marble floors as part of a HUGE 4-set production to revolve on a turntable in the basement at Julliard) --but otherwise I just followed and sketched during long rehearsals --and I never knew what to expect one day to the next --taxi to a warehouse of pianos in search of a prop --off to the shop to figure out how to make the branch of an oak tree move --and oh ho: so there are crates of wine and caterers arriving here for an opening night party?). It was an incredible, exciting, opportunity I never could quite justify being there (letters were coming in from Yale graduate students seeking just such a chance --they who trained for the theatre; I was just a painter . . . ). When I decided to leave I was advised that the theatre was a lot of colloboration, whereas, if I left, I'd end up alone with piles of work . . . . hmmmm.

Most experiences in my life have been defined by people --those who inspire, those who have brought me along . . . . . This fellow who helped me helped so many people to survive in NYC --actors out of a job that could depend upon him for a meal if not a part-time job somewhere. Generosity, high valuted and structurally very stable design proposals, responsiveness to the needs of those he was working with, consideration for how the actors would navigate the stage, extremely clear drafts for the shops who would build the sets . . . . The fun. I learned a lot.