Playback Theatre in North Africa

“M here, will teach script writing. J will take the directing track. And we have two performing tracks. C will teach acting, and Kimberly…Kimberly…,” the Sponsor paused and looked to me for help. “She will teach something…something new called Playback.”

This is how the trainers for a Drama Conference in ____ were introduced to the 120 participants gathered for 3 ½ days of training over the leap year weekend in 2008.

As the participants made their choices for which foreign teacher they would be with for the weekend, they wanted more information. The Sponsor invited me to explain, to pitch the Playback track. I stood with my interpreter and addressed a sea of eager faces. This was their first Christian Conference solely focusing on drama training and they wanted to make the right choice. I did my best to explain.

“From the first time I saw Playback in 2002, I have been excited about the possibilities of this new form of theatre. It is relatively new, created in 1975 in USA, but now there is an International Playback Theatre Network, and there are teams which practice it all over the world. It is simple, beautiful, inexpensive, and powerful, even when performed by amateurs. It also seems that it can be all these things in any language or culture. In a lifetime of being a theatre practitioner, I’ve seen nothing else that makes the most of what theatre has to offer that is special and different than television and films. Theatre, you see, is an immediate art form. The live audience is as important to the success of each show as the actors, play, or any technical element added. Playback is improvised theatre that takes the fun of improv – like the television show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” and gives it depth and purpose beyond just entertainment. Why? Because the stories, the content of the plays come from the audience. The audience is part of the creative process. The lives of ordinary people become the subject of art. In teaching you Playback, I don’t have to worry about my understanding Arabic or the nuances of your beautiful culture. You already know what is taboo, you already know what is funny. I will teach you how to improvise it on stage with adaptable rituals we use in Playback, and you will be ready to perform anywhere and anytime. Come learn playback with me this weekend and be perhaps the very the first to know it and use it in North Africa.”

Sixteen brave souls signed up for the Playback track, which, even after the introduction still felt like a mystery to them. But thankfully for me, they jumped in with both feet from the very first session; giving themselves wholeheartedly to the process of learning Playback. My translator D kept remarking about their enthusiasm unhesitating involvement. She said, “I can’t believe they’re doing this! It’s especially unusual for upper Egyptians, because they tend to be more reserved and conservative.”

(write to me if you want the rest of this article).

I fell in love with my students as I picked up some Arabic along the way. But the phrase I’ll never forget is:

"Yalluna Netfallug"… “Let’s Watch!”

Link to photos from Egypt Drama Conference

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spicetolife/sets/72157605865379308/


uploaded photos from the Christian Drama Conference this last weekend in Upper Egypt. 120 attended. It was really amazing. I loved my students (taught playback), and had fun learning Arabic and EVERYTHING. It was also a great time getting to know the 3 other trainers who are friends and theatre colleagues from CITA (Christians in Theatre Arts). The only sad part: Leezibet was supposed to join us to do the stagecraft class and Emirites didn't give her the week off work. We missed having her!

Take One: Beginning Jazz at Pasadena City College

My dance teacher went down the roster asking which students would like to choreograph a dance piece for the final, or who might like to be in one of the student pieces. I said,

"I'd like to teach the class an exercise."

"Oh? Really?"

"Well, yes." I said. "I've noticed that we're all not very good at working as an ensemble. When we do our routines or warm ups everyone is focused only on themselves. I'd like to show you all something that will help us build a sense of teamwork, and make us pay attention to one another more."

So we did. I told them the rules for Diamond Ensemble, and let them have a go. It was fun to see how beautiful it was even on the first pass. My teacher got out his video camera. He asked me the next day to lead it again saying, "I'm going to use this in all my classes from now on!"

I asked the students once they'd tried it, "What did you learn or experience in this first try?" One guy named Andrew says, "I've never before felt so unified with people. It forces you to stop thinking of yourself."

Wow.

So I told them that this is why I love doing it so much and that when I've taught it before it was for Christians - to help them learn about using their bodies in worship, and a symbolic picture of how when we work together following and supporting the leader it's a beautiful dance of unity.

"COOL!" was the reply.

My prayer is that this opens the door this next semester for me to have more opportunites to encourage some of these students in their Spiritual journey.

International Worship Symposium

A little church in Pasadena has been doing this conference for something like 33 years. Taking it all over USA and to a few countries too, they now just stay at home and let the 700+ delegates come to them every year. This time around I got in on it.  Went all by my lonesome to experience loads of dancing and flags and mime and banners and artists doing paintings during worship. My favourite quote from my notes is: "The main event of church is not the 'worship' or the 'sermon,' but is is the presence of God among his people." (Vivien Hibbert) and on John 4 regarding worshipping in Spirit AND truth, "Some 'prophets' are not much more than wandering fortune tellers in the name of Jesus. But on the other side, there are others who are so afraid of experience, and that they might do something wrong, that in their worship and life of faith, they've turned to stone." (Jim Gilbert)

I met Charlene Rice, a visual artist who was exhibiting her Worship Thru Art there. She was one of the highlights. After talking to her the first time she started calling me "Singapore Jazz." She has an interesting new ministry: she posts videos of her process in painting - with a fun a quirky message about following Jesus. Bought one of her posters and she threw in this one, "On a Mission," for free:

I went to sessions to learn Messianic folk/praise dancing. Loved the couple who were teaching! Bought a couple of their training videos and they threw in one for free. Met up with the couple who now run the school started by Todd & Marilyn Farley called Mimeistry. I've showed some of their pieces (via video) in classes I've taught before. Very disciplined and skilled in their craft, they have students who come study with them for 3 years full time!

All in all it was pretty amazing and refreshing and a little weird. Many of the participants were like hippies...free spirited types, if you know what I mean. Lots of people walking around in layers of flowing skirts or trailing vests with wreaths in their hair. Some of it was a little goofy for me to join in with them. But that's what's beautiful about it - they can just be like children before the Lord and not worry about looking foolish - so I admired it). Since i had gone on my own alone, and most of them seemed to know one another for years, or came with friends, I was still more of an outsider and observer. Many times I watched the flags and people down front dancing freely and it felt like heaven.

I went the last day to have some "healing prayer," which was really sweet. I was really ministered to by these strangers that would pray in the Spirit for my needs and specifically my request: to completely trust without doubting in God's goodness from the core of my heart. The themes that came out of their prayers were "Declaring the positive things God has done." "Labor to enter his rest." and "Sing to me, Dance with me."

Then another that was most amazing: "He will give you a nugget of Gold that will be the revelation or remembrance you need to surrender to knowing his love without a doubt."
The very same day I was choosing a song to sing for a missions event. I had decided to not sing a Christian song, but a showtune called GOLD, from "Camille Claudel." To me, "the Gold" is what we have when we know we are in God's will, and in doing it, we sense his great delight, are filled with joy and get a taste of "heaven on earth."

I've changed just a few words, but here are the lyrics I hope to sing in two weeks:

I wonder if when all is done
Anyone heard my voice
But from the start we have no choice
Our journeys just begin

Lord tell me did I do what's right?
Did I fight hard enough?
When the battles grew too rough
Should I have given in? (No)

So here I stand and swear to you
I did the best that I could do...

I know my voice was just a whisper
But someone may have heard
There were nights the moon above me stirred,
And let me grab a hold
My hands have touched the gold

My hearts been driven by extremes
Blind with dreams, tight with fear
But still God knows he put me here
And I've been so alive

And I can lay the past to rest
And in the end I'll do my best

You have to live the life you're given
And never close your eyes
You hold on, and stare into the sky,
And burn against the cold
For any moment, you might find the gold!

And there was joy
Through it all
And I am standing tall

I know my voice was just a whisper
But someone must have heard
There were nights the moon above me stirred,
And let my light take hold
I rode across that sky
And once I touched the gold

Here in my own two hands
I have held the gold

here's a YouTube promo video for Mimeistry:

Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle, graduated to heaven last September. To the world, she is most known for her award winning children's books, the first famous one being A Wrinkle in Time and a series that followed it. (This is a great series for reading aloud to kids!).

However, it has been through her non-fiction books that she had become one of my mentors. For more than 20 years I'd had her book Walking on Water, Reflections on Faith and Art on my shelf. Written in the 70's, nearly every Christian and Artist I respected had told me that this was THE book to read as a Christian in the arts. However, when I picked it up as a younger person it was too "all over the place" for me. I wanted a book on this topic to give me clear answers, and the right answers. At that time I was looking for some book like this to give me a better apologetic for who I was as an artist (because I so desperately wanted to justify myself somehow to my evangelical world who called me 'artsy' with a hint of a scoffing). For my part I felt like I needed to be less "all over the place" myself. This meandering book, was not the golden ticket I was searching for.

20+ years later, in 2007, I picked it up and began to read. No longer with the need to prove my artsy-ness to anyone, and meeting with some other female artists for prayer on Monday mornings, I would read passages aloud to them and we'd all be captivated. Finally at a stage in life where I'm rock solidly convinced this is how God made me, and he has declared it GOOD, Walking on Water was like having a leisurely conversation over tea, or while strolling through the woods with an older and wiser friend. I still haven't finished it, but have felt this past year that I could pick it up savor sections of it when I had the time to listen more to the thoughts of Ms. L'Engle.

She also became a mentor to me about friendship through the book she'd written with her long time friend and publisher Luci Shaw. I wanted to learn what they had to say about female friendships and loved what I found in Friends for the Journey.

I've just finished reading a wonderful tribute to Madeleine written by her friend Luci Shaw. I learned more about this remarkable woman, some character qualities of hers that I'd like to emulate. You can find it in Books & Culture, A Christian Review. This is a free newsletter through Christianity Today.

Have a good day walking on water!

I Got Some New Shoes On

JAZZ SHOES!

I've had the same new year's resolution for 5 years. So the 6th January in a row that I've put "TAKE A DANCE CLASS" down in my journal of resolutions, I immediately went and signed up for a 6 week interterm course: M-TH 2 hours a day!

Taking dance class has been a real workout. Two hours of S T R E T C H I N G me... and fun. Spend more than an hour just doing stretching! It's a real confidence builder. I'm walking taller. Dance is great for your self confidence and poise. My mom was always telling me to stand up straight, but all she needed to do was put me in some dance classes (Back then however, nice Christian girls didn't take dance classes).

I would have made a great dancer. You know why? According to what I can see reflected in the mirror, my body bends better/further than most of my teenaged classmates! At nearly 46!

No, I'm going to rephrase that: I'm gonna BE a great dancer! :-)

It's fun to be an encourager to the slower ones. There's even 8 guys in the class. I was saying to them yesterday how great it was that they were in the class, and that I'd told my boys about them.

One guy says, "So, guys aren't supposed to be in dance class?"

"Oh no!" I remonstrated, as the women around me giggled, "Guys are definitely supposed to be in dance classes, it's just that most of them don't KNOW THAT!"

I don't know that I'll take more classes, but my longing to do this for so many years is more than just for the fun of it. Taking a REAL dance class is a kind of symbolic act of healing and closure for me as much as anything.

That the PASADENA CITY COLLEGE baseball team does their batting practice into nets right outside the dance room door makes this class kind of especially healing. All the while I'm getting emotional closure on my childhood jealousy and inferiority to what I believed in my childhood was a preferred-and-easier-to-raise sporty-baseball-brother, I hear the constant thwack of the bats underscoring the music we're using.

Finally I'm in a place where I can celebrate that they're doing what they love, and I'm doing mine, instead of the "THWACK!" giving me a subconscious bitterness that I am wrong, or bad for not liking sports, it instead makes me happy that it is part of my dance class experience.

I feel so blessed to have this year for doing things like this. It's been such a gift to be able to take courses and fill in the gaps of my education. And that I'm doing it all at the Junior College rates so I can go to school without having to take out any loans, or make excuses that it's too expensive, or feel the need to justify it to people who might think my interests are frivolous.

Last night I had dinner with Christie Gill. A dear sister. We've worked on many a production in the past. Writing, singing, directing, acting...It was a great time to catch up with her. At one point I mentioned that I'd recently realized that all those years being a ministry wife in a church, I had an underlying anger toward God and the people I needed to prove my worth to, and that justifying myself - and my artistic endeavors - was part of my motivation for being a perfectionist. And she corrected me: "You've been angry because you feel you had to justify who you are." In the church, people who are good with numbers, or teaching, or care giving or hospitality don't have to justify their giftings. Artists contributions are not seen as essential to the ministry of a church. What we give is the extra, and is often seen as unnecessary by the typically non-artistic ones in charge.

That's part of my calling. To help others like me know how valuable they are - created by God to be just the way they are, and how necessary they are to the church, even if others around them don't get it. To empower them to, under the discipline and love of the Lord, live out of the fullness of who they are no matter what others might say.

New Book on Playback Theatre

Interactive and Improvisational Drama
a webpage supplement to Hannah Fox's ch 1

So excited to explore playback in a cross cultural setting again. Reading up more and reviewing to prepare for a trip in late February. A friend from Singapore and now stationed in Dubai, may actually come meet me there and teach the tech theatre track for around 150.

RateMyProfessor.com

Duke Stroud - Pasadena City College - RateMyProfessors.com
It's amazing what tools students have available to make decisions about classes! This professor was sweet enough to loan me books on directing over the school break. Generous. however, reading these student evaluations makes me glad I'm not still in my twenties!

Reflecting and Retreats

I've been going over my 2007 journal...what have I learned, what insights have I had somewhere along the way. What do I not want to forget about. Always get reflective between Christmas and New Year. Missing the 5stars and our 4 Seasons escape with post it notes. So, I've sent an invitation to my So Cal friends to see who wants to get together January 7th.

Also came across some busn cards from Singapore...One, from John Chong Ser Choon, a retreat director for Trinity Life Centre I'm going to have to check their retreat center out when I get back to Singapore, but just in case someone in Singapore is looking for a Spiritual quiet get-away, I've made this post with the link.

Here's some subjects to reflect and journal (I'm still thinking about it, so I'll have to fill in the blanks in a few days!):

In 2007 I learned to…

I grew most in…

Another way I saw myself growing was…

One of my best adventures was…

I saw/knew God was doing something when…

A real gift from God was…

Something I really enjoyed doing more of was…

One of the happiest memories of 2006 I’d like to freeze in my mind…

I was really brave when…

Something I’ve grieved about this year was…

I’m still trying to learn what God wants to teach me through this hard experience…

The best word of advice or encouragement I can remember is…

One thing I’m looking forward to in 2008 is…

Phone Salesman Amazes Crowd

Don't Give up on Your Dreams!
have you seen the clip of the phone salesman who ended up winning the 2007 Brittain's Got Talent televised competition?
Go Paul Potts!

Newsletters and blog posts: Word of Promise

Word of Promise
=stars read the word, a new audio Bible. Rich Swingle wrote about it here on his blog...

I disappeared for awhile because I discovered two new things: Facebook and the plays of August Wilson. Two things that can form addictive behavior. Facebook is kinda like hanging out with friends on steroids, alone. The August Wilson obsession has knocked off two more from my list of Pulitzer Prize winning plays. Fences, which loved reading and missed seeing at the Pasadena Playhouse by one year! (starring: Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett!) And The Piano Lesson.




So if you're looking for me, and the date on the most recent posting is getting old, go find me on Facebook,
or assume I'm at the library checking out plays by...hmmm. Who shall it be next? Maybe Eugene O'Neill.

A Thrill to Pass On Some Things I've Learned

Had another chance to explore physical worship with the pastoral staff of New Song Church (San Dimas, CA) this week. Eight of us worked through some very basic ideas of how to use our bodies in improvised movement (Diamond Ensemble) and improvised prayer (Enacted Prayer). A brief description follows, but if you want to read more about both of these forms, click the links or search this blog or my other one for course outlines and handouts (http://spicetolife2.blogspot.com)

Here's what one of the pastors wrote following our time together:

Thank you for yesterday. We had a wonderfully worshipful experience. I hope you felt we participated enough. Although we are a VERY creative group, we aren't necessarily a group that acts regularly. We still enjoyed ourselves immensely. In fact, we were all impacted deeply from the experience and would like to learn more. We are thinking about experimenting with enacted prayer during our Christmas Eve service.

HERE'S A QUICK DESCRIPTION: Enacted Prayer is a style of improvised physical prayer developed in the 90's by the Theatre Department at Northwestern College in Iowa (under the direction of Jeff Barker).
I was first exposed to it at the Christians in Theatre conference in Irvine, (CITA, 2003), and subsequently had one of the Northwestern teach a workshop with some of the Christians I work with from Singapore churches. I've since had a chance to teach Enacted Prayer with Senior Theatre Majors at the Wesley Institute for Minsitry & Creative Arts (Sydney, Australia), at the CRM Worldwide conference (June 2006), and the new course I teach: Performing Arts and Ministry Applications at TCA College in Singapore (Theological Centre for Asia, Certificate in Creative Arts Ministry). I've had the chance try it out once with Americans, at Yorba Linda Friends Church in 2006.

Enacted Prayer came out of a form of improvised and highly ritualistic theatre called Playback Theatre. Playback is used in community settings to improvise plays from stories told by the audience. It was originally developed in the 70's by Jonathan Fox in New York State (they have numerous annual residential training sessions at Syracuse University). Though I haven't had a chance to study in New York, I am a member of the International Playback Theatre Network and spent a year training and performing with Tapestry Playback Theatre in Singapore. I've had a chance to explore it as a means of expressing Christian faith and our Christian experience in an orphanage in Cambodia, with children in an International Christian School, and in the college classroom. I've found a link to one video online that gives & shows a decent description of it, while expressing the heart of what playback practitioners are hoping to accomplish.

Differing Views on How to Educate

Today I grinded my axe with the teacher of 2 of my 3 theatre courses this term:

The "Socratic Method" and critical thinking
cannot happen in a vacuum.

A few weeks ago my theatre professor asked me when no one else was in the shop to hear, "So Kimberly, you're an educator, how do you feel your classes are going so far? Are they living up to your expectations?"

And he heard a very long pause.

"That bad eh?"

"Well," I answered. "I still have SOME of my hair left."

(I think it was evident to him that my meaning was: "I've not torn all my hair out in frustration over these courses").

He laughed. Awkwardly.

I continued, "It's just that my kind of personalitly likes to analyze things with an eye to how they could be better. And there is a lot of room for improvement. If you're serious about knowing the answer to my question, ask me again in 3 weeks."

[click the time below to read the full post]

I was thinking and hoping that maybe if a few more weeks go by I won't emotionally tear apart nearly every detail of class time that was, to put it mildly 'not maximized.' I have come to a belief that he's a capable theatre artist, but an inept educator. I feel that though time in class stimulates my curiosity, anything I have learned about scenic design or technical theatre this term has come in self-study, OUTSIDE of my time face to face with this man who has his position at Pasadena City College on the grounds that he knows his stuff and has a lot to offer.

Well, more three weeks have gone by and it turns out that today was the day. All of the others had left around noon and I lagged behind straightening up in the scene shop.

"You know Eric, yesterday's scenic design class was the best one we've had yet." I said.

And then I told him why: before diving into an assignment to make a model box, we sat around at a table, and he showed us how it's done. (Sure, he used the materials belonging to one of the students, thus doing her assignment for her, but at least we were getting A CONCRETE EXAMPLE).

From here we ventured into a very lively and animated discussion. It was really fun. I love to argue and I feel like this was an opportunity to have a hand in sharpening this obviously gifted and skilled theatre artist in his weaker skills as an educator.

I told him that I respected him as an artist and I could tell that he really cared about his students. I don't want to vent my frustrations in writing through a "teacher evaluation" that would be first seen by the head of his department. I wanted him to hear it from me and hear from my lips that I know that he has a lot to offer me and I feel he is cheating me. Let him have a chance to answer to my accusation that he is hiding behind his belief in the socratic method and telling us to go out there an find what we need from the whole world of overwhelming resources that a scenic designer needs to know about. Give him my reasons why he needs to offer more structure and specific instruction and examples in this beginning/foundational course. Tell him that though I disagree with not having a textbook, I think it's entirely unacceptable that he's not even given us a bibliography! Worse yet, we've never even had a handout! Welcome to Junior College in America!

I have to say, it was stimulating to try to hear each other out, to violently disagree, and concede, and to even agree, and I HOPE to encourage him to be more of an inspiration and adept educator in the future.

"Start off this course by telling us about who you've learned from," I said. "What inspires you? Let's not waste our precious few weeks of a one term course to overview a vast subject. We spent nearly a whole class listing what tools we need to buy while you waiting for us to take the time to write it all down? I wrote some of it down wrong! Wouldn't it be better if you gave us a handout of a list and then got on with teaching? And then you let us pick the play we were going to all work on? Scenic designers don't get to pick out the play they design, so let's not waste a week in class of blank looks around the room about possible plays we could choose."

"Are you saying that these students are stupid?" He gave me a smirk.

"No. I'm saying that these students don't have some important core knowledge they need in order to make a good choice of a play, or to execute the assignments.

"These student can't list the titles of more than a few plays between them. The only other kid who had any input said, 'Duuuhhh, I was thinking about maybe a Shakespeare play, but I can't remember the name right now, and you said that it shouldn't be a Shakespeare play, so uh, never mind.' That's why I went and looked into the list of Pulitzer Prize winners and found which ones are the single set shows and brought the synopses to class. I'm someone in the class who at least knew of the Pulitzer Prize and that there is an (almost) annual award for drama. I didn't want to waste my semester working on just any old show! But 2 weeks 'discussing' what play we'll work on as a class? It's a waste of time!

"Why don't YOU tell us a famous play that you're curious about spending time working on. YOU say to us, 'Go read THIS PLAY, and next week we'll discuss it and get to work.' And how can we get to work if these students haven't seen many shows, and the shows we've seen haven't been watched with the eye of a scenic designer? How do we know what the unlimited possibilities are if we haven't even looked at a concrete example of a realistic set design vs and abstract one?

"This is how I understand the educators role who wants to teach his students to think critically: YOU, the Expert, tell us in the first week 'Here's a list of 5 different kind of contemporary scenic designers. Pick one and go research examples of his/her work. Come back next week and report back why you think that they are top in their field.' And if we don't get it right, then don't berate us and make us feel stupid for our amateur analysis. Add to what we share with your expertise. I asked for you list and spelled the names wrong, so came up with only a few to look into from my Google search. I went to the library and checked out a few of the only 16 books in the stacks on scenic design. I brought them to class. 'Meilzener,' you said, 'oh he's one of the greats. Yes. He's very famous.' So I spent hours pouring over his book and reading what he wrote and sketching copies of his designs. Only to hear you say 5 weeks later, "Yeah, he's famous but no one designs like him ANY MORE."

@#$@!!! &*@! %&@! %&!!! At this point I'm thinking that my teacher is not only NOT teaching me anything, he is working AGAINST my efforts at doing any profitable learning this semester!

WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT 5 WEEKS AGO BEFORE I DOVE INTO STUDYING THE GUY?

(Did I say that this discussion was "lively?") He came back with,

"Well he was great, and it is worthwhile to study and know his work."

(I wanted to strangle him.)

He told me some stories of students not completing assignments, or turning them in late, or complaining about him on their class evaluations. So I asked, "Do you have this experience and feedback with all of your classes? Do you get the same lack of participation and reluctance to be the first to turn in assignments? It can't all be student laziness. I don't think you will ever have a JC student who has as much interest in learning the subject with as much free time to devote to it and as much theatre background as I have, and I'M FRUSTRATED WITH NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU WANT. It can't all be the students' fault.

"Do you know that we all talk about our reluctance to be the first person to bring forward an assignment for critique? It's because we know that we'll not have understood it right, and in the process of our displaying our bad example, and you pointing out why we didn't get it right, the rest of the class benefits by finding out, "OH THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT!" so they can go back home and work on their assignments with more clarity.

He replied. "But I am constantly asking people if they understand and no one ever says that they are confused."

"No, you have a bad habit of saying, '...You know what I mean?' every 5 seconds. This is a very bad habit and you have to STOP IT! You have to stop it because, from the start we realize that when you ask it, you do not wait for an answer....And when this is the case, you are not REALLY making sure that we understand, but that you are using this as a crutch in your communication style to put the onus on us for your not communicating clearly!

"Besides, no one is going to speak up in class, in front of their peers and say that they don't get it. People just don't do that. I'm old enough to be my classmate's mother and confident enough to teach this subject without having ever had a course in it, and I'M reluctant to pipe up when I don't understand.

"And if what you are telling me is that these problems are typical in the classes you teach, perhaps not all of the students are lazy or unmotivated. Perhaps many, like me, don't understand the assignments and get deflated in the process. You say your critiques 'are NICE compared to the feedback you'll get in the business.' But in reality all of us are not heading into a career in scenic design where we'll face ruthless directors who rip apart our work. In reality, we are getting a taste of this craft, and an appreciation for what it takes to be good at it. We are gaining a vocabulary for collaborating with scenic designers if we end up venturing into other arenas of theatre work.

"You have this chance to inspire us and intrigue us from the wealth of knowledge and experience in your head, and we're instead getting overwhelmed and defeated by your stubborn refusal to pass any of it on under the guise of a commitment to the Socratic Method. We're trying to take it all on and come to you as if we're experts when we haven't the foggiest idea where to begin!

Moved a backburner idea to the front and turned up the flame:

Only a couple weeks ago I started working on the infancy of a devised theatre project called:

Alternate Endings: Reinventing the Past.


For now it's just a personal writing exercise to help me heal from some of the things of long ago that are still hang ups. But if this continues to take shape, and the Lord keeps giving me a passion for it, I think it may grow into a fusion of a Playback & Devised Theatre piece for helping artists and audiences shake off their baggage.

During my week in Estes Park Colorado (CRM Women of Influence Mentoring Retreat, Oct 20-25) I shared the idea with a therapist with CRM, and another older woman/mentor in CRM and both were very encouraging to move forward with it and see how the Lord leads. If nothing else, it's sure a great exercise for me.

What I'm doing is writing a synopsis of an unhappy event in my life that I didn't process well - A time when I didn't know what to do with the emotions or hurt and never really have been able to put it to rest. After the synopsis, I pray over how it could have turned out differently. Not necessarily to change the painful experience, but to change the conversations surrounding it, and my responses in the face of it. Then I write out a scene giving voices and reality to this 'alternate ending.' This script then can become a part of my memory, and I've found that it has almost immediately given me complete closure over that situation.

Have you any pain in your past that has become a roadblock to your growth or emotional and spiritual or even physical health? If you like to write, try it! Let me know how it goes!

Education by Evesdropping

I have a new circle of friends. Well, they don't know me, but I've become a fan....

About a year ago I started listening to the podcasts from Downstage Center and American Theatre Wing.

I put my ear buds in, hit play and while driving, preparing dinner, or working out, my new friends Howard Sherman (ATW, Executive Director) & John von Soosten (Program Director, XM Satellite Radio, On Broadway) climb into my head and introduce me to their elite circle from the world of American theatre. I imagine sitting in either Howard or John's living room and listening for an hour to the likes of Terry Teachout, Theatre Critic for the Wall Street Journal; Marian Seldes, Rita Moreno, Vanessa Redgrave & Carole Shelley, on their long and illustrious careers; John P. Connolly the new executive director of Actor's Equity Association (some of my recent favourites). I may be only paying $20/unit for my mediocre theatre courses at Pasadena City College, but this education by evesdropping is PRICELESS.

Here's the link to get the podcasts for yourself, with the description from the ATW website:

"Downstage Center, a collaboration of the American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio, is a weekly theatrical interview program that spotlights the creative talents on Broadway, Off-Broadway, across the country and around the world, with in-depth conversations that simply can't be found anywhere else."

Omega Cinema Props, Hollywood

Omega Cinema Props, Hollywood
Originally uploaded by K!Mberly.

Truly, there's no business like show business! Today I visited this humongous warehouse of every possible kind of prop you could imagine. And did a little people watching. Hollywood entertainment types are an interesting breed.

'Karate Kid' actor makes movie on faith

Billy Zapka's "Most"
The Orange County Register featured a frontpage article chronicling the amazing story behind Billy Zapka's Academy Award Nominated film "Most." If you want to be inspired as an artist, read this article! It is an amazing story of risk-taking, courage, faith, and perseverance.

This was posted by Joey at The Grove who's recently started a new blog for artists:

Join for free...
The Artist's Heart Wiki by
The Grove Center for the Arts & Media
You're invited to join and become a contributor in The Artist's Heart Wiki...a place where you can post your comments, thoughts, artwork, favorite authors and reflections on developing a deeper life in Christ as an artist.

If you haven't used a wiki yet (Think Wikipedia), you'll love this new interactive forum where you can meet and dialogue with other artists, creatives and dreamers. It's free to join and participate!

I'm looking forward to seeing you at The Artist's Heart from you.

Want to be a better Screenwriter?

Act One trains and mentors Christians of all denominations for careers in mainstream film and television. They prepare students to produce film and TV projects that combine mastery of craft with great depth and meaning. Here's the latest news from them:

Do you have a story to tell?
Is your script ready for production?
Do you have what it takes to make it in Hollywood?

It’s time to find out.goes in each post:
The Act One Screenwriting Weekend is coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan!


What:
Two days of fun, fast-paced instruction from Hollywood pros

*Story *Formatting
*Structure *Visual Writing
*Character *The “Biz”
*Dialogue *Christianity and Culture

PLUS – The Hollywood Insider Event … and much, much more!

Dates:
Friday and Saturday, October 19-20, 2007

Location:
Trinity Reformed Christian Church
60 Port Sheldon Road
Grandville, MI 49418

Scheduled To Appear:
Writer/Producer/Director Thom Parham (JAG, Touched By An Angel)
Writer Chris Riley (After The Truth, 25 To Life, The Hollywood Standard)
Producer and Act One Executive Director Thomas Deason (Fool’s Errand Films)

Registration:
$195 – (includes study materials, Saturday lunch and Hollywood Insider Event)
$175 – Early Birds (before October 1st), Students (with ID), and Groups (10 or more)
$10 – Hollywood Insider Event only

Act One, Inc. is proud to partner with our co-sponsor, Compass Film Academy
and additional sponsors Pepperdine University and Baker Publishing Group


SPACE IS LIMITED – Visit www.actoneprogram.com to register online NOW!
$20 Early Bird Registration Discount extended to October 1st!

Don't Scale the Walls of Hollywood, Go Around Them!

Being a great fan of YouTube, I was thrilled when I recently learned about a new show called "The Interior." Casting was done on YouTube, and the fan base is being built by allowing the public to see and comment on episodes as thy are broadcast on the internet as webisodes. Season one will go directly to dvd once it's completed. Something else that makes me love it: The protagonists are contemporary young missionaries who don't seem to have it all together (read: oh how well I relate!). One of the creators is an MK who has made some successful documentaries. Enjoy the link!

Enacted Prayer & Playback Theatre

Enacted Prayer is a style of improvised physical prayer developed in the 90's by the Theatre Department at Northwestern College in Iowa (under the direction of Jeff Barker). I was first exposed to it at the Christians in Theatre conference in Irvine, (CITA, 2003), and subsequently had one of the Northwestern graduates teach a workshop with some of the Christians I work with from Singapore churches. I've since had a chance to teach Enacted Prayer with Senior Theatre Majors at the Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Creative Arts (Sydney, Australia), at the CRM Worldwide conference (June 2006), and the new course I teach: Performing Arts and Ministry Applications at TCA College in Singapore (Theological Centre for Asia, Certificate in Creative Arts Ministry).

Enacted Prayer came out of a form of improvised and highly ritualistic theatre called Playback Theatre. Playback is used in community settings to improvise plays from stories told by the audience. It was originally developed in the 70's by Jonathan Fox in New York State (they have numerous annual residential training sessions at Syracuse University). Though I haven't had a chance to study in New York, I am a member of the International Playback Theatre Network and spent a year training and performing with Tapestry Playback Theatre in Singapore. I've had a chance to explore it as a means of expressing Christian faith and our Christian experience in an orphanage in Cambodia, with children in an International Christian School, and in the college classroom. I've found a link to one video online that gives & shows a decent description of it, while expressing the heart of what playback practitioners are hoping to accomplish.

I'm excited to meet with church drama leaders in USA and have another chance to share about some new theatre forms with great ministry potential. It will be fun to give it a try, if you're game, and discuss how you see it being used in the American church context.

Pulitzer Drama Readings of the Week

1. Our Town
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, Our Town may be the most popular American play ever written. It explores traditional American values of religion, community, family, and the simple pleasures of life, while employing innovative elements such as minimalist stage sets, a Stage Manager who narrates and controls the action, and a character who speaks from the grave. (see link to more from enotes). Enotes, also says, "It is quite possible that on almost any given day of the year, somewhere in the world, Our Town is being performed by either a professional company or an amateur troupe of actors."Now, that's one popular play!



2. The Skin of our Teeth, (1942) "Thornton Wilder's unconventional drama about the history of humankind.... Disrupting traditional notions of linear time, Wilder's play tells the story of the twentieth-century American Antrobus family in three acts which recount such epochal events as the onset of the Ice Age, the start of Great Flood, and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Ending exactly as it began, the play illustrates the cyclical nature of existence, celebrating humanity's resilience, inventiveness, and will to survive." (see link to more from enotes)

Wanna read what i have to say about them? It's not much, but you can...

I have to admit that while I was moved to tears by Our Town, and my immediate life lessons are resonating with what Becky learned in Act III, I'm going to have to go and re-read The Skin of Our Teeth again, now that I've looked at enotes and searched out someone else's explanation of the play. I found it amusing, and indeed unconventional, but wow, i just didn't get most of it. As I read I knew that it was burgeoning with allusions to all kinds of juicy deeper meaning. It was a harvest of subtle clever fruit that was admittedly just over my head, so i went online to wrap my mind around it. Here's my favourite quote, from Act III ""Oh, I've never forgotten for long at a time that living is a struggle. I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for--whether it's a field, or a home, or a country.
All I ask is the chance to build new worlds and God has always giving us that."

Have you ever read either of these plays? Go get a copy of one today. Really terrific literature. Inspiring creative genius. I'm liking this pulitzer prize reading quest!

BOUNTY

Andy Silk (calls in a panic): i need a female vo for a section of a video. can you do it for me by tomorrow afternoon?

me: love to, but i don't have the tools. just the internal mic on my ibook.

but, i tell him i'll look into it. i'm attending a class on Sunday mornings with Entertainment ppl: "The Bridge" so before class next day i ask one of the guys

me: do you know if there's anyone here who lives nearby who may have a usb mic? i need to do a quick vo.

guy: sure. me. i just got a new mic, need to try it out. give me an excuse to clean my room.

recording later, guy offers to show me the trailer of the film BOUNTY he's almost completed. wow. really not bad! captured a photo from watching the trailer again. check it out! excited for him to be so close to finishing his first feature film. thankful for his help on the last minute recording need for crm.

click on title of this post to see the trailer. click here for BOUNTY website.

Learning Your Way Around the Shop

Measuring/Marking Tools:
Tape Measure, Pencil - duh
Mitering gauge - the red thing
Chalk line - the yellow tool
Bevel (Swivel) gauge - used for transferring angles from one pc of work to another.
Carpenter's level
Roofer's square/ speed square - a 45' triangle
(on R in 3rd photo, below)
Framing square or Trim square - L Shaped steel 16" on bottom, 24" tall, checks 90 corner joints combination square.

Saws:
"Cross cut" cutting against grain
"Rip cut" goes w the grain
Less teeth means a smoother cut
Jack saw - angles down
Mitre saw - rectangular shaped blade
Hack saw (far L) various sizes, cuts metal small ones used more 4 carving
& Clamps to temp hold stuff together:
Grip clip or spring clip - used in tv film a lot
C clamps
Wood clamps/Yorgenson clamps

Hammers:
Claw framing hammer - 16oz, or rip hammers (not shown, have the straight top)
Tack hammer
Rubber mallet - deliver force w out damage, shape thin metal
Ball peen hammer - used in metal work
Sledge hammer - not often used in theatre


Painting Tools:
Ladders, scaffold (ha, not shown!)
Rollers + texture roller
sponges - hide flaws
Chip brushes - a nice disposable brushes
Paint tray or pan - "charging" the brush
use a W or x pattern when painting
5 in 1 one tool - scrapes rollers, open pant can,a staples out
Extensions - tools to screw onto rollers to give longer reach.
Planes - shown L in photo
Paint dryer - (not shown) looks like a hair dryer
Water based paints contain VOCs: volatile organic compounds. Meaning? They can rot.

Pliers & Wrenches (R-L):
Wratchet or socket Open end wrench Box wrenches - really a circle, have the measurements on them
Pipe wrench - 4 used in hanging lighting (big with red handle)
Vice grip/locking pliers
Ice tong thing is really just "fancy plyers"
Dikes are the curved pliers Long-nose/Needle nose - Slip joint - popular, multifunction, the pliers with the red handle
Box/combo/open ended wrench, Crescent or C wrench -wow so many names!


Various:
T50 hand stapler/staple gun - hangs curtains temp
Crimping cutting tools 4 metal
Wire strippers - (bottom L, black)
and a pencil (duh)

various chisels



What are the red and yellow handled tools at top of this photo?
Pop rivet gun (black & red) - don't use much
Alan wrench/hex head screws (silver L's)
Black Crow bars & "wonderbar" (not shown)

scissors - duh

Blades:
"Exacto" or Matte knife - most common accident tool has a string cutter & place for extra blades. handy.

Stock flats:
2' 3' & 4' width stock flats are the often used flats you keep "in stock" to always have on hand.

"stock" also refers to the material you're working with

Power Tools:
Battery operated screw guns 'deWalts'
Dry wall Phillips screw
Battery chargers 9v to 18v
Keyless chuck to tighten chuck which holds the drill bits
Michitas are the older brand
Angle drill

Panel or circular saw - Battery op power, saw plywood Luan sheets, light duty cutting
Less teeth for rough cuts
can pivot to make beveled cuts
Worm drive saw - corded has more power
Sawsall or reciprocating saw -
Bosch saber saw (not jig or scroll saw) - can cut curves better than the michita brand, better for handling

Router - shaping tool flush cutter

Numatic staple and nail guns:
Portable compressor uses air pressure for...
finish nailers (the big one)
pin nailers doesn't hold as well as staples but use it for crown moulding or other items you'll want to pull off the stock sets later.

Sanders
Square ones , name?
Belt sander
grinder - will cut metal use composite blades Metal is bcoming more popular in theatre

Stationary Power Tools:
Band saw - blade is a band
Drill press -
radial arm saw makes many repetitive cuts, has a rip fence and you c clamp a 'stop block' as guide

**Table saw - unisaw, delta makes good table saws, generally used for rip cuts- along the grain of wood. Tracks are for holding rip fence always use blade guard.
Make sure to see that the bolt is locked down

Push stick don't get within 4-5" of the blade
Don't cross your body while running power saws

Chop saw or mitre saw, the yellow one Dewalt brand specialty cuts angled etc.

Disk sander

'doesn't make sense' notes on framing:
in lumber, a 1 x 3 is actually a 3/4 x2 1/2
use 1 or 1 3/8 staples for framing, change the staples for 'skinning' putting the luan on the front of the frame.

Romancin' the Blues

I just realized I never posted this video. One of the songs I sang last for our concert last April. I've got to find an outlet for more sining here so that I don't start making this my theme song in California. I snatched an hour yesterday in a practice room at school. The instrument has gotten a little rusty with all this moving and traveling. Hope you enjoy this song from Linda Eder's album: It's No Secret Anymore. Wish I sang it as well as she does, but I sure enjoyed singing it, which made my audience love hearing it. -K!M