Art among me

As a high school theatre teacher, you cannot help but come to terms with the fact that sometimes, life gets in the way. Rehearsals can be interrupted daily by anything: a lovers' quarrel and the resulting tears that follow, a parent pickup for SAT tutoring, and (not that this ever happens... right??) the unfortunate detention for being late to first period. We forget sometimes that the world does not revolve around our art. I find myself begging my students to leave "life" at the door and engulf yourself only in the moment. But to my dismay, that can never be the case and "life happens". I have sometimes wondered... "how do my student actors expect to get any sort of work done to the best of their ability when they constantly let life get in the way?"

And so when I turned to Uta yesterday, she shared with me this bit of wisdom. She defined talent as "the natural endowment of a person with special or creative aptitudes," she also went on to say...

"In an actor, I believe, these endowments consist of high sensitivity and responsiveness to sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, of exceptional sensitivity to others, of being easily moved by beauty and pain, and of having a soaring imagination without losing control of reality."

I have always encouraged my students to be in touch with their emotions and the world around them. I remind them to keep journals in order to give voice to their thoughts no matter how simple or abstract. It is the healthy balance of observation and raw talent that makes for a healthy balance on stage. And so I read on...

"...remember that once you can read, you can educate yourself in the understanding of human beings and the social conditions under which man has struggled throughout history... your feet can take you to museums, galleries, libraries, theaters, concerts and dance performances."

And so without thinking, I opened my laptop searched the web and decided on a post lunch trip to the Frost Art Museum at the Florida International University Campus. I wandered the exhibit rooms taking in the works. Colors... shapes... smells.... sounds.... it was a typical museum visit. Some works spoke to me and some didn't. But there, in the solitude of the museum (it was pretty empty), I realized what I already knew... I had a re-relization. Theatre is a life study. It is art and life in perfect harmony and if we don't take the time to really live and appreciate the life around us and how it inspires art, we can't fully realize our talent as people of theatre.

It is so important to make observations; to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the world around us, both real and artistic. I guess we owe to our art. So amidst the art in the afternoon, I made the promise to keep a more open mind to as much as I can. And because of that the occasional rehearsal interruption when "life happens" may not seem so irritating to me.

And life and art went on...