What is your possibility? What is the crossroads where you find yourself at this stage of your life or work in the project around which we are assembled? What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?
Which are very important questions I'm asking myself right now when I'm not crying in my beer or lemongrass tea as the case may be. I really needed to read this post today and have the questions reframed for me because I have been feeling pretty sorry for myself lately and feeling hopeless about so many things both art and life related. So here goes.
My possibility is about changing the model of theater and challenging the idea of the play itself. I've resolved to write my plays as I envision them without care or concern about how or if they'll be produced. It's better that they be written - that they at least exist on paper - we'll see what follows from that. This simple choice has opened up my writing and taken me in directions that over a year ago I couldn't even imagine. My daughter, Vivienne Westwood, and Mary Overlie also provided large amounts of inspiration.
I find myself at a crossroads artistically and personally in that the life I'm living is not supporting me spiritually. In the past couple of days, I've run out of road and am in need of roadside assistance or a brand new map. If it were possible for me to move away from the Bay area I would. I've stayed here five years longer than I wanted. Since it's not possible to leave at the moment, I need to make changes so that I'm living more in line with my values and interests and passions: My family, theater, art, food, and community. I need to find ways to make bring my vision for my life to fruition here before embarking on the next great adventure, big idea - enormous possibility that awaits.
My declaration of possibility is that failure is necessary and important in theater and in adapting/growing as a community. Learning that you can survive and thrive on failure is an important life lesson and it's a good one to get early and often. So to that end I want to start a theater center/artist retreat where artists can fail without the concern of financial loss attached to the commercial model. I am looking for a piece of land with facilities that accommodate my family and artists and has room for large community gatherings. It will need to have space for theaters of a sort - mostly outdoor stages. I like the idea that there are a maybe three flexible, outdoor theater spaces that are not stages in any conventional sense.
I was inspired by this backdrop at a local school. I've been collecting images of evocative spaces and taking pictures of interesting outdoor stages when I see them. I wish I could find a picture of the stage in Washington Park that I took when I was in Portland, OR last September for the PICA Festival. You can kind of get an idea of it from these pictures here and here. But mostly, the stages would be found, the theaters created and if a play wanted to stretch itself across a field or confine itself to a box, it could.
I imagine that there will be down times, where a few artists are there on retreat. In the summer I imagine a month-long intensive with artists and various collaborators getting together for a to experiment and create work.
For the past three years, my son has attended Camp Galileo, a camp that combines art and science. When he was in kindergarten he learned about friction, roller coasters, and Pop Art. He was more engaged in the projects at camp than he'd been all year in school. A parent whose son was also going to the camp laughed at me when I pointed this out - "well, sure, it's camp!" But why can't school be that engaging? Why can't you study physics in kindergarten? You can learn to read from any book. Anyway, this leads to the second part - the community part of my vision.
Part of participation at the center will involve offering camps for children where they can work with artists and create their own plays, films, art installations or whatever else they dream up based on the experiments and themes the artists are working with. I see a review process of some sort where the topics/experiments for the summer are chosen and then a curriculum is put together for the children. The kids would be involved in all aspects of creation. Kids could learn about painting, photography, film-making, animation, music, dance, science, depending on who was going to be at the center at the time. So I'm looking for cross discipline collaboration.
I think involving the children is key to getting the community invested in the project and to creating a supportive, local audience. I want the work with the kids to be integral to what we do and not something that is done in addition to the "real work." I envision that all the work created that month by the children, the participating artists, and the two groups working together would be presented to the community at the end of the month topped off with a big potluck feast where everyone could mingle, talk about and celebrate what's been created.
I realize at this point I'm largely unqualified to embark on this endeavor. I am not lacking in vision, but this is an enormous project that requires a multiplicity of skill sets. Consider this is my pitch for guidance from those who are interested in offering it.
No comments:
Post a Comment