Theatre Workshops Aren't Really Work

     In the theatre we play.  We try on costumes and get carried away and suddenly find ourselves strutting around in hats and helmets making instant little scenes.  We paint ever-so-delicate flowered wallpaper patterns to create a Victorian dining room, but on the back of the same flat one might sometimes find a quick cariacature of the technical director or a pencil sketch of one of the lighting crew swinging from the third electric like a chimpanzee.  We dance and flow and pirouette, then when the rehearsal is done we either drop to the deck like Raggedy Ann or skip off the stage like gradeschoolers.  We make a joy of our labors.  Perhaps because theatre is a demanding art we instinctively grasp at the lightness of life whenever we can.  Perhaps we call it a play because we work so hard, an irony from a lost wordsmith. Out of all this work / play we create belief, among other things.  In the theatre we literally make believe, like children immersed in pretend tea parties.  We create worlds and draw ourselves and the audience into them.  We sweat and swear and cry and laugh, but mostly we work, really hard, to create a real world.  We work so hard and invest so much in these make-believe plays that when they are over we feel a little lost.  Then we start over and do it all again with another performance or another play.
     On Friday, October 15, the New Hampshire Educational Theatre Guild is sponsoring its annual theatre workshops at Plymouth State University.  They are called workshops, but they aren't really work.  What they are is a fun way to hone our craft and ground ourselves when we have that lost feeling.  In the past the workshops -- led by theatre professionals, professors, and some PSU students -- have offered something for everyone:  how to scream on stage without hurting your voice, how to make props from styrofoam and pvc piping, acting techniques, directing, playwriting, stage combat, welding for the fainthearted -- the list goes on.  They are quality opportunities to improve your current talents, develop new skills, and meet students from all over the state who share your interest in the communal art.  As an extra bonus, the PSU Theatre Department generously offers workshop (funshop ??) participants tickets to go their show that evening at an incredibly discounted rate.  We learn not only by creating theatre, but also by being in the audience.  This year's production is Still Life With Iris!. Don't miss your chance to play for the day at the workshops (it's an excused absence) and then take in someone else's hard work in the evening.  You can get all the details under "PRHS Theatre Events" at the left.