Our Board, session four: Meet Christian Toth

And now, our co-founder, Christian Toth chats a bit...

1) How do you identify yourself as an artist (primarily an actor, playwright, etc)?
I'm an actor with an interest in the writing and directing processes.

2) How did you get started in theater?

Sketches with friends at science fiction conventions in the 1980s.

3) Who do you consider your theatrical/artistic influences?

Actors like Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant on the one hand, the RSC crowd on the other hand, and socially aware artists such as (but not limited to) Alasdair Gray, Howard Barker, and Augusto Boal on the third hand, which provides a minimum of three hands in answer to the question.

4) When you were little, what did you want to be “when you grew up”?
Powerful.

5) What kind of theater/art inspires you?

The kind that makes you think about class and history without being sanctimonious, simplistic, or bourgeois. (Tall order.)

6) What drew you to Adaptive Arts?

Its mission and its potential to fulfill it.

7) What do new things do you want to explore while working with Adaptive?

Increased outreach to autistic communities.

8) What kind of work do you do outside of the company?

I work at an advertising agency that specializes in book publishers. I also record audio versions of textbooks. I'm the treasurer of a nonprofit and a part-time amateur actor.

9) If you had to work on one play for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Hamlet never gets boring

10) What’s your most embarrassing theater moment?

Once forgetting to yell "Help" as "Matt" in the climax of "We'll Just Dance" in "The Fantasticks."

11) What ‘s your most surprising theater moment?

Each.

13) Tell us about a “first” you experienced while working on a show.

A "first-and-only" was the time I played "Azdak" from "Caucasian Chalk Circle": it took place in a bar with a stage and patrons kept bringing me new pints of beer whenever I called for one. This direct interaction with the audience led to a real talk about the issues of the play that was close to what I imagine Brecht envisioned: fun, intellectual, and social.

Our board, session three: meet Callen Willis

And now, we present our lovely secretary, Callen Willis:

1) How do you identify yourself as an artist (primarily an actor, playwright, etc)? Or do you explore different aspects of theater?

At this point in my life, I don't identify myself as one specific type of artist; I absolutely love writing (I recently had my first poem published!) as well as singing and acting. Acting was definitely my main artistic endeavor for a while, but I enjoy going wherever my creativity takes me. :)

2) How did you get started in theater?

My mom put in me in an acting class as an extracurricular activity when I was about 6 or 7; we did a workshop of "The Wizard of Oz" and the entire class of 6 and 7 year olds was invited to audition for ToTo in a main stage equity production after the class ended. I didnt get the part, but the acting bug stuck with me.

3) Who do you consider your theatrical/artistic influences?

As far as writing goes, I love ionesco, albee, euginides, faulkner, everything.... Acting-wise, Annette Bening (or is it spelled with two n's?) is one of my favorites. Movie-Directing-Wise, I really like Darren Aronofsky.

4) When you were little, what did you want to be “when you grew up”?

A marine biologist. Because I wanted to play with dolphins. Or a geologist. I thought plate tectonics were really cool (i still do).

5) What kind of theater/art inspires you?

Bold theater. People who take risks.

6) What drew you to Adaptive Arts?

I recently went back to school for do my pre-requisites for Med School. It is a very challenging thing to go back to school after having initially graduated two years ago as well asbeing forced to take classes that may not be your 'strong point.' IE Calculus!! Bleh!! After a semester of being seriously busy, I began to go through serious theater withdrawal; Adaptive Arts allows me to not only be involved in theater in some capacity, but it also allows me to help a community; I don't know if there is anything better.

7) What do new things do you want to explore while working with Adaptive?

I want to get the word out there about Adaptive; I want Adaptive to become something that is well recognized and well known for the good things it does. It's scary to know that there will be challenging obstacles as far as fundraising; but I am sure we will be able to raise a good amount of money if we put forth an amazing effort.

8) What kind of work do you do outside of the company?

I am back in School! I am in the Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program at Columbia University for those of us who have college degrees that are pretty much totally unrelated to medicine.

9) If you had to work on one play for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune or True West.

10) What’s your most embarrassing theater moment?
I totally forgot the lyrics to a song during a high school musical and just made something up after singing "lala" for a couple words.

11) What ‘s your most surprising theater moment?

The first time I completely embodied a character was a very surprising moment; when you get in that zone and after the scene is over you aren't really sure where you are, or what just happened.

12) Tell us about a “first” you experienced while working on a show
We did Anne Frank in 8th grade the stage microphones weren't picking up; you couldn't hear anything. We had to basically yell, and since most of us 14 year olds werent trained to use our diaphragms properly, it was a bit of a disaster. Then the microphones finally popped back on in the middle of the second act, but no one noticed until after about 5 minutes, during which everyone was still yelling, so it came across as very amplified loud obnoxious yelling about the Holocaust... it was a mess.

13) What projects do you have upcoming?

FINALS!! I recently had a poem published, it's in an anthology on Barnes and Noble.com.

Our board, session one: meet Collin McConnell

Here is a look into the mind of our Educational Associate, Collin McConnell

1) How do you identify yourself as an artist (primarily an actor, playwright, etc)? Or do you explore different aspects of theater?

I am primarily an actor, but have great interest in all aspects of theatre. I love the educational side of it and how theatre in of itself is (or at least can be) educational in many different ways - I like finding ways to explore that through discussion, such as creating forums for artists and audience to discuss the work in a safe environment. I also love writing and want to try writing for the theatre, as well as perhaps directing. I guess I just love the medium.

2) How did you get started in theater?

I was interested in acting at a very young age, and fortunately had very supportive parents. My love grew in stages though, starting in high school when I discovered there existed a relationship between artist, audience, and the art, which drove me to have a stronger passion for live theatre than film (the idea that we were all in the same room together accepting this reality was an experience I was amazed we continued to celebrate in a world that further distances itself from personal interaction). College theatre only then strengthened this love and curiosity, and I was fortunately in a program that was also curious as to how I might explore that relationship, and opened many doors for me.

3) Who do you consider your theatrical/artistic influences?

My immediate reaction would be Antonin Artaud, though he came into my theatrical life much later in the game (about halfway through college). His incredible ideas and intense (and incessant) passion drives me to believe in the magic of theatre and how it can help transform us all as individuals.

4) When you were little, what did you want to be “when you grew up”?

Funny, when I was three I started thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up, and came up with all sorts of ideas - which confused me; I wanted to have a solid answer then and there. I also realized I wanted to be absolutely everything, all at once. So when I realized there were such things as actors - people who have the opportunity to experience all sorts of occupations and places in life - I immediately wanted to be that. Which, of course, never changed, and I still love that aspect of being an actor. I guess I'm greedy.

5) _____ inspires me
The ever-changing nature of the universe. Love. Despair. Hope. Fear. Everything, really. It is all valuable, and I am inconstant awe that we can even exist the way we do.

6) What drew you to Adaptive Arts?

Marielle and the thick-roped lasso that I've yet to be freed from. Kidding. Since embarking on my first journey with the company, I've been amazed and drawn by its ambition to do something different yet so absolutely, completely necessary in this world. Plenty of theatre companies try really hard to be different. Few work towards a more tangible means with which to touch, change, help our society.

7) What new things do you want to explore while working with Adaptive?
I am always curious as to what different styles of theatre can reach different audiences. And with such a uniquely specific audience that we reach out to, I wonder what forms of experimentation could be helpful to them emerging themselves in the story. We've done masks and signs and direct address and music (all in one production!), but what else might there be? As a lover of Artaud, I can't help but think, what with the strong reaction to masks and direct address, that there be more direct ways to warmly welcome our audience into the story - all depending on the story we are telling. Types of music, dance, actor/audience orientation or juxtaposition, the way characters speak and move in accordance with one another... the list goes on. So, to answer the question: I want to experiment in different ways of visually and tangibly telling our stories to our specific audience. Or: new things are the new things I want to explore with Adaptive Arts.

8) What kind of work do you do outside of the company? (this is similar to other questions, so if you have nothing new to add, feel free to ignore)
-Outside of Adaptive, I'm an actor, doing mostly classical theatre. I am a musician (singer/songwriter, and drummer), looking to maybe do more with this ability of mine. I am greatly interested in Education (which is what landed me as the Education Associate with Adaptive) - this is broad, and I'm in the mix of figuring out what that means to me. I love music. I love movies. I love food (and love discovering new delicious places to eat in this amazing city - specifically Italian and Seafood). I love E. E. Cummings, Kurt Vonnegut, and Haruki Murakami. I love language, and I love discovering new (or, really, archaic) words and phrases.

9) If you had to work on one play for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Yikes. That's tough - most of the contemporary works I love are rather dark and upsetting, and working on one of them for the rest of my life might leave me miserably depressed and horribly lonely. I need time away from those plays. Can I say the canon of Shakespeare's work? That'd keep me pretty busy, happy, and mostly sane.

10) What’s your most embarrassing theater moment?
Being awoken backstage by the actor I was supposed to currently be in the middle of a scene with. Then attempting to make any sense of the scene whatsoever in front of a paying audience.

11) What ‘s your most surprising theater moment?
Sophomore year of high school, doing Les Miserables. I was playing Enjolras and one night during the run found myself all the way downstage with a solitary spotlight on me as I began 'Do You Hear The People Sing?' For the first time in my life, as a character on stage, I looked honestly out into the audience and saw their faces - again, as my character, a leader of a revolution. It hit me really hard then at the footlights that I was sharing in the story with the people out there - that they were listening, willingly listening to everything I had to say. And what I had to say (or sing, rather) was incredibly important. It's why I still do theatre.

12) Tell us about a “first” you experienced while working on a show.
Those last two were definitely firsts for me. And most shows I do have at least one stand out first in them, I think (I try to keep myself on my toes). So, some other notable firsts would be: successfully opening a show with my own theatre company started by myself and two other very good friends (Full Circle - Nonsense Productions); wearing a dress (Baby with the Bathwater - Nonsense Productions), and to take that a step further, appearing in corset, frilly panties, garter-belt, fishnet stockings, 4-inch heels, and lipstick (The Rocky Horror Show - CSUSB); full nudity (Red Light Winter - Brooklyn College); kissing a boy (Shakespeare's R&J - Brooklyn College); and learning the leading role of a new full length play (with fight choreography and all) in four days (The Magic of Mrs. Crowling - Horse Trade Productions).

13) What's upcoming for you?

In February of 2011, I'll be working with the Adirondack Shakespeare Company for the first time, playing Lucius in Titus Andronicus and Ferdinand in The Tempest. I have also recently been invited upstate to the Adirondack mountains with them this coming July to play Demetrius in Midsummer Night's Dream and Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice, as well as perform in a currently unknown/unwritten children's production.

Our Board, session two: meet Gabby Sherba

Here's a little look into the mind of our Associate Artistic Director, miss Gabby Sherba

1) How do you identify yourself as an artist (primarily an actor, playwright, etc)? I am somebody who gives life to ideas in a variety of ways. As an emotional vessel and as a musical vessel and as a piece of the universal spirit.

2) How did you get started in theater? Oh…. there was a children’s theater in my community that I joined after overcoming a great deal of intimidation at the age of nine. My first play there was an original piece called “Mill Girls” (which is now published). Once I saw past the empty idea of simply being a ham, I became really excited to share the playwright’s truths with an audience.

3) Who do you consider your theatrical/artistic influences? Nature, Gustav Klimt, Dali, and Picasso.

4) When you were little, what did you want to be “when you grew up”? I wanted to be an invisible oboe player. I loved the sound of its voice but I wanted the performance to have nothing to do with my identity.

5) When did that dream go awry? My mother pushed me into a really vain place with music that I had no interest in. So I strayed from that world for a bit. It was similar with acting, when it felt like it was just kids being hams I didn’t want to do it. When I realized I could just go onstage and express somebody’s words, that changed it for me.

6) _____ inspires me. Oh boy. Breathing. All things with a back and forth motion, anything that gives and takes and exchanges energy.

7) What drew you to Adaptive Arts? Unlike Collin I won’t talk about any lassoes. What drew me to adaptive arts? The passion that they demonstrated for an unheard and un-accommodated for population. Something that is really important for me is empowering the silent. The nature of our productions is fascinating to me in that it’s designed to connect directly with this isolated community but also to present an awareness to traditional theater communities.

8) What do new things do you want to explore while working with Adaptive? I want to explore how to incorporate the nurturing aspects of my life as child care provide into my mission within the company as an educator.

9) What kind of work do you do outside of the company? I compose and perform music and I give my energy to characters in film and theater productions here and in New England.

10) If you had to work on one play for the rest of your life, what would it be? Would it be The Winter’s Tale? No it would be Five Flights by Adam Bock. Or the play that is made up of all my dreams that I have at night….it’s fantastic.

11) What’s your most embarrassing theater moment? I don’t think I have ever really been embarrassed. I’ve made mistakes. I guess my most evident mistake onstage was when I was playing Feste in Twelth Night and I lost track of where we were in the scene and I was switching back and forth between accents (which I was supposed to be doing for the show) and I just decided to start half of the scene over in the accent that I hadn’t done the scene in yet after exclaiming, “Oh man!”

12) What ‘s your most surprising theater moment? When I delivered my line correctly after not being able to say it in my head before going onstage while performing in School for Wives.

13) What's upcoming for you? I have some concerts with my bands. AND a little play called Alice Sit by the Fire by J.M Barrie with Adaptive in March. And some mystery projects…

C's Diary: The Residency - Day One

I was hit, grabbed, caressed, yelled at, and hugged. None of which was meant in any way malicious – hit because of excitement, grabbed for help, caressed because I had a bird on my shirt, yelled at so as to hear a question, and hugged to simply say hello. All amidst my first lesson in my first outing as a teaching artist. Sometimes I wonder if I should think a bit more before I say yes to certain opportunities.

Autism is an affliction I am terribly, and embarrassingly, unfamiliar. As the Educational Associate for Adaptive Arts – a theatre company devoted to creating accessible theatre for individuals afflicted with said disorder – one would imagine I’d have a bit more knowledge of the subject. And it’s not to say I don’t. Miss M (I’ll refrain from name-dropping here in these entries – we’re all equals in my diary) has given me a great deal of intellectual information regarding Autism and how it affects individuals. Though, of course, even that’s sometimes difficult to swallow because it's on a spectrum, meaning that many people are affected in many different ways. So, from the outsider’s point of view, it’s kind of a grab-bag disorder. Which makes walking into a classroom of autistic students for the first time to teach them theatre an awakening experience, to say the least.

I could not have been prepared, in any way, for what I would experience walking into that classroom for the first time. I just had to dive in, and though I knew that intellectually and had been telling myself that for the few weeks leading up, feeling it was all together very different.

The first thing I noticed was how intensely unique everyone in the room was. I thought of when I was a student, and how, when walking into a class for the first time, it was very difficult to judge what sorts of characters were there in the room. Gradually, over time, people will reveal themselves. Here, my first day in this class, within seconds I had a very clear image of what I was up against (which was the unfortunate phrasing I had in my mind at the time. It is always so much easier to be negative - I suppose it takes a leap of faith to choose to be positive). Of course, as I discovered, I couldn’t predict what they were capable of – we are all, after all, individuals, and our external selves rarely allow an honest glimpse of the person deep inside. Either way, I did become excited by this prospect – it is my philosophy that as an educator one needs to work with their students as individuals and not preach something more generic so the mass can take what it will. We all learn differently, and that was absolutely about to be the case here.

I was right, and wrong. Thankfully. I might like being wrong just as much as I like being right – if not more so, for from discovering we’re wrong, we learn (so long as we're willing to know we're wrong). I was afraid I was not going to get through to these kids at all, nor be able to figure out how I might over the next month of the residency. Those kids showed me. By the end of the first class, we returned to a game we started the morning off with – we asked them to make a motion expressing how they felt while saying their name. As the first activity, this proved very difficult, decisions had to be made, and we were scary new people asking them to show themselves to us. But finishing off the day, they were eager and excited to share (despite some having difficulties bridging the gap between wanting to and doing).

Where I was right was in that everyone did indeed need to be treated on an individual basis. I could not coax miss L into an engaging game of Knee to Knee with high-energy enthusiasm as I could mr. N. So walking around the room during the games was thrilling to find ways into these students very individual worlds, how to engage them and get them able to perform the tasks we set them to. Do I need to play the game with them, resulting in my need of their help? Do I demonstrate? Do I simply encourage? Do I come up with a similar activity, finding a new way for them to get their hands dirty with the material? There are a million ways to play, and that, essentially, is what we are here to do. Play.

My heart was sincerely touched at the end of the second session. I had worked a bit with one student on several games, mr. N, and was afraid he was too overwhelmed and stressed by us (me) pushing him to engage. I was having a hard time reading him (as I was most everyone else). When it came his turn in the circle at the end to express himself, he turned to his iPad (he was our only non-verbal student for the day) and typed out this little message:

“this was awesome.”

I can’t wait to see these kids again next week.

Professional Development Day

So, yesterday, Adaptive Arts had our first Professional Development/training day and we are still reeling over the massive amount of courage and creativity our participants brought. So much so that a full update will have to wait. BUT, we wanted to post our plans for the day. As we made our way through the training lessons got adjusted, exercises got added, some got cut, we (because it's hard to avoid this pun) adapted the lessons as we went along. However, we thought it might be interesting to post what we wanted to focus on going into the day, what we intended to teach.

so here goes:

Session one: Ensemble building/Welcome (11:00- 11:30am)

- Introductory games and hellos
o “Cross the room”
 Description: Participants will form two lines. Facilitator will provide side coaching in the form of introductory questions. If the question applies to the student, they will cross the room, switching lines.
 Rationale: This will give participants an opportunity to learn a little about their peers. They will be able to quickly notice similarities and differences among the group and bond in new ways.

o “move v. action”
 Description: Participants will form one large circle in the space. The facilitator will model this first and then the participants will follow in a clockwise motion along the circle. The facilitator will describe an action (ex. “I am climbing a rope”) and perform an action that does not correlate (ex. performing a jumping jack). The student next to them will then have to describe the action their neighbor actually performed while performing a different, new action (ex. they will say “I am doing a jumping jack” while miming that they are sweeping the floor).
 Rationale: This is a game that tests the participants’ level of attention. They will be forced to attend to and listen to their peers. This also builds on the
 participants level of false belief (or theory of mind) which is a skill lacking in those individuals on the spectrum.


Session two: Information on population (11:30am-12:15pm)

- Using brain-blasts, we will acknowledge deficits in knowledge on autism and explore basic terminology within the community
o Description: Around the room will be posters asking questions about autism. Participants will be asked to walk about the room and respond to the questions. We will then briefly go over the participants’ answers to the questions and the correct answers from the field.
o Rationale: This will build a core knowledge within the group on autism and inspire them to learn more, leading to our next activity.

- “two men in a boat”
 Description: Participants will walk about the room. Facilitator will yell out “two men in a boat” and when he/she does, participants must find a partner for their boat. Sometimes this game is played where the participants must hug their boat buddies, but as this population is sometimes uncomfortable with physical contact, participants will be given the option of simply standing next to their buddy. After they find a partner, they will be told to return to walking. Facilitator will then yell out another number of people in a boat and they must find the corresponding number of boat buddies. After a few rounds, they will be told “five people in a boat.” These five people will become their group for the next session.
 Rationale: As a transition tool into the next activity, this will get the participants moving around the space and mingling with new people. This will also help randomize the groups for the next session.

- Using living newspaper practices we will learn a bit about autism and the arts
o Description: In four small groups, participants will be assigned to one of four articles. They will then be asked to quickly read them and discuss how to dramatize them. They will then be sharing short improved scenes for the other groups incorporating three facts from their article.
 Articles include: “Make School Make Sense for Me,” “My Son is not a Monster,” “A Case for Teaching Functional Skills,” and “Autism Worksheet.”
o Rationale: This will be an interactive way to share some knowledge between groups. It will also be an introduction for our artists to a new type of theater technique.


Lunch Break (12:15-12:45pm)

- When we return from lunch, each participant will be asked to find an index card around the room. They will each have one of four colors on it. The colors they chose will decide their groups for the next exercise.


Session three: focusing on our senses (12:45- 1:15pm, each group will have 10 minutes for each activation)
- Because this is a sensory driven population, we will play games that invoke/use our senses.
o Group 1: Touch/sound/sight: Boal Obstacle Game
 Description: One student will volunteer to be the pilot, one as the airplane, and the other three will serve as obstacles. The airplane will be blindfolded and put on one side of the room. The obstacles will place themselves between the airplane and the pilot. The pilot’s job will be to safely lead the airplane around the obstacles and to him/her using only his/her voice. The airplane will have to trust the pilot and rely on his/her senses besides sight. After this is completed, participants will switch roles.
 Rationale: This will let the participants begin to focus on their senses and the importance they play in everyday jobs like successfully crossing the room.

o Group 2: Puppets: Make your own from newspaper!
 Description: Participants will be given sections of newspaper and asked to create their own puppets. They can do this in groups or individually.
• Materials needed: newspaper, tape
 Rationale: This will give participants a look into the many everyday objects that can be used in low budget, quick ways to inspire participants to activate their imaginations using puppets.

o Group 3: Masks/emotions
 Description: Using images from magazines as masks, we will explore their emotive power. Participants will be asked to choose the mask they are drawn too and move about the space interacting with other masked participants. Once they feel comfortable with the masks, they will be asked to exhibit specific emotions using their bodies.
 Rationale: Participants can begin to explore how taking on a different characters/emotions affects their body and movements.

Session four: Introducing Alice (1:15- 2:15pm)
- Using the knowledge we’ve developed so far, participants will be split into small groups. Each small group will read through a short scene from the play we are producing (Alice sit by the Fire) and brainstorm things within it that might be “points of entry” for participants; this can be as basic as something like “what is a costume?” to something a bit more in depth like character or theme
- Groups will then have an opportunity to “test out these ideas” or activate them, acting as participants for each other.

Session five: Regroup and reflect (2:15pm)

- Large group discussion of experience of the day
- I will also pass out basic response sheets/surveys for participants to fill out regarding the experience.

Casting Announced for our Fundraiser this sunday!

This sunday, we will be showcasing four new plays in an effort to raise awareness of autism and raise some money for disability and the arts charities (specifically, Touching Humanity Inc).


While the plays have been chosen quite a while ago, wejust finalized casting all four plays and are so happy with the artists assembled.


The night will feature readings of:


"X-ray Vision at the motel 9" by Ian August, directed by Marielle Duke and featuring Eric Bland and Alex Engquist

"Rain" by Garry Williams, directed by August Schulenburg and featuring Ken Glickfel, Alisha Spielmann, Jane Taylor and Isaiah Tanenbaum

"Prodigal Father" by Isaac Rathbone, directed by Dev Bondarin and featruing John Greenleaf and John Gardner

"Walk into the Sea" by Elaine Romero, directed by Jerry Ruiz and featuring Sandra Delgado and Teddy Canez


"Teasers and Pleasers" the first installment of our "Autism Initiative" series, will be taking place in Penthouse 1 of Shetler Studios (244 w54th st) at 7:30 pm on 10/24/10. Tickets will be 18 dollars and can be reserved by emailing RSVPadaptive@gmail.com or by calling 845 667 0757


We hope to see you there!