Monthly Archives: September 2020

It is just hard to get on with the day.  My retirement schedule chocked full of “chores” from plumbing to taxes just cannot compete with the fun and fire that comes with a good class in Playwriting.  I know it was the right time to retire and certainly it comes with many privileges that make it easier to age but still the thrill of a student writing their first play – – and witnessing that spark that says, “I may want to do this again and again.”  It hurts not to hear that.

I had a bit of an epiphany a few years ago when meeting with one of my alum that was coming back from college on a Christmas break to share all that went down with him.  The thing that impressed me most about this college program was that they were NOT focusing the actors to think of themselves as actors first – but to think of themselves as ARTISTS first who predominantly practice acting as a way of satisfying this goal.  I loved this.  I immediately wanted to take a break from all the theatre work and include some work and exercises to nurture the artist inside.  I wanted them to paint, color, carve, mold and journal.  I wanted them to put theatre in the back burner and really get at the ARTIST within them before going back to acting.  Being an artist is a demanding chore that requires much more than rehearsing the next set of lines.  Trust me, any effort you make to create artists out of theatre students will pay you back in spades.

Acting is dangerous!  I am not just talking about the occasional falling off-stage or running into various pieces of scenery or slicing a bit unexpectedly during a dual.  No, I am talking about the dangers of the heart.  There is no way you can ask actors to drop the masks they wear and touch their personal truth and experience without running into some danger.  Dangers of the heart can be mighty treacherous.  One tool that I discovered early on is to ask the students to come up with a weekly project of DOING something that would attend to their MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT. Read more →

I have always loved reading – and truly now I find myself watching less and less TV and reading more and more.  I believe my love of reading came from my toddler days in Brush, Colorado where the treat of the summer was to go to the public library.  For most of the summer they held a reading contest in which for every book you read and wrote a “report” on, you got a sticker to put on a certificate that was right on the library wall as you entered the building.  It was such a since of pride to have my certificate full of stickers. Read more →

I have been looking at my motivation for choosing this year to be retiring.  As I had mentioned earlier, I was the perfect age, had turned in my years to be fully vested and was facing this COVID craziness.  It just seemed right – –  But I also think it could have been an issue of JOY.  For years and years teaching theatre was my daily dose of joy, but in the3 recent years, the joy factor had dimmed a bit.  It is not that I was burned out or that the kids have changed.  It was just a feeling that perhaps it was time for joy to be found in other parts of my life.  It did seem like I was running TOWARDS something than running AWAY from something.  That felt healthy.  I leaved still feeling good about high school theatre – and am ready to face my next act AWAY from high school theatre.