Five days a week I taught Drama classes. My students would start with voice and body warm-ups. Then everybody would grab some floor space, lie down, and close their eyes. And I would walk around with my sea breeze voice describing the beach they were on. The whole time reminding that they were breathing in and out like waves rolling in and out, the tide, and in this place could hear the sound of gulls, could feel the sun warm until it might disappear behind a cloud, and all around them were voices, laughter, random sounds, the taste of air, the touch of sand. The auditorium was a cathedral of dimmed light, and the stage was an incubator for the imagination, a dreamed beach. Then I would say, Gently turn on your sides, lift your knees to your chest, and then slowly sit up. My students like butterflies emerged from the chrysalis of their individual experience, and spreading their wings, picked up Shakespeare, Williams, Ives, Sophocles, or Chekov, and began to play.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 11:59:28 +0000
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