The Power of Live Performance

Theatre: The Artform of What It Means to Be Human

Heightened Communication

Theatre on the community, grassroots level has been an enormous part of my life for the better part of 20 years.  Growing up, I took music and dance lessons and performed regularly in front of a live audience. But I didn’t discover the theatre arts until well into adulthood. I first became interested in the stage as a means to meet people and become involved in my community. Little did I know then the power and influence this seemingly innocuous “hobby” would infuse into my life. Nothing I had experienced before and nothing I have been involved in since has made me feel more alive, confident, scared, and inspired than the work I have done in community theatre.

And I know I am not alone.

What is it, this power the theatre has over those of us who fall under her spell?

To answer that, we need to explore what the art-form really is in its purest form. Theatre is the art-form of heightened communication. That’s all it is. It’s when you take very conscious, deliberate, measured and carefully considered communication – human interaction – and transform it into art. Certainly, not an easy or simple thing to accomplish. But it has been around forever.

Since the Dawn of Time, theatre has been at the center of the societal circle, providing a forum for dialogue, a means for the People to come together in the spirit of creativity and collaboration. Live performance – above all other two and even three-dimensional art – does more to raise awareness, provide a call to action and, in short, create a forum for dialogue. Here, society can see life mirrored on the stage, and witness a bright light shine on what is important in society, what has meaning and what needs immediate attention.

Artform in Action

This year, I will have the unique pleasure and privilege to work with an ensemble of incredibly talented theatre artists in competing at the regional level with community groups from all over New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Rochester’s Black Sheep Theatre’s production of Feeding the Moonfish will participate in the Eastern States Theatre Association (ESTA) Festival competition in La Plata, MD in April. Needless to say, I am over-the-moon with excitement at the prospect of what is sure to be a life-influencing, if not life-changing experience.

To even get to the ESTA Fest, our group had to compete and win at the state level. Last November, we were ecstatic to perform in the Theatre Association of New York State (TANYS) Festival competition at Cayuga Community College in Auburn, NY. Five other short programs also competed, and we were delighted (and a more than a little bit humbled) to have been victorious in our efforts.

Now it’s on to La Plata and the ESTA Fest.

And if I can make an attempt at balance between humility and pride, I must say, I firmly believe we have fairly favorable chances to do well there.

Extraordinary People Doing Extraordinary Work

First of all, Feeding the Moonfish is a deeply moving story. In it, we meet Martin, a young man who, on the edge of a saltwater lake in Florida, slips away each night to “talk” to the fish that feed at the end of a dock. Always believing himself to be completely alone in his secret ritual, he is surprised and angry to find one night that he has been spied on by a curious and obsessive teenage girl, Eden, who has hidden herself in his car to see where he goes. As Eden confronts Martin, dark secrets from the past are unearthed, and the unlikely pair of strangers come to understand they are bound together through similar experiences of loneliness and tragedy. The new bond they forge over the course of the evening proves not only to be transformative and redemptive, but provides a sacred connection between these two very broken, very tragic characters.

Feeding the Moonfish draws on the influence of natural forces, the significance of memory and the power of human connection to weave a ghostly and surreal tale of loneliness, violence and a young man's fear of himself. In short, the story drills down to the very soul, the very core of what it means to be human.

Secondly, the cast and crew of Black Sheep Theatre’s production of Feeding the Moonfish are an amazing group of human beings. Working with them, seeing them embrace the story, share their own insights, and bring Martin, Eden, and even the Moonfish themselves to vivid and tangible life has been one of the most intense of my amateur theatre career. Emotional, sensitive and intense, their performance each time pulls from us from within and transports us from the theatre auditorium and plunges us into the dark and lonely place that is the saltwater marsh of the setting … and the depths of the young protagonists’ souls.

It is truly an extraordinary production.

We Need Your Help

We are prepared in every way to do proud the state of New York, the city of Rochester, and our own Black Sheep Theatre as we take the stage in La Plata next month. But we need your help.

Supporting our efforts is easy, and you have a few great options to participate.

•     Visit our IndieGoGo campaign at:
o   http://www.indiegogo.com/project/preview/01b468b2

o   Or, just go to www.indiegogo.com and Search for Feeding the Moonfish

o   Lots of great perks at all levels of giving!

•     Make a donation to our Silent Auction, to be held on April 12 at our fundraising extravaganza at the Bachelor Forum in Rochester

o   Gift certificates

o   Artwork

o   Crafts

o   Gifts

o   Services

o   All donations gladly accepted

•     Come on down for the mayhem and merriment, and join us for our gala fundraising event:

Black Sheep Theatre’s “The Start of Something Big!”

The Bachelor Forum, 670 University Avenue, Rochester, NY

Sunday, April 12 from 2:00 to 5:00 PM

Door prizes! Silent Auction! 50-50 Raffle! Drink Specials!

And much, much more!

For more information on these and other exciting opportunities to help, please contact us at info@blacksheeptheatre.org. 

At the Core of What it Means to Be Human

Working on Feeding the Moonfish last year and this has been an oasis of appreciation and belonging for me. I experienced several tragedies last year – loss of a relationship, loss of young friends and colleagues – and this year, when I lost my job of 10 years. It never, ever ceases to amaze me, even after 20 years, the magnitude of the power that working in community theatre has over me. It’s often so indescribable that I find myself wondering, “What did I do to deserve this? What did I ever do to deserve the friendship, the gratitude, the love? What did I do to deserve such amazing and wonderful people?” 

And all I can fathom is that somehow, somewhere, in this vast and unexplainable universe, sometime in my torn and tattered life, I must have done something right.

How Do You Measure "Sexy?"

What Makes a Man Truly Sexy?

Personal Reflections on My Own Top Ten

A few weeks ago, I read an essay entitled, “Eleven Things That Make a Man Instantly Sexy.” They were fairly mundane characteristics in my opinion, and I found  them to be as applicable to women as to men in a relationship. I agreed with them; most of them, anyways. But there were a few that were obviously lacking.

So I decided to make my own list.

For the past few weeks, I have been observing the men in my life, and paying particular attention to the way in which we interact with each other. Now, I love all the men in my life – my friends, love interests, colleagues, family – and I do find some particularly sexy. [Yeah. You know who you are. I’ve probably told you personally at one time or another, how I feel about you.] As a result of my observations, I began to compile a list of my own.

So now, I present to you, the Ten Characteristics I Find Most Sexy in a Man. In no particular order.

Passion. To be attractive, a man has to have passion. For something. Be it his professional work, his family, children – grand children – or something he does for fun or personal fulfillment, a man with a passion for something which he pursues with enthusiasm and energy is exceedingly attractive to me. Guys who approach life in a pedantic, plodding way are, to me, banal and insipid. Like eating a mashed potato sandwich on white bread. Bland, bland, bland. Give me a guy with passion for something he loves to do, and I’m instantly drawn to him.

Depth. Shallowness is quite distasteful. Beyond distasteful. Sickening, in fact. A man who is phony from the get-go – especially if he thinks I’m too stupid to notice – can just keep walking. I’m far better off without him in my life.

Sincerity. Honesty and truth are important in a friendship or relationship, but that’s such a common cry from women, it’s almost a truism. Sincerity is different. It starts with honesty, trust, and truth, but I’m talking about a man who is genuine. No airs, no pretense, no conceit (which, by the way, is the ultimate turn-off), but a genuine human being, represents himself in his words and actions, and doesn’t ever pretend to be something he’s not, in a misguided attempt to impress me. Never. Ever.

Talent. Now, I am firm believer that everyone has talent. A super-power, in fact. We are all super-heroes in some way. What is incredibly sexy in a man (or woman, for that matter), is that not only has he discovered and recognized his super-power, but he is actively pursuing it to perfection. A man who has the desire to develop this talent, practice it, hone it, and share it with the world. Ooh. Yeah.

Articulate. And by that, I mean a man who is well spoken. It’s an instant turn-off to me, when a guy cannot express himself properly. An attractive man is thoughtful, mindful, and considerate of the words he speaks before they come out of his mouth. It proves he’s a good communicator. That he doesn’t mind discussing things. And not just talking about our relationship; but sharing with me his life, his thoughts and his dreams in vivid detail. I am a very good listener. I relish the opportunity to show off that particular skill.

Self-Awareness. The unexamined life is not worth living. There is nothing more distasteful than a man who refuses to get to know himself. And it doesn’t matter how he does it. Perhaps he reads books; or he’s been on retreat; spent a week in the forest with just his thoughts; something that says to me he has a deep-rooted interest in learning what he can about himself and applying it to his life, if, for nothing more, to make himself a better man.

Compassion. Does he love animals? Feel empathy with the young, or very old? How does he consider the feelings of others, and in turn, my feelings, in our relationship? This is true in friendly relationships as well as romantic couplings. Sexy is the man who sees beyond his own needs and desires and can feel compassion for another living creature. Again I say, whoo. Yeah.

 Gentleness. Along with compassion, I find gentleness extremely attractive. This is perhaps one of the first attributes I noticed in all the men in my life whom I find sexy; one man in particular whose gentleness manifests itself physically in his hands. He has lovely hands. He is attractive in many other ways, but his hands. He has beautiful hands. And he also knows how to use them. A gentle touch. A gentle word. A kind gesture. This is the man I want close to me in my life.

Intelligence. It’s important that I qualified these characteristics as “in no particular order,” for if I had bothered to rank them as I wrote, intelligence would without question be at the top of the list. I’m not the first to recognize smart as the new sexy. “Cute and stupid” is a dangerous combination.

And finally ...

He worships me! He hangs on my every word, he buys me gifts, he showers me with expensive jewelry … OK. You’ve got to know I’m kidding. Seriously, what I’m talking about here is the ability to see beyond my exterior. He listens to understand me. Or at least in an attempt to understand me. A guy who accepts me for who I am, sees who I am, and loves me anyways. This is the ultimate, epitome of sexy.

A sexy and attractive man is not perfect. He has his weaknesses. He has his blind spots (don’t we all?) and he is aware they exist, even if he doesn’t know what they are yet. As one man I find particularly sexy put it, “I prefer to think of it as flawed in attractive ways.” Knowing that he’s not perfect. Knowing and accepting that we’re all constantly growing and changing. This, this is a sexy and attractive man in my book.

He can rub my feet any day.

But, that’s for another post, another time.