ESPrit de Corps

The atmosphere of a play is certainly important.  In order to convey the world of the play to the audience, the atmosphere must be just so.   The atmosphere in the rehearsal room is important in order for the best work possible to occur.   The first rehearsal between actor and director is, in essence, the audition.   If this is the case, I am not sure why some directors seem to strive to create an inhospitable environment for those auditions.

The same is true when we invite new colleagues and potential teaching artists into our department.  It is important to me—important to us—that the atmosphere conveys who we are and what we expect; we are creative, collaborative individuals who work hard and take the work seriously while maintaining a healthy sense of humor.

What are these Radical Rules?  Read the introduction to Radical Rules.

THIS IS JUST A BLOG PAUSE.

I just made that up and I like it!

I’m taking a moment to thank everyone who is writing on and reading this!  I am so inspired by all of you.  I have 10 million ideas!  Thanks to Stephanie and Phil for piloting this!  As they say in Coney Island: It’s Super Duper Duper.

“For God’s sakes, your rocking the boat back there.”  Actually we were; the car was swaying as Dean and I both swayed to the rhythm and the IT of our final excited joy in talking and living to the blank tranced end of all innumerable riotous angelic particulars that had been lurking in our souls all our lives.

Kerouac, On The Road

That night I lie awake in a cold sweat and I’m convinced someone is watching me from the closet. I spend the next few hours getting the nerve to throw off the covers and leave the room. I head for the porch and I find Mom smoking, her bare feet touching the grass. She pulls me to her as though she is half expecting me. We don’t speak for a time. I relax into her. “I have something to show you honey. Get your sneakers on and don’t wake up Dad.” I’m wearing my favorite fairy blue robe and I notice it matches Moms. This gives me a sense of belonging, to her, to the moment. We are on “the path” that leads to Short Beach. We both move quickly in anticipation of the sand and the night sea. The whole town is sleeping and I am sleepwalking as usual and very happy to have the company of another. My Mother is a sleepwalker too. When she was little, on this same rock, she did roam the night for hours. Some say it was good luck if she passed near to you in the night.

We hit the sand and remove our sneaks. The tide is dead low. Mom runs and I run behind her. I’m a little afraid. I see her robe float to the ground. I yell to her, “WHAT SHOULD I DO?” “Just drop it and run” she yells back. I see a light burst as she hits the water and runs until it’s deep enough to dive. That low-tide slow motion run. I run into the darkness and with all my might I dive into the sea.

“As we develop a sense of self, our intuitive voice becomes our natural and constant source of guidance”

-Caroline Myss, The Anatomy of the Spirit

Under the water I open my eyes and there are bright floating stars everywhere. I rise up out of the water and stars are all over me, all over my Mother. We splash and breathe and dive and laugh and heaven is in my heart and there are no monsters in the sea, only stars.

“No one is born with healthy self esteem. We must earn this quality in the process of living, as we face challenges one at a time.”

-Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit

I may have slept through math the next day, but I learned the science of magic last night. I tell the other kids what I saw. No one quite believes my sleepwalking tales.

“What about the truth”? “Stories are the truth!”

-Blanche McCrary Boyd, The Redneck Way of Knowledge

Some of my stories are recounted to this day in that town from which upon seeing the first sign of an exit, I quickly departed.

“The energy of the second chakra helps us evolve beyond the collective energy of the tribe.”

-Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit

There is no life beyond this rock, the fishermen would tell me. This is all the life you need.

Not to be confused with “take it personally,” it is important as a director to make a personal connection to the play.   Even when assigned a play–which is often the case–in order for the play to achieve greatness in production, a director must find the specific theme or moment of quality or whatever it might be about that play that s/he can care about in a deep and meaningful way.  If the director only passively skims the surface of the play, the audience experience will be similarly distanced. 

I am thankful that when I arrived at Roundabout I discovered that the values of the program were quite aligned with my own and, in many cases, were articulating those values better than I ever had on my own.  It did not take long for me to feel personally invested in the work.  I am passionate about the fact that we partner with teachers and principals to meet the gargantuan task of engaging students in learning despite the many, many, many obstacles they face every day at home, on the streets and subways and within the school system.  I am proud to be part of a theatre that values an audience that wants to be entertained and to be challenged with classic revivals and with new work.  I care deeply about our roster of teaching artists that are at the heart of what we do in the schools and in our theatres.

Unlike other arenas of business, the personalization of our work is not only expected but vital to our success.   

What are these Radical Rules?  Read the introduction to Radical Rules.

The caveat to the unfolding tale:

What does this unfolding childhood reverie have to do with my becoming an artist, an educator or an art administrator? In particular, how is it meant to speak directly to my colleagues in the ESP community? In David’s last entry where he asks us to “take the kinda out” it makes me think about the harrowing lives we lead and how as artists (alchemists) we eventually (hopefully) turn the negative or difficult events into art or ANYTHING constructive, instructive or somewhat positive… In turn, our expression (plays, poetry, painting) guides and or illuminates others in their own harrowing process. I left a comment on David’s last entry. I was so moved by his radical rule as it made me think about the HUGE amount of students we at Rotunda spend time with over the course of a school year. YES we believe the arts will deepen their understanding of the subject matter. We are fully engaged in gathering the evidence of teacher and student learning via the ETSL template (more on that incredible work later). However the MOST important piece of our work is giving people what I like to call “the ace in their pocket”. The ace is the thing that cannot be tested. It just is. Once a person gets it…they own it! It’s the ability to be your own alchemist…to turn trash into gold. What if after all of the effort a student or a school community just cannot test well? In the years to come what are they going to reflect on? The stress of that test, the stress from their teacher, principal and the Dept of Ed or painting a mural about their community or creating a stage play? What ace will remain in their pocket? What medicine will serve them years later to become fully functioning creative, participatory humans? You do the math!

That said I continue my tale. The tale about a young hero who tested badly, did not follow the herd and would not make it in to her college years in the expected manner. Alas, she had the ace in her pocket BUT no data to evaluate who she really was!

The four siblings ahead of me have moved on into the world, so Lucilla (mom), Herman (dad) and I have created our own unique dinner ritual. There is the cocktail hour and the centerpiece of our kitchen scene: the radio! There is the part where no matter WHAT is happening if SOMEWHERE MY LOVE comes on Herm and Lucilla get up and dance like no one else is there! I get to go ON AND ON about anything that is on my mind and they pay attention as though I am telling them life or death news! Mom keeps tabs on the sunset and literally reports in every few minutes on the changes. We are residents of Sunset Hill and Mom says it is our job to be mindful of this nightly event. My favorite part of this nightly ritual is the dishes. Because I NEVER DO THEM!! The deal is this: If I play the piano and Mom and I sing in our perfect harmony Dad will do every last dish. Night after night, year after year, this goes on and my repertoire of nostalgic standards only gets larger.

“Be sure it’s true when you say I LOVE you, It’s a sin to tell a lie, Millions of hearts have been broken, just because these words were spoken…I love you, yes I do, I love you!  If you break my heart…I’ll DIE.  So be sure it’s true when you say I LOVE YOU…(big finish)…it’s a SIN to tell a LIEeeeeeeeeee…..”

After the dishes my nightly loneliness sets in as my parents retreat to the TV room to watch and smoke. I cannot bear either activity.  I find this event, quite literally, the most boring thing they do.

When I was directing Betty’s Summer Vacation (pictured here) by Christopher Durang, my MFA thesis production, I was in a panic in the days before opening night; we had a good show, but it was on the verge of being great. Like a coach before the big game, I sat the cast down for notes and energetically implored them all to “take the kinda out.” In Durang’s work, as in most theater, the characters are extreme—truthfully so, but extreme. As I said during that session, Mrs. Siezmagraff is not “kinda” a woman with a drinking problem, she is a full on abusive alcoholic! That’s what makes her comically wonderful and what makes her story poignant at the same time. Likewise, Keith is not “kinda” socially awkward, he decapitates people. (By this point I imagine that some of you have stopped reading and others of you now want to read this play…and I recommend that you do.)

While drinking and violence do not have a direct connection with my work, the taking the “kinda” out does. When articulating goals for myself and for the program, I strive to activate the language in order to take the “kinda” out. In an ideal world, in this process the gentle, passive goals become virile and aggressive (in the best sense of the word). The goal “to create opportunities for teachers to use theatrical teaching” becomes “to build capacity in teachers to use theatrical teaching.” As with theater, I hope that the result of taking the “kinda” out of the mix is a more satisfying experience for everyone involved. We are rarely proud of what we kinda did.

What are these Radical Rules? Read the introduction to Radical Rules.

My journey includes three tide pools, a sneak naked swim at Forty Steps Beach, a long gaze at Egg rock and finally several hours in the hidden upstairs stacks of the town library. I’m in the private exhilaration that comes with successfully sneaking past the librarian, hiding myself upstairs with the glass (yes glass) floors where technically children are not allowed without a grown up. My days are long and stretched out paths that avoid contact with as many people as is possible living on one square mile. I love and hate being a part of these people by virtue of our close proximity and way of life on this rock.

“The First Chakra: Tribal Power.”

“The first chakra grounds us. It is our connection to traditional familial beliefs that support the formation of identity and a sense of belonging to a group of people or a geographic location.”

-Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit

I am alone in a world of books with fabulous lighting and that soothing library smell. It is here I can find and create more secrets about the people of our town. The historic document signed by many prominent citizens swearing to the sighting of a sea serpent! Scalps behind glass…why? The blankets given for a town. Stuffed birds, ancient vessels. The panoramic shots of an entire summering population in paradise. I understand the voices in those rocks, the healing virtues of the salt air just as those first townies did. The five o’ clock whistle startles me into my final descent to Sunset Hill and that nightly event called dinner.

Back home I step into the sounds of Ray Price on the Grundig and notice my mother has begun to paint a very large blue tree climbing up the walls of the stairway. She is in the kitchen enjoying the late afternoon light, her view of the sea and a chilled martini up with 3 olives. According to cocktail lore the three olives represent health, love and wealth. Grown ups are so lucky. She is singing “Please release me let me go…” with her distinct melodic alto. Dinner is almost ready.

Saute onions garlic and apples

Add cubes of pork until done

Serve with baked apples and Jell-O salad.

Salad: Strawberry Jell-O with mixed fruit added

Buy large cut fruit in can

Blue cheese dressing is great on it!

-Written in permanent marker on the back of a cutting board filled with all gross recipes from Mom who was a notoriously bizarre cook. She painted a big pink rose on the front making the cutting board unusable except as decoration

Once home my big job is to make Mom’s second martini. She is in awe of my early gift for bartending and often brags to friends: how I never bruise the gin…my artful handling of the twist. We all believe that my innate understanding of the perfect martini will result in some outstanding future.

“Regardless of the “truth” of familial beliefs, every one of them directs a measure of our energy into an act of creation.”

-Blanche McCrary Boyd, The redneck Way of Knowledge

“I am a theatre artist because I value the collaborative experience.” As a theatre director this is the phrase that I often say to artistic collaborators—designers, actors, dramaturges, stage managers—on the first day of working on a new project. Collaboration is, of course, not without challenges. It is the friction of artistic minds and temperaments that creates great work and this friction also yields its share of unpleasant moments. However, it is collaboration that can forge “the best idea.”

As a director, I am not as interested in my best idea as I am in the best idea that emerges from the gathering of minds put to creative task. Again and again, I am willing to weather the challenges of collaboration for the resulting joy and satisfaction.

The same is true of my collaboration in arts education: I want to hear the thoughts and considered responses of every staff member within the education department, from the staff members at Roundabout beyond the education department, from colleagues in the field, and from colleagues outside of the field who might offer me a fresh perspective on the role of theater in education. As the director of an education program or as a director of a play, ultimately I may have to make some final decisions for the program or the play, but I never believe that these are solitary decisions; these decisions are those that are culled from the collaborative process. In the end, my challenge and my responsibility as a director is not to “make decisions” as much as it is to find, to recognize, and to cultivate “the best idea.”

What are these Radical Rules? Read the introduction to Radical Rules.

When directing a play, it is helpful to create a concept that is clear and firmly rooted in the text of the play. For example, if the play is called “Alice in Wonderland”, chances are that if the concept of the production does not revolve around Alice’s experience, then the “concept” is probably not going to work (or at least not for the entire play). The same is true of an arts in education program: At Roundabout, we are rooted in using theatre as a tool for learning in the classroom and Roundabout’s theatres. If I suddenly directed the play that is this program as if it were a conservatory program, my actors and designers would be hating life and me, my audience would be confused and my play would fail.

Furthermore, throughout a production it is incredibly helpful to return to the concept. From the macro to the micro choices, the concept should be the guiding principle for decision making. When designing the set, we may find a great lamp, but we always have to ask ourselves as a creative team, “Is it a great lamp or is it a great lamp for this play?” When directing a program, we may discover a great new project to pursue, but as a team we may ask our selves, “Is it simply a great program or is it a great program that furthers our mission?”

And, of course, if the concept has altered over the course of pre-production and the team has learned an essential truth about the concept that is spot on, the concept should be adjusted accordingly, but only if necessary. Program missions evolve over time; the mission statement should accurately reflect the intention and activity of the company and visa versa.

What are these Radical Rules? Read the introduction to Radical Rules.