Blog-A-Blog-A

Wow! I can't believe it has been almost a week since we first met. And I have to say, before I get into more detail, how much fun it is playing with my co-collaborators. Which, as it turns out, brings me to another theme that we talked about and which has been resonating with me lately: PLAY! Play in theatre, play in education, play in the work place, big companies bringing in improv peeps to remind them how to think creatively and communicate with one another. Games as life. Play as learning.

Now, I LOVE games: Pictionary, Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, Frogger, Taboo, Scene-It. You name, I'll play it. I've always loved them, and think that this idea of PLAY taking over the world and transforming the ways we think about learning and being and interacting is an exciting place to develop from. What if the recession weren't a serious economic travesty, but instead a "Go Directly to Jail, Do Not Collect $500.00?" What if as you move through the game of "Life" or "Zuppa" you get stuck in certain roles, as certain characters and have to PLAY your way out of them? What if PLAYING is the only way to escape oppression, repression, pain, stupidity? Is our character defined by us, or by the 'roles' we play in world?

Now, here's a thought in my little rant: does the idea of play then become puppet-like? Might play shift to a do-a-good-trick-to-proceed-to-the-next-level way of thinking? What if the world turned so dark that even the idea of play was about success, approval? A darkly competitive puppet world . . . I mean, isn't play competitive too? Where and when does play time turn to a capitalist jungle gym? What is the relationship between play and money and entertainment and money? And what sort of fearful place are we operating from if even playtime becomes scary and in need of external approval.

Some of these questions are things I notice myself asking or struggling with and some are inspired by my father's blog, a blog on creativity, in our schools and in the workplace.

(http://billwilliamsblog.blogspot.com/)

I'm not quite sure where I am going with all this except that: we are doing a PLAY, we like to PLAY, we PLAY roles, and for us this is the WORK that we do for a living. And I love it, I would not change my career for the world. However, I also recognize that a battle I have in myself is moments when PLAYING becomes scary because it suddenly seems that my livelihood is on the line. I experienced this, this past weekend during the clown interview exercise. I didn't even know what I was interviewing for in this completely imaginary set-up and my clown was terrified and yearning for approval. And then Jeff said, "Do you want to get this right?" Timid and scared, my clown nodded yes. Don't we all want to get it right at a job interview these days? And then is it really still PLAY, or does it need to be redefined all over again, to try to finally "get to the next level."