Summer of Theatre

    I've been editing St. Lawrence's graduation for the past five days. I will never write a blog about that. But I do want to share the joke told by one of the honorary degree recipients.

Man: Doctor, I think there's something wrong with me...I think I'm a moth.
Doc: Well, I'm just a general pediatrician, I think you need to see a psychiatrist.
Man: I was on my way to a psychiatrist when I saw the light on in your office...

Drum set noises.

This blog post is about my summer of theatre. Not love. No, no. Not my summer of love.
UNLESS IT'S ABOUT LOVE OF THEATRE!

Drum set noises.

Let's stumble through the summer in order of theatrical experiences.

1. GIA
     At Governor's Institute on the Arts I got to hang out with so many young people that brought with them pocket-fulls, no bucket-fulls of theatre experience. I met the characters they created, heard their stories, watched their physical transformations, heard their voices. I laughed more loudly than appropriate at so many sketches born from collaborative noggins. And I got to play countless improv games with people who think oh-so-much faster than I.

2. Abby Wicker in, "Mauritius" by Theresa Rebeck.
     As always seeing Abby perform in a professional, local theatre is so inspiring. Again, I laughed at inappropriate times, but was also so moved by each character at many points in the show. I left the theatre having consumed a large cookie and feeling frustrated that I haven't been in a show since my senior year of high school.

3. SPAE, and its production of "Robin Hood."
     If you still haven't heard about SPAE, go read previous blog posts. But I will now speak to the theatrical aspects of SPAE as opposed to the human growth and community building. The classic pattern of SPAE is as follows: the first day we play many games- but try to avoid full-blown improv games. By the second day though, we're improvising. And it's crazy. (So here's my-) There is screaming, violence, running away, so much talk about poop, so much denying of the realities, so little listening, and so much desire for the focus to be on you. This year, I finally calmed down enough to allow this craziness to happen. And the result, I found to be magical. After the third day of full-blown crazy, we froze the campers and simply asked, "What makes this work?" or, "Why do you think this isn't working?"
And their answers, unprompted, were as follows:
     -We're not listening to each other.
     -We're not following, "Yes, and" (A general rule that if a player establishes a reality, 
      the other players must accept it as a truth.)
     -We're not establishing who we are and where we are.
     These are ideas and guidelines that I didn't understand until waaaay older than ten years old. In these moments where we could freeze the action and discuss what was going on, I knew that what we were doing was effective. The craziness began to morph into beautiful moments-moments with character depth, believable situations with hilarious twists and turns, and people reacting honestly.
      And, also... we put on a show. Twice. Memorizing lines, songs, dances, blocking... knowing and executing costume changes...remembering props... All of this in ten days. We, as a community, astonish ourselves, year after year. And these 8 and 3/4 to 13 year olds are exposed to something that I think is lost in some theatres- (Yeah, modesty is lost in this blog post, long hair-don't care,) a sense of professionalism. Our campers learn that when the house is opened, they may no longer walk out in costume. They learn about all of the things that you shouldn't do onstage, (chew gum-or anything, upstage each other, focus on anything but the action on stage, cross their arms, put hands in pockets, upstage each other... the list goes on) they learn not to touch anyone else's props, and make sure that their own are set before the show. They learn not to eat in costume. And so importantly, they learn about strike. Our player's community sets up, and takes down our entire theatre space- as we actually work in a gymnasium. Everyone helps. Many hands make light work. These concepts-though seemingly small to an experienced player- are hugely importantly for these young folks to start learning early on.

4. Weston Playhouse's production of "Fiddler on the Roof,"
     With a cast including Leland and Gray (and SPAE's) own Jesse Canella. I could not have been more proud of him. From watching him crawl through the audience entrance in an enormous crocodile costume in "Peter Pan," five years ago- to working in a professional company as a little boy in knickers. 
I worked hard to hold in tears. I left this performance again frustrated with my non-involvement with the theatrical arts, but so inspired by the production the team had created.

5. The Skinner Barn Playhouse's production of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." 
    My amigo Julien Darmoni's family runs this theatre in Waitsfield and I was privileged enough to see this hysterical production just a few nights ago. Again, I found myself laughing loudly/inappropriately at the villain character while the rest of the audience hissed. Each member of this cast was such an endearing and recognizable stock character. I fell in love with this show. 
And again, left feeling completely and utterly frustrated with my non endeavors. Oy.

So, here's this. I'm going to audition for "Rent" at the Lyric Theatre. You know. For fun. To practice auditioning. And... to get a chance, however brief, to perform on the stage of the Flynn. 
And you know, if anyone wants to cast me in anything else... lemmmmme know. Ja?

xoxoxox,
Gilmore Girl.

I mean-?


PS: Check out my guest blog post on Tricia Souder's Blog!