Play

This word keeps coming up in reaction to my acting work. The other day, my acting teacher said, after doing an improv, "You were really playing in a way I hadn't seen before in your work." Then after rehearsal the other night, my director said, "You are really starting to play now." This makes me happy. For I can see that my best work comes when I relaxation and openness allows that sense of play.

Reflecting back to my MFA thesis show, "The Jester's King", it had a lot to do with play. The death of the king was the death of an identification with a very Saturnian figure. And yet, I was also owning myself like and adult. I was serious about playing. In doing so, I experienced a new level of freedom to play.

It's weird, on one hand I feel that I have always been playing around. I often feel that I need to be more serious and adult about my life. But I also feel like I've always been too serious and need to play more. I think the same thing is occuring on a societal level. America is very creative and playful, but so much of it seems childish. And then it is also so damn purityrannical, lacking play. I often feel that the most serious work we can be doing is restoring a sense of play back into society.

What if I took my play completely seriously? What if I owned play as a fundamentally essential quality to my life. I think it would bring me closer to true beingness. It might radically change the way I am living my life.