First things first. Create a ritual, practice it, rework it,pay attention to it. Never take it for granted. The circle-clap before and after each gathering is so many things at once. It’s the fellowship of players. Actors standing together in a circle is as old as the hills. It’s an act of hope, solidarity, forgiveness, acceptance and love. It’s also a tradition, uniformity, consistency and focus.
The gathering of actors, the circle righted the room. The taking of hands, holding them, pausing,looking around seeing who’s there. Recognition. Being seen. Being held and feeling all that stuff. Being present. It’s an act of trust and faith. I reached out to you,and you take my hand. It’s a start,isn’t it? There’s a lot of responsibility in that.‘All right let’s get into a circle...Take a look around and see who is here today.’ (Speaking in stage directions) OK, let’s get going. One, two, three. Clap.
A thunder strike, a clarion call. “Start walkin’, no talkin.’ The ritual begins.Actors moving through space together and separate. Kindred spirits. Storytellers. Apprentice. Life bringers. Walking in a liberty they don’t fully understand.The rehearsal hall, chances are not yours, like the theater is a sacred space of similar conditions.
Some rooms open to you, some are like an old friend, some simply make do. The rehearsal space probably costs dearly, someone cleans it, sweeps it, etc. Pitch in,be disciplined.Rule number#1 be of service always in all ways.Rule #2 find the love.Each gathering is a lesson. Each rehearsal a performance. Each performance a classroom.Each class in turn is a rehearsal for greater things.
There will be a time when all of this is no more.Approaching the seemingly mundane tasks with gratitude, if possible, keeps me aligned with my purpose. I have learned that I alone stand in the way of that purpose.My vanity, fear, resentments, ego and expectations. (Keep adding to the list)Undoubtedly this shades the intent of my teaching and I am responsible for all of it.
The teacher –director has but one job, to direct the attention from one idea to the next. Each idea is a thought, each thought is an action one to the next and on and on and so on.How that works is the whole shootin’ match.Within the attention is the focus. Linking the focus of the attention is the mapping of the journey throughout the story.After all STORY COMES FIRST. (Stay with me, here)
The incomparable Viola Spolin gave us the point of concentration to allow full sensory engagement .In truth Ms.Spolin gave us so much more. She is an American icon whose insights are mystical and transcendent. Without question one of the most important theater artists of the 20thcentury and beyond. “With intuitive awareness comes a feeling of certainty”. Her work offered me hope and confidence as I faked my way along. Her books baffled me,they were complex, simple, exact and immeasurably respectful of the young artist. I was a young artist myself clutching desperately to her text“Improvisation for the theater”. However, I quickly learned that you can’t teach from a book (dang) and teaching is not about the lesson. In short, her shit blew my mind. Convincing me that I was nothing but a fraud.
Viola Spolin could see actors climbing trees bounding branch to branch speaking words like so many leaves. The tree of course is story. The branches are characters played by you and me joyous and desperate to connect to the source, The roots of our collective consciousness. Our higher selves.
I went to an all-boys high school. In my junior year I took a drama class, 20+ guys in the class. It had this amazing energy surrounding the activities, chaotic, focused, silly and serious. High expectations were included after all this was a Jesuit school. I quickly understood that there is no hiding in a drama class, no opting out. We were teammates playing so many crazy games straight out of the Spolin book.
Years later I would come back to these same exercises tweaked a little here and there. This was perhaps my birth as a drama teacher starting in 1971.The drama class must be loose and exact, forgiving and demanding, organic and organized. But I’m getting way ahead of things.
Working from memory is a tricky deal.
The things that stick out, people, places, moments, it’s like looking at a yearbook photo chances are it is staged. It took a long, long time for my philosophies and pedagogues to formulate. I was always chasing after myself to the next project. Has anybody seen my keys?The schoolhouse is an amazing place to be. Everybody wants everything to go well. Everybody makes the same mistakes over and over, the same issues, the same joys and successes, the same lessons to be learned.
At the same time, I changed, the kids changed, times changed.Overtime, I felt I was in my natural skin while teaching. I had classes that were simply a blast.I wore my imperfections on my sleeve or at least they were easily found in my backpack along with my pettiness, self-centeredness, regret and host of character flaws.Along the way,I discovered that teaching is belief, surrender, commitment, truth, honesty, willingness, humility, reflection, amendment, atonement and service.It’s also the opposite of everything on that list if you are not paying attention.
Teaching is an imperfect craft that places my character traits on full display, especially the ones that simply get in the way.They need to be worked on far more than subject matter. The more I remove self -assertion from the process the closer I’m getting to the truth and can give honest service. Otherwise,all I’m doing is running downhill in the rain mimicking fear-based toxic traditions of power.
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