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My Approach

A more involved statement about my approach to theatre art

My experience to this point has provided me with varied and disparate interests in the performing arts. My past research and performance experience includes clowning and puppetry/object theatre; comedic improvisation (solo and ensemble long-form); and non-traditional/ non-linear narrative storytelling techniques (language playwrights like Erik Ehn and Mac Wellman in particular). All these areas share the unifying influence of expressive, theatrical physicality as well as bold risk and fearless imaginative spontaneity. I admire and seek to make theatre that, as it tells a story, moves the audience members to the edge of their seats and plants this thought in the their heads: "I can't believe he just did that..."

As a theatre artist, I analyze dramatic conflict though the "elements of form" as found in "The Integration of Abilities" philosophy advanced by Paul Baker, Texas theatre visionary and founder of the Dallas Theatre Center. Baker's work is highly influential in my overall approach, particularly concerning character silhouette, space and rhythm. I am also an advocate of what Peter Brook calls the "Immediate" theatre... a fluid and ever-changing style that emphasizes the joy of the theatrical experience.

I strive for what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls Flow. Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. It is similar to an athlete being "in the zone" or when a martial artist describes a level of awareness called "no mind." This feeling of Flow is the goal of a really good performance (or any creative endeavor, actually). I never overlook the fact that actors used to be called "players." I deplore what playwright Mac Wellman calls "geezer" theatre. Quality counts. Virtuosity counts. A reason to say what you want to say counts. I appreciate theatre history, but hold my gaze looking foward to what the future might hold.

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