Personal Statement of Aesthetic
Diverse artistic theatre has an energy defined by its artisans and is presented to the audience as an evolutionary organism. Jean Rosenthal believed that “dance is fluid and never static and that natural light is fluid and never static." I believe that this also extends to live theatre and that our lifelong challenge as theatre artists is to embrace and encourage the aqueous nature of theatre.
An artist’s palette begins at creation, adapts during the adolescent spurt of growth, and is ultimately revealed to the world. As an artist in theatre, I value the germinal stage of a play from a writer, the sprouting phase in the mind of the readers, the director’s guided development of the play during collaboration with designers, and the evolution of the play presented by actors in production until it blossoms and reaches its final maturation.
As an active artist, it is important to me to welcome the fast pace of technological changes evident in today’s theatrical world. To realize the director’s vision of a play, the production team needs time for researching, collaborating, and percolating about the conceptual idea, discovering its relationship to the technology available. Visually unfolding during rehearsals and previews, the production should be allowed to unify at opening and to harmonize through the run of the show, thus enlightening the audience and guaranteeing an original performance every night.
Our theatre communities unfold as young artistic minds seek stimulation and guidance on a journey toward a career. We should embrace our aspiring artists, mentor them, and make available to them the largest toolbox with which to shape their creative work. Internships, workshops, tours, and performances are all opportunities to reach the student and should be endorsed with enthusiasm. It is not the finished canvas, but it is the choices we make as we fill the blank palette, gradually sharing it with the world, that tickles our soul and makes a life in theatre worth every minute.
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