TCG Conference Day 4

Got to bed fairly early last night as today (Friday June 18th) starts pretty early. Up and out the door for a Morning Manifestos breakout session at the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The 900 of us were divided in to 4 groups, where we would hear speaker talk on topics like Creative Ecology, Arts Learning Continuum, Gender and Race Diversity and Artist and Artistry. The speakers for my group were Carey Perloff from ACT, Chi-wang Yang, a director and media artist from LA, Playwright Betty Shamieh, and Michael Bloom AD of The Cleveland Playhouse, with Caren Atlas, from Fractured Atlas. Moderated by Michael Rhod of Sojourn Theatre

I have to say I thought there was way too much to talk about in such a short amount of time, with such a large group of people. After hearing the speakers, all of whom were interesting, we broke out in to groups with the people nearest us. Jose Rivera (famous playwright) was one of the people in my group, along with my friend Amy Kaisser of Bristol Riverside Theatre and a board member from North Coast Rep. Out of the gate the board member (and older white man) said he didn’t understand what diversity meant. Oh, boy, I thought, here we go, an uncomfortable moment when a white man questions the idea of diversity making himself seem ignorant, or even worse, a racist. To his credit it was brave to bring it up in the midst of such a diverse group.

Instead of judging him right away I told myself to try and see what he was saying from his point of view. He made the point that “is it really diverse if you’re just seeking out different races and genders to fulfill a diversity quota.” It made me realize that some organizations have no desire to reach outside of their constituents in a meaningful way. I must say our board is pretty white male heavy. We certainly do have a desire to diversify our board, but not just for the sake of diversity. We must make sure new board members will champion the mission. We are actively seeking varied gender and race influences – any interested parties should apply within.We are about to sign on two more women.

After the session I met up with my playwright friend Christine Evans. She's an incredible theatre thinker and artist. You might remember her from our Staged Reading Performance Series and her play Weightless. It was great to catch up with her and hear about all the wonderful projects she’s working on. I hope we can collaborate again. We went back to the TCG lounge for lunch and I had a great conversation with Lisa Adler from Horizon Theatre in Atlanta. 26 years ago she and her husband started the company and they’re still going strong. I asked for some advice on how to stay in the game for the long haul and she said, “It never stops being hard work. But, I wouldn't do it the same way if I had to start again.”

After lunch I went to a social media breakout session led by Devan Smith. She’s with Yale and really knows her stuff. I unfortunately am still a novice at this social media game and most of it went over my head. Lucky for me I can watch her presentation here and contact her personally with any questions. I feel like we’re going to become fast friends. Or at least I’m going to try to be her friend with the amount of questions I know I’ll have.

After the session I was beat and had to pull myself away from the conference for a nap. Sleep was catching up with me and I didn’t want to be lame a fall asleep in a breakout session. I headed back to the dorm and just in time too as an incredible storm started brewing. I have seen anything like it. The wind was smacking Chicago in the face, causing garbage to fly around straight up in the air about 50 ft and then plunging back down to earth as if a paper bag might crush someone who happened to be under it. I watched out my window as the rain came down in sheets, giving the pavement the illusion that it was doing the wave. People were running, covering their heads with plastic bags. This storm came out of nowhere. Powerful.

The storm had stopped by the time the Fox Fellow reception rolled around. Zishon and I got all dolled up and took a cab to Midtown Kitchen. There, on display, were our photos and the 2 truths and 1 lie we had to submit. Here are mine. Guess which is the lie. (The first person to guess correctly gets 2 free tickets to any Midnight Radio.) 1. I once made the former President of the United States Cry. 2. I was once arrested in North Carolina. 3. I bit off my tongue when I was 7. Let then guessing begin

The wine and munchies were plentiful. There I met the 2 other Fellows Ellen Lauren of SITI Company and Bill Barclay with Shakespeare and Co. The place was loud and packed with people so I didn’t have much of a chance to get to know them, but I could tell they were very special people. Unfortunately the last Fellow, Kate Valk of The Wooster Group was not able to attend the conference as she was on tour. Oh, man, how I would have loved to have a conversation with her. She’s legendary and amazeballs.

Before the night was over though, Zishon had asked me to read stage directions for a reading of a scene from a new Finnish play being presented at Global Tapas (an event I learned my friend Daniella Topal was responsible for creating. Go Daniella!) There were plays from all over the world, but my favorites were the Japanese play Joy and a Russian play that I can't remember the name of.

The night ended back at The Palmer House for a nightcap and then home to bed. Tomorrow is my big day. I have to speak on a panel titled Redefining the Role of the Actor. Yikes! I have no idea what I’m going to say. I guess it’s up early for some brainstorming and writing.