Right Place, Right People, Right Time...

Unless there’s a career renaissance for me as a grandparent in on-screen roles, I don’t expect to have the chance to win an Oscar and publicly thank all the people that made my creative career possible.  So before senility (real or assumed) kicks in, here goes…

Although neither of my parents had vocations in the fine arts, genetics created a winning formula.  Ma and Pa accepted, encouraged, and endorsed my steps and choices along the way.  I am most grateful for the freedom and love.

Excluding the wonderful stars I saw in movie and television shows at their peak (Carol Burnett, Red Skelton, Johnny Carson), it’s the personal encounters that made the biggest difference.

Between 5^th & 6^th grade I took a summer school package that included a course with Michael Hennessy.   All the kids were of an age, the age where art was only important if it was on TV or the big screen.  Then Michael “introduced” himself non-verbally and proceeded to enact a safe-cracker’s worst nightmare—entirely in pantomime.  We were enthralled, entertained, and hooked on the idea of telling a story without words. 

Michael was inclusive in his teaching, and guided us toward staging a little haunted house adventure we produced for our families (I was the floating skull).  Since then, he’s trained with Marcel Marceau, clowned with the New York Goofs, performed at the Guthrie Theatre and San Francisco Opera (among other prestigious venues),  and gone on to produce mime plays designed for educational and social justice messages.  And at age 64, he’s now heading “Actions Speak Louder”, a group consulting corporate employees’ use of body language and non-verbal expression.

I thank him for fanning my creative spark into a flame. 

In the fall of 1979, I enrolled at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.  A year later, I jumped into their speech--aka forensics--team.  Greg LaPanta was the head coach.  I had only participated in three plays in high school, one category (Discussion?!) of speech competition, and felt pretty nervous about ‘having what it takes’ to meet the ARCC record of forensics success. 

Greg had coaching conversations, not lectures.  He was Socratic in questioning, used peers as performance models--but didn’t like ‘cookie cutter’ styles, and encouraged best efforts.  He even had fun!  Due to his influence, the team succeeded nationally during my time at ARCC as well. 

When I moved on to a four-year school with new coaches, I had a track record prompting arrogance.  Since two-and-four-year schools competed on the same Midwest circuit, we saw him frequently.  It didn’t take long before he called me out on my attitude and reminded me of what was important (best efforts, fun, the social atmosphere).  I thank him for that.  He used a position of power to empower young people.  The forensics organization Phi Rho Pi recognized this when they gave him a national service award in 1984; the state of Minnesota’s college speech students and coaches value this as they honor teams with the Greg LaPanta Quality Award. 

Greg passed away in 1985 as I graduated into the “real” performance & education world. 

If I was ever hesitant and insecure professionally, my first year out of college was the time.  No scholastic teaching positions fell in my lap, no real-world employers would look twice, so I jumped at the chance to do some non-traditional theatre with an educational company called CLIMB (Creative Learning Ideas for Mind & Body).

CLIMB’s mission is to create and perform creative works that inspire and propel people toward actions that benefit themselves and the community.  They started in 1975 as a company mostly serving disabled groups and audiences.  Peg Wetli & Peg Endres gave me a new skill set and confidence that I could work ‘magic’ in any theatrical or educational setting.  Doing school residencies or working with those special groups showed me the possibilities for more than one career. 

I have been fortunate to work with a LOT of talented personable & intelligent people.  Their influences guide me every day.  I single the few out because they met me at a crossroads and pointed out the path I needed. 

And now, the band is playing, oh crap!  I also want to thank my pet turtle-----!?

STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE…

Folktales never die, they just go to sleep until they’re kissed with kindness.

The comfort zone of beginning storytellers is to find the familiar, the sympathetic.  For some performers, they embrace the ongoing saga-length possibilities of Ancient Mythology (see Zeus and his wacky relations) OR Cultural tales they heard at a relative’s knee (see the Ramayana).  For others, ‘familiar’ is the Euro- or Appalachian-folktale.

Greek or Roman myths offer still-relevant symbols of behavior & linguistic analogs for love (Venus), vanity (Narcissus), or war (Mars), among others.  The roots from which all soap operas flow.

Cultural tales carry an emotional weight, immerse you in an unique ethos of a specific culture portraying heroes, villains, and helpers.  The roots from which your roots grow.

As for folktales, I think they get a bum rap.  They are self-contained (unities of Time, Place, and Action), display memorable values (loyalty, generosity, wit), and provide archetypes and action that rivet the attention.  Animated movies and 2011-12 TV shows still love the legendary for those reasons.

Granted, the emotional attachments or environs relevant to the 21^st century audience member may be lacking.  Repeated exposure to a specific tale could result in emotional distance (if any empathy existed in the first place), loss of attention with its predictable plot, and ultimately no desire to read or see it as before.

BUT your exposure to folktales has left its mark on your perceptions and behaviors, I’ll wager.  Those ‘folk’ universal laws & ethics still guide you.

#1: Size does matter.  ‘Third little pig’ or the Mouse of Aesop’s fable proved they weren’t always outmatched.  This law takes on different context in jewelry purchases, of course.

#2: Kissing a frog is not a deal-breaker.   You can’t judge a book by its cover, either,  but making out with one is not a healthy start to a relationship.  The frog, the animal is there to let a personality shine through the warts.  See the whole person, yes?

#3: Names are powerful.  If my name was Rumplestiltskin, I’d conceal it too; or at least do a more effective job so nosy folks don’t get the best of me…via identity theft.

#4: No such thing as a free lunch.  Gingerbread houses are all-you-can-eat tasty until you have to live with the transsexual Gordon Ramsay inside. 

As performers, we also have laws--to help you appreciate the ‘tired’ folktale.

I = Go to THE source.  Many published versions lose something in translation; sharp details and weird customs become diluted or deleted over the years.  Dig deep into the culture and era that spawned the story.  Peruse multiple versions of the tale.  Everything old can become new again.

II = Acknowledge the Source.  It’s tempting to find a good thing and be appreciated for it.  You hold a monopoly on the script and praise…IF nobody knows you’re using a published version.  BUT sooner or later the truth will out & remember what happened to the wolf after Little Red’s lumberjack friend got done with him?  I’m just sayin’.  
    If the audience trusts you for the good stuff, give ‘em more (in quantity by doubling their resource & quality when you ask the author for permission to share this and another tale).

III = Identify with a character.  Many performers do this unconsciously on first read--it’s the hook for their enthusiasm; it’s the empathy that fulfills the character portrayal; it’s the spark for ensuing light bulbs over the audience noggins.
IF you’re running out of gas telling an ‘old’ tale, then find a character in the story whose perspective isn’t fully shared or understood in the traditional version.  Write the storyline (or an original one) in their words, through their eyes.  I’ve had a lot of fun with this method.

“Fractured Fairy Tales” ala the 1960s Rocky & Bullwinkle TV show, Gregory Maguire’s works (“Wicked”, among others), and many recent children’s books utilize the twist to much success.

IV = READ!  Somebody read you the stories when you were younger; then you read on your own.  You can find a lot more material, enjoy a lot more literature, know more of your ancestral culture, and challenge yourself as a writer-performer if you make a consistent effort.

Right now I’m working on a tale about finding a pot of rainbows at the end of a golden nugget.  

Jealous?

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