Congress In Session

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to express a few views on the importance, and randomness, of inspiration.

Throughout school, an artist, of any discipline, is continually told to learn about all of the arts. As a director, it is important for me to have a solid grounding in music, dance, and visual art. That does not mean I have to have a proficiency in any of these subjects, but it is important to know about them. Why?

As I have argued previously, I believe theatre to be one of the highest art forms because it holds the potentiality to incorporate all of the other arts. Is a set not a painting? Is blocking not moving sculpture? Thus, if theatre includes other art forms, then one must know about them so as to have a bank to draw from.

Why else? You never know what is going to excite your imagination. A year ago, I saw some German Expressionist woodcuts. A few months later, Ryan Emmons, my colleague from New Jersey, and I decided to direct a high school production of Bat Boy: The Musical in the Expressionist style.

Currently, No. 11 Productions is creating an original play, entitled Claire and the Ornithological Shadow. At any early rehearsal, we gave Samantha Hooper-Hamersley (New Jersey – D) a wooden bird that happened to be in the apartment and told her to create a short scene with it. How could we know that this would so spur all of our imaginations? How could we know that birds (and ornithology) would become a central element to the piece? It is amazing to me how large a role luck and chance have in the creation of a work of art.

This is why an artist must be constantly observing, constantly noticing new things. An artist must surround him or herself with the unusual and creative and that goes for objects, people, and ideas.

I do not pretend to know where ideas come from. In my mind, they are rather magical. You cannot seek out inspiration or force it to happen, but you can follow what interests you and be a constant observer, detective, and student. Whenever Twyla Tharp starts a project, she just researches whatever interests her. She calls this “scratching.” As an artist, one must be constantly scratching. An artist must know about all of the arts, keep interesting company around, engage in stimulating conversation, and have new experiences. To put it plainly, an artist will be inspired creatively if they life to the fullest.

Written by Julie Congress