article
Cambridge Rindge & Latin School Workshop
FEB 5, 2015
Hi, this is Brendan from A.R.T. Education. I just spent the morning with a bunch of insightful, engaged and very cool theater students at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School (WAKING UP EARLY IS HARD FOR THEATER PEOPLE).
The incomparable Nicole Shelpman, Master’s candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education co-facilitated with me; we introduced Father Comes Home From The Wars, Suzan-Lori’s style of writing, and read/reacted to part of the scene in the wilderness with Hero and Smith. No spoilers.
The main thing of the workshop was to group-write an “ode” about one of the themes of the play that we teased out together. We did it “Exquisite Corpse” style (keepin’ it Surrealist, like we do). It came out amazingly…
SMITH
…If you could name yourself anything what would you be?
HERO
That’s a big question. I don’t rightly know.
—Father Comes Home From The Wars (Part 2)
I.
ode to identity
who limits our possibilities
Something self-given
Creating, or even denying, self worth
to view yourself in the mirror
and wonder who is the real you
Yet you know who you are
or at least you may think you do
So through the cover-ups of our soul we reach our end,
can you actually see the message I’m trying to send?
II.
Shattered glass, on my window pane
As I look outside, at the rain
I see the grey, seeping through the windows
Surrounding me, keeping my broken sole scattered
On the ground of my past mistakes
While I try to repair the broken
Waves of my soul, torment the shore of my mind
Cries of help undermined by the brutal crash of the waves
III.
The sun was bright that day
too bright if you ask me
sometimes the moon burns hotter than the sun
Self-reflection: mirrors and the smoke from a gun
Freedom can be seen in the light of the sun
This freedom seems so close, but how close?
One million miles away
Or is it in the palm of my hand?
I’m gonna be the one to hold you when you’re scared and when you’re cold
and I’m gonna be the light to save you in the dark and bring you home
IV.
Hopelessness is when one is more lost than found
hope is when you can see the light through darkness
For darkness fears light, and so
hope is a necessity
unless you’re depressed
Looking through a looking glass without a rest
Hanging onto the slightest possibility of change
Wishing someday things will be different
Life is what you make it
No bodies perfect
V.
To find identity is to find the you
To find the you is to be complete
Appearance is not your whole identity
Your name does not define you as a person
your experiences, people and feelings are who you are
you can make yourself who you want to be
with a collage of little letters
movements of a mouth and a shiver of vocal chords
Creating the idea of an identity
Starting with a name
VI.
I like my name
the one they gave me
How did they know?
How did they know what I would become
I am my own creator
My choice is no less than others
Do my choices define me?
As my name defines me…
Me, I am, I can.
My name is me…I love me.
I know, right?? The take-away from making something inspired by gut reactions to SLP’s words—for the students—was to “stay open” and “listen closely” to language. To let it move through them, as audience members, and feel comfortable responding authentically, “not over-thinking it.” For me, that’s the best way to experience Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 and 3). Looking forward to the student matinees coming up on 2/11 and 2/25…
Special thanks to Monica Murray, Brett Cramp and Anne Marie Ullman at CRLS for inviting us into their classroom. WE LOVE YOU.