The Changing Scene

Alfred Brooks, my mother’s baby brother, and his wife Maxine Munt had a modern dance studio on Sixth Avenue at 43rd Street in New York in the ’50s and early ’60s. I took class with them for several years and they often invited me to dinner in their apartment in the back. In 1965 their building and entire Sixth Avenue blockfront was scheduled for demolition for a skyscraper. Unable to find space in Manhattan, they moved to Denver, rented the top two floors of a three-story downtown building, set up a dance studio and living quarters on the top floor, and converted the second floor into a small well-arranged theatre. The Changing Scene was dedicated it to “new work in all media.” To some extent it was modeled it on the arts programs at Judson Memorial Church.

Heroes of art, Al and Max ran The Changing Scene for thirty years. They repeatedly invited me to come to Denver and create plays, and I did so, as follows:

1968: directed “Dr. Kheal” by Maria Irene Fornés and “The Life of Juanita Castro” by Ronald Tavel, on a program with “Political Sonata Vision” by John P. Dodd

1971: directed my play “Peas” (see Denver Trilogy), “Eat Cake” by Jean-Claude van Itallie, and “XXXXX” by William M. Hoffman (as “Jesus Play”)

1973: directed my play “Double Solitaire” (see Denver Trilogy)

1974: directed my play “A Wedding Party” (see Denver Trilogy)

1976: directed my play “Cowgirl Ecstasy”