Apparently, one of the traditions of Camp Winnebago is to end every evening with the song “Good Night Winnebago,” while the assembled campers throw their arms around each other and sway awkwardly. Unless some of the long-time Irondale campers were just pulling our legs. Either way, mission accomplished last night,
While the board members held their meeting for upwards of four (!) hours, many of the rest of us played "The Song Game," emceed by Michael-David Gordon. In all honesty, Group Four may have been the best competitors, coming up with "Hungry Like The Wolf" for songs about animals and "Particle Man" for songs about science. (And I'm not biased -- I'm saying that as a member of Group Three.) However, since the camp was founded in 1919, there’s a tradition to end every game with the score “19-19.” So last night, the four teams competing in “The Song Game” ended with a four-way tie of 19-19-19-19,
At breakfast, Laurie McCants mentioned that, following a busy time of year (which involved putting on a puppet show from an Egyptian company), she took some workshops for herself. I frequently see that attitude in artists and creative people and think it's great: to refresh yourself not just by relaxing and chilling out (I think "chillaxin'") is the new, instantly-dated slang term), but learning a new skill-set, or just dabbling in something creative, The idea to restore yourself by educating yourself strikes me as a terrific virtue. This retreat puts that notion into practice: not only are we enjoying an unbelievably gorgeous setting, but we're learning new things and passing along shared experiences.
And we may come up with some new NET traditions along the way,
Curt
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2 comments:
yes - the ol' taking time for oneself is a great one - I used to take acting 1 classes in SF after I had gradulated, because I needed the reminder to be open, and non-judgemental and as fearless as possible. That is Still Hard.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have Centrum as a possiblility for retreat - we;ve used it MANY times, and it is always such a HUGE shot in the arm, creatively. Not to mention, such a releif to escape the clutches of the mudane and everyday pressures we have do the business end or art.
I wish I was there!
Llysa Holland
theater simple
About the need for renewal through study. Yes, I vehemently agree.
And it's more difficult as you get older: you're either supposed to know it all or else you're hopeless; you've probaby got more irons in the fire; and you're you may not be temperamentally suited to be doing work that's less than your best — which is a certainty when you're doing something new. Not to mention that unless you're in academia you probably have to squeeze a dollar with a death grip.
Right now I'm taking a workshop with Bay Area legend Geoff Hoyle, partly Decroux technique, partly commedia. Motivated in part because I've been doing a lot of commedia work with teens (pretending I know something about it and in fact discovering that I do), in part because Independent Eye's new focus is in puppetry, and the specificity & clarity demanded in physical comedy are directly applicable. Recently I took other workshops at the Fury Factory festival in SF (excellent short one with mugwumpin) and a bunch of stuff at Puppet Rampage in St. Paul.
Nowhere did I disgrace myself, but neither would I say I was the star of the afternoon. Hardest thing for me always, having conducted 100's of workshops, is getting out of the director-mind ("evaluating" the workshop) and totally into the actor-mind, or maybe better to call it the explorer-mind. It's all been invaluable, very much part of that cycle of renewal that's kept us going these many years.
Would NET be a possible agent of facilitating experiences like this? One channel of course is the workshop-exchange that can happen at a NET gathering, but that's really workshop-lite. I'm talking about as a conduit for funding for study — similar to the way TCG administers travel grants. My own bias of course would be for people who've been out of school a fair while, have been with an ensemble a fair while, and can make a case for its having an effect in the world beyond their own hamstrings. It was quite lovely in Philadelphia when Pew-recipient theatres could get small sums for skills-building, but I know of nothing like that.
Ah, wish I could be with y'all in the north country, though I'm happy to do without the camp songs. Takes me back to Boy Scout camp when I was definitely one of the lower life forms.
Peace & joy—
Conrad
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