Re: RAT IOWA

[Kelly Pardekooper/Mara McCann <marakell@inav.net>]

So what keeps coming back to me a week after the last gathering is

"The Glory of Art is an Artist truly prepared."

I"ve been repeating this to myself over and over, and each time it brings me comfort and responsibility to cultivate my craft.  To dive in, to go deeper, search further.  I"m not sure who said it, or how exactly it came up.  After some of the presentations, there was discussion of urgency, and being in situations where the sense of urgency to create was hightened by the immediate political climate.  We talked that this type of "reactivity" does not always produce the most sophisticated art- because there is not the luxury of time.  But, when you have the opportunity of time, that cultivation of artistic integrity can bring about true freedom.  The glory of art is an artist truly prepared.  So I 've been thinking about how I prepare myself in my work, how I go about refining, and developing myself as an artist in very concrete ways.
How much time do I take to rehearse a piece before it is given to the public?  How much time do I allow to sit and wait before beginning to rehearse a piece?  How much time do I give myself to write each day?  How much time do I allow myself to sit and look at the sky and breathe?  This is my preparation as an artist.  I feel as if there is a place ahead of me that I am striving towards that is the continual refinement of my art in process.  Where I take time to plant seeds before being sewn, before the harvest.

It seems that multiple times during the three days these questions came up in different presentations:

Why am I making theatre?
How am I making theatre?
What is my personal motivation to make theatre?

Dah Theatre said that "the power of Art protected us."  That art was something that gave people dignity, and documented their experience.  Dijana said "You have to do the thing you know how to do, so we came back to what we knew best- theatre."

Other quotes from the weekend:
"One of the most terrible things I remember was burning my own books."  Deanna, Argentina
"I never felt to be an artist was such a dangerous things."
"If we keep quiet for so long we forget how to speak."
"Once I started doing theatre it was an incredible force of life."
"Theatre became a way to create the metaphor of opposition to invisibility."
"Having a space for community and communion."
"Creating an art of the human humanity."
"Support comes when you respond to the needs of the local environment."
"Beauty arises in Action."
"Consistently asking people to participate in their lives."
"After truth something has changed forever."
"Start where you are."
"Being present is very political."

Mara
Graffiti Theatre
Iowa City