Oops!

Well, I made it four days straight before missing a post yesterday. On the positive side, that brief run is the most blogging that I have done in a long time. I will keep going from here - probably not with a daily blog post, but at least with some kind of daily writing. I will report back every so often with updates. For now though, I need to get back to packing for our weekend Cub Scout camp out!

I know what I'm doing

Directing Meeka Rising by Carol Korty
NYU New Plays for Young Audiences, 2013

My life in theatre began at age 11 when I spent my first summer working backstage with the summer stock company led by two of my uncles. This introduction came at an integral time in my life and gave me direction toward the place where I am today.

That means I have spent 30 years in the theatre - 20 of them working professionally as an actor, director, dramaturg, and teacher (not necessarily in that order or in those capacities all of the time). Sometimes it is important to reflect on the past to understand how far you've come.

This also gives me the confidence to say that I know what I'm doing and know that I do it well.

Bred for this

Oops! It is a little past midnight on what would be Day 4 of my writing challenge, so technically I missed the third day. However, since I am still up and working through some other projects I will let this one count.

It was a frustrating day today. Thankfully, I had The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holliday, to meet me at the end. Today's quote for reflection was from Seneca's On Providence, in which he wrote: "Why then are we offended? Why do we complain? This is what we're here for." Holliday's commentary is a reminder that each of us comes from an "impressive tradition" of people who had to bear more difficult struggle. We are "capable of what they are capable of. You're meant for this. Bred for it" (p. 170).

Interesting to put things into that perspective. It seems that the Stoics frequent meditation on struggle is to say something to the effect of "it could be worse". And it certainly could be. Good to acknowledge that in order to more quickly get back to moving forward.

Coaching in the Theatre Classroom

Image: "Coaching" by Shane McGraw
Accessed at flickr.com
Unaltered / License link

A few months back, I attended one of my last doctoral seminar classes. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was two weeks after successfully defending the dissertation, which meant that I was no longer required to go - a detail I did not know until I tried to sign in and found my name wasn't on the roll. However, it was good that I was there to hear a research topic proposal presentation that I have been thinking about ever since.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the proposal paper and cannot rightfully credit the person doing the research. He was looking at a music education pedagogy with similarities to athletic coaching. I don't remember all of the specifics, but I do remember being struck by how well this seemed to adapt to theatre education at the high school.

Then, this evening, I was listening to The Art of Manliness podcast while ironing clothes for the week. This particular episode (#405) was a conversation with a man named Sam Walker who has written a book called The Captain Class about how the captains of some of the most dominant sports teams are often not the best players, celebrity athletes, or known names. I didn't get far enough into the episode to get into the heart of the findings, but generally Walker's book discusses common components of these leaders' styles. That got me thinking about the research topic and how I might apply it to the high school theatre program where I teach.

I would like to take some time this summer to read about coaching psychology and methodology and see how it can be applied to the theatre program as a whole. I see the program defined by both the classroom instruction and the practical application of that work in the school productions and other performance opportunities (competitions, festivals, etc). How can athletic training be brought into both of those areas to improve my instruction and student learning? In what ways are these two environments similar and different? How much practical training is "enough" and how can psychology and education about training be implemented? How can I teach leadership in an arts-based curriculum?

Lots to learn. Looking forward it learning and putting it all to use!

Writing Challenge

The best way to write is to write. In fact, the best way to do anything is to do it. Seems the shoe company slogan ingrained in us late Gen-Xers was on to something.

After completing the dissertation in late December, I took a significant break from writing to allow myself time to decompress and let the reality of what I'd done (and what's to come) a little time to settle in. The honeymoon is over now and it is time to reestablish a writing routine to put the degree to use.

As always, and with anything, the greatest obstacle is time. And the way to "find" time is to make room for it. So as a way to get back into the swing of things without taking on more than my commitments allow, I am giving myself a 10 day writing challenge that begins today with this post. My goal is to take at least 10 minutes each day to share an idea on this blog no matter how small, or large, it may be. I know that having a loose outline is helpful for me to get things moving, so I have come up with a list of potential topics in case I don't find that occasionally elusive "inspiration" to write. While I would like the blog to focus primarily on my work in the theatre classroom, research, etc., but for now anything goes until I find my new groove.

So, mark off Day 1! I will see you back here tomorrow.