If you’re curious…

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In submitting a resume for an exciting job opportunity. I forgot to mention that I have a master’s degree in Acting from Manchester Metropolitan University and a BA in Theater from Bard College. Some people introduce themselves by their degrees but my cover letter got right into past projects and ideas and “stuff.”

If you are curious to see some more… “stuff” let me curate your visit to my website.

L’Enfant Terrible

This overview really articulates the full scope of the Fun Family Festival of Tragedy from 2011. You can see the platform I built to support these fantastic artists and the education program L’ET Discovery Happen we made from scratch.  Below is a video that recaps the production of Hamlet, Prince of Puddles. I also created the content for the blog and my favorite posts are here, here, here, here. Our best reviews are here, here, and here.

 

Poland

Here is a beautiful in depth video reportage of the expedition that I went on to Romania in 2012. You can hear the music and see the dances we explored and catch the mood for the whole experience. The video highlights one strand Poland’s rich heritage of anthropological theater. In their own way, Song of the Goat Theatre is carrying on the traditions of renowned artists and companies such as Jerzy Grotowski, Gardzienice, and Teatr Zar.

Design

Here are some odds and ends not mentioned in my application. I am very interested in design and how technology frames all of our experiences today. I work purposefully with graphic designers to create collateral that reflects the artistic principles of the clients. In addition to working on a number of marketing campaigns and my own personal projects, here’s some work I think is worth noting: redesign of Song of the Goat website, commissioning and editing this dossier of a young performance ensemble in Poland, commissioning the best theater poster ever.

The next 500 words – The Korea Project

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I had to write 500 words about an upcoming project for a grant application. I don’t know if I summarized the scope and vibrancy of my ideas in this application. As I review the standard proposal writing checklist – Need, Description, Objectives, Methods, Time line, Outcomes, Personal History, Evaluation, Sustainability, and Legacy – I might say I barely crossed any of them off. Why is that? Why didn’t I write the proposal that a grantor might be more inclined to fund?

The grant is for an international artistic exchange. The journey I’m proposing would be the very first step in what could end up being a much bigger thing with a lasting impact on my plans for the next few years. This application was hard because going to another country with an itinerary planned five months in advance and a list of objectives and outcomes feels insensitive. It’s like inviting yourself to someone else’s house and then eating their food, sleeping in the coziest bed, borrowing a few books off the shelf and then making a documentary about it. It reminds me one objective I left out of the application is that I hope to nurture a deeper kind of listening.

I’m proposing an authentic adventure. My questions might not have answers. The whole “bigger plan” thing might just fail. At the very least, I hope I summoned the language to outline that kind of project and the passion that I feel for it. Adventure, Unanswerables, Potential to fail… that’s about what I hope for.

Those first 500 words barely scratch the surface of it. It’s really the next 500 words that I think are important. The 500 words that I can’t say. The words that describe the things I hope will happen while carrying out this project. The connections that I’ve only penciled in and the dots that have yet to be connected.

I’m going to Korea. Soon. When it’s cold. I’ll travel to the capital to tell stories to school children and run a workshop for actors. Then I’ll travel through the countryside and meet people who are the keepers of Korean traditions. I want to ask if I might hear a song of theirs, or study a dance, or learn how to paint one of their words. I will come with songs and stories ready to trade.

In a way that’s all I can say about this project. I hope it sounds modest, humble, and achievable. But it could be the seeds to something beyond wonderful…

Quite a few people are rooting for me, actually. I have 5 and 6 year old students who are from there and speak with an emphasis like “Mr. Seth, I go to KO-RE-A!!!” Their parents are also hoping I am able to see their homeland. I work at two schools and they will gladly give me time off if I come back and relate my experience to my students. A friend of a friend is making art in the capital and will hopefully be willing to talk to me about what kind of art is being made, how it is funded, and what kind of life artists live. I assisted workshops for a group of students from Seoul and hope to share new ideas with that program. I hope to find a group of pen pals for my English speaking classroom in Poland. While lost in London last week, I stumbled on the Korean Culture Center and found a wealth of inspiration and a receptionist who laughed at my jokes. None of these people have given me letters of invitation. All I can do is knock on the door and see who will open it.

Can you feel that this idea is made of a web of fragile silk? If you want to read the whole proposal browse my Documents page. (That took 644 words.)

UPDATE 12/19/14: I didn’t get this grant. So I won’t be going to Korea when it is cold. But I’m still going…

Theater Lab

Last spring I made a proposal to an International Baccalaureate school to devise a drama program that matched their teaching philosophy. Their sister school, a bilingual school, invited me to begin teaching two groups of middle schoolers. So far it has been amazing for me and I think quite fun for the participants as well. Here’s my brief course description.

This class views the practice of theater as a form of research with the potential to teach new topics and create knowledge. In the first semester, students will study the body, voice, text, songs, traditions and technology. In the second half of the year they will take part in a collective idea generation and composition process. Throughout the year the class will research different theatrical perspectives considering the stage our laboratory. Participation will reinforce social skills, communication skills, and thinking skills. And it will nurture the physical, intellectual, and emotional balance of each student.

If you want to read the whole proposal click here: WISTheaterLabProposal.

DERME

 

1472854_776190485731236_1329432681_nWhile working on Enter Face, the performers were standing around looking at footage and someone said “That should be a trailer for the show.” A volunteer appeared out of nowhere and said I’ll make it. The next day we had a trailer. I then began to notice throughout our laborious tech load in and rehearsals this volunteer was always popping up saying he would do something and then he would do it. So when Pedro Ferrara asked me if I would do something for him I had to say yes.

On December 14, Fragments Live Cinema Performance was performed in his apartment for a dozen or so friends. It involved super 8 projection, video projection, light manipulation, electronic music and some improvisational humming by me. In Pedro’s own words:

In a world of crossfade songs with no space for silence, we try to slow things down. A state of meditation and inner peace. Experiencing time and conscious of space, no rush for chord changes, no rush for new sounds. Noise is music, repetition is new information. In the era of sampling, compression and bit, we cross between media. From the atom to the bit analogue and digital technologies are face to face, questioning where we are now throughout rhythm and motion. We believe in sharing and collaboration. We collaborate with visual and media artists, performers, musicians and sound designers, poets and writers. DERME live cinema performance talks fire for the ears, wind for the eyes and honey for the soul.