Risk and Excitement: The best first day of work. EVER.

The fun continues at Harbourfront Centre!

After my wild and crazy summer working at HFC’s Theatre Camp, September has seen my return to the Centre as an Artist Educator in the School Visits programme.  I really enjoy the title of “Artist Educator,” in case you were curious, because it somehow manages not to take the emphasis off of being an artist.  Artist is still first.  Which I think is really valuable, particularly in this educational setting, because the kids coming to us already have teachers in the traditional sense and they don’t necessarily need another teacher in the same way.  I think what we have to offer as artists first is what makes the programme really unique and valuable.

In a nutshell, here is what happens at my awesome new day job (or one of them, anyway): Teachers contact Harbourfront to register their class for one or more of our programmes, of which there are an almost infinite number.  The head honcho, who is a fairly fabulous lady, gets a feel for what the teacher is after and passes the assignment on to one of us Artist Educators.  We then work with the teacher to meet the needs of his/her classroom, which could mean many, many things, but the general idea is that we teach things that would fall under the headings of history, social studies, urban studies, environmental studies, and social justice education through the lens of whatever our individual artistic strength is—visual arts, performance, dance, music, etc. 

Part of Harbourfront’s mission is to make the arts and culture accessible to everyone in Toronto.  I think this is in large part why so much (if not most) of their programming is free, especially the summer festivals and many of the exhibits.  The School Visits programme is aiming to take that to another level and to not only make it accessible (although there is a small cost) but also to make it relevant and engaging. 

And, of course, one of our goals is to get kids (and ourselves) past that little voice in their (our) heads that says, “I can’t.”

Enter Ramune Luminaire (which is such a rockstar name), our guest for day one of Artist Educator training, also known as Artistic Development (much like teachers have Professional Development).  She is a really cool visual artist who facilitates workshops for all kinds of people, inclusive of everyone from the artistically trained to those who cringe at the thought of picking up a paintbrush.

But, in an effort to remind us that anyone can do art and that this is a really important message to communicate to all of our classes, Ramune started the day by having us make marks on paper to music.  You could use any mark-making tool or substance available, and they were diverse and plentiful, and all you had to do was make some kind of mark on the paper.  It didn’t have to be a picture, it didn’t have to be pretty, it just had to be…

This went on for a while, which was fun…and then we all got an envelope containing something meant to inspire us—a word, a phrase, a picture, an object, etc.—and our assignment was to respond artistically to it somehow.  I thought this was a really fun way to get us creating—and oddly I found that most of the actors in the room felt this was easier than making marks to music.  For me, I liked it because it gave me somewhere to start and something to play with (my envelopes contained objects—a cotton ball and then a sequin, which sort of reflects my life and personality in a strange way…but nevermind that right now).

And it just snowballed from there…

We worked on making books that expressed who we were, our only rules were that we had to take risks and whatever we were doing had to excite us.  And I think those are good rules for art and life, having to take risks and having to be excited about what you’re doing.  Because if you aren’t taking risks then you probably aren’t growing, either personally or artistically, because comfort zones become stagnant spaces fairly quickly.  And because if you aren’t excited about what you’re doing then it probably isn’t meaningful to you and you probably aren’t doing it to the best of your abilities and beyond, and art doesn’t pay well enough for that and well, life is too short to do things that aren’t meaningful and exciting.

Later we were sent out to explore Harbourfront and its immediate neighbourhood, since much of what goes on there is site-specific.  And it was nice to sit there and sketch the Canada Malting Company building (an old warehouse, complete with silos), to people watch, to ponder the waves of the Harbour, and even to appreciate the plastic grass with faux rubber bits of dirt on the West Lawn.  Location has always been important to me, personally and artistically.  Knowing where you are and where you’ve been, these things are so important to figuring out where exactly you’re going.

Of course, the next step was to respond to this artistically…with the same rules as before, but more freedom in terms of the project, the medium, etc.  I had started embroidering paper earlier, which for whatever reason I found really satisfying and interesting artistically, so I decided to stick with it because it was exciting, though somewhat painstaking.  And for my risk, I chose to alter a book I found in the piles of things, a series of essays about the various ethnic groups of Toronto.  While this particular book didn’t necessarily mean anything to me, books have always been sort of sacred to me, and the idea of “defacing” one was a step outside my comfort zone…

This is my final project, unfinished. All the pencil lines still need to be embroidered—it’s time consuming.

At the end of the day, we had all created these wild, original, beautiful things.  And it was so thrilling to be in such a creative environment (and to be paid to be there!!) with so many brilliant and talented people.  It really got the ball rolling and inspired me…

The rest of the week was pretty amazing, too, and maybe I’ll write more about it at a later date, but this one day really drove home to me the value of having a job you love and an outlet for pent up creativity…

The Puppet.

Meet Puppet Tim.

This is probably the coolest thing I did all summer.  I mean, I also got teenagers to adapt Shakespeare. But no, this is way cooler.

After two months at Theatre Camp, I had to find another home for the final session (because Theatre Camp doesn’t run).  I landed at Creative Arts Camp and made maybe the most awesome sock puppet ever.  He was modeled after my co-counsellor Tim, down to the last detail (ok, except the teeth, I guess)…notice the walkie-talkie for quick communication, the checklist for making sure the campers are all there, the watch to keep it all on time, and, although the picture doesn’t show it, the First Aid kit for when I burn myself with the glue gun.

And the only thing more enjoyable than making the puppet was taking him to talk to the four year olds at the end of the day.  Kids are hilarious. 

But so are puppets.

Here we are on the last day of our very long summer camp season.

Love.

Theatre Camp: A Retrospective

Last week I blogged about my adventures as a Theatre Camp counsellor for March Break. I never did quite get to give you all the scoop on our grand finale, though. And now, Tuesday, I've had just about enough sleep to finish the story and to reflect on the experience.



To recap, in case you haven't been following, my Theatre campers were 22 energetic girls and boys, ages 7-13, with varying levels of experience both in theatre and in camp. The plan was that in five days (well, four and a half really) we would collectively learn about performance skills and improv, find out what makes a play, write and rehearse an original script of our own, and put on a performance. No small task for kids of any age. To facilitate this, we had The Director. To supervise the inevitable chaos, we had me. Ready, go!



Well, we spent two days playing games and brainstorming ideas. By the end of day two we had a place, characters, a problem, something to raise the stakes, and a conclusion.



The Curse of the Shadow Creature. Set in a medieval village, with a slight detour through the lost city of Atlantis. Our main characters were Princess Crystal, her sidekick "Warehouse Mouse," a peasant named Bill, and the Queen. There were also dragons, a pair of Greek godesses, and the Grim Reaper brothers, to hit the highlights. Everyone had a part and at least one line or special moment. The main problem was that the vain Queen was turned into a Shadow Creature and subsequently turned all her subjects into zombies. To make matters worse, the Grim Reaper brothers showed up and started dragging everyone off to the Netherworld. Of course, in the end, Princess Crystal and her friends saved the village, everyone was restored, and the evil doers realized the error of their ways. And everyone lived happily ever after. The end.



All we really did was point them in the right direction and set the words down. Every single idea came from the kids. It was really cool to watch them come up with these wild and crazy ideas and to make them all fit.



Then they rehearsed like mad all days three and four while I organized sets and costumes. By the morning of day five, they were ready to rock. More or less. They took their notes with grace and most of them really listened and adjusted. Then The Director did tech (with real lighting cues!) while I ran through the most intense line through of their young lives so far. By the time their parents showed up for the performance at 1:00, they were all off book and the nerves were setting in. I distracted them by dancing around wildly to Beyonce songs backstage. Which is obviously what you're meant to do before any performance.



We opened. And they were damn near perfect. No one missed an entrance. No one dropped a line. There was one little flub, but other than that they were bang on. They were even quiet and hidden in the wings (no small feat, I assure you). I was so impressed and so proud! And so exhausted!!



Now that I've had some time to recover from the whole experience, I have some thoughts on how it went, on what I would do differently in the future (or in the summer, since I've been asked to come back), and on what they really accomplished. Not all of it is terribly relevant to this blog and most of it isn't interesting if you weren't present for the whole process. But what I will say is that I have so much respect for what those kids did in such a short time with such relative ease. 22 of them wrote, workshopped, rehearsed, and performed a play in 4.5 days. There are groups of professional actors who would find this challenging, if not impossible. I am in awe of them! And I'm grateful, because despite the chaos and the stress, they had me thinking creatively again. Like an actress. Like a director. Like an artist. It's a difficult thing to do all on your own all the time. Sometimes you need someone to remind you how it all works, and no one can do that like kids.



I definitely think I have a future as a teaching artist. I like helping people. I like collaboration. I work well with others. It's just how I roll. And watching sort of from the sidelines all week while dying to get more into the game made me positive I can do it. So I'll hopefully be moving up the food chain for the summer time, getting some more experience, and joining the world of after-school drama programs in the fall. Or that's the plan this week, anyway.

Impressive, and not just for kids...

My theatre camp kids rehearsed their show all day today. With almost no complaints! They were super excited about costumes and I was super impressed that the very first time they put it all together, they managed to get through on their own. The Director and I decided not to say anything so they would learn how to cover their mistakes. And they did. And the next stumble-through was less stumble and more through. I think that's pretty darn good since they were only cast yesterday, don't you?

Curtain up tomorrow and I get to play SM in my blacks. So exciting. I am always in awe of stage managers. Now I get to play one, wink wink!

Paint all over the place beats being on stage...

Cast, block, rehearse. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Paint. Repeat.

The Curse of the Shadow Creature is seven pages long. It includes two fight sequences, a journey underwater to Atlantis, and, of course, a happy ending. We have a mermaid, a fairy, a dog, a wolf, two Grim Reapers (they're brothers), Sir James of Bond, three dragons, a mouse, and, of course, princesses, to name a few. And it seems, for the most part, that everyone is happy with their part...except for our principal characters, who were upset that they spent the whole day on stage and didn't get a turn painting the backdrop. If only all of us theatrical types could be so excited about what is done off stage. Never in your life have you seen actors so thrilled to do "tech stuff."

Which is what I spent my day doing (of course, I am a closet techie). I did get to use my well-honed craft skills and creativity in the creation of several backdrops and decorative elements. By which I mean, I painted all day (one of my hands is still blue). And tried to keep the children from killing each other. Or throwing paint. They were actually pretty awesome about the painting part. And the more excited they get, the more focused they are. Which is probably true of all ages--I had rehearsal tonight and I was not excited to be there (read: exhausted), therefore I was not focused. Even I behave poorly from time to time.

Tomorrow we look at creative costuming, amongst other things...

How 22 theatre camp kids write a play...

Day two, here we go!

We started our morning with some relaxation and team building exercises. It started well and they managed to untie themselves from a wicked human knot. But the group dynamic is shifting as we see who is really interested in theatre and who is just here because they couldn't get into Circus camp. Which is fine, it just changes the energy. By the time we got to working on vocal production, everyone needed a time-out:

Camper: This is boring.
Me: Performing a play where no one can hear you is boring.
Camper: That's what microphones are for.
Me: Microphones are for wimps.

(I'll qualify that by saying that the theatre has good acoustics and is less than 100 seats).

They like acting. They don't enjoy the games as much. They don't get that the games are directly related to acting. I think perhaps it would be helpful to explain (or to ask them) why these games are important to developing as an actor. Sure, "Keeper of the Keys" and "British Navy" don't seem like theatre games, but they are all about listening and concentration. These are the basics!

But they pulled it together in the afternoon and really did some incredible work. We went over the basic plot outline we came up with yesterday and divided into groups. Each group then had to fill in the details within that outline. We ended up with four distinctly different stories and 22 very interesting characters, including but not limited to plankton, princesses, a mouse, James Bond, a Greek Goddess, dragons, peasants, and an astronaut. We treated this as their "audition" for the show. Some of them are still shrinking violets, but most of them are really putting it all out there. And some of them we really saw for the first time.

What I love about watching kids do improv and theatre games is their lack of inhibition. They come up with the wildest things and find logical ways of making it all fit together. And then they get up there and run with it. As we get older, we retreat much more into our heads. We think about things too much. We lose the ability to just stop thinking and do it. And, of course, then we work at getting it back. At least, the artists do. We have to relearn how to follow our impulses, they have yet to forget.

So we typed up all their ideas and everything we could from their scenes today. Tonight, The Director is writing the script. Tomorrow morning we will have it in hand and will get right on rehearsing...hopefully everyone will be happy and ready to work. I'm there.

And, as a sidebar, I was more or less offered a job there for the summer today. It took two days. Finally, someone gets me.

I survived my first day of theatre camp...

Let me preface this by saying that I have been a sleep away summer camp counsellor/arts and crafts director for seven years. I have also directed kids in grades 1 through 9 in productions (mainly of modified Shakespeare). But I've never done theatre camp...

Today was nothing short of insanity. Chaos. Well, organized chaos. Loosely organized. 22 wonderful, loud, energetic, enthusiastic, wild and crazy campers, ages seven to 14. One teaching artist (The Director). One counsellor (and a highly qualified one, might I add). Needless to say, The Director and I were somewhat outnumbered. From a theatre standpoint, no problem. From a "be quiet and keep your hands to yourself" standpoint, somewhat more complicated. Lots of little boys with active imaginations and energy to spare. Great for the former, challenging for the latter. But they're fun...and it was a very productive day.

We started with fun warm up and improv games...lots of running around, which was helpful given the collective inability to stand still. Everyone got along (although it's still only the first day) and they make an excellent ensemble--a wide variety of personalities. We have some drama queens and some incredible comedians (the lone 7 year old is absolutely hilarious)! It can only get crazier from here...

The plan is to write a play. As a group. Which we will perform for the parents on Friday. This is asking a lot of a group so large and varied and, well, young. But after watching the scenes they came up with entirely on their own today, I am confident that they are more than capable. In groups of five or so they were told to come up with a short scene (2-3 minutes) that must have 1) a place, 2) characters and relationships, 3) a problem, 4) something that makes the problem worse, and 5) a solution. And every single group managed to have all of those things. Twice. Eight totally different scenes.

Kids are so amazing. Because, for the most part, at that age they haven't learned to ignore their impulses. They go with it. They come up with the most incredible ideas and they don't hold back. We lose that little by little as we get older...

So our play...the workshopping officially begins tomorrow. But the play will be set in a medieval village where a shadow creature tries to take over the world. This is what they voted on. The characters remain to be seen, but their ideas ranged from mermaids and Greek gods to juice boxes. Really, this could go anywhere...Stay tuned!