Sunday, July 02, 2006
Apologies...Apologies...
...to all who read this blog regularly, or at least try to...I just have not felt at all like writing...and in fact have felt like doing little else but teach at The New School (that program is done with now, and I shall write of it soon), lay in the cool of our wonderful apartment, read as much about Buddhism as I could manage, and watch all the junk television in the world...the settling in of hotter weather seems to have dampened all my other energies! So, rather than fight it, I have succumbed to the laziness of June and simply laid back and enjoyed it...and so I actually have!
Except for a sporadic but nonetheless intense shredding of old papers and tons and tons of old files, all within the cool comfort mentioned above. Both Peter and i have been cleaning our home office space, and as a result, taking out bags and bags and bags of shredded papers, old files and even older notebooks full of past plays, readings and music. We have actually thrown away one entire file cabinet! And all of this cleaning feels so good. So necesary.
THE NEW SCHOOL SUMMER MUSICAL THEATRE IMMERSION: 15 power-packed days of classes, coachings, rehearsals, Master Classes, more coachings, music sessions, more Master Classes...I have to laugh a little: the New School kept advertising it as three weeks of intense workshopping, and it actually was only 15, maybe 16 days...so when some of the kids mentioned this to me, that it really was not as advertised, I mentioned it to Keith Buehl, who headed up the program, and he had this explanation: "well"...he stammered...."it IS three weeks if you count it as 3 Five-Day Workweeks, like, you know, in the busness world!!!" I just did not know how to reply to that amazing discursive thought process....especially since the program was working the kids a solid 6 days in a row anyway, with Broadway shows booked for them on both Sundays to see...so where they had the odd idea that it was actually 3 weeks worth of Immersion... any way you count it, June 12-27 is fifteen days! Not three weeks. BUT, that being said:
The people who enrolled in Immersion did indeed get wonderful special strong exposure to terrific artists and lots of actual hard working hours of practical stuff....Nova Thomas is a great teacher...passionate and deeply caring of the kids she teaches...Diana Wondisford, Co-Head of the Immersion is a deeply caring and articulate woman, with miles of good experience in the world of musical theater...and Chuck Maryan is a man with mileage incomparable, and much to offer the students in many ways....and the advertised Master Class teachers (Judy Kuhn, Donna McKecknie, Don Green, Denis O'Hare, Bill Erwin, to mention just a few), are wonderful teachers and spirits...the 19 Immersionites were fortunate indeed to be with them....I deeply enjoyed teaching each and every one of them as well.
And the final day, during the final 3 hours of what we loosely called Showcase, all 19 of them showed us how they did grow and strengthen in their abilities in the short time we had them to train. It was fun. The scenes I assigned were good...and the final songs were in some cases really wonderful. A couple of them who could hardly stand on a stage came through strongly and we were all so proud.
We all made good use of the 15, maybe 16, days we had together.
I was able to work with the kids deeply on relaxation, how to put the words of a script and song into their bodies, (we used short Shakespeare scenes to do that), and we worked a lot on the personal life histories I had them write, and the songs they chose to go with them, to bring home the feeling of personalization and genuine "showing up" required in all the work. This seemed to open them all up a lot and make for a stronger sort of self-trust. It was great to work that swift, deep way.
I need to think about how and what I wish to blog in the near future. There is alot going on in our lives ,Peter's and mine...and I want to write about that. I'd like to think that those particular topics are interesting to whoever wishes to read this Chance>Change blog.....BUT the initial impulse to write this, after leaving Barter Theatre, was to let people know what theater news was occuring in our lives.....the fact is: not much is happening in the ways we thought it might, and so I wonder what i want the blog to be now that that is so.
What have i ever had to write about except theater?...which leads me to this question: who have i ever thought i was except a woman of the theater. why would anyone be interested in reading about anything else I would have to say?
Perhaps this why Ihave not felt much like writing lately.
I feeo like I am a work in progtress. And there is nothing yet to unveil.
Except for a sporadic but nonetheless intense shredding of old papers and tons and tons of old files, all within the cool comfort mentioned above. Both Peter and i have been cleaning our home office space, and as a result, taking out bags and bags and bags of shredded papers, old files and even older notebooks full of past plays, readings and music. We have actually thrown away one entire file cabinet! And all of this cleaning feels so good. So necesary.
THE NEW SCHOOL SUMMER MUSICAL THEATRE IMMERSION: 15 power-packed days of classes, coachings, rehearsals, Master Classes, more coachings, music sessions, more Master Classes...I have to laugh a little: the New School kept advertising it as three weeks of intense workshopping, and it actually was only 15, maybe 16 days...so when some of the kids mentioned this to me, that it really was not as advertised, I mentioned it to Keith Buehl, who headed up the program, and he had this explanation: "well"...he stammered...."it IS three weeks if you count it as 3 Five-Day Workweeks, like, you know, in the busness world!!!" I just did not know how to reply to that amazing discursive thought process....especially since the program was working the kids a solid 6 days in a row anyway, with Broadway shows booked for them on both Sundays to see...so where they had the odd idea that it was actually 3 weeks worth of Immersion... any way you count it, June 12-27 is fifteen days! Not three weeks. BUT, that being said:
The people who enrolled in Immersion did indeed get wonderful special strong exposure to terrific artists and lots of actual hard working hours of practical stuff....Nova Thomas is a great teacher...passionate and deeply caring of the kids she teaches...Diana Wondisford, Co-Head of the Immersion is a deeply caring and articulate woman, with miles of good experience in the world of musical theater...and Chuck Maryan is a man with mileage incomparable, and much to offer the students in many ways....and the advertised Master Class teachers (Judy Kuhn, Donna McKecknie, Don Green, Denis O'Hare, Bill Erwin, to mention just a few), are wonderful teachers and spirits...the 19 Immersionites were fortunate indeed to be with them....I deeply enjoyed teaching each and every one of them as well.
And the final day, during the final 3 hours of what we loosely called Showcase, all 19 of them showed us how they did grow and strengthen in their abilities in the short time we had them to train. It was fun. The scenes I assigned were good...and the final songs were in some cases really wonderful. A couple of them who could hardly stand on a stage came through strongly and we were all so proud.
We all made good use of the 15, maybe 16, days we had together.
I was able to work with the kids deeply on relaxation, how to put the words of a script and song into their bodies, (we used short Shakespeare scenes to do that), and we worked a lot on the personal life histories I had them write, and the songs they chose to go with them, to bring home the feeling of personalization and genuine "showing up" required in all the work. This seemed to open them all up a lot and make for a stronger sort of self-trust. It was great to work that swift, deep way.
I need to think about how and what I wish to blog in the near future. There is alot going on in our lives ,Peter's and mine...and I want to write about that. I'd like to think that those particular topics are interesting to whoever wishes to read this Chance>Change blog.....BUT the initial impulse to write this, after leaving Barter Theatre, was to let people know what theater news was occuring in our lives.....the fact is: not much is happening in the ways we thought it might, and so I wonder what i want the blog to be now that that is so.
What have i ever had to write about except theater?...which leads me to this question: who have i ever thought i was except a woman of the theater. why would anyone be interested in reading about anything else I would have to say?
Perhaps this why Ihave not felt much like writing lately.
I feeo like I am a work in progtress. And there is nothing yet to unveil.
Comments:
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Cleaning away unnecessary and broken things is the first step in feng shui! So by ridding your apartment of the bad ch'i you have now cleared the way for better energy flow! Or so I am reading recently... staying in your buddah room, I believe, has moved me to begin studying feng shui and Asian design.
And anyway, I see you as much more than a woman of theatre. Sure that's a huge component of your personality that I see, but you are a mentor, teacher, a very caring person, just to name a few. And whatever you choose to blog about will be interesting, because you are an interesting person, and I think the people who read this blog mainly read because they care about you and want to see how you're doing. So I look forward to the next post! E-mail me, and have a great 4th!
-Chase
And anyway, I see you as much more than a woman of theatre. Sure that's a huge component of your personality that I see, but you are a mentor, teacher, a very caring person, just to name a few. And whatever you choose to blog about will be interesting, because you are an interesting person, and I think the people who read this blog mainly read because they care about you and want to see how you're doing. So I look forward to the next post! E-mail me, and have a great 4th!
-Chase
Evalyn,
We are all works in progress forever, I think. It is the only way to be...
I want to thank you for the wonderful guidance, and unending support you have given to me and my fellow classmates. I feel blessed to have studied with you, if only for the short time it was. And, I feel as though I've gotten a "Forever" advocate in you. The "immersion" has changed my life, due to teachers like you and Nova, and I could never do enough to thank you.
Always,
Kate
We are all works in progress forever, I think. It is the only way to be...
I want to thank you for the wonderful guidance, and unending support you have given to me and my fellow classmates. I feel blessed to have studied with you, if only for the short time it was. And, I feel as though I've gotten a "Forever" advocate in you. The "immersion" has changed my life, due to teachers like you and Nova, and I could never do enough to thank you.
Always,
Kate
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