On the Roland Tec Teaching site, there's a button that invites anyone interested in possibly studying with me to schedule a free 20-min. Zoom one-on-one. Whenever I find myself talking with someone who's exploring, I find myself listening to what's not being said. Reading between the lines I try to use those precious 20 minutes to tease out for people what at their core they hope to accomplish through their art so that I might help them decide whether this is the place for them.
A couple days ago one such prospective student -- a writer I've known off and on for years, someone whose work I've admired from afar -- asked the simplest most direct question. So direct that somehow it had never quite been asked in the same way. And I thought. Wow. This really matters. I should communicate my answer to readers of this blog.
The question is basically the headline of this post.
What makes studying with me unique?
If any current members of the Roland Tec Online Writers Workshop or the RT Private Studio happen to be reading this, feel free to offer your opinion on my answer. Did I get it right? Maybe I missed something. I'm happy to stand corrected... especially in matters pertaining to seeing myself clearly.
I think it neatly breaks down into 5 qualities that I'm told are immediately apparent almost from the moment you enter one of my workshops.
- Earnest and Serious Attention.
I take the responsibility of teaching very seriously. And because I care so much about the health and success of artists, it feels even more important to me that we all as a community regard the work of colleagues with honesty and a kind of unrelenting rigor. There's one word you won't hear me use in reference to your work: perfect. There is no place for perfect in art. Every great writer knows the forces that determine a given work is done are by and large external. A production closes, a play or score is published, a film is released. These are all market forces and they need to be respected. But that doesn't mean there aren't still minor adjustments we dream of having made in another life. - Joy and Humor.
I enjoy being around people with considerable imaginative gifts. So it's not unusual at all to hear me burst out into hysterics at something someone's done that I find particularly brilliant, unexpected or intriguing. It feels like a great privilege that I get to spend so much time working with creative people on creative problem solving. When the work pays off and a writer is rewarded with thunderous applause, it makes me proud. I wouldn't work with a writer I thought was a hack and so it's never difficult for me to revel in the successful completion of your next new project. - God is in the Details.
I don't believe in a separation between the broad strokes of a piece and its details. Experience tells me that they are all of the same stuff and the neglect of any one detail can and should jeopardize the integrity of the whole piece. It matters whether you choose a comma or a semicolon, what name you choose for that character and how many repetitions of a musical vamp you let us hear before the soprano starts to sing. Every choice that is yours to make should be carefully scrutinized and weighed for its impact on the two elements that must never be far from the front of your mind: The writer's intention and the audience's ability to receive the work as intended. There really is nothing else. Every detail you can imagine can pretty much be seen to be doing one of two things: contributing to the clear communication between artist and audience or confusing it. It really is that simple... most of the time. - Wholistic View of Things.
You'll never hear me say that a question is too practical or quotidian to consider. Investigating and understanding as much as you possibly can about the entire context surrounding the work makes you a stronger more adult artist... able to carefully sort out not only what you hope your work to be but what you can reasonably expect it to do given the limits and unique influences of the Who What Where How and When of its first encounter with the audience. - Community. You May Resist at First but in the End You'll Understand.
There is too much selfish, self-absorbed and remarkably uncurious behavior in this business. Too many artists merely pay lip service to supporting the work of colleagues. Trust me when I tell you, no matter how much you imagine you have little to learn from everybody else doing this, the truth is very much the opposite. And the sooner you learn to approach work you don't immediately love or understand with a willingness to be surprised and a hunger to learn and grow from it, the sooner you'll be able to handle your own work with just the right balance of love and skepticism.
Registration is now open for the next RT Advanced Monologue Workshop which will be offered online in three 3hr. sessions, May 6, 7 and 14th. Space is limited so register today.
