TED Thursday: "How I Became 100 Artists" by Shea Hembrey

I love a funny TED Talk.  When you have a little time to laugh and be inspired by the wealth of imagination and creativity that can be generated by a single person, watch Shea Hembrey's talk entitled "How I Became 100 Artists."

About the Talk:

"How do you stage an international art show with work from 100 different artists? If you're Shea Hembrey, you invent all of the artists and artwork yourself -- from large-scale outdoor installations to tiny paintings drawn with a single-haired brush. Watch this funny, mind-bending talk to see the explosion of creativity and diversity of skills a single artist is capable of." -TED.com

One of my favorite quotes from the talk is Shea's explanation of his criteria for the art he wished to feature in his show:

"Among all of the criteria I had, there's kind of two main things. One of them I call my Mema's test, and what that is, is I imagine explaining a work of art to my grandmother in five minutes.  If I can't explain it in five minutes, then it's too obtuse or esoteric and it hasn't been refined enough yet.  It needs to be worked on until it can speak fluently.

My second set of rules---I hate to say "rules" because it's art--- but my criteria would be the three H's: Head, Heart and Hand.  Great art would have Head, [meaning] it would have interesting intellectual ideas and concepts.  It would have Heart in that it would have passion and soul, and it would have Hand in that it would be greatly crafted."

By stretching himself and creating different artists with unique backgrounds, interests and styles, Shea was able to put together 100 pieces of art that were at once accessible to a broad audience while reflecting different sides of himself as an artist.  In fact, the artists he invented were very much artistic creations in themselves.

I think Shea's criteria could be applied to all creative pieces, events and projects that we would like to share.   It is a way to focus the art on the audience while balancing the importance of the artist's technique, passion and concept.

What do you think?

-Danielle Loebs

Theater Terroir: Applying an Agricultural Model to Theater Making

A few months ago, in response to the cancellation of the Shakespeare in the Park program, I became obsessed with cultivating a model for my theater group that would work.  Initially spurred by Ken Robinson's TED talk  I wondered if I ought to find an agricultural model to apply to making theater.

This was happening around October and November, while the Sierra Foothills bustled with harvest festivals featuring locally grown produce and wine.  I do love wine.  There is something very special about the wine region in my neighboring counties.  Though largely lacking  in infrastructure to support tourists (which could be viewed as part of its charm) the region is peppered with Mom and Pop vineyards who welcome tasters with the small town hospitality that one only expects to see in fiction.

Inspired by the attitude of these area wineries, I decided to learn a little more about making wine.  I read an excellent book, Passion on the Vine by Sergio Esposito, and began to think about the lessons the book preached about winemaking in terms of making theater.  What resulted was a vision statement for another theater model.  Since this blog is all about setting ideas free, I'd like to share my idea with you.

Theater Terroir Vision Statement

Imagine a theater that creates its art in the same way the greatest vintners create their wine; a theater so ingrained in its community that the sense of the place in which it is cultivated becomes reflected in the character and structure of its art.  This is the embodiment of Community Theater---one that, like wine, must produce its plays in a way that best reflects its own terroir.

Terroir is a French loanword with no exact English translation but has often been defined as “a sense of place.”  Aspects that define a wine’s terroir include the topography, climate, soil type and the neighboring plants that grow in and around the vine plots.  When we think of applying the concepts of terroir to our theater company, we must consider them both literally and metaphorically:

Topography

When producing local theater, the topography of the land dictates the spaces and backdrops in which the theater grows, develops, matures and (finally) produces its plays.  Our theater’s topography includes Johnson-Springview Park, where we have rehearsed and produced works of Shakespeare for the past 5 years.  However, the geographic space that nurtures our art spreads farther and deeper into the community. 

Our topography includes those places where our artists interact with our audiences without distinguishing themselves in these roles.  These are the places that provide the issues and events we can draw upon to create our art, like the soil where the grapevine draws its nutrients.  Some places will not be as easy to thrive in as others, but it is said that some of the best grapes are produced in the rockiest topography.  This is a fact to keep in mind if ever we are faced with hardships in producing our local theater.

Climate

To truly understand the concept of climate in creating local theater we must evaluate its human factors.  When developing our plays, we must be alert to the present political, social and economic climates in our region.  To capture the theater’s terroir, each vintage (or play) must be relevant and applicable to the current climates.  Our plays will work to stimulate discussion, provide opportunities for dialogue and nurture understanding of different viewpoints within our community.  If done successfully, we expect that the vintages left to age on the shelf for a few years will provide a taste of our cultural history when sipped by future readers.

Soil Type

Though the art of theatermaking typically does not include interacting with the soil itself, we appreciate “soil type” as a metaphor for our local history.  As luck would have it, a great deal of Rocklin’s history is inexorably linked to what lies in the soil beneath our feet.  The same can be said for the history of the rest of the region, which was often nicknamed “Gold Country.”  To dig in our roots and keep in touch with the soil that is our history, we plan to release one historical play each year.  Consider it like one of our grape varieties indigenous to the region.  We hope that this goal will build lasting partnerships with our local museums, educators and historical societies.

Neighboring Plants

Finally, to embrace our terroir we must not be blind to the neighboring artists and cultural organizations that pepper our region.  One famous winemaker laid out his winery like a botanical garden: including other types of fruits and plants so that “the vines could have friends.”  If we are to produce our theater organically, we must also be open to cooperative partnerships with the other beneficial organizations in our area.  Living in the same place with the shared goal of improving it makes for supportive friendships and results in great collaborative creation.

With these principles of terroir in mind, we hope to become great community theatermakers.  Our goal is to produce unique plays that reflect the cultural character of our community and to enrich that cultural experience by stimulating discussion, dialogue and different viewpoints about the area in which we live.

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Later, I was led to the brilliant work of Diane Ragsdale and read her arguments for a Slow Food Movement as applied to the arts in her speech, The Excellence Barrier.  For others interested in devising a theater model that is more agricultural than industrial, I highly recommend you read this.

Thoughts? Ideas? Questions?  You are always welcome to contribute to this blog by adding to the comments section!

Photo of vineyards provided by http://www.sierrawineries.com

Is Shakespeare Relevant?

Is Shakespeare relevant?  There are a few possible perspectives on this question, but for now I will explain why the life of one William Shakespeare is incredibly relevant to Rocklin Shakespeare’s current situation.

 

The Bard is known by many labels and titles but one that everyone seems to agree upon is the fact that Shakespeare was a populist.  In order to draw the big crowds day after day, Shakespeare had to write plays that included elements to appeal to a broad local audience.  Including elements that appealed to the masses as well as to royalty, Shakespeare ensured that everyone would like something about his latest play.  Many critique Shakespeare for borrowing most of his plots, but others argue that he chose his plots strategically: he appealed to what was popular and what was important to his audience at that moment in time.  Shakespeare always wrote what was relevant.

If we are to succeed in reaching our community with theater, I hypothesize that we too must know our audience and produce what is interesting and appealing to them.  When choosing our plays we have to ask ourselves what the current issues are in our community, what people are thinking about and what they’re talking about.  We must consider all age groups, races, ethnicities, religious groups and political groups that compose our audience, and we must figure out a way to appeal to them all.  Shakespeare’s job (and sometimes his life) depended on these skills.

Hypothesis: If we are to succeed, then we have to learn from Shakespeare.

“Is [insert title] by William Shakespeare relevant to our community?”  This is the question to ask ourselves and we will have to be specific about what is relevant by addressing current issues.  For example, will this play help us better understand the turmoil in the Middle East?  What about our current unemployment problems?  Will this play provide a perspective on hot topics like unions or the income disparity between the middle class and the super rich?   In order to ask these questions, we will have to be like Shakespeare and stay on top of the issues of the day.  We’ll also have to be strategic to address issues that will still be noteworthy by the time our rehearsals are over and we’re ready to perform.  Staying relevant takes work.

Sometimes (maybe even often) none of Shakespeare’s plays will be relevant to the issues we believe to be the most important for us to address in our community.  That is why I believe we’ll need to evolve as playwrights as well as performers.  We will have to become Rocklin’s own type of Shakespeare to produce new and relevant work that appeals to everyone.  In this case, even if the content we produce is modern, the name “Rocklin Shakespeare” still applies.

On a broader scale, I'm very interested in what defines a play as "relevant."  I also feel I need to outline what I mean by "succeeding" as a theater.  I'll leave these topics for future posts, but thoughts, opinions and reflections are always welcome.

Image of Shakespeare courtesy of www.vanishingshakespeare.org.