an old time friend

George Wright has been visiting from the East Coast. And by old I mean 35 years. Dare I blush. Well he took some acting classes in New York so I asked him if he'd like to read my play with me. He drops into the Saint Francis character with such pathos, fun, and depth. It's helped me see why I wrote some of the scenes I did and helping me see through lines in the play I wasn't even aware of. (Remember this play came out in a rush in two weeks as opposed to SKELETON WOMAN which I worked on on and off for over twelve years). And, as an actress I'm getting a clearer sense of the evolving relationship between Francis and Emily. It was a sweet experience to read with someone who knows me so well and vice versa and have that bubble out of the characters. Lots of laughter.

CALLED BACK

Finished reading this book last night. It was the last book Emily Dickinson read before she died. Gave me goosebumps. Themes that would have really resonated with her: the main character had bouts of blindness and embarks on a perilous adventure when he's blind. The second main character has no personal history for most of the book. And this character goes into extreme withdrawal after a great tragedy. Emily is reputed to have gone into massive retreat upon her nephew Gilbert's death. She never came out. And, Emily's last written words to her cousins before she died: CALLED BACK.

CHOREOGRAPHY CONTINUED--

Today exploring themes begun yesterday plus the ending arcs of a movement. Realized I frequently get to the end and don't stay with it letting the end have it's most precious moments. That's the time of transition to the next move and also remembering that a choreography teacher said the ending of any dance piece is 80 percent important. So why not each move. I'm learning a lot about what is revealed there and like in an outbreath that's also the time of the most fun. Also playing with minimal movement to music (still listening to tango :-) ) and letting a still slight sometimes sculptural move happen in the most inconsequential time of a rhythmic sequence. Fun. Teaching me patience.

Choreography for Conversation I: OVERATURE

Emily will begin on the floor and I'm exploring the most rudimentary movement. I'm exploring the source of the movement from a purely physical exploration. I'm taking movement training from Kathleen Langermann and learning that arm movement should be initiated from ribs and loose scapula on top of core strength. Leg movement needs to be initiated from deep in the pelvis. So I'm rolling around on the floor playing. (Listening to fun tango music in the process. And yes this is totally irrelevant.) I've sound ideas for the movement and inspiration is also coming from my little grandson. So the physical place will underpin the movement and then there will be layers on top of that which will be influenced by sound, context, and the impulse for the movement.

A side note: It's amazing how much work I have to do to just get physically ready to do this play. Physical presence comes from strength and I'm slowly building that up. Pilates reformer, cardio-rhythm dance classes, movement training, walking, swimming.

A Side Trip

Well with the delight of a new grandson and all that entails I haven't been able to muster the concerted effort I need to put up a full play - even work on the first 11 pages. I figure I'll get back to it in a month or two. In the meantime I've been writing a series of poems for a poetry book called EVERYDAY MERMAID POEMS. In the planning is a collaboration with Deidre Scherer to illustrate them.(you should look at her website by googling for it). And now the tie in to the play. In writing the poems I've realized how much I've learned about poetry by immersing myself in Emily Dickinson's work. She's such a nimble wordsmith and wrote on so many different levels. I've learned about cadences, line breaks, punctuation, simplicity, playfulness, slant rhymes, ordinary rhymes, patterns of lines. Of course I'd known a lot of this before, but Emily Dickinson writes with such precision and clarity of thought (even when she's deliberately obscuring). I love thinking I'm learning and or doing something for one reason and all of these side benefits crop in. Also I've learned a lot from haiku and had fun reading one review of haiku that said if you like haiku you'll love Emily Dickinson. And an aside note: I love how TWITTER is like composing haiku.

Choreography Tool

I learned today that Eric Hawkins pointed out 3 main movement curves of the body: 1. a forward circle (develope) 2. a backwards circle (envelope) 3. spiral. This is a fun tool for choreography. It can make the movement clearer by being decisive about which kind of curve is used.

The First Eleven Pages

I've decided I am going to work up the first conversation in this piece. Figuring out the staging and choreography. I did a reading with an actor friend cold for him and he showed me some softer ways of doing certain parts. I did this with my SKELTON WOMAN piece. It's really useful to have many people read different parts since there can be so many different points of view. Actors show meanings that the playwright hasn't thought of. Fun.