Monthly Archives: August 2020

One other tool from the classroom that has always made a great deal of personal sense to me actually involves a therapeutic metaphor that is certainly not of my creation.  It is intended for many of us (I am sure) who go around with a great deal of personal armor.  We have all been through some rough times, particularly in our childhood, and to survive, we had to create some armor to protect our self from harm both psychologically and spiritually.  We were so smart in building this armor – and the more the assault we faced, the heavier and more impenetrable  this armor became.  But we do grow up and for most of us our world does become better; we are more in control of our world.  But some of us still travel with this armor. Read more →

I have years and years of lesson plans for all of my classes on a terrific grading software Planbook.com.  It has been my super best friend for keeping me organized and helping me get to all of my key deadlines.  My bowser on my laptop almost opens to that site by default!  But now what to do with all of those lessons and my $15 annual subscription? – – just one of those many things that I didn’t plan when I retired.  I am thinking I could create a class that meets for eight hours each day (weekends and holidays included).  I could enroll TWO students – my new toy poodles Cosette and Fantine.  I am thinking I could create lessons like: Read more →

I have always tried to explain how the experience of watching a film is different than the experience of watching a play.  Most of us have seen world class films but a much smaller, lucky group can say that we have seen world-class live theatre.  That is a shame presented by both cost and distance.  Movies can certainly take you into the world.  The camera is THE most realistic tool for digging into the details of the character’s world – –  but as powerful as the moment may be – and as much as tears flow down the face, I always think it is missing something. Read more →

One bizarre experience of being newly retired is that you don’t really ups and downs of the Fridays and Mondays of the working world.  When retired, the two days actually look quite similar and they must never, ever, never be the same thing.  For the present, I am treating myself to a donut and cheap reality TV on a Friday afternoon and filling my Monday with billing paying, pool cleaning and healthy food.  I am hoping the work of one will provide a greater treat to the other.  After all, every day cannot be a donut day!  Or can it???

In this damned COVID world of ours it has become a mission of theatre to adapt to the world of technology to the expense of actually BEING with people. We have Zoom and Teams and one hundred others tools that can fake the experience but never deliver it. If the thing in front of you is a screen and not a real person, it isn’t theatre no matter how expensive your laptop is. It is not just how immediate your response is to what you see. It is not the clarity of your vision of the person – it is that they are dead on arrival. The speed of technology can never be “here”. It is always then! Read more →