Young Audiences of NJ is now working in Eastern PA, picking up the slack from a former chapter, and that’s good. I ran into my friend Steve, the Puppet Man and compared war stories. He’s recovering from cancer treatments from three years ago. He went on before me and I really enjoyed his play with the kids, working on developing their own imaginations, writing skills, etc.
We were in front of a group of K and 1st graders at this Quaker school, and kids were hip and fun. I rolled through my early stuff and we had a ball. I really worked up a sweat, though some of that was the cold I’m working around. There were about 15 PTA reps from other schools, and it was as good as I could pull off. I just hope that there’s some gigs in the offing.
I ran in to Dave Buskin, the former president of the Philly Folksong Society, who had gotten involved with art and education with YA. Nice to see him. He was a big supporter when I was playing the folk festival, and wish he was still involved. I’ve kind of de-volved with respect to the festival and miss the close relationships I had with some of the old guard.
Its always nice to catch some of the acts in the showcase, and I’m impressed with the talent and educational chops that these folks have.
Rehearsal with Steppin’ Out! on Saturday.