Inspiration Comes Knocking- Path Announces Festival 2016

Inspiration is fickle.  It refuses to show up when you beckon.  When you carefully set the stage, it hides shyly in the wings.  You wait, breath held, eyes wide, listening for it to whisper in your ear.   But...nothing.

Then... some time in the dark hours of deep night,  it tickles you awake, blessing you with an image, an idea, a sound.   You sit up in bed grasping at the shredded shadows of dreams and some time you are blessed and the shadows coalesce into bright landscapes full of imaginings.  Or you are driving along listening to music on the radio when a lyric grabs you; your chest expands; your breath deepens;  tears prick your eyes; a smile draws a curve across your face.  Ah, there you are.  Finally.  Well, hello Inspiration.

Or at least that's how it usually works for me.  Many things--hate that word, but what else to use--have inspired me over my lifetime beginning with Jason Robeson's rendition of Ole Man River from SHOWBOAT.   But since April of 2014  when we completed the third festival of The Artist's Path on Journalism and Ethics in the 21st century, I've waited for Inspiration to come knocking.  The wait has been long, with several false appearances.  And then I was reading the play GRAPES OF WRATH, preparing for an upcoming audition.  The final scene in the play touched me just as deeply as Mr. Steinbeck's novel did when I first read it in my early teens.  I thought of all the years of my own personal migration from home to home, city to city, state to state and even to other countries. Though never a true immigrant I could always identify with the impulse to pull up stakes whether out of a need to escape a present or the yearning to seek a different future.

This need to move, relocate, migrate, travel, journey, voyage, trek is a human need and is allied with that other very human need, the putting down of roots, the anchoring of self. We are a nation of immigrants here in America whether we are recognizing earliest man finding his way to this continent via exposed land bridges or European settlers arriving by ship and in the bellies of those ships... African slaves.  Or the youth from Central America seeking refuge from a life without hope.

 

Native Americans Greet the Mayflower

The Unwilling Immigrants of Africa

Unaccompanied Children on Border of Mexico

But I would argue that the Joads were immigrants as well, seeking escape from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the sweet smelling orange groves of southern California.

Today we still see people risking their lives and those of their young to find a better place to put down those roots.  And not satisfied with the thin crust covering out planet we explore the depths of our oceans while we search for habitable planets in the dark reaches of deep space.    Sometimes those who came before us turn their backs to us, the newcomers.  We struggle with change in climate, language, culture as we make the effort to blend in without losing our sense of self. There are those times when our wandering demands the sacrifice of our lives. No matter the challenge, no matter the danger,  the barriers,  the sheer magnitude of our aspiration, we humans are on the move.  

And so along the circuitous path of inspiration, I came finally to the next festival of The Artist's Path.  In the tradition of the first three its title is:  The Artist's Response to The Immigrant Experience through Theatre, Film, Dance and the Humanities.  Path is calling on residents of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to help bring this project to the stage.   First we need the artistic gifts of playwrights from these four states to create 5 to 10 minute performance pieces around The Immigrant Experience.  And we ask all of you to share any family photos that in some way reflect an immigrant experience.  Details for approaching these 'Calls' are at www.The ArtistsPath.org

Let's all dig into the rich soil of The Immigrant Experience, plant some seeds and see what comes forth.

Post Script:  Alas, this festival did not come to fruition, but I did play Ma Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH.  See my January 7 2015 blog post on my personal COFFEE WITH GAIL blog.

Gail Mangham, Artistic Director, The Artist's Path

gailmangham@gmail.com

 

The Artist’s Path was birthed in my sub conscious after working six hundred hours on a production of Golda’s Balcony, a play that explores the life of Golda Meir, the first woman prime minister of Israel.  It was never a conscious intent of mine to start either a theatre company or one that tends to focus on social justice themes.  One of the drawbacks is that once the work has been done on topics like apartheid in South Africa, nuclear arms in Israel, the aftermath of 9/11 and its impact on firefighters, the challenges women face in Cambodia, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and Nigeria, and finally this past April the changing landscape of journalism with a memorial tribute to fallen journalists—well, these subjects never really leave you.  When any of these places, people or issues rise up in the news, I’m drawn to them.  Often the news is distressing as is the nature of social justice issues.

So this morning the news of yet another journalist, James Wright Foley, lost to the risks of his chosen profession weighs heavily on me. See article at  Committee to Protect Journalists.  This past April when The Artist’s Path held its third ‘festival’ on the topic of journalism, just over 1050 journalists had been killed since 1992.  Today, August 21st 2014 the number stands at 1071.

James Wright Foley  Died August 20, 2014

There are days when I am overwhelmed by the horrors happening on the world’s stage.  I question why I care so much about total strangers half way around the world.  I want to withdraw and bury my head in the sand.  I ask what is the point of doing the work of ‘Path’?  Then I look into the face of James Foley in his final moments, into the devastation of his parents’ faces and I realize that of course my angst over the state of our planet, my feelings of despair, frustration, sorrow are not even in the same universe of their own loss.

And I remind myself that my efforts to make a difference in my small corner of the world, while negligible, are mine and those I’m privileged to collaborate with.  I tell myself that making a difference takes many paths—raising a family, being a great co-worker, planting a garden, calling home, engaging in civil discourse, listening to understand the Other—and that for a while my path is to explore that of the artist. I will honor this young man's memory by not withdrawing from my own field of battle.

So James Wright Foley I thank you for your contribution to bringing light to bear on dark places.

Rest in Peace…

What's Next?

Once again a 'Path' festival has come to a close.  The work on this project began in November of 2011 when I read, Molly Ivins' book, Bushwhacked, Life in George W. Bush's America and ended with the final performance of Red Hot Patriot, The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Saturday evening April 12, 2014.

What a treat to play Molly.  I am especially grateful for the superb direction of friend and colleague Julie Harrington who helped me face down some of my acting demons and banish many of them to other realms.  Joseph Hough as my copy boy helped to anchor me to the space and to the story with his confident demeanor that seemed to go beyond this mortal plane of existence.  Providing incidental guitar music was a newcomer to our project, Matt Simper.  His creative work underscored moments, sharpening them and giving them a deeper context that echoed in the bones and the sub conscious as only music can do.  Bob Carnahan and Joseph Hough tackled the light, sound, and slide issues.  I heard many compliments on that aspect of the show.

And I am so grateful to our symposium panelists who came from around the state to participate in a discussion on Journalism in the 21st Century.  Jim Patten, Peter Friedirci, Kim Newton, Jana Bommmersbach, and Tom Cantlon.  I know we could have spent at least another hour with this panel on the subject at hand.

And I'm thankful for the volunteer work of Marion Pack, Micki Shelton, Barbara Jacobsen, Helen Stephenson.  And kudos to Chris and Mark Bonn who generously allowed us to show their film, The Ray Parker Story.  The Elks Opera House Guild always provides a touch of class as they usher our patrons to their seats.  And always I must thank Colette Greenlee who manages our theatre with grace and competence.

So now the set is struck, the props returned, reports written, taxes filed.  As President Bartlett was wont to say on my favorite TV series, West Wing,  "What's next?"  Good question. Path seems to be evolving into an organization that tackles issues with a certain gravitas.  Climate change is on the minds of many of us, but I'm struggling at the moment with how to build a theatre piece around that.  No difficulty finding scientists to come be on a panel, or show a documentary film etc.  But the visual arts, theatre, dance...hmmmmmmm just not sure.  Comments welcome.  I've also thought it might be interesting to explore the place of comedy and laughter in our development as homo sapiens.

The next theme for the fourth festival will be announced on September 11, 2014, the 5th anniversary of our AZ incorporation.  The project itself will happen in April of 2016.

So here's your chance to weigh in with suggestions.   What's next?

Gail Mangham, Artistic Director, The Artist's Path
Email:  gailm@theartistspath.org

Raisin' Hell with Molly Ivins

The Artist’s Path   Announces

Raisin' Hell with Molly Ivins

A Presentation by Gail Mangham

 Sunday September 29, 2013  2:00 PM

Peregrine Book Company
219 A North Cortez,  Prescott, AZ 
928 445 9000 

Sunday November 10, 2013  
Service at The Prescott Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Date TBD


Also Don't Miss

Healing & Aging 
with Grace Courage & Humor

October 13 Sunday 1:30 PM Pueblo Room, Smoki Museum
Play Reading,  Silent Auction, Door Prizes
Refreshments & More
This event is a fundraiser for The Artist's Path Festival 2014 
& The Breast Care Center
Suggested Donation $10

The first rule of holes:  when you're in one, stop digging.   Molly Ivins

 

 Path Festival 2014

The Changing Landscape of Journalism & Ethics through

Theatre, Film & Photography

Festival Schedule

http://theartistspath.org/Festival.html

A Play:  Red Hot Patriot:  The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins 

A Film:  The Ray Parker Story

A Symposium:  Journalism & Ethics in the 21st Century

Photo Journalism  Electronic Exhibition, Lecture & Competition

Observance in Remembrance of the 900+ Reporters Killed On the Job Since 1992

Details at www.TheArtistsPath.org   Email:  gailm@TheArtistsPath.org

928 771 2554

Volunteer Opportunities

 Videographer/Photographer

Marketing Coordinator

Set Designer/Crew

Make Up/ Wig Designer

Please Support Path Through

Online Donations, (www.TheArtistsPath.org), Checks, Cash—  All Tax Deductible

Participate in Auctions/Art Sales

Donate Art Work for Auction

Checks pay to the order of:   The Artist’s Path, Inc.

Mail to:  1608 St Andrews Way

Prescott AZ  86301-4431

The Artist’s Path, Inc.  is a  501 ( c ) (3) Public Charity

www.TheArtistsPath.org

RAISE MORE HELL!

On August 30, 1944 Molly Ivins came into this world, no doubt shouting her dismay at the manner of her entrance.  Although no longer with us, she left a legacy of exhortations to all of us to get up off our butts, make some noise, make a difference and have some fun along the way. 

Molly and I grew up in the same city, Houston, Texas.  She was born two and a half months before I was.  I often wonder when our paths might have crossed.  Certainly not at Smith College.  My undergraduate years were spent at UT Austin.  Certainly not in Paris.  I could ill afford any semester abroad program.  I spent my summers working at a paint company to earn enough money for college expenses in the coming year.  Certainly not at Columbia University.  My graduate degree is from the University of Oklahoma.  Molly came from privilege, going to St John’s School located in a wealthy enclave of Houston; I attended Galena Park High School located within shouting distance of the highly industrialized, polluted ship channel where I held my breath on the school bus each morning as we passed a petro chemical plant.

But at some point Molly fled her roots, at least those anchored in privilege, and began to focus her sharp edged wit and intelligence on the world beyond the walls of wealth.

It was at The Texas Observer that she honed to a razor’s edge her ability to cut through the bullshit and deliver an incisive shot that would puncture the inflated ego of some political operator or cast a laser beam on an inane argument, shattering it into shards of fragmented nonsense.  

It was last autumn while visiting family in Texas that my cousin gave me two of her books to read.  Next I came across the play Red Hot Patriot, ordered it, devoured it and decided it was the perfect centerpiece for The Path 2014 Festival, The Artist’s Response to the Changing Landscape of Journalism & Ethics through Theatre, Film & Photography. On youtube I listened  to a speech she gave at Tulane University and found her not only funny and acerbic but also compassionate and insightful.  It was that speech that convinced me to take on ‘Patriot’ and play a fellow Houstonian even if we grew up in very different universes.

But The Artist’s Path attempts each year a bit more than just producing a play.  My own roots in education both secondary and higher push me to offer something more substantive.  Don’t get me wrong, Red Hot Patriot is a wonderful piece and I look forward to playing Molly, but I also want to offer more.

Molly Ivins made her bones in the domestic politics of Texas.  She did not report from foreign lands, but from littered offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Ft Worth and her own home not to mention the hallowed halls of the New York Times. But I believe she would have honored those who travel to distant shores to bring us the news-- news which eventually impacts us in whatever large or small community we call home here in America.  

And so Path will honor those journalists who have lost their lives while doing their jobs.  Over 900 reporters have been killed worldwide since 1992. In honor of them and of Molly, we will hold a Roll Call in Remembrance in conjunction with a Symposium on the Changing Landscape of Journalism and Ethics in the 21^st Century.

Molly’s biting commentary notwithstanding, she believed in digging out the truth and telling it.  She skewered the powerful in defense of the powerless.  In her final months of life as she battled cancer, she also battled what she saw clearly as the trampling of the Bill of Rights, co-authoring with Lou Dubois, The Bill of Wrongs.

In early January 2007 during a rare ice storm, Molly asked to be driven to a fundraiser to thank supporters of The Texas Observer. On January 31, 2007 she passed away.

Molly often said, “Good thing we’ve still got politics—finest form of free entertainment ever invented.”

Path 2012 Ends with Applause for Love!

The Cast and Crew of Path 2012 Love Makes the World Go Round

Our Second Annual Path Festival is past.  It seems only yesterday that I awoke in the middle of the night with the phrase The Artist's Path ringing in my head, but it was May 2009 and here we are fast approaching May 2012.  They say if you surround yourself with good people, you will achieve success.  This was certainly the case with Love Makes the World Go Round.  

The event's inception came out of my notion that I should do something light in order to have a contrast with the peace and social justice theme of 2011.  When I put out the call for Monologues, I really had no idea what to expect.  And really-- the show was always at the mercy of the submissions.  I received over four dozen pieces from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  While they were all interesting, 14 rose to the top and together created a performance piece that gave us fourteen windows into each playwright's vision of love.  Many of the pieces dealt with loss or impending loss, expressed in strong dramatic terms because of the love that was part and parcel of the relationship. One monologue explored how a life off the rails can lead one to a very unhealthy relationship with food-- a relationship that at first looks like love, but is really a twisted version of it. In another piece a young pregnant widow of a soldier who died in Iraq discovers love from an unexpected quarter...her father-in-law.  One of the funniest moments happened when a mother tries answering the question What is Sex?

In the end the pieces gave us, performers and patrons alike, a roller coaster ride as we laughed and cried our way through two hours.  Some monologues had layers upon layers of meaning yet to be plumbed.   Each piece was gift to all of us and I thank all the playwrights.

Love Makes the World Go Round turned out to be one of the most collaborative experiences I've had.  I was blessed to have four playwrights see the show; indeed two of them also performed.The project also integrated two Phoenix based actors giving us an opportunity to work with new talent in our area and creating connections between Prescott and the Valley.

The final piece of the evening was a gracious bow to Elisabeth Barrett Browning  who inspired me over 50 years ago when my husband passed a note to me in junior English on which was written her Go From Me sonnet.

But now it is time to let go gently of this wonderful experience and move on to the challenge of  Path 2013, The Artist's Response to the Body Politic.  In Prescott this project may well get me tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail.  And so it goes...