I am not a novice with Social Media, dipping my fingers in various pots; even so, there are still many, many more pots waiting to be stirred. I’m also not a novice in regards to the arts and arts education.
I received the following from a FB acquaintance (thank you Susan Shatz), and knew I had to pass this on:
There are many people who live, breathe, eat, sleep, etc. The Arts (capital letters on purpose) but don’t have the exposure or professional gravitas which would give them the recognition that they deserve. They may be young in age, or “still new” in their respective turn at this part of their career. In Barry’s words:
Regular followers of this blog know that late every August I publish a list of the Most Powerful and Influential Leaders in the Nonprofit Arts. Most people understand that the list isn’t meritocracy based; it isn’t based on specific achievement or accomplishment per se; it doesn’t purport to necessarily identify the “best and brightest”, rather it merely identifies who has power and influence.
There has been some past comment that unfortunately the list excludes a whole cohort of serious thinkers – a group of younger (not necessarily chronologically younger) leaders omitted because their careers have not been long enough for them to develop the requisite power and influence the Most Powerful list embodies, and that there ought to be some mechanism that gives this cohort of leaders a voice and some recognition. They are, after all, our future.
If you are interested/concerned about the state of the arts and nonprofit arts, I strongly suggest that you click HERE for the full blog entry. I know I’ll be giving this some serious thought.
Opening up dialogue with new thinkers, the ones who are doing the work, who resist hearing & living “we’ve always done it this way”…this is one way to acknowledge those who might seem behind the scenes but need to have a more national, if not international voice.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks.
About Barry: Former Director of the California Arts Council; President of the California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies; Executive Director LINES Ballet. Author (Hardball Lobbying for Nonprofits – MacMillan & Co.; Youth Involvement in the Arts – 2 phase study for the Hewlett Foundation; Local Arts Agency Funding Study for the Aspen Institute; City Arts Toolkit), consultant, public speaker. Barry’s Blog is a service of the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of WESTAF.
I am not 100% sure how I came upon Woman Wielding Words, Lisa Kramer’s blog, but I am glad I did. (PS: she thinks it was something to do with LinkedIn.)
I found a kindred spirit, overall, in what she has written, and this guest post only cements that.
It is a pleasure to introduce her to you here.
The Creativity Series: Guest Post
Creativity isn’t About Being Perfect, It’s About Living Life with Passion: Lisa Kramer
No matter where I am or what I am doing, one statement crushes me, causing me to want to scream.
What is this horrific statement?
“I am not creative.”
I hear it all the time; in college classrooms, in discussions with friends, and perhaps most painfully out of the mouths of children. How could a child not be creative? Or perhaps I should ask, what does society do to suck the creativity out of children, or their belief in their ability to create?
In my experience, everybody is creative, but there comes a point where creativity is frowned upon as something less worthy or less “normal” in some way. That is a loss. If you look at the dictionary definition of creativity, you will find the following:
. . . 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 (dictionary.com)
How could anybody not welcome the “ability . . . to create meaningful new ideas . . .etc.”? Why is creativity something that society seems to fear rather than embrace?
I don’t have the answers, but I fear for a world that stifles creativity in children at such a young age, and a society that seems to be trying, on a daily basis, to silence anyone who thinks outside of a restrictive social norm. I’m sure some might say that I exaggerate, and that children lose their creativity as a natural result of getting older. However, the problem is not simply an issue of growing up.
Several years ago, at a week-long puppet-making workshop for grades K-6, I offered different puppets for different age groups. For the Kindergarten and First graders I decided to make fish puppets, based on The Rainbow Fish. The Kindergarteners took their instructions and ran away with it, adding color and scales, eyes and glitter in any chaotic fashion that suited their fancy. It was a fast-paced burst of creative energy, and I loved the result especially the fish with two eyes one side of its head and thee on the other.
In the first grade, things were different. Many of the kids censored their creative impulses. If they couldn’t do it “right” or make the “perfect” fish, they wanted either my assistant or I to do it for them. (We didn’t, of course).
In Being Perfect, Anna Quindlen writes that “being perfect [is like] carrying a backpack filled with bricks every single day.” (11) Where do we pick up and fill that backpack? What happens between kindergarten and 1st grade that allows us to catch this terrible disease? Perfectionism is, in many ways, the enemy of creativity. I am not saying we can’t strive for perfection in our creative endeavors, but that pursuing perfection often paralyzes our ability to create.
Often the people who say, “I’m not creative” are also the ones who slog their way through life just doing what they have to do following all the rules as they go. Perhaps this comes from a narrow definition of what it means to be creative. Creativity is not limited to those people who can put words on a page, or images on a canvas, or write music or whatever you think of as creative. Everything we do involves a creative choice, especially if we take even the tiniest step away from the “rules”: how we dress, how we set up our desk, how we cook our food, how we decorate our house, even how we sign our names involves creative choices.
Imagine a work place where everything must be done in one way, and one way only. Your office or cubicle has to be decorated under precise parameters. Every word you write, whether a memo or an e-mail must be worded following protocol. Imagine yourself as a worker in this place, who suddenly realizes that there is a better and more productive way to accomplish XYZ, but you do not speak up because it doesn’t follow the proscribed rules of the company. Slowly you learn to stifle those creative thoughts, and become a corporate drone. Life turns gray.
I am not saying that all corporations suck creativity out of every individual. I’m not even saying that people who don’t think they are creative can’t enjoy life. Instead, I argue that in order to make change and embrace life, everything we do must incorporate creativity. If we lose the creative aspects of ourselves, then what do we have? So my response to a person who says, “I’m not creative” is, “yes you are, you just don’t see it.” And my response to the question “Why creativity?” is simply, “Life is creative.”
Lisa A. Kramer is a freelance theatre director, educator, and writer. After graduating from Smith College with a double major in Theatre and English Language & Literature she spent some time teaching English conversation in Japan. This led her to expanding her understanding of theatre and pursuing and MFA in directing from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa as well as a Ph.D. in Theatre for Youth from Arizona State University. She enjoys directing theatre for all ages, developing new works, incorporating non-western techniques in productions, and exploring cultural and social issues through theatre. She hopes to develop shows using multiple cultures, languages, and generations to help build bridges.”
What can I say about Michael Sullivan? Actually, quite a bit!
Mikey was one of the first members to join my theater company, The Brothers Grinn, way back in 1994. He was with Grinn for quite a long time, and like a number of others, whether he believes this or not, he is missed. A lot.
What I can tell you about Mikey: he also is a very creative person, a writer, performer, and he now works in the medical profession as a pediatric nurse. Oh, and he is husband, dad, and a supreme klutz!
He is also just a little bit off. That IS a compliment!
Here is Michael’s very different take on creativity. I would’ve expected no less.
# Three in The Creativity Series
CREATIVITY IS DANGEROUS: MICHEAL SULLIVAN
Creativity is dangerous.
There should there be a label on the outside of our skulls in big red letters –
PELIGROSO!
Maybe then we would pay attention to it.
Creativity is dangerous, but it is everything.
Two children with pasts as dark as they come. Violent. Explosive. A call comes into the hand-phone.
“What? A bank robbery? Monsters everywhere? You need two heroes, Commissioner? Our two finest heroes? Jeeze. Let me see if they’re available.”
I look over to the children, patients in an acute psychiatric hospital.
“Let’s go, Batman!” says one.
“The jet!” yells the other.
The two roar off, leap from the jet, battle the invisible mob of evil, return the stolen loot, and are back within moments.
But the hand-phone rings again. “Another assignment, Commissioner?” Another few hours.
Not a curse word or moment of violence passes between them.
Later, it does. Later, one shoves the other.
“Is that the way heroes act? Are you the same ones who just saved the city like 500 times together?”
The kids look sheepishly away.
“Shhh! What’s that?”
The kids look around, unsure.
“There’s something at the end of the hallway. I know it… No! It can’t be! How did he escape? Let’s go a different way… Unless…Unless the heroes are available. They’re the only ones who can defeat Lord Hideous.”
And there they are. Instantly. Goodbye, Lord Hideous!
I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries. (Frank Capra)
There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because 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 be lost. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open…whether you choose to take an art class, keep a journal, record your dreams, dance your story, or live each day from your own creative source, above all else, keep the channel open!~Martha Graham
It’s all about the audience ~ Stuart Nager
Well, I sometimes have to disagree with Mr. Nager, but I understand what he means. There is a symbiotic coexistence often happening in the arts, and in teaching/leading/guiding. A lot of it IS creative/ego driven, doing what we do as a MUST DO for ourselves. Then, there is the part that is fed by what we get off of our audiences. Applause feels good, appreciations of our work feels good. I’m not going to lie to you: it’s a part of it.
The other side of it is for our audience, performance, exhibit, classroom: it’s for them, in many cases primarily for them. Otherwise, why produce something and then show it?
Couple of things that strike me:
In the classroom: It is ALL ABOUT THE KIDS (yes, back to shouting). Period. If we TA’s (and teachers) are not there for the kids, then we are not there for the right reason. A paycheck is one thing, and if you are only there for a paycheck, please…don’t be there. Go. Find something else. You are not working towards the betterment of the child. Scoot. I’m deadly serious here. If you think the classroom is solely for YOUR betterment: get thee gone!!
Allow your audience to find their own interpretations and connections, and be cool if it differs from what you intended. (I’m still learning this one; I know it, and sometimes I have to stop myself from saying “huh?”). I don’t care what art discipline you work from.
Let go of the self doubt. Once you put it out there, it’s out there. Live with it, listen to any feedback…and move on. Good or “bad”…move on. There is always a next one. The only time there isn’t is when you’re dead, or cognitively/physically unable.
Enjoy what you are doing.
Think of yourself as a professional, no matter if you get paid or not, or how little, and you’ll act like a professional.
Smiles and laughter are amazing gifts to give and get.
Enjoy what you’re doing (hmm..echo?)
“I believe arts education in music, theater, dance, and the visual arts is one of the most creative ways we have to find the gold that is buried just beneath the surface. They (children) have an enthusiasm for life a spark of creativity, and vivid imaginations that need training – training that prepares them to become confident young men and women.” – Richard W. Riley, Former US Secretary of Education
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. John Steinbeck
Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact. William S. Burroughs
Artists are traditionally resistant to labels. Patti Smith
Artists have really never had any representation on Capitol Hill, because it’s not the nature of the artist to join together and make a unified presence. Those days kind of died in the ’60s. Sheryl Crow
All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso
All children are artists, yet we often try to take it away from them in the pursuit of testing…I’m sorry, education. Until they are told, in one way or the other, they can’t dance well, or sing well, or draw well, or tell a story/act well…well, they will just DO IT. They don’t start off with the negative filters that destroy them along the way.
I integrated all different art forms in the theatre classes. I looked to have the students explore, for themselves, how to find their artistic voice. Too many times, a student would tear up a piece of artwork. “Why?” would come out of my mouth. “Because it’s no good” or variations of that. Looking at the unfinished work, judgments in this child’s mind were already formed. Where it came from was beyond my scope most times. Seeing these 500+ students only once a week, for 45 minutes at a clip, did not afford me the full in-depth deciphering of their psyches.
Sometimes I would notice that the child would look at what someone else was doing and immediately stop. Rip, crumple, toss, and then maybe a hissy fit. Did this student have his work compared to another piece of art, directly or indirectly? Jealousy? Fear of failure? Ridicule lessons in the classroom or at home, or both? Honestly, most times I could not tell you. I’d let the classroom teacher know when she/he would pick the class up, but more often than not they dismissed it with the “oh, you know how ______ is.”
When does the toddler who throws him/herself into their art become their own worst critic?
As to adults, why do many of us turn away from embracing an art form that we love? I often tell any class I lead, no matter what age level this very simple thing: When we create in art, there is no wrong answer, and there should be no judgment of what or how we do it. We CAN all sing, paint, dance, act, tell a story, play a musical instrument (yes, you can do percussion). If we compare it (See rule #1 above) to someone who either has practiced their artistic craft for years upon years (or are just artistic savants), well…we just do ourselves a disservice.
So what if you’re off key, can’t draw a straight line, are a klutz. If you love it, DO IT. Just do it. Do it for the love and happiness you feel when you let yourself be free. I can sing, but my voice is not trained like it used to be and I go off key a lot. My art is mainly doodles. My music is percussive or on a kazoo. My artistic language comes out in the written and spoken word, but I do sing, I do dance, I do play music, and I do art.
YOU DO ART…All children are artists. We’re still those same children, but the art has been beaten out of you. Take it back.
Give it back. Give the arts back to the schools.
The reason actors, artists, writers have agents is because we’ll do it for nothing.
I met Lou many years ago, at the height of when The Brothers Grinn were making a name for ourselves. Lou was already a well known and well loved storyteller, and our paths crossed on the circuit a number of times. Always gracious, always friendly, it felt like I had known him for years.
One memory I have: we were sharing performing space, different times of course, at a festival in Croton-On-The-Hudson. I remember getting my Grinns in order (we wore costumes, and changing was always a hassle in outdoor venues). I got to watch an entire set of Lou’s while the others were getting ready, and in all honesty, I was as mesmerized with his performance as the children. When a performer has the audience in his hands…man, there is nothing better. Lou had the audience then, and even over the years when I’ve run into him, he ALWAYS has the audience with him.
So…it is my pleasure: Mr. Lou Del Bianco:
Can you tell the readers about yourself?
First, I want to thank you, Stu, for asking me to do this interview and also for the wonderful work you are doing as an arts-in-education advocate. Not to mention your blog and the fact that you use it as a forum to celebrate other artists! Now, here we go.
I was born in Port Chester, NY- a working class village 40 min. north of Manhattan. Being the only son in a family of six girls, I was a serious introvert who had to develop my own identity. My sister bought me a tape recorder and in the privacy of wherever I could find it, I created a world of characters, some of whom I still draw inspiration from today. Of course, I would NEVER share these recording with anyone but myself. Fast forward to 10 grade at Port Chester High School and I summon the courage to audition for the school play. I’m hooked. All that artistic expression has been liberated. It was then that I knew that I wanted to be performer. After attending Fordham University, I attended Herbert Berghof Studios and pursued a career in musical theater. After five years, I started working with children in an after school program and fell in love with young audiences. As an artist in residence in the Port Chester Schools, I was able to create educational one man shows ranging from Hans Christian Andersen to Abraham Lincoln. I have also released six cds that cover a variety of subjects like multi culturalism, childhood memories and character education. Five of these releases are parent’s choice winners I’ve taught theater and storytelling in a variety places for people of all ages. My latest venture is a one man show about my grandfather, Luigi Del Bianco, who was the chief carver on Mount Rushmore. My web site www.findlou.com
Why storytelling? What drew you to make this your life?
After attending Fordham University, I went to acting school. I decided to try my hand at musical theater and pounded the pavement for 5 years. This resulted in some work and some connections, but I always ran into the same problem. My physical look, ethnicity, vocal range and talent rarely came together for most parts. The rejection was far outweighing the acceptance. It was at this time that my wife Camille was running after school programs for children. Camille was, is, and always will be my muse and artistic mentor. She asked me to give it a shot. One of the requirements for working in the program was to come up with a story each week. While I was preparing my first story, it occurred to me that I could act out the characters and use the acting techniques of conflict and intention to bring the story to life. The response from the kids was magical. I realized that I didn’t have to audition anymore and try to fit myself in to someone else’s character. I could use my own unique talents and physical type to create my own characters. And since there are so many ways to tell a story, I had found my own way.
I saw your amazing show “In the Shadow of the Mountain.” Can you tell us about this, and your process in it’s creation?
Thank you, Stu. I appreciated it when you came to the show.
My grandfather, Luigi Del Bianco, was the chief carver on Mount Rushmore and never got any credit. Most publications don’t even mention his name. After years of research in the Library of Congress, my Uncle Caesar and I were able to prove that Luigi was not only important to the work but vital. The designer, Gutzon Borglum, would have to stop all work on the heads when my grandfather quit. I mean, my grandfather was the only trained artist besides Borglum on the whole project. So you can imagine how valuable he was! All of these revelations inspired my uncle and I to try to give him the credit he deserves. After my uncle passed away in 2009, I decided to create a web site (www.luigimountrushmore.com) and a one man show. I focused on the Library of Congress documents and the 1 year when Luigi bought his family out to South Dakota to live while he carved. The show is one part lecture, one part storytelling and one part theater with authentic photos that really bring everything to life. I also get a chance to “create a character”: my grandfather. That in itself was a very powerful experience.
You do a number of one man shows, as well as traditional storytelling. What drew you to Abe Lincoln and Hans Christian Andersen?
When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for the movie: “Hans Christian Andersen” to come on TV. I was in love with the way Danny Kaye portrayed Hans. I also loved to sing and adored of all of those wonderful Frank Loesser songs. I decided (to myself, of course) that I would one day BE Hans Christian Andersen. When my wife and I were trying to figure out what my first one man show would be, Camille remembered when I told her about my love for Danny Kaye and asked, “Why don’t you do that as a show?” Camille wrote the script, her sister Donna provided the accompaniment and I played Hans and got to sing those songs and introduce them to a whole new generation of kids. And 29 years later, I still am doing it!
Now onto Abe. Another movie I loved as a kid was “Abe Lincoln in Illinois”. I really related to Raymond Massey’s portrayal and felt a kinship with the tall, lanky and shy Abe Lincoln. Years later, between 2002-2009, I lost 4 very close family members, one right after the other. At that time I was performing a show about my childhood and it was getting more and more difficult to do that. I needed desperately to go in a different direction and create a show that was not so personal. One night TCM was showing “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” and I thought, “Ah ha!” Thus started my path to combining history with my storytelling.
What has been, to you, your greatest artistic success?
There are two.
When I was running an after school program in the late 80s, a boy told me about how intimated he was of his father. I then improvised a story of an experience I had with my dad, and the flood gates opened. From that one moment, I was able to write 50 songs and stories from my childhood about everything from the first day of school, a crush on a girl to an obsession with gum. We all have stuff from our childhood we have to work out, and I was fortunate enough to do it artistically, and I didn’t have pay a therapist! Most of the artists in my life really know how to express their humanity. As result, they inspire others. I’m very proud of my personal mythology and feel blessed when I get an email from a child who tells me they were profoundly affected by one of my stories. I am also thrilled that after 23 years as a professional storyteller, I am able to use my talents and abilities to tell my grandfather’s story. It’s good karma, I tell ya!
On July 3rd, I had the honor and privilege of performing my one man show at Mount Rushmore. I brought my grandfather to life in the very studio where he and designer Gutzon Borglum spent many hours developing the plan to execute the carving. It was nothing short of a dream come true.
What is next for Lou Del Bianco?
Most of my focus is on my grandfather’s story. I wrote a screenplay last year and have been shopping it around. Anyone out there have any movie contacts? My wife Camille and I just finished the first draft of an illustrated book based on the screenplay and we’re very excited about it. I am also in talks with Mount Rushmore about a permanent Luigi Del Bianco exhibit devoted to his great contributions to an iconic sculpture. I’m very confident it will happen!
My goal is for everyone to know that my grandfather was an Italian Immigrant who helped carve our nations’ greatest memorial. I also want Americans to have a different image in their minds when they think of the contribution of Italians in this country. It’s a lofty goal but I’m certainly going to try. Take that, Jersey Shore!
If you could have a summit with world leaders, and they HAD to answer your questions, what two or three questions would you want answered most?
•I feel like a finalist in the Miss America Pageant! This is a tough one. I’m probably going to be accused of being a conspiracy theorist, but the main questions I would ask are these: Do the people really have a say in the choices our governments make? Are we all just at the mercy of the globalist power base that makes and breaks presidents, economies and societies as a whole? Ouch!
Is there anything else you’d like to let us know? Future gigs? Records/other publishing?
Same as question # 6
This was a pleasure, and I wish Lou all the success he so richly deserves.
I hope you are enjoying these interviews. I will be reaching out to other storytellers/performers in the coming months. Most will be local greater NYC artists, but that does not hinder where I can go.
Do you have a Storyteller/performing artist you love? Tell me about him/her, contact info and such, and let’s see where the universe takes us.
Comments are always welcome, to me &/or to Lou. Thanks.
Prospero: Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air: And like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.
My photos did not come out well at all: for some reason, the inner workings didn’t work too well, so…unless I get more photos from the production, I will have to make do with what is above. My apologies, but what you see up top: on the left, my Pucks (six in all, ranging in age from 7 to 13); on the right, my Helena & Hermia (back to back), with Demetrius to the right. Theseus is in the far background.
Helena:
“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.”
One of the first things said after the curtain call (NOT by me) was: “Look at what we accomplished!”
NO…look at what the kids accomplished!
It’s all about them, not the adults, who bickered, got in each others ways, made scapegoats, argued, ignored, interrupted, did not work as a team with the production staff, the production staff who did not work with others in the production staff…it’s not about the adults. The kids either get it or they don’t, and in this case…
They got it. The 44 kids, ranging in age from 7 to 13, DID get it, and they did present SHAKESPEARE!! Whether they knew it or not, they enhanced their literary knowledge, were not dumbed down to, and they rose to the challenge. They spoke in iambic pentameter as LANGUAGE, learned comic and dramatic timing, presentation, stage and life skills, and so much more in a relatively short period of time.
Just so you know, their first performance? After it, I couldn’t talk. I teared up and cried from the pride I had at what they had accomplished. I was SO touched by what they put out on stage for their first paying audience. They earned their applause and laughter all the way. It wasn’t the Parent’s audience…you know, where no matter what happens the parents will applaud and love it. This was an audience of other camps, whose campers showed them the work before them was worthy of laughter and applause.
Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. William Shakespeare
There were moments and aspects of this production that I will never forget:
The young man who played Bottom WAS Bottom, from the audition to the final performance. If anything, he honed his comic timing and acting presence to a fine art, and I truly to hope to see him continue in the craft. Yes, I did tell him so. I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed with a young actor as I was with him, except for…
The young woman who played Oberon: yes, YOUNG WOMAN. 9 years old, and just blew me away! Barely 4 feet tall, what she put into the performance was simply mesmerizing. She deserved this part, earned it, grew into it fully and expertly. I also expect great things out of her.
The two female leads (Hermia & Helena) are truly gifted young actresses. Both blessed with amazing voices (the musical director and they created character development songs that ADDED so wonderfully to the show), they also grew over the six weeks into their roles.
The final rehearsal for the mechanicals “Show Within A Show” had all of us laughing so hard. Our Demetrius was crying with laughter from their antics. None of us could keep it together: they were just so over the top funny. I wish we could have recorded THAT for a blooper type reel. Truly: six young people being SO amazingly nutty AND ON TARGET! I wish you could have experienced it with us. Writing about it just can not give it justice.
With a great Stage Combat artist, we were able to have our Lysander and Demetrius fight not only with words over Helena but with staves as well. We talked it over, and then when I first saw it in actuality…it was a Wow moment, and it was for the audience. Excellent timing and a great addition to the show.
The Fairy Lullaby
The Pucks, when they actually began to really work as ONE PUCK, when it finally clicked for them.
The Finale: after Puck’s final speech, I wanted something hot and on fire, with an entire cast blow out (before the curtain call). While I did not really get what I wanted (a friend who came to TWO of the performances said “it was nice” but…nice was not what I wanted), it still was a great button to the show, and the audience dug it (little did they know that it was Peter Gabriel’s “The Rhythm of the Heat” that got them going).
So…I am very glad to have had the opportunity to finally direct most of my artistic version of one of my favorite of Mr. Shakespeare’s plays. I truly did care and love most of my cast (even if they gave me the heebie-jeebies with their non-stop talking and antics). There are many things I could vent about here, but I won’t. In the end, the play is the thing, all the world’s a stage, and I’m done with this and moving onto my next project, as it should be.
Puck. If we shadows have offended, Think but this and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends. [Exit.
–William Shakespeare
(*Special Thanks to Mr. Derek Galloway for the three pics inserted into the essay)
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date . . . .”
Well, for me, Summer could trip away and make no stay…especially not the heat we’ve had this past week (and are still experiencing). The heat has definitely affected everyone’s mood and output this week, even with all the progress the kids have made.
“Since 1978, Materials for the Arts has provided thousands of New York City’s arts and cultural organizations, public schools and community arts programs with the supplies they need to run and expand their programs. Materials are gathered from companies and individuals that no longer need them and redistributed to the artists and educators that do. In the process, hundreds of tons are removed from the waste stream every year and kept out of landfills, helping to sustain our environment and promote reuse and waste reduction. MFTA helps artists realize their visions, provides students with a richer educational experience and furnishes businesses and individuals with a simple and efficient way to enhance the cultural life of their city. The success of MFTA and its programming would not be possible without the participation of material donors throughout the metropolitan area. If you are interested in donating your unwanted reusable items to MFTA please visit our Donor page or call 718-729-3001 and press 1 for “Materials Donation”.
At this moment, my costuming costs are as close to zero as possible. There will be some fill ins, I’m sure, and I am not taking into account the salary of the costumer and her assistant.
I picked up some wonderfully vibrant fabric, colorful and light, to go along with the previous fabrics I had “shopped” on a previous visit. Set in Mali, I am excited about the patterns and use of Earth colors that the costumer now has to work with. My cast will be barefoot, which fits both the traditional feel plus the ease of the dances. I have a lot of running, twirling, swirling, foot stomping things planned.
To the right is a picture I found online when I did my Google Images search. When I came across this, I immediately had my Oberon costume, in style if not in actuality. A little more “magical,” this outfit is already close to perfection to me for Oberon. I love the pattern and the flow of the garment. I would only add a bit of green to it, to cement it to the Magic forest, and I need it to capture the idea of Air.
That is how I am seeing this, as I am sure so many others have before: the Royal Court (Humans) are grounded/Earth; Fairy Court are Air; Mechanicals are of the Earth, but deeper and more firmly planted, even in their clowning/Everyman status.
Face Painting & Masks
For the Fairy Court, mainly, I am looking at traditional and tribal face painting to accent the “difference” of the two realms. Yes, again, nothing new, but I’m letting you into my process of total environment.
I’ve been enjoying the research, the “hunting and gathering” of what the production staff will need to help the overall artistic vision come alive. Colors play an important part of all this.
I’ll be using some masks: planned are three and I feel that is all I will do, even though I originally wanted to have more. Less is more, in all things. It should not take away or hide (mask) the work the kids are doing. Their performance should shine through first and foremost. So, Oberon will have a Dragon Mask (I’ve had for years) that stirred my actress (yes, actress) in her physicalization; the Donkey do for Bottom; and a half mask for Thisbe (Flute). All three masks are planned for removal during the show.
More info to come, and that will make up (get it? pun intended) part two of my Tech Titterings.
THREE WEEKS GONE!!! THREE TO GO!!
I’ve said it before, re: me: What fool this mortal be!
How did you trick out your show? What would you like to do?
As a certified Drama teacher in New York State (yes, there IS certification for it!) and as a Teaching Artist, I have used Storytelling in my classrooms for years. It’s part of my creative make-up, and it is part of the performing arts.It has been an extremely effective educational tool, as it has so many levels to reach, engage, and enables good things in students. Storytelling is not just the teacher reading a picture book to the students and then getting some responses from them. It IS part of it, but, again, it’s so much more.
I have seen so much growth over the years in my students, whether I saw them over a long period of time or just once. You can see that moment when they get it, when it really clicks for them. It’s personal growth, life lessons, as well as the educational, assessment driven part of the process.
I’ve used storytelling in my process dramas, in Storytelling Clubs, Festivals in schools, presentations at student conferences, creative writing, and more.
Below are only a few links about Arts In Education. Please take a look and support all Arts-in-Ed.
