Dance and Body Arts Studio in Ledyard, CT
September 10th and 11th were the days for the fall 2018 NTI/NMTi mask intensive!
This is their first workshop during their 14 week semester long program in theatre, music, movement, dance, writing, acting, production at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in Waterford, Ct.
Marya and Dan conducted the workshop, with the able assistance of Doug Moffat, on the first day, and Marya continued the workshop with movement and monologue and performance on Tuesday.
The students, aged 18 – 65, but mostly college aged, were open, willing, curious, inventive.
They gave themselves fully to each portion of the task, and the products were wonderful.
There are now 49 new masks in the world!
For Marya, it was a poignant time, as she remembered the exact same two days – it is always the first Monday and Tuesday, but the dates this year matched up with those in 2001, when David Jaffe was artistic director. I remember the shock and confusion and fear we felt on that Tuesday morning, as reports came in of a plane having crashed into the first tower, and the a second plane. There were students with relatives who worked in the towers, and my daughter was staying two blocks from the site. We met, and decided to continue to do the work, to continue to create, as the best and only remedy, at that moment, that we could come up with, to continue to do something good in the world. The day was emotionally harrowing, and also amazing. I thank those students of memory for their work that day.
This year, our spirits were buoyant, and the students were open and generous, not to mention full of creative talent.
I look forward to the semester ahead of us. I thank them, Rachel Jett, and all at the O’Neill who make this program work! What a blessing in the world.
photos are by Marya, with the exception of the first group photo, which is by Isaac Berliner, the official photographer for the O’Neill. Yay.
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