Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Post Mortem The New School MT Immersion !!!
...core faculty met last night at the wonderful Diane Wondisford's apartment...there we were, our doughty little group of dedicated core faculty: the brilliant Nova Thomas, the wise and dear Chuck Maryan, the energetic and creative Keith Buehl, Diane (ever patient and focused) and me....some 6 weeks after the end of the Musical Theater Immersion this past June, ready to discuss it, dissect it, analyze, and visualize its future....a great meeting. A productive meeeting.
The thing I was most pleased about was: little annoying strings that were left hanging got tied up and cleared away...vague disagreements about procedure, small discomforts about time and schedule, varying points of view about approaches to the students,etc...all bases were covered, and as a true testament to the group, the result was a larger sense of ourselves as a core teaching group, a stronger dedication to next summer's possible program, and a genuine sense that we did indeed accompllsh something this summer, on our first outing of the Immersion!!!
Looking back, and remembering what the group of students was like at the start of the 15 days, we all were pretty much amazed by what was presented at the finish of those days: a group of confident, focused, wiser and far more interesting performers than when they began....we all sat there that final day, I recall, either awash in tears, or stunned into a sort of awed silence, as scene by scene, song by song, they got up and bravely showed themselves to us...and that was no illusion, no mere trick of our self-congratulatory egos...no....those students had palpably grown and improved...they had indeed "shown up" and we were thrilled.And grateful.
Keith kept using the word "magic" at the meeting last night..well, yes...indeed.
Diane is more a fan of the "immersion" process than ever before.
And the other three of us felt deep comraderie, because we knew how delicate the teaching balance was between the three of us, made strong by the mutual trust and respect we do all feel for each other. The mere "getting along" of three strong creative experienced egos is, in itself, no small task....and the open-ness, the willingness to learn from each other is rare. All these elements were present and, no doubt, partially responsible for the end product of this virgin voyage!
We will do some "homework". then meet in another week or so to continue discussions.
Peter is doing some work with Mike S.and Brent, downtown, at their studio...I have a day to focus on NYU business and go to the gym! These August weeks are a blessing. And I am treating them like a true vacstion, and may spend a deal of the next few weeks Upstate at the House.Once classes begin, this will not be as easy to do.
GodDaughter Evalyn: when does school start for you in Minneapolis and what grade will you be in? Do you like school? What do you like best about it amd what subject is your very favorite? Do you have lots of new school clothes for the Fall? I used to love to shop for new things to start school with)....a habit that has never quite gone away!
Another journal excerpt about San Francisco:
"True, our days here at Sea Ranch have been idyloic`--- vista, ocean horizon, birds, deer, quail,sea lions and seals, all possible life abounding.....Sea Ranch, an actual
working Ranch,has large herds of sheep and goats in certain fields...so bucoloc and lively...so natural...And the houses must be restricted to building materials of a certain tecture and color range, because the brown,tan,ecru,muted sea green, and cream colors of the country and sea sides are adhered to religiously, giving the entire place a stunningly calm, monochromtic pallet, wonderful, subtle and soothing to the eye."
and...
"Splashes of color are sharply provided by flowering vegetation, such as deep yellow spots of sea dandelion and succulent shocking pink blooms of what look like jade plant...In fact, eyes are constantly entertained by what surrounds: wind-twisted, low-lying groves of evergreen trees, their trunks looking like some primordial and mythic creatures in their sea-washed whiteness: forests of weir! Gorgeous cool tunnels of interlacing low brancehes...one needs to bend over to walk under and through them along the seashore path...cool hide-aways...tree homes for lost sea sprites and their ambling human admirers...perfect little tree-shaded coves in which to make love and sing plaintive sea roundelays!"
There is no way for me to adequately express the ways Sea Ranch made me feel.
It was a sublime time.
The thing I was most pleased about was: little annoying strings that were left hanging got tied up and cleared away...vague disagreements about procedure, small discomforts about time and schedule, varying points of view about approaches to the students,etc...all bases were covered, and as a true testament to the group, the result was a larger sense of ourselves as a core teaching group, a stronger dedication to next summer's possible program, and a genuine sense that we did indeed accompllsh something this summer, on our first outing of the Immersion!!!
Looking back, and remembering what the group of students was like at the start of the 15 days, we all were pretty much amazed by what was presented at the finish of those days: a group of confident, focused, wiser and far more interesting performers than when they began....we all sat there that final day, I recall, either awash in tears, or stunned into a sort of awed silence, as scene by scene, song by song, they got up and bravely showed themselves to us...and that was no illusion, no mere trick of our self-congratulatory egos...no....those students had palpably grown and improved...they had indeed "shown up" and we were thrilled.And grateful.
Keith kept using the word "magic" at the meeting last night..well, yes...indeed.
Diane is more a fan of the "immersion" process than ever before.
And the other three of us felt deep comraderie, because we knew how delicate the teaching balance was between the three of us, made strong by the mutual trust and respect we do all feel for each other. The mere "getting along" of three strong creative experienced egos is, in itself, no small task....and the open-ness, the willingness to learn from each other is rare. All these elements were present and, no doubt, partially responsible for the end product of this virgin voyage!
We will do some "homework". then meet in another week or so to continue discussions.
Peter is doing some work with Mike S.and Brent, downtown, at their studio...I have a day to focus on NYU business and go to the gym! These August weeks are a blessing. And I am treating them like a true vacstion, and may spend a deal of the next few weeks Upstate at the House.Once classes begin, this will not be as easy to do.
GodDaughter Evalyn: when does school start for you in Minneapolis and what grade will you be in? Do you like school? What do you like best about it amd what subject is your very favorite? Do you have lots of new school clothes for the Fall? I used to love to shop for new things to start school with)....a habit that has never quite gone away!
Another journal excerpt about San Francisco:
"True, our days here at Sea Ranch have been idyloic`--- vista, ocean horizon, birds, deer, quail,sea lions and seals, all possible life abounding.....Sea Ranch, an actual
working Ranch,has large herds of sheep and goats in certain fields...so bucoloc and lively...so natural...And the houses must be restricted to building materials of a certain tecture and color range, because the brown,tan,ecru,muted sea green, and cream colors of the country and sea sides are adhered to religiously, giving the entire place a stunningly calm, monochromtic pallet, wonderful, subtle and soothing to the eye."
and...
"Splashes of color are sharply provided by flowering vegetation, such as deep yellow spots of sea dandelion and succulent shocking pink blooms of what look like jade plant...In fact, eyes are constantly entertained by what surrounds: wind-twisted, low-lying groves of evergreen trees, their trunks looking like some primordial and mythic creatures in their sea-washed whiteness: forests of weir! Gorgeous cool tunnels of interlacing low brancehes...one needs to bend over to walk under and through them along the seashore path...cool hide-aways...tree homes for lost sea sprites and their ambling human admirers...perfect little tree-shaded coves in which to make love and sing plaintive sea roundelays!"
There is no way for me to adequately express the ways Sea Ranch made me feel.
It was a sublime time.
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