My monologue from “The Writer” by Ella Hickson is a piece that follows a female writer and her experience as someone who is fighting to feel a sense of belonging while also striving for high artistic achievement. She toils at it from different sections of her life sanctioned off from each other, but none of them feel correct. Her desire for a transcendence in art alienates her from the a modern patriarchal society.

She wants to belong.

Showing this monologue was the culmination of my work over the course of a week at the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC), which, through the week’s work and this showing of the piece, earned me my year two certification to teach and use the Michael Chekhov technique.

I was struggling to decide on a central topic so as to prevent myself from writing 16,000 words worth of “My experience at GLMCC: Basically a reiteration of each day from 9:00am-9:00pm.”

Though completely different, The Writer and I did have things in common. Her and I both wished for a sense of belonging. GLMCC made me and many others feel that we did. GLMCC gave us freedom to create, and made us feel that it was ok to feel the desires we had for the art we were creating and exploring.

There’s a common theme to the past couple of weeks. The realization that the world is a far bigger place. What with a friend of mine leaving to visit NYC, a call from a dancer/actor friend living in LA, and following along on the story of a London move. It was all perspective. I was feeling pretty trapped myself and a bit artistically weighed down. I was wrongly believing my art and creativity was in the hands of other people, who at any moment could decide what I was worth and what my value was as an artist.

There are over 8 billion people in this world, and there is a group of people who want you to succeed for the betterment of it.

GLMCC acted as the tangible reminder for me. This year was the highest attendance record with 77 people. Packed beautifully with all of these unique, yet incredibly like minded individuals.

People who seek greatness and mastery in their creativity, all without becoming a suffering artist. People who seek art that goes beyond logic and uses more than just the brain, but the entire body. And people who are setting their sights to change the way theatre is made and is run.

This group of people are filled with activists, people who have been negatively affected by classical and modern theatre, people fighting for their rights through storytelling, narrative, and art. These people are the people that most people are afraid of, because everyone is afraid that they’ll call you out on your bullshit.

These are my people. They’re loud, boisterous, and in my opinion, anarchists. More than anything they are fighting for safety, fighting for unity, and fighting for life within their art.

My favorite definition of an anarchist comes from Mary Overlie,

This is my favorite group of people.

Many moments were spent in the cafeteria being loud, probably annoying, so what? We talked about Joe. Who’s Joe? Joe is a middle aged lower middle working class individual who lives in a trailer park, who is going in for an audition and the audition is to sneeze, but he’s not allowed to. That’s Joe. We spent several lunches and dinners just elaborating and laughing about who this Joe character is and the short film that we could make of it.

Other moments were spent in the dormitory, creating an entire story and potentially a one person show about the contents of someones purse. My favorite parts being the wholesome bits of the things she’ll never take out of her purse, but maybe more so, the individually wrapped prunes.

Some moments were spent pulling individuals aside and asking for help on the monologue. For advice on how to live in this world as an artist. To talk more about a particular technique. Or to brainstorm ideas of how to gear the technique more for film and TV.

Our unified goal was set from 9:00am to 9:00pm working on the Michael Chekhov technique. To use and develop the tools and apply them to our work as artists.

These spaces were where we felt safe to do all of this. It wasn’t without it’s difficulties and discomforts. But because each person strove to continue iterating and reiterating, building on the frameworks of the consortium, and the openness of the faculty to do so, that we were able to make this space feel inclusive and inspiring.

There is no shortage to the inspiration that I gained. Most importantly I gained a hope. A hope that lets me know that there is a place where I belong, a group of people that take me as I am, and who love my sense of joy. There are artists who challenge me and want what’s best for the good of all.

I just hope that while working with The Writer, I was able to show her that there is also hope for her to find her place in this world. A hope that is part of my responsibility to continue building. Because it isn’t just sought out, it’s built. I hope to bring this sense of community everywhere I go.

I give my greatest gratitude to all the artists, faculty, actors, creatives, and anarchists that inspired me so deeply at the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. I am deeply affected.

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