I went to a Designer-Playright (ten of each) meeting the other night arranged by the Playwrights' Guild of Canada, of which I am a long-time member. (I'm long-time everything now.) We each had to introduce ourselves and explain what we do and/or why we were there.

Yes, well, you know all this: I am so old I have lost family, friends, furniture, doctors, dentists, producers, publishers, agents, PR persons and contacts. They are all retired or dead or have lost their marbles. I went to that meeting to see what the next generation of creators is doing: wonderful young people (young to me: between 30 and 50 years old). They're doing a lot, or should I say, like, a lot?

I met a man, a designer, but that's hardly an adequate description. He is just finishing a knitting project: three "stained glass"windows depicting, respectively, Christian, Jewish and Muslim symbols and themes. Each panel measures nine feet by five feet and he is trying to figure out how to mount them and what kind of creative work - play?- to incorporate them in. Yes - knitted, and looking like stained glass (different strands and textures of wool enable a viewer to see light shining through and around the images). It has taken Kirk Dunn fifteen years to create this work. His wife, Claire, is a playwright and a director and a supporter and a fan. Wow.

I talked to two young men (45 years younger than I is young) who talked video games to me. One of them, Gavin McDnald, a lighting designer, told me the correct order of the Star Wars series. The other, Alex Dault, a playwright-plus-director (plus a whole lot more) described a terrifying ( to me) game called Under the Root. I'll check it out.

Opportunist that I am, I pitched this man a play of mine in a subsequent email and thus began a correspondence. I am going to his theatre next week to attend a play-reading of three new plays.

I'm keeping young.

Last night I went to the premiere of a new opera, The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, based on the eponymous play (1967) by George Riga. Prolific composer and librettist, Victor Davies, a former colleague, adapted the play and created a beautiful new work of art. We did an epic musical, Beowulf, (1975) together long before anyone else thought of it. (Being ahead of one's time is not always a good thing.) I was the librettist, basing the script on my own translations of the Old English poem. I had a lot of reactions to Vic's newest work and had to sort them out before I could report.

First off: I liked it.

MUCH LATER. The trouble with doing too many things is that the doing takes a lot of time and the catching up and writing falls behind. So - Rita Joe, briefly now:

The choral material was outstanding - so nice to have a generously-sized chorus and the songs they sang were melodic and lovely. Vic is an accessible composer and the audience likes it. So do I. I also liked the “indigenous” chanting (or whatever you call it) - very effective. I loved his signature items and (tiny) bits of self-plus- other-quoting. Composers do this but unless you know their quirks you may not notice. The verve and energy of the reservation stomping songs reminded me of Come From Away, not in a bad sense. There's something of the old music hall about these outbursts and they are very welcome, especially in a dark story like Rita Joe's

Vic did his own libretto and realigned the play, not, to my mind, always successfully. I'd have to compare the two dramatic structures. It seemed to me there were a few too many one-shot scenes at the top of the second act without much of a contributing emotional arc to them. But hey, this was a rehearsed, staged reading, not a full producction. As such it was a great achievement and a moving, enjoyable experience.

I' still very proud to know Victor Davies. Prouder.