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When you read this we will have completed our May Program
at the Thorton High School. I would already like to call it
a success as I feel the opportunity to return to Thorton,
in and of itself, is a great honor and achievement for our
organization.
What
I won’t be able to share with you at this point are the
details. The day to day, moment to moment, struggles and triumphs.
The initial hesitation of the young people to thrust headlong
into challenging improvisations or writing exercises alongside
a professional artist, who seems overly enthusiastic and supremely
confident about the possibilities for success. The middle
of the first week’s special rhythms, when a fair amount
of work has indeed been accomplished, and an astonishing familiarity,
solidarity and level of trust has arisen in the group. The
celebratory energy at the end of the first week, when we utilize
the tools together and begin to realize it all makes sense.
The beginning of the second week, when the young writer and
the adult artist are paired off for the remainder of the program
and a sublime awareness has arisen that the young person has
the ability to put his or her voice to the page. The emotional
pain and frustration experienced by the young writer, increasingly
throughout the second week, when they are seemingly blocked
and the adult artist is offering no ideas, but rather a gesture
or word of encouragement, a trip back to the set up, or a
provocation to step in and say the truth, to dig for emotional
clarity, when the voice of the heart sounds like a faint echo.
Or the intensity of the final day when new faces and actors
appear, the fervency of the rehearsal process, the heady excitement
of the staged readings, and the subsequent relief and elation
during the applause when what seemed hopelessly uninspired
yesterday has genuinely touched people today.
These
aren’t really the details either, but rather the recurrent
broad strokes across the canvas of our work which continues
to grow. Already this year we have worked with young people
at Hillcrest Juvenile Hall, Gateway School, and The Youth
Guidance Center (YGC). We will barely take a breath, and we’re
off to East Palo Alto Community School this summer, then back
to YGC in the Fall.
And
breathtaking work it is. The process never grows old because
each young person’s voice is unique, each pairing of
young person and adult artist a new bridge to community.
The
reaching out to each one in our organization is a reciprocal
extension. What seems to be simply an altruistic gesture or
selfless act on the part of the adult who participates in
our organization, is in fact a tremendous opportunity to tap
into a vibrant, though often invisible, life force in our
communities: The spirit of our youth. Many of our adult artists,
while engaged in the work, have queried who actually gets
more out of the project, the adults or the young people? Undoubtedly
no one walks away unmoved.
Next time out,
I’ll drop a few names and some interesting details, but
before then, please join us.
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