The folks at HowlRound have just published part 1 of a 3-part blog series I've written on what my last two years farming (at Pen and Pepper) farm have been teaching me about my life in theater.
You can read the opening below, and then click through to read the rest on HowlRound.
What Farming is Teaching/Reminding Me about Playwriting and Theater:
My first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in
Upstate New York, along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply involved in theater ever
since. But being buried over my ears in
theater can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable
farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New
Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I
grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the
second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put
in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This
year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife
and teenage children.
I got to spend a lot of time outdoors, working with my
hands, doing something completely engaging and really, really, really hard. And
it seemed to have nothing to do with my life in theater.
But I was wrong.
Because theater life, as much as it sometimes feels like an isolated
lost world of dinosaurs and unicorns, is life, too. Taking a step, not back,
but to the side, helped me see a few things about my old (and current) world.
Theatre is not the only profession where you can work
insanely hard and make almost no money.
y
first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in Upstate New York,
along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply
involved in theater ever since. But being buried over my ears in theater
can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
- See more at: http://howlround.com/what-farming-is-teachingreminding-me-about-playwriting-and-theater%E2%80%94part-1#sthash.AfCJKRFI.dpuf
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
- See more at: http://howlround.com/what-farming-is-teachingreminding-me-about-playwriting-and-theater%E2%80%94part-1#sthash.AfCJKRFI.dpuf
In a three-part series, playwright Patrick Gabridge writes on how spending two seasons farming revealed a lot more than just how to grow vegetables.
My first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in Upstate New York, along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply involved in theater ever since. But being buried over my ears in theater can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
I
got to spend a lot of time outdoors, working with my hands, doing
something completely engaging and really, really, really hard. And it
seemed to have nothing to do with my life in theater.
But I was wrong. Because theater life, as much as it sometimes feels like an isolated lost world of dinosaurs and unicorns, is life, too. Taking a step, not back, but to the side, helped me see a few things about my old (and current) world.
My first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in Upstate New York, along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply involved in theater ever since. But being buried over my ears in theater can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
I
got to spend a lot of time outdoors, working with my hands, doing
something completely engaging and really, really, really hard. And it
seemed to have nothing to do with my life in theater.But I was wrong. Because theater life, as much as it sometimes feels like an isolated lost world of dinosaurs and unicorns, is life, too. Taking a step, not back, but to the side, helped me see a few things about my old (and current) world.
In a three-part series, playwright Patrick Gabridge writes on how spending two seasons farming revealed a lot more than just how to grow vegetables.
My first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in Upstate New York, along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply involved in theater ever since. But being buried over my ears in theater can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
I
got to spend a lot of time outdoors, working with my hands, doing
something completely engaging and really, really, really hard. And it
seemed to have nothing to do with my life in theater.
But I was wrong. Because theater life, as much as it sometimes feels like an isolated lost world of dinosaurs and unicorns, is life, too. Taking a step, not back, but to the side, helped me see a few things about my old (and current) world.
My first play was produced in 1987, by a tiny theater in Upstate New York, along with work by Elaine May and Tennessee Williams. I’ve been deeply involved in theater ever since. But being buried over my ears in theater can make me lose perspective.
Spending the past two years running a tiny organic vegetable farm has helped me take a fresh look at my work in theater. As part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, I grew vegetables on a quarter of an acre my first year, then half an acre the second year, with the help of a lot of infrastructure and guidance. But I put in the labor and what I grew and where I sold the produce was up to me. This year I sold 6,000 pounds of vegetables, with help on the weekends from my wife and teenage children.
I
got to spend a lot of time outdoors, working with my hands, doing
something completely engaging and really, really, really hard. And it
seemed to have nothing to do with my life in theater.But I was wrong. Because theater life, as much as it sometimes feels like an isolated lost world of dinosaurs and unicorns, is life, too. Taking a step, not back, but to the side, helped me see a few things about my old (and current) world.
No comments:
Post a Comment