Guiding Principles
Part of the Invisible Diaries series:
Week 6 / Day 5
I am not sure how many words I have in me today… but I am going to find some. It is 5:32pm as I sit down to write this. I just left the Zoom send-off that some of my amazing colleagues (Ken Goldstein and Brittany Proia) put together for our graduating seniors at SUNY New Paltz. It was a short and sweet ‘ceremony.’ The spirit of it was to let them know how much we appreciate them and their fortitude considering everything that has happened this semester, and that we are wishing them the best as they move forward into a Covid-19 American theatre scene.
At this event, I shared a couple of August Wilson quotes with them. They both mean a lot to me, but there is one that I will share with you all today (and one that I will share with you all at the end of this week-long blog journey). The one for today is:
Have a belief in yourself that is bigger than anyone’s disbelief.
I love this quote so much, and have used it as a guiding principle ever since I found it sometime during my school journey. Whenever I start to find moments of imposter syndrome creeping in, I remind myself of this. I hope that I am the artist I am because I consciously try to channel my energy into being bigger than my wildest dream and better than anyone’s negativity about me.
I don’t know who needed to hear that – but there you go! I hope that may do something for you today!
Other than that moment, I spent the early part of my day, 8:30-11:30am, working with some collaborators on a new musical. This process has been a lot of fun, and – after today’s dramaturgical sharing of notes and discussing of next steps – I look forward to the work as it continues. I have no idea what it will look like as we move forward in this theatre world that currently exists, but I am going to hope that this enjoyable story will come to life onstage at some point in the future.
After that, 12pm-3pm was dedicated to more digiturgy with the students at Yale. This was a conversation that focused on the following ideas:
How to market oneself
Digital storytelling
Creating a virtual season
How the role of dramaturgy is expanding in this realm
What audience engagement looks like in the world of digiturgy
That time went by FAST!
After that, I met with some students from my school who have created the Virtual Theatre Collaboration company, then talked to a student about some thoughts they had for a paper. Now, we are back at the event that started this post.
Today was a long (but good) day that tapped all of the parts of my dramaturgical life. Teacher, artist, scholar, mentor… I am one blessed lady!
This photo is apropos of nothing, but my spouse took it today from our deck – I hope it makes you laugh the way it made me laugh. Chloe-Monster is watching you! 😂
Martine Kei Green-Rogers is an Assistant Professor at SUNY New Paltz and President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.
Her dramaturgical credits include: The Greatest with the Louisville Orchestra; Four Women Talking about the Man under the Sheet and Silent Dancer at Salt Lake Acting Company; Fences and One Man, Two Guvnors at Pioneer Theatre Company; Clearing Bombs and Nothing Personal at Plan-B Theatre; Sweat at the Goodman; productions of King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Five Guys Named Moe, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Gem of the Ocean, Waiting for Godot, Iphigenia at Aulis, Seven Guitars, The Mountaintop, Home and Porgy and Bess at Court Theatre; The Clean House at CATCO; Hairspray, Shakespeare in Love, UniSon, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, Comedy of Errors, To Kill A Mockingbird, The African Company Presents Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Fences at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Headshot photograph by Joe Mazza.
Other photography courtesy of Martine Kei Green-Rogers.