Joy-Driven Creation: Disrupting the MFA Complex, Part 2

Today was day 2 of our January residency week and several of us cried today.

But it wasn’t out of exhaustion or feeling overwhelmed by the work ahead of us (at least, I don’t think so; I suppose I can only speak for myself). Instead, the tears seemed to come because we were given the opportunity to share with each other literally anything we wanted them to know about us before we really began to work together. It was an exercise offered to us by the PHENOMENAL Nana (NAH-nah) Dakin that she referred to as “spacious introductions.” It took nearly 2 hours for us all to share, some for extended times and some for more brief comments, but the connections being built were palpable.

So many folks in these first two cohorts have been hurt and rejected by theatrical institutions and the industry itself, but we’re all still deeply in love with this art form, we’re here in this program, and we’re even more committed to changing the field to make sure that others don’t have to be hurt like we have been. Others may not have had the same negative experiences, but share that commitment to building healthy practices and deconstructing the assumed “we’ve always done it that way” norms. (Nana also asked us to share any “access needs” we had for the workshop, which is a practice I am committing here and now to adopting in every meeting, rehearsal, or other group activity like this that I can. It’s so easy and so important.)

Despite the tears today, the joy in this place is palpable. In all the different MFA programs and auditions I’ve looked at and participated in, I can’t say that I’ve personally experienced any with the level of joy I feel here. Joy for the work, joy for the art form, joy for the community and connections we are building. Maybe that’s just me and nobody else feels it, but I don’t think that’s the case.

I’ll write more about this later, but today we had an incredible workshop on the Blues as an approach to the text of August Wilson. I learned so much and my perspective has been expanded, which is exactly why I wanted to come to grad school and this program in particular. One of the things we were introduced to is the dissonance and seeming contradictions that are a part of the “cosmology of the Blues”; the idea that two seemingly opposite things can both be true: pain, trauma, and grief coexisting with joy and resilience. The more I learn about non-white/non-European centric ways of thinking about theatre and storytelling, the more joy-full I feel and the more frustrated I become that racism and colonialism robbed me of these perspectives for 35 years of my life.

Both/and. Dissonance.

But also joy. So much joy.