A Very Short Update. . .

We’re late with this month’s post, due to being on the road and fairly dead tired.

We left July 16, five days cross-country, performing the evening of the fifth.  Shows in Bloomsburg PA, Freeport ME, Holyoke MA, and three performances at the Ko Festival of Performance in Amherst, followed by a week’s intensive workshop.  Then visited an old friend in Cleveland, a show in Goshen IN, and last night in Milwaukee.  We’ve played in a living room, a puppet studio, a back yard, a barn, a theatre, a bookstore — joyous events, every one.

The Ko workshop was a highlight. “Shape-shifting Your Story” was six days, six hours a day.  Finding stories to tell, finding their hearts, finding the shapes and styles that work best.

Thirteen participants, ranging in age from 24 to 80.  Some had a track record of performing, whether it be singing, storytelling or acting.  Others hadn’t yet.  Some were at life cusps, seeing performance as a gateway to something new.  But they all, every one, had stories that needed to be shared.  Needed, not just wanted.

So we explored, together, the many ways in which that could happen.  And it happened.

On the last day we decided to break half an hour early to socialize, and several of us brought snacks and bottles of cold prosecco.  The whole group got pretty happy.  One had a couple of congas in her car, brought them in, and then the party really cooked.  The half hour stretched to two hours.  At one point Elizabeth suggested we all howl together, and it was heard several buildings away.  When we mentioned it to the the festival organizer, she said, “Oh, that was the workshop!”  More than a few said it was life-changing.  Wow.

And now we visit another day in Milwaukee, and then three long hops cross-country and back to California living.  With luck we’ll have tomatoes to can and our King Lear puppets to get back into harness.