Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Today Is My Birthday
.....and all the Happy Birthday greetings i've received on Facebook, without the day even really starting yet, remind me how rich and complex my life has been , so far. Facebook is a modern miracle ,isn't it? The electronic gathering of years' memories, forgotten friends, moments thought lost in time forever, only to have them re-surface in a very immediate, colorful, present manner: Facebook is our true commune, our local village, our campfire....
Pretty stunning ,really, when you stop to think about it: to be able to hear from so many people so instantaneously, cutting across years of forgotten time....it's a mere hop, skip and jump to actual atomic travel: i wish I were at Sea Ranch, and POOF!!! I'm there in an eye's blink! At last, no more need to board an airplane...just think it, and you're there! Of course, if I am scared of plane flight, i can't imagine I'd actually trust all my personal molecules to get anywhere at the same time....imagine losing that luggage??? But I'd be willing to give it a try if it happens in my lifetime!
Lifetime: the time a life spans for a single human being. It's not that I feel I am getting old...that's never bothered me..it's that running out of time thing that gives me pause. Each superb experience I've been having in my life these past years makes me realize how powerful this living is, and if it's this good this late in my life, I must trust it will only get better as I continue to gather more wisdom and experience, including the gliding into the last quarter of my life: aging. And when I think of it like that - trusting and anticipating with joy the adventures ahead - I am fine. Very fine indeed.
My Barter Adult Acting Class alone is enough to give me all the joy I need for now: it continues to be one of the better adventures of my creative life. We have just begun the 4th session of it - with a core of devoted regulars surrounded by gifted newcomers - and the waiting list continues to grow. Clearly, there is a need in this community for a class like this: where men and women with a love for theatre, an idea about learning how to act in front of an audience, a passion for live expression of this sort, can go on a regular basis and work it out. Each class gets better and better. More surprises each time, better work each time, more commitment each time from more and more students. I truly love this class.
It gives me back incalculably, more than I could ever give to these students. Odd how the Education component of my Barter life has taken precedence over pretty much all else...i mean, I am enjoying the process of directing TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE - Gannon M. and Danny V. are gifted and good men to work with - and the process of dissecting, discussing and forming the event has been stimulating. The show will be good. I am reasonably sure the audiences will receive something valuable from this production. THey will be moved to laughter and to many cleansing tears, no doubt. It's a powerful piece of theatre. But, I am consumed with getting Spring and Summer classes up and running...challenged by the possibilities of how to bring more theatre education to more and more people of all ages. And,so far, each experiment in scheduling has been successful. Having a devoted small core of teachers at this point only helps make it all easier, especially since they are all such good teachers, as well as devoted people. And so my Outreach work has taken true precedence over what used to be the core of my life: acting and directing. This continues to surprise me , strangely, because I've thought of myself as an actor for so many years, but it also feels totally right and natural for this time in my life: the next level, if you will.
Soon, I'll have to start rehearsals for the shows RIck has cast me in for the remainder of this season, and that will be an interesting shift of energies. It will certainly be a drain on the number of hours I will be able to spend at my Outreach desk...but, well, we'll see how that goes. There'll probably be a lot of changes happening , and I anticipate all of them with excitement - some fear - but mostly happiness, as the sun rises on this day of my birth: Happy Birthday to me! And to all of you, I send love.
Pretty stunning ,really, when you stop to think about it: to be able to hear from so many people so instantaneously, cutting across years of forgotten time....it's a mere hop, skip and jump to actual atomic travel: i wish I were at Sea Ranch, and POOF!!! I'm there in an eye's blink! At last, no more need to board an airplane...just think it, and you're there! Of course, if I am scared of plane flight, i can't imagine I'd actually trust all my personal molecules to get anywhere at the same time....imagine losing that luggage??? But I'd be willing to give it a try if it happens in my lifetime!
Lifetime: the time a life spans for a single human being. It's not that I feel I am getting old...that's never bothered me..it's that running out of time thing that gives me pause. Each superb experience I've been having in my life these past years makes me realize how powerful this living is, and if it's this good this late in my life, I must trust it will only get better as I continue to gather more wisdom and experience, including the gliding into the last quarter of my life: aging. And when I think of it like that - trusting and anticipating with joy the adventures ahead - I am fine. Very fine indeed.
My Barter Adult Acting Class alone is enough to give me all the joy I need for now: it continues to be one of the better adventures of my creative life. We have just begun the 4th session of it - with a core of devoted regulars surrounded by gifted newcomers - and the waiting list continues to grow. Clearly, there is a need in this community for a class like this: where men and women with a love for theatre, an idea about learning how to act in front of an audience, a passion for live expression of this sort, can go on a regular basis and work it out. Each class gets better and better. More surprises each time, better work each time, more commitment each time from more and more students. I truly love this class.
It gives me back incalculably, more than I could ever give to these students. Odd how the Education component of my Barter life has taken precedence over pretty much all else...i mean, I am enjoying the process of directing TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE - Gannon M. and Danny V. are gifted and good men to work with - and the process of dissecting, discussing and forming the event has been stimulating. The show will be good. I am reasonably sure the audiences will receive something valuable from this production. THey will be moved to laughter and to many cleansing tears, no doubt. It's a powerful piece of theatre. But, I am consumed with getting Spring and Summer classes up and running...challenged by the possibilities of how to bring more theatre education to more and more people of all ages. And,so far, each experiment in scheduling has been successful. Having a devoted small core of teachers at this point only helps make it all easier, especially since they are all such good teachers, as well as devoted people. And so my Outreach work has taken true precedence over what used to be the core of my life: acting and directing. This continues to surprise me , strangely, because I've thought of myself as an actor for so many years, but it also feels totally right and natural for this time in my life: the next level, if you will.
Soon, I'll have to start rehearsals for the shows RIck has cast me in for the remainder of this season, and that will be an interesting shift of energies. It will certainly be a drain on the number of hours I will be able to spend at my Outreach desk...but, well, we'll see how that goes. There'll probably be a lot of changes happening , and I anticipate all of them with excitement - some fear - but mostly happiness, as the sun rises on this day of my birth: Happy Birthday to me! And to all of you, I send love.
Labels: Adult Classes, Facebook, Writing
Sunday, April 11, 2010
One Fine Day
...I am going to lay all my dozens and dozens of journal volumes out in front of me - stretched out on a long wooden table, in a room with lots and lots of oceanside sunlight - and i will begin reading what I've written.
...I will use a brightly colored marker to circle the lines or sections that first leap out at me as most resonant, and I will use those lines and sections as a starting point for something I want to say to the world at large.
....i will take stock and measure of my life, as I wrote it through out all these years, and i will find the core of who I have been, and i will introduce it to who I am in that moment.
...I will bless my life - and others' - by remembering.
...I will write and write, and in the act of writing, I will create the benediction that will give my consciousness a mission and a meaning.
....I will not judge...i will only allow.
....I will celebrate with memory, and bless with language.
....I will luxuriate in all i have known, and hunger for all there is left to learn.
....I will be happy, exercise daily, and eat wisely.
...I will be grateful for all the love so freely given me by so many.
...I am there now, even as I dream it.
...I will use a brightly colored marker to circle the lines or sections that first leap out at me as most resonant, and I will use those lines and sections as a starting point for something I want to say to the world at large.
....i will take stock and measure of my life, as I wrote it through out all these years, and i will find the core of who I have been, and i will introduce it to who I am in that moment.
...I will bless my life - and others' - by remembering.
...I will write and write, and in the act of writing, I will create the benediction that will give my consciousness a mission and a meaning.
....I will not judge...i will only allow.
....I will celebrate with memory, and bless with language.
....I will luxuriate in all i have known, and hunger for all there is left to learn.
....I will be happy, exercise daily, and eat wisely.
...I will be grateful for all the love so freely given me by so many.
...I am there now, even as I dream it.
