No Outline

So here's tonight's late challenge: write my thoughts about Performance Studies without an outline. (The outline is an osession of the danio.)

I was reading a great article in "The Performance Studies Reader" tonight, which differred notable from others in that it had only one reference. Usually any article in Performance Studies is frought with quotes, references and notes, to indicate a thorough grasp of the topic and assis readers in further investigating related writings. This article, called Cultura in-Extremis puts into words what I have recently expressed to a few of my friends: entertainment today, especially on television and other recorded media, consists almost solely of freak shows - from talk shows where family members denouce each other's (or more commonly their own) atrocious behaviors, to reality shows where base emotional knee-jerk reactions are fully enacted, and including the news, which sensationalizes celebrity court cases for months on end, or display ceremonies related to the installment of a new Pope as fascinating peculiarities.

The trouble for some artists is that this increasingly common practice of showing the "extreme" (extreme sports, make-overs, sex, etc.) makes the unique mundane by definition. Rather paradoxical. I remember a couple of years ago, a few friends started using the term "extreme walking", going around along the sidewalk, stopping on one foot for a moment, turning around, etc. to mock the "extreme" concept.

I guess many artists, like anyone else, are trying to make things in this bizarre world more "real" - and one way to do this is to evoke powerful sensations. It's a lot like drugs, as a matter of fact...

Of course, the problem being spiritual, any performance that doesn't take spiritual factors into account will not truly connect to anyone. And critics who do not appreciate the prominence of this power will overlook that which ought to be their focus of study.

Connectedness - there's where one of the biggest problems resides. We all look for something meaningful in our lives, so the media and our society feed us stimulus that will evoke a strong response, which passes as meaning. We long to worship our Lord, so we find rock stars to laud. We yearn to better our souls, so we have conversations about how horribly reality tv show participants are acting, explaining how we ourselves would make much better choices.

Connectedness - follow the link to see one effort to connect us to here and now and ourselves by reaching out to the extremely distant future.

The battle is certainly a difficult one. I know, for example, deep within me, what role I must play in the unfolding of a more united, more moderate, more connected world. However, whenever I ponder my research in Performance Studies, I am disoriented by the multiplicity of my interests, the many ways in which my interests are already addressed, and questions of how this research will play out in my ultimate practice of performance. My current leads are: verbalized spiritual aspects of performance, audience participation, Chinese performance, role-playing games, standards of arrangements for conferences and similar gatherings, and a few others.

The battle is also difficult because I don't really yet have any accomplice in my work. Actually, I can think of some collaborations that were extremely satisfactory. My work with Paul Jacks, composer for The Peach (play I wrote/produced/directed), for instance, or more recently with Shawn Harris (co-role-player, playwright for The Rose Knight, which I was producing/directing). So I don't know what I'm talking about. I have definitely not been alone. In fact, upon reflection, it's amazing that I have had such opportunities to work with people asking the same questions that I am! I guess this will continue - I'm excited!

It may be my optimism (or my tiredness, more likely) that makes it difficult to express where the challenges lie, but they are certainly here. I finished the sixth Harry Potter book last night, and that was a huge boost in motivation! Thank goodness for Harry.

Anyway, I've managed to distance myself again from what I had intended. I might give this free-flowing style of writing another go later, but I definitely much prefer a well-formulated sequence of statements...

The bed awaits my warmth.