ok. Blog virgin Amy here. Hope this is actually the site for Cal Shakes! Be embarassing to be blogging away on some poor unsuspecting soul's website...
Well, to work: we've just finished the Spring '08 worshop for Pastures of Heaven. Exhilarating conversation for three solid days circling the themes in the stories. Are the pastures cursed? what happens to people's fantasies when they brush against reality? and what was Jonathan really doing standing up there on top of the 'fridge, anyway?? The workshop ended with three attacks on a short section of story 6, Junius Maltby. What a total blast! I think we were all so excited to put something up on its feet. Ja! The question/struggle as we go forward will be how to handle the narrative -- how much to activate without overwhelming the material, which has a gorgeous lightness on the page.
I think the two companies are jelling well together; we WFW'ers are beginning the process of learning Cal Shakesepearean English: e.g. "Bowling pins" which means either a) move quickly to a v-shape configuration with your fellow actors, or b) be prepared to fall over in the near future...and then there is Word For Word Shorthand: "Let's do the 'and's...' No! let's do the "as's!"" You figure it out.
Truly, I feel incredibly blessed to have this rich and wonderful time together. We have all clearly fallen madly in love with the text of The Pastures of Heaven, which is working its magic on us, just as Steinbeck intended, no doubt. Check out the rest of this blog site for video of the workshop.
Cheers--Amy
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