Once again I had an amazing time at the International Thespian Festival #ThesFest15! They and everyone else at the Educational Theatre Assc. do amazing things to promote theatre in public high school! They also let me tell lots of jokes! Here are some video from the two shows I did this last week:
Dating is Hard.
Head Thoughts.
Showertime is Stressful.
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*JUST ANNOUNCED*
Super stoked that I am invited to present at the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA)’s National Conference in St. Pete Beach, FL.
I’ll be teaching two workshops.
Stand up Comedy and Why We Laugh, which is about just that. What laughter is, and how as humans we use it to relate to one another.
And also Your [Naked] Body as a Costume, which is about using your physicality as a performer and also a look into the psychology of physicality as just people. What we’re saying with our bodies as we move around, walk around, or even just stand.
I’m a huge fan of the EdTA. They’re the people who run the Thespian Society, which I was a part of in high school. They do great things. They sponsor and develop creativity and novelty in students across the country and the world. They gave me my first taste at being on stage, telling a story, and what it feels like to connect with an audience. And they also give oddballs like myself a place to call home when I didn’t really fit in anywhere else in high school.
I’m extremely honored to present. I owe a great deal of debt to these people, and I definitely wouldn’t be where I am without them.
More about the Educational Theatre Association here at SchoolTheatre.org
For more about where I’ll be when click HERE!
I just wanted to say thank you again to the Missouri Thespians for last weekend. I get to teach and perform at a lot of the state thespian festivals all across the country thanks to the International Thespian Society. And it’s always amazing. Honestly. You guys will always hold a special place in my heart. But I did want to say thank for making this past festival in Kansas City, MO really amazing.
I teach a class called Your [Naked] Body as a Costume. It’s an exploration into how we all walk, move, and carry ourselves differently. How there are 5 places we all lead from when we move through space (head, chest/shoulders, stomach, hips/pelvis, and heart). And then what our physicality and what we lead with out of those 5 things- what all that says about us, individually.
I use it as an acting class, but also to really to dive into our own human psyche. And with the students. we really explore the idea that we really are communicating so much information with just with our bodies and our physicality, and we’re not even aware of it.
On the surface it’s an acting class. (and a good one I might add ;-) But if the class is willing to go on the journey, we go somewhere deep. And we almost always go somewhere deep. Because the thespians are the most fearless students I’ve ever encountered… But this weekend at Missouri Thespians, not only did we go somewhere deep. We went somewhere profound. Somewhere where it was ok to be exactly what we are. We are all dynamic, powerful, multifaceted, multidimensional, amazing human beings. Those are the types of characters we as actors are trying to create. Because THOSE are the types of people we all are.
And all of this other stuff we were dealing with. That’s all it was. Just stuff.
It wasn’t who we are.
And we believed it.
And for a brief moment. We went there.
For a brief moment. We lead with our hearts.
And it was powerful.
And for the first time I’ve ever experienced in my years of teaching that class.
People cried.
Because we all witnessed something profoundly beautiful happen.
In the duration of an hour.
In an empty carpeted room with cheap lighting.
Because that’s the power of theatre.
Because that’s the power of humanity.
And that’s what we do in theatre. Reflect humanity back onto itself.
So thank you.
Thank you for your courage.
And for sharing that with me.
I will always hold that in my heart.
-Jason-
J Thomas Mayfield 