Noxious Odors And Changing The World.

Nauseating and confusing smells pervade the Seattle Center this week-end. It is "Bite of Seattle" and there is no escaping the conflicting odors. I could smell it in the booth. Fried fish (great) fried pastries, fried potatoes, grilled meat, burning sugar. GAH! Thousands of people everywhere eating with sticky fingers, and no place to wash up. Yeah, my idea of a good time. I tried to avoid it all, but... it is RIGHT THERE! They are cooking in the breezeway behind backstage. No escape.

I took only one picture and decided not to get any closer. I'll try again tomorrow to give you the full impact of the crowd.  Or... maybe not. Jeeze Louise!

Thankfully, the celebration ends tomorrow. What an old woman I've become! Give me a picnic basket, some "Wet Ones" a blanket and a bit of peace, I'd be happy. Better yet, an al fresco restaurant in Big Sur, with cheery and pleasant looking waiters.

The gluttony I observed today was more than a little bit obscene. The fashion sense even worse!  My friend Frank would have appreciated my fashion police sense.

I am hoping next week will bring less stress as we all try to get into a routine with the show. We are doing one really amazing thing. We are raising money for the Panzi Hospital and for outreach to Congolese refugee women. One of the cast makes a curtain speech and several more go out in the lobby with little boxes. Over the course of two shows we've collected more than $5000 dollars. I've gone out to witness this. My eyes tear. People literally empty their wallets. People write $300 checks. We've set up that cell phone text thing, where you can automatically give $10. It is working beautifully, but we don't have the numbers on that yet. This show will change the lives of many women who've been sexually mutilated, abused and enslaved in the Congo. Remarkable. I am doing a piece of theatre that will physically change peoples lives for the better. Stunning. All the remarkable shows I've done and finally...  a play that has such a profound effect on the audience that people are driven to do something, anything, and to do it now.

What a dichotomy I witnessed today. An apparent bacchanalia, then, an overwhelming care and concern for people thousands of miles away. Western people are a bit mind-blowing.

Theatre will never die. Theatre has more power than we acknowledge. You my dearest actors, playwrights and directors can, in fact, change the world. I'm watching it happen.