and to begin..

Students are arriving at the dorm. Interns and administrators are busy with last minute preparations. Our Program Producer has arrived from California and we are all poised to begin our adventure together.

To gather to create art ...
high minded as that sounds...
but to gather to make art--
either a first reading of a new play, or arriving at location of a film, or showing up for your skinny dorm room at a writers conference... all these experiences share the same characteristics.

There is fear , of course, of being exposed, of being judged , of discovering nothing or discovering too much. But there is also hope, with and without feathers. Always, this sneaky longing that there is more of us to know and share and that we are actually capable of such expansion. Who shall we be in our wonderfully freeing anonymity?

The dynamic of a gathering such as ours is often the same. We gather as individuals, one by one and are soon swept into the energy of a tight knit group sharing intimacies and hope, creating new selves and trying out new ways of being who we are-- and then, as quickly as we are thrown together in the wind of our willing creation we feel the power of centrifigual force which will take us back into our own lives.

So, here's to the process and that we shall trust its wings.

As we approach our work, we will focus on the elements of creative collaboration. There are three broad elements that we will be looking at in each discipline-- acting, writing, directing, designing, mentoring and producing.

What are our responsibilities as producing artists,
interpretative artists and
generative artists?

What do we make--what product needs to appear and parameters respected?
What do we integrate, filter, honor and reflect? How do we use ourselves as instruments in someone elses symphony?
And what do we bring to the table in our work together?

A balancing act coming from our ability to be as present and "in the moment " as we can be.
To move aside personal agendas--as much as we can-- and repond honestly, simply and clearly to each other.

Wow. Cool.