anne

yesterday anne bogart fed my soul.

i got to listen to her as the keynote speaker of the utah theatre association conference. the things she talked about obviously had to do with theatre, but even more deeply about human nature, society, passion and how to get what you want.

she talked about 7 things. these are the notes i took:

1. follow the pulse.
be in touch with what excites you.
enthusiasm: to be filled with god.
follow what changes you

2. make a mark.
what do you do onstage that is worth people watching?
theatre is a verb: to remember
our job in theater is to create memory for the audience.

3. create the world you want to live in.
theatre's subject is always society.
"can we get along?"
you create a model society in the rehearsal room.

4. finish the sentence.
people who don't finish sentences are of no danger to anyone.
to be an artist is to be articulate in the face of uncertainty.
theatre is a place to practice commitment.
find your own words that work for you.
if you have a dream, describe it.
use words that give value to what you do.
least favorite theatre word: want
"what i want is usually a little perverse and has nothing to do with theatre." - anne :)

5. be unreasonable.
sometimes logic and too much reason can kill theatre.
whatever you do needs to be unreasonably impossible.
starting a monologue is jumping off a cliff - let the scary momentum of falling drive you.
say, "i know!" then make something happen.
allow yourself not to know the answer.
allow the work you're doing to be bigger than you.
CERTAINTY ALWAYS LEADS TO VIOLENCE
show up, pay attention, tell the truth, don't hang on to the results.

6. bring attention where attention is needed.
observer created reality
the quality of your attention to something determines others' attention to it.
theatre: to shine light in dark places.
expand the definition of what it means to be human.

7. cultivate attitude.
feed-forward: going toward something
feed-back: the sensation you get from an experience
good acting: a balance of the two
attitude=posture
your attitude can poison or make magic.
you must have the will to go out and the grace to receive.
there are a lot of things we can't choose; we can choose our opinions and our attitude.
go too close or back too far but the middle distance won't help you.
you must have: passion, something to say, and technique.

listening to her and getting to meet her was inspiring. it cemented my desire for grad school.

thank you anne.