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  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Things I Teach
  • Things I Make
    • The Book: The Perpetual Visitor
    • Wild Unfolding: and other poems
    • New Bird
    • The Podcast
    • Theatre
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My Own Personal Tempest

4/29/2015

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Shakespeare's The Tempest  has always been one of my favorite plays. I had the pleasure of seeing the American Repertory Theater's production of The Tempest back in June 2014 and it was just as magical as I hoped it would be. I ushered the performance in exchange for a free ticket, and even as I leaned against the back wall of the theater, approaching hour three of the show standing in my not so comfortable boots, I was completely in it.

The production was designed with a Dustbowl Circus theme, complete with its very own impressive set of magic tricks directed by Teller (of Penn & Teller), original music by Tom Waits, and some of the most incredible choreography I've ever seen for the dual bodied character of Caliban, designed by movement troupe Pilobolus.

Although the whole play buzzed with electricity and beauty, it was the ending that I was most anticipating. Prospero's daughter Miranda has spent most of her childhood living on the island, isolated from the mainland, and thus most other human beings. When she finally gets to meet the group of shipwrecked souls from Naples, her wonder is palpable. I can still feel a shiver when I recall her words at seeing such strange and wonderful creatures for the first time.

“O, brave new world that has such people in't!”This might be my favorite line of all of Shakespeare''s words, for it nearly perfectly captures the awe and strangeness of encountering a human being previously unknown to me. Of course, there is some irony in Miranda's pronouncement that all human beings are "goodly creatures", as she is yet unaware of their flaws and their dark deeds. But there is still something so powerful about seeing new people as fascinating and beautiful. I think this is much needed in our world today.

“O, brave new world that has such people in't!” I say this phrase to myself almost every day. When I look back on the lifelong friends I made at Emerson College who have become my tribe, when I watched Richard Linklater's masterpiece Boyhood  for the first time in the theater, when I find an unexpected friend at a job I never expected to be in, when a total stranger offers me his seat on the subway. How can such people exist that have the ability to surprise you, support you, love you, trust you? Marveling at it brings me so much joy.

“O, brave new world that has such people in't!”Lately, I have said this more often because I am right smack in the middle of interviewing people across the country for The Perpetual Visitors Theatre Company play about the American Dream. I leave each interview feeling like my heart has been blown wide open by the stories complete strangers and close friends alike share with me. To talk to a close friend and hear their deepest dream for their life for the first time transforms our relationship. Listening to a complete stranger cry when they tell you what their hope for the future is becomes something that escapes words.

Human beings are capable of some truly awful deeds. I have no doubt about that. But it's a double edged sword, because human beings are also able to knock you over with their courage, their kindness, their creative prowess. I am grateful to be here on this planet with you.
I hope you know who you are.

If you need some inspiration for renewing your love of humanity and the completely unique stories human beings hold, check out some of my favorite links below:

Humans of New York offers a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account that brings you one New Yorker at a time.

Portraits of America is quite similar to Humans of New York, except the stories come from all over the U.S. Think of it like a "storytelling roadshow".

Narratively is a magnificent platform that commits to sharing "untold human stories". Their site is quite extensive and covers human stories from around the globe, including photos, articles, and the like. You can also subscribe to their email list to get all the latest essays.





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Why I Won't Be Quiet 

4/25/2015

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We are only a few hours into the weekend, and since leaving my day job yesterday afternoon, and I've already posted several things on social media about the importance of getting a liberal arts education, barriers that keep people from attending the theatre, news of the first black woman to play Hamlet, and this quote from Liz Gilbert. To many of my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and real life tribe, it may seem like I'm a broken record. In fact, on Facebook the other day, a friend of mine posted on her wall: "Wouldn't it be great if you could block posts on Facebook based purely on the subject of the posts?" While I'm almost positive that her post was not referring to my posting habits, I couldn't help but think, guilty as charged. 

I don't often post pictures of my husband and I on the weekends, don't share photos of the Saturday morning breakfasts and Sunday afternoon bike rides. I love seeing these kinds of photos of other people on Facebook, but it's just not the kind of thing I typically post. A couple of years ago, I felt like I wanted to post less about personal things and more about public things. So, I post about art. Art and education. Education and activism. And though I'm sure some of my friends might be ready to give me the old Facebook heave-ho, I don't have plans to stop soon. 

Why, you ask? Enough already! Well, the answer is pretty simple. I post about performance because I believe in it the way I believe in fresh air. I share articles about the way we identify ourselves and others because I still struggle with my own identity and have to believe there are other people out there struggling with the same questions. I post about creativity because I see it as one of the biggest casualties of an economic depression and an ever increasingly isolated society. When I find quotes like the one above in my news-feed, there's no question that I need to hit the share button. If it resonates with me, it will resonate with someone else, and so on and so on.  I have lost count of the number of times I have seen something shared by a dear friend on social media that has changed the way i think about my day, myself, and the future of our world. I want to keep the cycle going. 

In the end, I will have to content myself with occasionally feeling a bit like a broken record. I believe that until there are art, music, theatre, and dance classes in every school, until we make art part of the fabric of our daily lives, and until we recognize its power to help us become self-actualized human beings full of compassion, creativity, and the drive to make this world a better place for everyone, I can't talk about it enough. Until we live in that world, you can bet I'm going to be talking about it and posting about it and trying my best to live it. 

A sincere thank you to all you amazing, creative, thoughtful souls who read this tiny blog of mine. Until we all feel that the world is the kind of place that welcomes us and our dreams, I'm going to keep posting. A bit more often, hopefully.  See you back here soon. 
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Fill the Well

4/10/2015

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"Art is an image-using system. In order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well-stocked trout pond. We’ve got big fish, little fish, fat fish, skinny fish– an abundance of artistic fish to fry. As artists, we must realize that we have to maintain this artistic ecosystem.

If we don’t give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked. Any extended period of piece of work draws heavily on our artistic well.

As artists we must learn to be self-nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them– to restock the trout pond, so to speak. I call this process
filling the well. "
                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                        -Julia Cameron



I've mentioned the great Julia Cameron on the blog before, but I can't say enough about her.  Composer, screenwriter, novelist, and creativity guru only scratch the surface of this woman's incredible talents. Her book The Artist's Way  is one of my favorite books on recovering a sense of creativity and play in your life. My copy is well loved; dog eared, wrinkled, and treasured again and again. If you feel like you're in a creative rut, check it out at your library or buy a very cheap copy here.

One of my favorite creative concepts that Cameron talks about is the idea that creativity is like a well. When we get inspired with a project, we give and give, using the well stocked reserves we have collected over the days, months, and years of our life. Like a real well though, we can't keep giving forever. Once the well becomes depleted, it's time to switch gears for a bit and restock the well. Just as you wouldn't expect to be able to keep paying your bills from your bank account, without having money coming into your bank account, we can't expect to maintain our inspiration (or sanity) without making sure our well has something from which to draw.

How do you refill the well? Well it's different for everyone, depending on what feeds you, but it should be activities or things that you love deeply and that bring you joy. For me, it's watching old Charlie Chaplin films; there's something about silent movies that allow me to be present and not let my mind wander to the mistake I made at work yesterday or the errands I need to run tomorrow. It's baking something really delicious on a Saturday, while listening to some of my favorite music. It might be going to an art museum with the goal of looking at just two or three of my favorite paintings. Last weekend it meant reading Gone Girl and doing little else. Sometimes, it's just plain going to bed early.

The good news is that if you are in the middle of a project, like I am at the moment, you don't have to shut down production completely to refill the well. Honestly, if it gets to the point that you feel you can't go on another step, you probably have burned yourself out (I know, because I've done this many times before). Instead, think of it as trying to balance time you spend on creative output with time spend with creative input.  As Cameron says, it's about maintaining our creative "ecosystem".

I'd love to hear, how do you refill your well?


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It's Been Awhile

4/4/2015

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Happy April! It's been a bit of a jam packed month, which has meant a quiet blog for the past several weeks. I am happy to report that I have been busy conducting interviews for a new "American Dream" play with my own company, The Perpetual Visitors Theatre Company. I've been helping to get our website up and running as well, all while still working my day job, eating, sleeping, and indulging my Netflix habit. It's been both a wild and wonderful experience.

While I don't have an original post for the blog today, I do have a few goodies for you about our "American Dream" play with The Perpetual Visitors that I hope you'll check out. Here are the places you can connect with us online, in whatever way makes most sense for you. 
  • Website: www.perpetualvisitorstheatre.org
  • Facebook: www.facebook.com/VisitorsTheatre
  • Twitter: www.twitter.com/VisitorsTheatre


I would encourage you to visit the site and social media outlets often to get the latest updates on how the play  is progressing, as well as to have access to our blog on that site. This project has made for a very full schedule but has been incredibly rewarding. Thank you to all of you who have given so much support and enthusiasm for the piece already. You are, and always will be, part of the Visitor family.

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    Author

    My name is Melissa and I'm an actor, playwright, author, filmmaker, and teaching artist who wants to help you discover, cultivate, and care for your creativity. 
     
    What does being creative mean to you?

    How do you play every day?

    This is a space for taking a break, a breath,  and finding ways to flex our imagination and find the joy where we can. 

    ​No one is going to present us with a ready made creative life--we have  to step up and gift it to ourselves. I'm so glad you're here.

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