Of all the workshops that we do, the acting workshop might be the most rewarding.
Of course, all our workshops have huge possibilities opened up by audience participation and wacky energy. Often times our Comic Book Workshops take on a life of their own, as the group is propelled in a world of story and fantasy.
But acting workshops have this special place in my heart, because now and again you get to see someone embrace acting and performance for the first time. This happened twice recently at Acting Program in Greendale, WI. Two girls attended who had never acted before. One little girl clung nervously to her mom as she walked in. Another sat near the front but resisted participating in the first few exercises.
What happened next reinforced the power of acting workshops for me. To start: all of the other kids stepped up in a beautiful way to support them. Another girl, who’d acted in musicals before, told the little girl to sit next to her. In the end, the little girl that clung so nervously to her mother ended up shouting out a monologue as a imaginary supervillain.
At the end, the second girl paired up with a boy who’d acted in workshops before to create a dialogue. “Don’t worry about making a mistake” he told her. “It’s all part of the comedy.” He even added a comical fall on purpose in the middle of his performance, to emphasize this. She laughed and performed her own part with gusto.
One of the superpowers that nervousness and artistic resistance bring out us is the empathy we evoke in other people. As nervous as we can be when public speaking, this audience empathy is a powerful phenomenon I’ve seen time and again, especially among young kids. Everyone remembers what it was like, standing in front of people for the first time, trying to say your lines. And so when you speak in public you often feel an outpouring of warmth from others, at precisely the moments when you feel the most nervous or uncertain.
The second superpower the nervousness and artistic resistance bring out in us is the joy we feel when we overcome them. Rarely do things go perfectly, especially when performing for the first time. But rarely to things go all that badly either. Especially in an informal setting, where we are empowered by the group around us, we find inner strength and confidence on the other side of the resistance we feel. I think of a roller coaster. Climbing to the top we get more and more nervous. But at the very peak, our stomachs in our throats, we often find that the fear turns all at once into joy, and the rest of the ride flashes by in a burst of delight. Whether we are “roller coaster people” or not, we all have memories of overcoming, of finding joy and possibility at the moment we embrace what we fear.
So go out there, Do Art Nation: embrace the possibilities on the other side of your anxiety and resistance. Seize the creative superpowers that wait for you on the other side! And let us know: what have you overcome to make art? How did you feel once you did. Keep creating, Do Art Nation, and we will see you soon!