A Confession…
I got more than I bargained for.
I have bitten off more than I can chew.
I’m way in over my head.
I signed up to write and direct a play. That, at least, I thought I could do. It is a process that I am familiar with and with which I have experience. The lack of talent, so I’ve always believed can be overcome with hard work.
Over time the theme of the play became “Restorative Justice” and all the amazing things it stands for. It excited me. It was meaningful. It had all the depth, color and nuances that could provide the foundation of a beautiful story.
Even when Ida suggested that I cast Bongani as the male lead, I thought it was perfect. It added all the right dramatic elements to the story and the project: an ex-inmate on parole, with a lower level of education playing the lead in a professional play. It sounds very marketable, doesn’t it?
O my word! I just love how life will not be prescribed to.
I signed up to write and direct a play. A month has passed since we’ve started with rehearsals. I am not directing…
There is no place for a conventional director when you are working with unconventional actors. What was I thinking? Once again I have fallen pray to my own naivety.
Restorative Justice can not be understood by hearing or reading about it. It is an incredible, indescribable, sometimes long and agonizing process. Thus it remains the road less traveled.
It is a road where the risk is nerve-wrenchingly high and the outcome completely uncertain.
It is the road that I now find myself treading on in wonder.
In every small, slow step, whether forward or backward is exactly where I want to be.
The show must, will and can go on.
sterkte
ReplyDeleteYou can do it!!! Chew it and spit out the tough parts!!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteJust throw the 'What if..' at your actors, let them think through what they would be like and react like had there life gone down the road of the characters in the script. Over the years I have had many students who werent actors, nor did they wish to be. They just wanted to grow there convidence and public speaking abilities. I always tell them, that everyone is a actor... You act the part of daughter, brother, girlfriend everyday. Acting is nothing more than re acting to a given enviroment and character.
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