Non-negotiables: Why You Must Say No
If you’re in it for the long haul, if you want to do more than survive, it’s imperative to learn when to say no.
SUSTAINABLE ARTISTRY COACHING
You love your art. You love it in your life. You feel there could be more to all this creative fabulousness. Whether you’re full-time, part-time, amateur or professional, sustainable artistry is about achieving the balance you need to keep creating. With email and telephone coaching sessions, the answers to how will be coaxed out of hiding. …
Actively Waiting
‘Good things come from waiting in the wings for your space, for your timing to present itself.’ A playground lesson learned decades a go waiting to jump in to double dutch… Read more…
Artist Statement
I am a revolutionary who believes in one’s potential not one’s past. I am digging deep, following arts’ roots to the source of humanity… Read more…
Auditions are Two-Way Streets
Actors must come into auditions on a healthier foot than “please give me this job/college spot, I beg of you.”… Read more…
Master Class video – 2011 Actor Devised Theatre
[fblike] Last summer Episcopal School brought Creatively Independent in for a Master Class week of Physical Theatre. It turned into a joyous adventure of actor devised work exploring the themes inside childhood games. This Master Class series is open to all Jacksonville students and will occur again June 25-29, 2012. 9-noon. *Open enrollment, limited space, …
Teaching as an Art Form and a LAB
The classroom, rehearsal hall or lab is where one must try anything and everything for the sake of the exercise or tool to be explored… Read more…
What am I watching: the performance or the performer?
A critical essay on a strong individual’s exploration inside the dance world. Read more…
Master Class montage from latest residency
[fblike] Great week in Jacksonville working on physical theatre (contact improv, “As One” collective consciousness, intention and actor/creator skills). We had a blast with a terrific group of risk takers! Watch the video here…
Ensemble/Community – Stereotype
[fblike] They say we all have a little bit of stereotyping/prejudice in us and I am no exception. Recently, I was at a conference of multicultural schools in Germany. While there, I worked with teachers and students from many different countries and cultures. As our ensembles formed, I noticed a student who fit the Non-Team …
Creativity – Commitment
[fblike] When directing a play or teaching character work, I have many exercises dedicated to giving the actor the opportunity to live inside the world of the play. We start these exercises at the beginning but I’ve noticed it’s difficult for some actors to fully commit early on. They tend to hold back in …
Creativity – Neutrality
Clean slates are important in our work, starting from neutral in order to build a character, a play, a song, etc. Yet most of us tend to cover up our neutral in one of two ways… doing too much or suppressing doing anything… both fight what truly “is”. Sometimes we observe our students doing more …
Independent – Play
Somehow and somewhere we have lost our ability to play freely without judgment. I’m amazed at the amount of times I need to remind students, of any age, that they have an open opportunity to play within these exercises. They still feel closed off, shut down and simply not willing to let themselves go….
Ensemble/Community – Reading the Signs
During a directing master class, a student commented that a group HAD to have one person to control the group, to calm it down in order to avoid confrontations and bickering. I asked him, “What about traffic? How do we all know where to go and what’s going on without that one person to control the situation?” He said, “Well, we have traffic lights and stop signs.” And I propose that people also have traffic lights and stop signs in their body language, spacial presence and facial expressions. So, how do we read the signs?…