Do you: Go with your gut reaction? Weigh the pros & cons, and come to a decision you can back up and justify? Do you follow what your friends/family/confidants say &/or do, without question? Do you go against what you believe due to outside pressure?
On my way home from a great Interactive Theater workshop in NYC, I turned on the local NPR station (WNYC 93.9 FM). The program This American Life was on, and just in time: I had been hearing the teasers for the program and was hoping to catch it. A group of 5th graders (ten/eleven years old) were undergoing an amazing Process Drama:
“What if, say, the U.S.-led invasion of Grenada in 1983 had been decided, not by Ronald Reagan, but by a bunch of middle-schoolers?”
The students were led on an amazingly detailed program. Three rooms were set up for them: a press room, a command center, and the President’s office/war room. Split into three groups, the students were in role, being asked to make the hard decisions that adults with “experience” in these matters had struggled with almost thirty years ago.
I don’t want to spoil it for you. I included the link above (first one) so you can listen to the program (there are two other “acts”: one with a 14 year old discussing Global Climate changes and a school in Brooklyn that is governed by…the students). I hope after you listen you’ll come back here and leave some comments.
The second link is from the blog Woman Wielding Words about an amazing experience with practicing drama with kids from a very different culture.
The third link: really, the nuts and bolts of what I love to do with students: have them make personal discoveries and to think for themselves. Weigh it all out, find out what they feel is right or wrong, and then also look at how someone else see’s the same situation; How it is sometimes hard to make a decision at all.
There are applications for Arts in Education in all core curricula, as there is in Art in all aspects of life. That is part of what creativity comes into play.
In this changing economy, and as we get older, it becomes more important to stay flexible and find other outlets and sources to maintain a creative life. This is very true for those without a fixed/steady income, like myself. I see “possibilities” for the future, and strive to work on a positive today. It’s not always easy, but…as the quote I used the other day:
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”
I would like to make 2012 a positive year:
The Year of Learning and Creativity.
For me, things are starting to move in that direction; slowly but (hopefully) surely:
I will be working with OPERA America on a four month project, creating an operetta with composer Zach Redler for a group of Manhattan seniors. I’ll be co-directing and writing the book and libretto from stories from the seniors.
Jeff Wirth (Interactive Acting) has opened the door to something new for me: possibly being a member of his NYC iTeam. I met Jeff a number of years ago and had the pleasure to also work with him. This starts soon and I have fingers crossed, as this sounds to be an exciting project.
My book of collected stories and poetry, The Path From Love, will be published soon by Trestle Press (eBook for now; possible print later in the year). Article by me on their website: Crossing Genres
Re-writes of my play, ...everywhere I look, and getting it back out on the road.
A number of already booked storytelling gigs.
May 2012: The Rule of Three Blogfest-The Return to Renaissance
and…some more things that are too soon to mention.
I want to thank Misha Gericke for giving me the title for this blog post (unwittingly, maybe, but it fits a lot of things); ALL the guest bloggers who helped me out in the latter part of 2011 when I got sick; a certain very special someone who has entered my life and has only enriched it, in so many ways; and all of you, the readers of BornStoryteller (and hopefully Tale Spinning too).
“Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” ~Albert Einstein
A very good friend of mine is a minister. I have known her since High School, so, yes, a few years. She is one of the many that I had asked for guest posts while my hands were not working properly (still not 100%, but that’s a whole nuther thing). We talked a bit on FB, and she voiced her concern: she didn’t feel that what she does is creative.
the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.
3.
the process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.
I see that everyone, in someway, does something creative in their lives. Creativity is not just producing art, or music, or theater, or writing, or crafty little things. We think in creative ways, problem solving our way out of troubles or blockades.
As a minister, she has to be creative in writing 52 sermons a year that will engage her congregation (well, 52 minus vacations); writing the newsletter; hearing and helping to solve problems from her flock; she has to think on her feet when illnesses and deaths happen, when roadblocks are presented to her that need bypassing. That’s just what she does on the job. What about her life outside of the church? Family, friends, budgets, etc… all take at times a creative touch.
We all do creative thinking and things, even if we are not in The Arts. Einstein was creative: yes, a big example, but, think about how you’ve dealt with an interruption in your daily life, how you’ve had to improvise something on the spot, how you’ve had to brainstorm something new because what you were doing just wasn’t enough…
Unless you’ve life is so scripted that you have no chance to alter anything, then you’ve had creative moments.
Now, sit right down and let Stu tell you a story. Settled in? Good. Now, mind the spittin’ bucket if old Ned comes by. He never could give up his chaw even after them docs took away half his jaw. His aim aint so good no more, so…you’ve been warned.
There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. ~ Martha Graham
Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. ~ Albert Einstein
It happened that I did something early in my life that I swore I would not do: work for the money, not for what I wanted to really do. For fifteen years I worked a soul killing job. I had a break in my personal life during this period and I found something I was missing: an improvisation class in NYC.
It was heaven. Creative heaven. I had an amazing year+ with this company, but inner politics ruined it (as well as things I might talk about another time: My Run In with Scientology. No joke).
A two year semi creative dry spell fell upon like the wrath of grapes, and then…one summer afternoon, at the Tuxedo NY Renaissance Faire, I was found….
…by the members of the Instant Shakespeare show. My kids were pointing at me like crazy to get chosen (so, all of this is YOUR fault, Adam & Jessica ;P ) and sure enough, I was picked to be the audience patsy.
Except, I had the best time of my life. I added a few things, hammed it up, and had the crowd in my hands. I made the MC (Scott Eck) laugh so hard he even said he gave up the show to me. Afterwards, so many people asked if I did this for a living. Many said I should. Less than a year later…well, I had a lot of great creative adventures. A lot.
Which now brings me to the point: if I let the roadblocks of my life (and I consider a money job as opposed to a passion job a road block) stop me, I would not have found my creative voice, and I would not be as happy and fulfilled.
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” — Mary Lou Cook
It also brought me to this:
My very first solo eStory on Amazon
Thanks to the fine people at Trestle Press I now have an eStory published that is not part of an anthology. It’s 4,000 words long, and it costs just $ .99. I get 70% of that, so…yeah, the more the merrier. Won’t you make me merry?
Product Description: Seth had been devoured by fire. What does a man do when the life of flame becomes as real as his waking life? When the sound of fire is the beat of his blood through his body? When what he sees he lives?
I have two more stories published, both in charity anthologies, supporting Doctors Without Blorders. You can find them on my brand new Amazon Authors Page. Two volumes, both $3.99, and both support a worthy cause. Please give them a try.
I had the great honor of being invited to perform at the 19th annual New Jersey Storytelling Festival. Not living in New Jersey, it was flattering being one of the few who came from out of the state (I think there were a few from Pennsylvania). I do want to thank everyone who invited me on the NJ board. It was an amazing day, I met a lot of wonderful people, and the audiences were great.
What is Storytelling?
Many people in the United States think that storytelling is solely an event for children. The US is really alone in this. Adults all over the world enjoy storytelling events. That children are included is a bonus, and there are tellers who solely perform for youth.
There are story hours at libraries for young children, where librarians open a book and read from it. Elementary school teachers do the same thing. Is it storytelling or reading a story? You’ll hear people on both sides of the fence on that one.
What the rest of do is tell a story. We rarely, if ever, read from a book. A storyteller speaks from knowing/living the story inside. It might be a traditional tale (fairy, folk, myth, legend), real, an original story, an improvised tale, partially sung, an oral history…it is a story that the teller (short for…) likes if not loves. She/He normally feels an affinity for the tale.
It is rarely, if ever, memorized word for word. Parts of it, maybe, depending on the story. The teller will know the story beats, know the tale backwards and forwards, and shape the story as it resonates for them in the telling. Somethings might be added, deleted, altered, but the heart of the story remains.
A storyteller can sit or stand or, as in the case of myself and others, really work the stage. We must engage the audience, making eye contact, and speak in a clear voice, loud enough for the area we are working. It can be outside or in, on a stage or in front of a classroom.
There is no place a story can’t be told. It just takes an audience willing to listen. It is communication, a sharing, sometimes a communion of spirits, and a lot of times ones of mirth and other complex emotions.
Personally, no matter what I tell, I like to find an interactive element to engage my audience further. Call and response is an ancient storytelling tool, and I have seen many master tellers use it in performance.
Storytelling is all this and more. I do suggest that when you hear about a storytelling event, you seek it out. You might be surprised at what you discover.
“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” — Robert McKee
“There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” ~ Ursula Le Guin
Storytellers at the NJ Storytelling Festival:
Thank you to:
Ken Galipeau; Anne Lemay; Ken Erb; Jack McKeon; David Emerson
Joe Dudis; Bernie Libster; Kathryn Weidener; Pat Kane; Julie Della Torre
Ken Karnas; Carol Titus; Gerry Fierst; Richard Stillman; Steve Noble
I started BornStoryteller in January of 2011. In the eight months of writing this blog, I’ve written about a lot of topics. In the beginning, I had no clue as to what this space was about or should be about, and eight months later:
I’m asking myself that same question.
So: I am asking YOU to please vote in the above poll. Tell me what you like to read on BornStoryteller. What should I spend most of my writing & thinking energy on?
PLEASE don’t throw it back in my lap, as many seem to like to do with the “write what you feel like” etc.
I am asking a question(s) here for the simple fact that I would like to know my readers opinions. Like many blogs, I get a lot of hits but no where near the amount of comments percentage wise. Comments help: they tell me I’m on the right track. But, I do an interview with almost no comments, and I almost triple the number of hits on the blog.
The above poll lists the main topics I touch on. I am thinking of making BornStoryteller a three or four times a week blog, posting content only on certain days. My schedule for writing my novel and other submissions is beginning to get tight, and as Ray Davies sang: Give the People What They Want!
Once upon a time, four Writers Who Blog (WWB) got together to create a shared world, the Town of Renaissance, where they invite writers to come and take up residence and explore it’s environ and citizens. During the month of October 2011, once a week, a story will emerge, linking three characters into one final cumulative story. It’s up to you, the writer, to choose the way they interact, or not, and how the final story in the fourth week ends is the journey’s end. Damyanti Biswas, Lisa Vooght, and JC Martin and I are the WWB, and we welcome you to Renaissance. Enjoy your stay. Oh…one last thing…
Everyone Has A Secret!!
If you are a writer of fiction or know someone who is, please join us for an amazing journey into a world you help create.
“We look at parents as partners. We’re partners in working towards their kids’ success. The last thing we want to do is to get in this adversarial relationship, but when you’ve exhausted every available option, there must be some bottom line, and there must be some point where you say you must obey the law.”
Education of and for the children is 24/7, 365 days a year. Period. It does not happen solely in the school building, or whatever “institution of education” you subscribe to. If a parent is NOT involved, then they are not doing their job. It’s a shame so many have to work with hardships (financial; little to no familial support; etc). I do empathize. BUT…once you’ve brought a child onto this planet, YOU have a commitment that has to override everything else: take care of the kid, show him/her discipline, focus, love, and leading a proper path (which to me is do no harm to yourself or others, and work to the best of your abilities..and then go one step more).
When you baby your babies, you are doing them harm. When you force the school systems to baby your babies, you are really doing them harm. When you support your child’s laziness and bad habits, you are doing them harm. When you threaten but do not follow through with ANY type of consequence, you are doing them harm. When you reward your baby for doing what they are supposed to do, you are doing them harm. When you create an adversarial relationship with your partner-THE SCHOOL & TEACHERS ARE YOUR PARTNER-, you are doing a tremendous amount of harm.
If you don’t see any of the above as actual problems in your parenting style, then you are REALLY doing them, your babies, your children, your charges, your wards, your life… harm.
There are many parents to applaud. I do really believe that, with everything I write. I also believe that there are many teachers, administrators and school systems that are applaud worthy. I do. They need the press MORE than the negative ones that make me and others like me vent.
We should Celebrate more then rehash our venting, so…
I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF YOU:
Write a paragraph or so and send it to me about an AMAZING parent/teacher partnership; an amazing parent/school partnership; ANY outstanding Parent/Education partnership.
I really want to write about these things and post them, especially as we are soon ready to enter the new school year.
Let US know. Send me that email and YOUR story, or another, will become it’s own posting.
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
Week Five is now over and done, and I needed the day to separate myself from Hell Week (part one). For those not in the know, Technical Rehearsal week is unofficially called Hell Week. It is full of stops and starts, is long LONG hours, tempers are high and patience is at a minimum towards stupidity, lighting, sound and final blocking cues are locked in, costuming should already be happening, makeup, the stage manager should have the action running ON stage while the Directors (actual production director, musical director, technical director and Choreographer) work on the minute details and honing, the actors SHOULD know all their lines, entrances and exits, and…did I mention the long, long hours?
Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. ~Richard Carlson
As is the normal case with running around like mad men (NOT the TV show!), a good many of us are sick. Head colds are running rampant, and I have sneezed, coughed, hacked and fallen asleep at the computer more times this week than I can actually count, let alone shake a stick at. Not sure why I would want to shake a stick, but if I had one, I tell you…you would see some real stick shaking!!!
I am glad for this weekend to, first, spend time with family and friends (yesterday) and, second, to have a day of just me, music, writing and napping (today). As of tomorrow, I enter into the final week of the six week production process that culminates in what it’s all been about: a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast? said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said.
“I have had a most rare vision.” ~Bottom
At this moment, I know that the main part of my job is complete: I have shard my artistic vision with cast and crew. My needs have altered, finding a need to delete and add as the needs occurred, made discoveries of the great and not so great kind, and in the end: it is all about the kids.
Normal camp/school productions, they make a big thing about bringing the Director out after the kids get their curtain call. Me? I’d be happy if they just let me be. I don’t want to come out on stage. Let the kids get the applause they will deserve. Let the show be about them. My applause comes from what the audience will give them.
Like Bottom, I have had a most rare vision: seeing my ideas put together on stage for a show I’ve performed in a number of times, SEEN performed far more, and have loved ever since my mother sat with me and we watched the 1935 movie version (with Mickey Rooney, James Cagney, Dick Powell, Joe E. Brown and Olivia De Havilland) on our black and white TV when I was a kid.
This Week:
Will I have costumes? I have not seen a blessed thing yet: any costuming I’ve done, by raiding my own prop/costume trunk from The Brothers Grinn. Supposedly, I will see it all tomorrow…two days before our first show in front of a paying audience!
Will I have an assistant/stage manager? Did no one but me see that asking someone who interviewed for the director’s job (which I got) to volunteer their time NOT be a disaster in the making?
Will the choreographers (yes, plural) do the fine tuning needed in time for Wednesday?
Will the actors remember their lines, their blocking, project their voices, stay in character and not fight with each other?
Will all the tech cues happen when they’re supposed to happen? (this one is the one I have the most faith in, at the moment).
Will the counselors/stage crew get their heads out of their you-know-whats and do what they are supposed to do?
Will I have a voice and sanity (which is always questionable!) when Friday night has come and gone?
Next Saturday/Sunday: the wrap up of Urban Shakespeare.
The show goes up in less than two weeks, and I have to say I’m both thrilled and scared silly. I have a LOT of amazing kids to work with, which is a blessing. They are also VERY high spirited, which has it’s pluses and minuses. Sometimes the ants-in-the-pants gets in the way, but I’m so happy with how things are starting to shape up.
Theme
As I’ve stated before, we’ve set “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Mali, Africa. This request came at the hands of the executive producer, and posed some problems at first but soon led to what I consider a major plus in the focus of the play. The theme of deforestation and the beauty of the eroding landscape of the Mali area was what my research led me to, and for a play that is set in a magical, lush forest, the contrast brought some great ideas for a Prologue. We’ve taken images of the richness of some parts of Mali and then compared them to the encroaching desert (which also leads into problem with useable water in the area). This will be matched with a short voice over of the problems, and how “once upon a time…” there was a magical forest. The theme will be reincorporated in imagery (backdrop) during the show.
Music and Dance
This has been big fun and also a headache, working out and synching up the ideas/focus of the show with everyone’s opinions. We have our Dance team, Musical Director, and myself (not counting the Executive Producer) with varying POV on all of this. I wanted not only traditional African music and dance, but also some contemporary work for the “hook”. So, I have some Motown for the narrators (yes, I had to include some who would tell what was going to happen to “soften the blow” of the Shakespearean language for the audience. We’ll have young camp audiences, and I needed to make it as accessible as possible). The Mechanicals get two fun modern pieces: some crumping entrances (fun fun FUN) and for their Bergamask, they are doing a really wild hip hop routine. So…big fun. We nailed the music down today on some pieces that were eluding us all, and THAT felt great.
Staging
NO SET! Yes, I said it. I’m not having a set. I am making the lighting and visual projections (images, gobos & gels) to created the feel that I want. I was asked by the Exec Producer what my vision was for this, and I said “The Globe.” Entrances, exits, costuming (simple but effective), music and dance and CHARACTER WORK lead the way for me in this. It is, in my opinion, so rich that there is no need to add on the further razzle dazzle.)
Props
Minimal, to say the least. I’m having the kids make Rain Sticks for the fairies (shakers; rhythm); we’re using Walking Sticks/Staves (dowels, painted) for more percussive work; sword for Pyramus/Thisbe; Scrolls for the parts & commendation from Theseus; and, oh yes, juggling scarves; and one really big stuffed dog, whose name is Lola.
Lighting
One thing that was mentioned to me years ago, that I’ve kept close at hand: Lighting should be considered another character. We did our light plots, added our specials, and the feel of the play really comes alive by the lights. We have some surprises in store for the audience, and I can’t wait to play them out for the cast this coming week.
THIS COMING WEEK:
Finish blocking, and run the show again and again and again; Tech starts on Thursday & Friday, and dress will be the following Monday and Tuesday. So… here we go. I may not come up for air for the two weeks, but I hope to.
Kid Politics: This American Life
She is one of the many that I had asked for guest posts while my hands were not working properly (still not 100%, but that’s a whole nuther thing). We talked a bit on FB, and she voiced her concern: she didn’t feel that what she does is creative.
