Non-Narration Narration

Day off..
But much work to be done.

Had a meeting with the Membership Committee of the San Diego Performing Arts League, which I chair. We were doing some strategic planning. Also had a meeting with my fellow resident company directors at Dance Place San Diego about a collaborative summer program we are holding this year. We finalized our ballet schedule and admin stuff.

SInce the dancers had today off, lets give them a day off the blog as well. And a perfect day for it, because as it so happens, we have come to the part of the ballet where they get to take a break. Our narrators become orators. The next two sonnets are simply spoken. No dance.



I wanted to give each actor a chance to just read a sonnet without having to worry about finishing it before the music stopped or attaching it to a movement. Gail Mackler who read part of the sonnets last year is our educational outreach coordinator. A graduate of United States International University, she often reads the narratives that accompany our ballets at local schools.



Steve Gunderson is a frequent collaborator on my theater projects. A wonderful actor, singer, composer and friend. Both Steve and Gail bought a great deal of sensitivity to their work and it was a pleasure working with them. The thing to remember is that in this particular instance, they are not "acting." In reading poetry, the most important thing is that the IDEA is being get across. Not necessarily the emotion. We want the audience to understand the argument that is being made by Shakespeare. Not just to think, "Oh that guy is really sad."