Chatting With Charney
A few words from Executive Director Mark Charney
 |
|
|
Mark Charney |
As the second week of WildWind comes to a close, I want to share with you a moment that, to me, represents the purpose of this theatre laboratory. Zan Sawyer-Dailey, arts administrator extraordinaire, had just finished sharing her incredible journey with us, when Rich Brown, returning to WW for the fifth time, chimed in. He said, and I paraphrase, "Sometimes, if we pay attention, artists with experience are extending their hands to those who are beginning their journeys, and if you just reach out in response, they will be more than happy to pull you up with them." Ok, my version of his more eloquent statement is a bit clumsy, but it struck me at that moment that's what WildWind is all about-artists extending their hands to us, and looking to help those on the precipice.
Generosity was the name of the game this week; not only do our artists conduct their workshops, but they also meet with any student who wants help-with a monologue, a resume, or just plain advice about the next step in a career. Rich, Shannon, Zan, Michael, and our guest playwright Brian all made themselves available to anyone who wanted to learn. The students are ecstatic, and why not? These artists are here to extend a hand, and our students are learning the ins and outs of networking, designing, arts administration, play development, all in an environment centered on process, not product.
And I have to praise our faculty. When I visit the design workshops, Andrea Bilkey is there on the floor with the students, building, painting, and creating. Adam Howard is writing music while conducting for our musical, and Jesse Jou, pretty much present at every event, throws himself in the Viewpoints work with the students while doing double duty as dramaturg this week for
Strip, Brian Quijada's penetrating new comedy. You can't imagine a better environment for learning, especially since our faculty are more than happy to make themselves vulnerable along with the students, truly seeing their work from the inside out.
And I have to thank Michael Legg, who not only invited these artists, but brought method to the madness with an organization that yields the most out of every day-pushing students without absolutely exhausting them. His interest in diversity, his keen eye for play development, and his choice of guest artists truly embrace inclusion and global awareness.
And, finally, one of the best things about this week is our new arts administration emphasis. Zan Sawyer-Dailey comes to us having worked with so many of the great theatre icons that you barely realize how much you are learning because, in the midst of her fascinating stories, lies abundant and important truths.
So as WildWind Week 2 comes to a close, and we all just gathered for a fascinating panel discussion on success, I mostly thank our students, who bravely risk, work, question, and grow. Without their honest work and integrity, this lab would not exist.
|
|
WildWind Acting Workshop: Week Two
with Lauren Miller
|
|
|
Lauren Miller |
My name is Lauren Miller, and I am from Andrews, South Carolina. I am a third-year MFA Performance and Pedagogy student at Texas Tech University.
Who did you work with this week and what was the main goal of the workshop:
This week my classmates and I worked with Rich Brown, whose workshop focused primarily on psycho-physical acting, using Grotowski, Viewpoints, and Suzuki work. The overall goal of the workshop was to discover ways in which the artist can remarry the body to the mind, voice, and spirit. Rich emphasized the importance of an actor being aware of their body, saying, "If you aren't aware of your whole body, how do you expect the audience to be aware of you?"
How were you pushed during this week:
The work we did in class this week was both mentally and physically challenging, with the exercises requiring our full attention and commitment. Rich Brown did an excellent job of pushing us to reach our fullest potential, while making sure we knew we were in a safe and supportive environment. He emphasized how society teaches us to fear our emotions, making them appear as something dangerous and uncontrollable. Through his exercises in the workshop, Rich showed us that our emotions are in fact the actor's greatest tool, and can serve as an energy we can control and use in our work.
What was your take away from this week:
My greatest take away from the workshop is the importance of learning to not be afraid of fear. All throughout the workshop, Rich encouraged us to focus on the "trying" rather than the "doing" of the work. When we learn to not be afraid of the "unknowns", we open ourselves up to limitless creativity. When discussing the crippling effects of fear, Rich shared the following quote from Tony Kushner's Angels in America: "It's the fear of what comes after the doing that makes the doing hard to do."
How will you continue to use what you have learned in the future:
These past two weeks in WildWind, I alongside several of my classmates have discovered a whole new love for physical theatre. We are already brainstorming the idea of getting together several times each month throughout the school year to further explore physical theatre, and perhaps create a piece to share with the public. Rich Brown and Matt Chapman both planted some amazing seeds here at Texas Tech, and I can't wait to see the creative art that is going to grow from them in the future!
|
|
|
| Cameron Blackmun and Rich Brown |
|
|
|
|
Kolton Robertson |
|
|
|
| Rich Brown and this years acting workshop working on Grotowski Method |
|
|
|
WildWind Arts Administration Closer Look
with Abby Chowning
|
|
|
| Abby Chowning |
|
Name
:
Abby Roberts Chowning
Where are you from:
Castle Rock, CO
Program:
MFA Arts Administration
Who did you work with this week and what was the main goal of the workshop:
This week I had the opportunity to work with the remarkable Zan Sawyer-Dailey as she expanded on her lengthy career as a working arts administrator at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
I was most interested in her discussion on what makes a successful Arts Administrator. It is pivotal to have a problem-solving mindset. We must be calm and ready to listen to any problems and be ready to fix it or discuss solutions diplomatically. She also expressed the importance of humanizing the job. This includes listening to your cast during trials, protecting your people in any situation, and to remember whatever it costs to do those things is worth the cost. She suggested to always search for the most practical and pragmatic solutions when your organization or artists are facing a problem.
How were you pushed during this week:
This week I felt pushed to truly expand my perception of the opportunities an arts administrator can have in the field. The possibilities for employment are vaster than I had previously considered. These discussions were encouraging to me as I became more aware of the great need for administrators in the field and that these positions serve a vital purpose for the success and effectiveness of an organization.
What was your take away from this week:
There were so many gems in the information Zan shared with us this week, but my biggest takeaways were how having a 5-year plan when you go in for an interview can make a huge impression. In addition, you must always look at your resources and your people and figure out what it takes to work with those circumstances and those individuals.
How will you continue to use what you have learned in the future:
Going forward, I hope to cultivate a problem-solving mindset. I want to strive to be someone who is notorious for handling stressful or challenging situations well. Those characteristics are what makes someone an asset to any organization.
How has WildWind added to your education at Tech:
WildWind has provided the unique environment for me, as an arts administrator, to workshop my skills. This is not always common in a traditional classroom setting. It has been immensely helpful to be able to bounce ideas and questions off of a professional who has spent decades being successful in the field.
|
|
|
|
Guest Artists Interviews
Interview with Brian Quijada
Interview with Brian Quijada about developing a new place at the 2017 WildWind Performance Lab
Interview with Rich Brown
Interview with Rich Brown about working with students this week during the WildWind Performance Lab.
|
|
Interview with Shannon Robert
Interview with Shannon Robert about her time at the 2017 WildWind Performance Lab.
Interview with Zan Sawyer-Dailey
Interview with Zan Sawyer-Dailey about the benefits of WildWind and working with the MFA Arts Administration students this week.
|
|
|
|
| Rich Brown |
|
A Note from Rich Brown
Dear WildWinders,
I can't believe I just wrapped year five with WildWind! What an honor to be invited again. Chalk up another exhausting and fulfilling week in Lubbock! I can't thank you enough for your willingness to leap into different actor-training methodologies and invest in the experimentation of process; labs like yours is how our art form continues to grow and develop for future audience members.
Please honor the value of the education you are receiving at TTU. A month of approaching the rehearsal studio like a laboratory is a wonderful gift. You are standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before you (and Grotowski, Suzuki, Bogart and Overlie are just a few). What an exciting time.
Please remember three things from our brief time together:
- Be rigorous art makers! Don't hesitate, don't be tired, jump up there and violently, decisively make a strong choice; give yourself something to push against! Embrace creative containers & forms to allow freedom of content and emotion. Be kind to yourselves and one another, but don't be nice.
- Honor your questions! Stay in process and investigation mode for as long as possible. Remember that our culture trains us to fear the unknown, to rush to answers in order to (re)gain control. Use your courage to resist this trap; keep your questions alive. James Baldwin said, "the purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been covered up by the answers." That's our job - to stay open, present, and in search of questions.
- Trust, love, and a sense of humor! These three will sustain you on your artistic journey. TRUST in yourself, the process, and your collaborators. LOVE the work. Going to a rehearsal/workshop should feel like going on a good date - anything can happen! HUMOR will get you through the impossibility of attempting to train daily and birth new work. It should be hard - that's why we do it (and love it so damn much!). Embrace the struggle.
Thank you for sharing your journey with me. I will be thinking about you lots in the days ahead. For a fifth year, I fly home full of gratitude for your courage and presence. You are truly WILD you Wild Winders!
Best,
Rich
|
"Strip" Reading
By Brian Quijada
|
|
|
|
| Deonte Thomas |
|
|
|
|
Alec Gallardo and Abby Chowning
|
|
|
Abby Chowning, Jesus Manuel Ramirez, Deonte Thomas, Alec Gallardo,
Michael Legg, and Brian Quijada |
|
|
Working on "Strip"
By Brian Quijada
It was a joy for me to return to WildWind this year to work on my new play "STRIP". Two years ago, when I first came, I was introduced to the amazing process that was the WildWind program, a weeklong workshop of a brand new play with the aid of students and faculty of the Texas Tech Theatre and Dance program.
This year was unique in that I was able to work with Michael Legg, Jesse Jou and students to work on a play with a form I was not as familiar with, a drama with only 3 actors. But the week proved to be a confidence boost as I was guided through understanding what the story was actually about and how to streamline it's execution. Given that the play is about 3 college students, it was incredibly helpful to get input from the WildWind students who are of the same age as my characters and could tell me when they could relate to the 3 distinct characters, and of course, when they couldn't.
I learned a lot about my own play through the daily discussions of my play and through the hard work of the actors and creative team, culminating in a reading I was very proud to hear.
I am very grateful to have been invited back. Thank you WildWind!
Brian Q
|
|
| Michael Legg, Brian Quijada, and Jesse Jou in rehearsal |
|
|
|
|
Week Three WildWind Artists
|
|
|
Kelly Quinnett |
Kelly Quinnett
In 1990, she was the recipient of the National Irene Ryan Scholarship, which led to her being placed under a development contract with ABC. She appeared on ALL MY CHILDREN as Maria Monterey in 1990, 1991 and on ONE LIFE TO LIVE as Blaine Adams 1991.She received the Regional Irene Ryan Scholarship in 1995.Films include: THE RIVER MURDERS with Ray Liotta, WITHOUT A LADDER with Jack Bannon, FRANK with John Gries and Britt Robertson, HOME OF THE BRAVE with Samuel Jackson, MOZART AND THE WHALE with Josh Hartnett, THE BASKET with Peter Coyote, MR. WRITE with Paul Reiser and Martin Mull, BROTHERS AND SISTERS with Franco Nero. Plays include: National New Play Network's rolling premiere of Lucky Me, Bus Stop with Ellen Travolta, Rainmaker directed by Dale Moffit, Circle Mirror Transformation, Noises Off, Grace and Glory, to name a few. Kelly has had the good fortune of being a guest artist for the MFA Playwriting Workshop at the Kennedy Center with the National New Play Network and worked on plays with and by Martyna Majok, Meg Miroshnik, Michael Mitnick, Dan Le Franc, Aurin Squire and Lindsey Ferrentino. She is a proud Professor and Head of Performance at the University of Idaho and the mother of 4 amazing children.
|
|
|
Sarah Lunnie |
Sarah Lunnie
Sarah Lunnie is a new play dramaturg in New York. She is the literary director at Playwrights Horizons, a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights and to the production of their new work. She is also the house dramaturg with The Mad Ones and collaborates frequently with the playwright Lucas Hnath. Recent dramaturgy credits include Miles for Mary (The Bushwick Starr), The Essential Straight & Narrow (New Ohio), and Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War (The Brick, Ars Nova, New Ohio), all with the Mad Ones; the world premieres of Hnath's A Doll's House Part 2 (Broadway), The Christians (Humana Festival, Playwrights Horizons), nightnight and Death Tax (Humana); and developmental work with Jeff Augustin, Basil Kreimendahl, A. Rey Pamatmat, Jen Silverman, and Kate Tarker. She was previously the literary manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville, where she dramaturged the Humana Festival premieres of plays by Hnath, Mallery Avidon, Mona Mansour, Charles L. Mee/SITI Company, and Anne Washburn, among many others, and co-edited several volumes of Humana Festival anthologies. She has worked as a dramaturg at the Kennedy Center, Ma-Yi Theater Company, New Dramatists, New York Theatre Workshop (Dartmouth residency), the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Baltic Playwrights Conference (Estonia), and SPACE on Ryder Farm, and is an erstwhile producer of immersive audio drama (Telephonic Literary Union) and an occasional author of fiction and essays. She is an alumna of Boston College.
|
|
|
Mara Nelson-Greenberg
|
Mara Nelson-Greenberg
Mara Nelson-Greenberg grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been developed at Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theater Intime, and AmoraLAB, among others. Her short plays have been produced by Little Theater at Dixon Place, Ensemble Studio Theater, TinyRhino, Yes Noise, Communal Spaces, #serials at The Flea and Hansel and Gretel Pocket Utopia. She is a member of EST/Youngblood, an alum of Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers Group and a mentor at Girls Write Now. She co-wrote and co-starred in the web series End Times Girls Club, which was produced by Above Average and released in March 2016.
|
|
|
Hannah Fenlon
|
Hannah Fenlon
Hannah Fenlon is Associate Director of Conferences and Fieldwide Learning at Theatre Communications Group, and Communications and Alumni Manager for artEquity, a national initiative supporting the intersection of art and activism. She has worked as a freelance producer and casting director in Chicago (where she co-founded Two Birds Casting, a casting facilitation service for theatre) as well as with Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, A Red Orchid Theatre, Creative Capital, The Juilliard School, and as an Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago. She received a BA in Drama from Kenyon College and an MA in Arts Administration from Columbia University. Hannah is a current fellow in the Emerging Leaders of the New York Arts program, and loves the Midwest, podcasts, and character-driven fiction.
|
|
|
Melissa Ng
|
Melissa Ng
Melissa is a costume designer and visual artist. She believes that design allows her to explore the tension between the intellectual idea and the dramatic gesture. Originally from Singapore, she is interested in creating pluralistic worlds in the theater. She views work through a queer, feminist lens. She enjoys the highly collaborative process of designing for new and devised work.
Most recently: The Bitter Game (Under the Radar, NYC), Men on Boats (American Theater Company, Chicago), Picnic (American Theater Company, Chicago), Bright Half Life (About Face Theater, Chicago).
Upcoming: Fun Home (Victory Gardens, Chicago), The Burn (Steppenwolf for Young Adults, Chicago).
MFA: U.C-San Diego BA: University of Chicago
|
|
|
