Do you ever have a front seat view to your own life? This week as I am privileged to be in Northwest Arkansas with several projects at once. Why make your life easy doing one.thing.at.a.time. when you can make several things.in.a.row. require juggling, driving, coordinating and coordinating your own life, (and very often a few extras) at a hundred different levels?
Have you seen the reality of a festival of performers that all need to rehearse, work, eat, and prepare their crafts while they gather as community evenings, mornings, and throughout the week? Theatre Squared staff and the Walton Arts Center folks simply make it look like a grand waltz in which everyone is delighted to be a part of the dance.
That’s just ONE facet of what I’m witnessing and working within this week. Another is end of the year 501c3 leadership round ups, another is working on completion of some new leadership courses and a book by the publishers deadline…all while traveling, living the usual messy of families living in 3-5 places at once and the extra challenges of just loving every part of it all.
breathtaking moments….
when I witnessed one of my clients (and friends) see her first reading of a new genre of original writing and performed at its first reading…
when I heard the story of why a playwright does her craft…a lawyer by day, a native writer by purpose…as the bride of a card carrying member of the Cherokee and Delaware Indian nation, this resonated deeply in my heart…and as an educator, my hope.
to hear a poet share her excitement about publishing her poems….and know that she is impactful where ever she goes.. Words are such powerful things. La Tosha is one to watch.
As a child I was often in the presence of musicians, folks who inspired me, who encouraged me to also play, sing, or enjoy making music. As part of this Arkansas New Play Festival, Bill Haymes is the brilliant musician behind Crescent Dragonwagon’s ‘Until Just Moistened, a one woman show, with crumbs” He is anything but a crumb..though we’ve enjoyed the joke. I met Bill a few years ago in Nashville, and he’s owned my respect ever since. He lives an amazing life, a chosen life, with boundaries that include time in France each year….enjoying life…all while doing the craft and work he enjoys. Find him on CD baby, you’ll love his lyrics.
My heart is full this week, for there is more hope for the world when stories such as the ones being produced in the festival are heard. The goal of theatre, in my mind, is to bring humans to closer through conversations and awareness. I believe the audiences of this week’s productions will be deeply engaged in the joy of their experience.
Meanwhile, it’s an adventure in logistics for this strategist, juggling play festivals, funding foundations, and work as an educator with vision. Someone said that life is my stage, and that sounds about right.
On with act three…or is that thirty-three…creating is what I do …
What a joy to have this refreshing week or two with a community of creatives who “get it”…and doing life with them.
