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| Defining Action Theater I'm thinking about the content and process of Action Theater because I'm looking for a way to describe it. This is not a new thing; I've been trying to describe Action Theater for more than 20 years. As my relationship to Action Theater changes, so does the way I think and talk about it. And teach it. So here we go again: 1.Action Theater is a practice, a space I enter over and over again, to lubricate the processes of this system I call my self. A studio, as opposed to the street or home, offers a controlled environment, an empty field, a place where the only thing happening is the action of the moment and the only distraction is the activity of my mind. Like the white wall in a Zendo, the empty studio presents a mirror through which I see the reflections of disturbances and gifts. 2.Action Theater examines the relationship between expression and presence. Now we're talking about truth. How willing am I and with what skill am I able to be a congruent being where what I am is no different than what I'm doing and what I'm doing is fully what I am. In the moment, every moment. Whatever passes through my awareness finds its way at the same instant into action. There is no in nor out. Only an indivisible congruency of being and action. 3.Action Theater is an embodied play. The experience of the body informs thereby is included in the content of the moment. Because awareness is expanded to include the voice of the body all the time, every moment, no matter what, the phenomenological landscape opens to include realities of non-thought, of mystery, magic and marvels. Truly one is improvising, open to the unknown, willing to face whatever demons and fairies dance across the empty space of the larger mind, the universal mind. 4.Action Theater integrates movement, vocalization and speech into present expression. Now we can talk about the river. Say being-ness is like the water in a river, a river running down a mountain. Every time the river bubbles over stones, the water expresses itself through speech. When the river widens and water becomes still, it expresses itself through vocalization. When the river passes through a gorge and the water tumbles, crashes and falls, it expresses itself through movement. Speech, vocalization and movement,. all voicing the body, all expressing being, all manifesting the one endless ongoing movement of life, like water. 5.Action Theater is a developmental training. It increases the skills of movement, voice and speech. It offers tactics about how to make story, illuminate content, move in beauty, humor and music, and be really open. 6.Action Theater is fun, extraordinarily so, when it's not excruciating. I am indebted to Jenny for this endeavor, this journal. I hope everyone feels invited to participate, to share your experiences with this practice, to add your voice to the ongoing dialogue about what it's about, why we are drawn to this practice, how it relates to our lives on all levels, what makes a good improvisation, what about performance, what about teaching. With gratitude. Ruth |
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