To blog or not to blog…” that’s always been a question for me. “Do I have something people really want to hear, consider, use in their current writing and storytelling endeavors?” I decided I do!
I’d like to encourage the story you are living out as “a spiritual being having a temporary human experience” on this globe called Earth (the quote is credited to Robert Morris, Gateway Church). Your story matters. My story matters. And God’s magnificent story, that we all have breath and life in, matters.
I hope my blog work brings a smile and some encouragement to your storytelling and writing today…
Melea
“Writers Block and the Other Complications of Writing”
Any writer will tell you, “Yes, I have had writer’s block or… It comes and goes, like my sciatica and arthritis on rainy days.” It doesn’t mean you’re not a serious writer, nor that you lack something. It could mean you need to carefully examine your approach to writing. I am mentoring-coaching a young writer these days and he was having “writer’s block” so I went to some sources to find simple answers and encourage him to self-exam this this thing we call “writer’s block” I found a great article that addressed it. The article discusses...
read moreIn Search of Theater for Teen Actors…just my thoughts
Okay, so where does director of faith-based theater go to research and find good material for H.S. students? After piling through sketch and play sites and a few other resources, I am considering the following: We need writers for high school aged actors (sketches and plays)… ones that will commit to writing the stories that matter to them! I need to write. Today, high school people are more sophisticated and wiser (worldly-wise) than ever before. My experience, after being back in the classroom is this: They won’t do corny. They won’t...
read moreRe-Story Theater 2014-15 & Your Art-filled Summer
“Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.” -from a poem by Alan Alda My H.S. Drama One class has ended and in a great way—a melodrama by Craig Sodaro, “Wait ‘Til The Sun Shines Nellie”! It’s been fun to see timid, apprehensive, quiet students blossom into confident and capable actors and servant-artists. And for those that possessed drama skills already, there was a refining of them that may have even surprised them. We are all different after this year of Drama One. RE-STORY...
read moreShakespeare & The American H.S. Drama Student
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.” –William Shakespeare Remember way back in August when I shared of how I would be teaching a H.S. theater class, once again? Every Friday, I teach a group of 15 H.S. students. It’s been a good year, so far! And a very stretching one for all of us. For me, it has been the reusing of old muscles and building back strength. And for most of my students it has been the building of new muscles. They’re a wonderfully creative group of teens. Some are timid and shy, some are bold and outspoken,...
read moreWorkshops Shape Vision and Bring Hope
In a culture that can’t seem to find its common narrative, we found one as we risked embarrassment, misunderstanding and fear as we shared our own personal stories that day… My January Storyday—“The Power of Storytelling and Spoken Word”—was powerful and meaningful for its participants, including its speaker-teacher. Every age was represented, from teenager to senior. We gathered up from central California to San Diego, and added Kansas and South Africa in for contrast and depth. It was seven plus hours of teaching, partnering,...
read moreMOVING FROM LABOURER TO CRAFTSMAN TO ARTIST
He who works with his hands is a labourer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist. —Saint Francis of Assisi This was the first quote that I wrote on the board for my Drama One students. It went in their new and empty Actor’s Journal. It’s a composition book where they are to relate their growth, challenges, ah-hah moments, and general thoughts about being a student-actor. It’s also a place they log their rehearsals. And, from time to time, I...
read moreHeading Back to School…and Back to the Classroom!
I said, “Yes.” Yes, to teaching Drama One to high school people, once again. I am excited about this. I am nervous about this. I am qualified for this. Are teachers better teachers years later? Yes. Why? Because of accumulated knowledge and tons of practical experience. I have never really stopped teaching. I lead workshops, coach and mentor artists, direct and produce shows. Plus, I have raised a teen and I am raising a teen. Teenagers no longer bring fear and dread as they once did when I was about 26 and 38 years old. They bring compassion...
read moreA Better Storyteller in Five Ways
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. Matthew 13:34 Know Your Audience—Who will I be telling to in this moment? What makes this group unique? How do they hear story? Find out as much as you can about your audience. They will cease to be strangers as you enter into that moment of storytelling. Prepare and Pray—The best storyteller is the one that has prepared. Rehearse with your whole body before a mirror. Believing the story versus knowing a story translates to an...
read moreCLEAR THE DESK!
“Every artist dips his brush into his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” -Henry Ward Beecher- What color has your brush dipped into with this new year’s beginning? I posted this on my facebook page close to the first day of January 2013. It spoke to me deeply when I first read it. I subscribe to the belief that we are all artists. Some of spend more time in the studio than others, but that does not qualify us as better artists, just more trained, more practiced. There were many “likes” on...
read moreRe-Story Theater’s Beginning… An intimate look at the writing of “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress”
Last year, I wrote backwards! I started with a play, not the story first. I write stories all the time. I do my best to write one Christmas story a year and have begun writing one this year in the midst of the busyness of directing and producing “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress”. It’s called “The Unopened Christmas Gift” and I like where it’s going. After last year’s successful premiere, I began writing the story of “The Green Velvet Christmas Dress” and I had high hopes for it being available for this year’s reprise of the play. I had no...
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