More News From Stateside

Hi..i am writing from pennsylvania where outside is a bed of white snow, its the perfect winter wonderland. I spent this past weekend teaching a Massive style workshop for 15+ and it was great. Last year when i taught this age group here it was a pretty weird experience for them, as their experience of what theatre could be was fairly limited and based in musicals and not much else. This year i did 'taster" class earlier in the week so that i could show them some of our work on the dvd's and then get them to try it....this worked very well and everyone seemed excited by the work, rather than bam- boozeled. We managed to cover quite a lot from very physical to more driect address solo work..all working with their stories and experiences. The feedback was fantastic and over the course of the weekend i saw incrediable progress,growth and understanding of the work. There is a real hunger for this work once they get into it. Yesterday i had big planning meetings here right up until 2011...the plan is to make a show here then with local young people in the 15-25 age bracket. I need to find a way to get into the city here more and contact the 51% hispanic population, but we have a plan for this the next time i come to teach. It interesting that the more we operate as we do in NZ the more it makes sense for here....so next year we will do audition workshops for the workshops as we do in NZ....this makes for more committment and more valuing of the place you take in the company...I am applying the same principles we do here as in NZ and it reaps the same rewards. Really this is Massive Company Stateside, rather than something seperate...we now have Massive Company members here as well as in Auckland, NZ! on another note worth mentioning, the inauguration buzz is something to experience here...the sense of hope and optimism is full on..even republicans are joining in the celebrations and seeing this as the huge act of HOPE and less of an act of a particular party for the USA....we await the consequences of this new President...words are great, but action is what counts....Ok am off to meet a high school drama classmate from here who recently contacted me...i haven't seen him since 1980 when we both took drama together at my high school, Wilson here in PA. I will be back in NZ end of next week...so may update before then or once i am home...talk soon.