My dear Sir,
My project working on your play is a "Directed Independent Study." That means that I will receive graduate credit for it towards my MFA in directing degree, and I have a faculty member who oversees and assigns a grade to my work. I've always been "about" grades, and I'm an anxious person to begin with. So the thought of getting a grade for my work on this project sometimes inhibits me, though I've done well so far in overcoming that so far. My professor, Kris Salata, has come to a few of our work sessions, and until today, his presence has quite terrified me. What if he doesn't like what I'm doing? What if he thinks I'm getting nowhere?
As of tonight, I no longer have that fear. Kris came to visit us today. In the previous times that has happened, I felt I needed to "show him something." Today, I just did the work. Actually, I hate to call it work. I organized the PLAYING, like I always do. And the playing was good.
Kris is as excited about the project as I am, and the actors are excited, too. They suggested we get together to play in January before classes start. I'm so lucky to have supportive faculty, and just as lucky to have excited actors. I'm lucky to have TIME to explore your play. I'm lucky that because of that time, I haven't had to focus on results... that can come later. I'm discovering how I can work, and how I can play at the same time. THIS is what I want to do, and thank goodness I am drawn to an academic setting. Hopefully I can find a place to teach that will allow me not only to rehearse a show for a month, as we do here in America, but to explore over a long time in addition to that. We haven't started "staging" anything yet. And when we do stage, next semester, we'll be all the better for it. THIS process is exactly what I need right now. And I'm determined to find a way to work this way again
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