Artist Work with Apollo 00

There seems to be more overlap or, dare I say, synergy in my work these days. This will be my attempt to share the multidisciplinary art forms I am fortunate enough to work in and how I maintain (or not) the creative, athletic, academic, and spiritual practices that enable me to work professionally as an artist.

Working with my hometown Deerfield Spartans, I’ve taken an affinity to the Greek mythology, specifically the god of sunlight, music, and prophecy, Apollo (my Leo stellium showing), as well as his muses, the goddesses of the arts and sciences. As we go throughout our daily practice, strengthening our instrument for the purpose of shedding light on the truth through stagecraft, I am compiling my work here, if anything, just to document the work being done; the knowledge and passion passed along. A “PLAYBOOK” if you will.

There’s a lot in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that is being asked of the young thespians and craftspeople I am leading in this new adaptation. Heightened language, speaking in meter with meaning and intention, and, Heaven (or in our case, the original muses) forbid, doing so in front of their peers! I hope staging these scenes to melody or song (AOIDE) allows them to deepen their practice (MELETE) and embed these lessons into their memory (MNEME).

Weekly Dedications to Apollo

🤍 🦚 Producer - Urania - Muse of Astronomy

🖤 🕷️Director - Calliope - Muse of Epic Poetry

❤️ 🐇Writer - Kleio - Muse of History - Root Chakra - Craft: Scripts - Monday 🌙 (Moon)

🧡 🦄Choreographer - Terpsichore - Muse of Dance - Sacral Chakra - Craft: Choreography - Tuesday (Mars)

💛 🦌Composer - Euterpe - Muse of Music - Solar Plexus Chakra - Craft: Score - Wednesday (Mercury)

💚 🦁Puppeteer - Thalia - Muse of Comedy - Heart Chakra - Craft: Puppets - Thursday (Jupiter)

💙 🐢Lyricist - Erato - Muse of Erotic & Lyrical Poetry - Throat Chakra - Craft: Lyrics and Metering - Friday (Venus)

💜 🐝Vocalist - Melpomene - Muse of Tragedy - Third Eye Chakra - Craft: Recording & Voiceover - Saturday 🪐 (Saturn)

🩷 🦉Actor - Polyhymnia - Muse of Hymns, Sacred Poetry & Pantomime - Crown Chakra - Craft: Performance - Sunday ☀️ (Sun)

🤍 Producer - Urania - Muse of Astronomy

• Take note of what’s happening today, astrologically. I like to keep a map of the stars on my wall to tangibly see how astronomical aspects take place and the alchemic relationship between signs and planets.

• A nice tarot card pull or prompt can open the path to the day’s work with other muses and their respective artistic disciplines.

• When tasked with a specific scene (arcana), take note of the astrology, themes, and symbolism associated with the major cards and their corresponding minor Arcana.

🖤 Director - Calliope - Muse of Epic Poetry

• First, we must read the material, taking technical notes, which will soon inform our work with Clio (history) and Terpsichore (dance) coming up in staging. Then record the demo version, enlisting Euterpe (the Muse ruling over music) and Urania (astronomy) for our meditative note, setting a tone as we record and, eventually, score.

• Scene 00’s dialogue is attached below

❤️ Writer - Clio - Muse of History - Root Chakra - Craft: Scripts - Monday 🌙 (Moon)

• This work can also include a lot of “craft” categories, such as production design, costume, hair & make-up, as well as dramaturgy.

• In addition to career as a performer, I’ve somehow found myself as a columnist for the Kansas Reflector, as well as the newly-founded, Wichita-based arts news website The Shout. A dedication of dictating the news and commentary on the world around us is a great way to give offerings to Clio.

🧡 Choreographer - Terpsichore - Muse of Dance - Sacral Chakra - Craft: Choreography - Tuesday (Mars)

• Both strength and flexibility have both been requirements for any decent stage performance in my career. Actually getting up off the couch or out of bed is a mental dance all its own. The nervous system is linked to tensions we hold in our bodies. In order to convey and take on someone else’s story, we have to be able to 1) free ourselves of the habits that block our own emotional life, but also study and endow our character’s physical life with authentic and technically supported movement.

• A workout is listed on the PLAYBOOK page that you can add to your regular physical exercise. I enjoy a Sun Salutation (Apollo) with a specific pose/workout added inspired by the day’s scene(s).

💛 Composer - Euterpe - Muse of Music - Solar Plexus Chakra - Craft: Score - Wednesday (Mercury)

• For FRANKENSTEIN, I am pulling from what performance styles were popular when Mary Shelley was writing: balletic pageants with opera, full chorus, orchestra, lush sets. A lot to be asked of our humble farm community and cast and crew of 20(ish) teenagers, but engaging with the Epic Poetry they’ve been assigned with a movement or rhythmic approach, I believe, shall yield better results than drilling lines.

• I often make a playlist specific to each scene, building a “Soundtrack” to refer back to in my time working on a given project.

• Scene 00 Meditation Note: A#

💚 Puppeteer - Thalia - Muse of Comedy - Heart Chakra - Craft: Puppets - Thursday (Jupiter)

• Sketching, building, painting, and finally performing with your own creations.

• Take a break! Do something that brings you joy, even laughter. Relax while watching your favorite show or movie, play a game with your friends, play with pets, joke with your family, bake or cook, craft; whatever gives your soul a break after the hard work and tough subjects its taken on today, indulge yourself (to a healthy degree, of course).

💙 Vocalist - Erato - Muse of Erotic & Lyrical Poetry - Throat Chakra - Craft: Lyrics and Metering - Friday (Venus)

• Write out your lines and, as you take your time scribing into your notebook or journal, allow yourself to be affected by the playwright’s words. Feel free to add an extra line as you write, for personal mantras or future technical notes from your creative collaborators, such as the director.

• A practice of “brain-drain” journaling, writing whatever comes to mind for a set number of pages, is a great way to get our egos or emotional blocks hinder us from healing through Erato’s power.

💜 Lyricist - Melponame - Muse of Tragedy - Third Eye Chakra - Craft: Recording & Voiceover - Saturday 🪐 (Saturn)

• This is the actor homework. I was trained using the Meisner Technique and Uta Hagen’s many teachings for actors. Hagen’s “Nine Questions” are listed here. Ponder and answer them, for individual scenes and your characters arc throughout the play. Collect these as you make your way through rehearsals. They may also come in handy should you ever play this role or work on this story in the future.

• Uta Hagen’s Nine Questions

• 1. Who am I? - Who is your character? Identify all the details: name/age, physical traits, relatives, education, personal opinions, likes, dislikes, hobbies, fears, ethics, and beliefs.

• 2. What time is it? - The quick year, the season, the day, the minute. What is the significance of time?

• 3. Where am I? - Identify the country, the city, neighborhood, building, room, specific area.

• 4. What surrounds me? - What is happening in the environment? Weather, landscape, people, animals, objects.

• 5. What are the given circumstances? - Identify events in the past, present, future. What has happened, what is happening, what is going to happen?

• 6. What are my relationships? - This is more than your relationship to other people. Think about your relationship to objects, characters, and events.

• 7. What do I want? - What do you want immediately? What does the character want overall?

• 8. What is in my way? - What are the obstacles to getting what you want?

• 9. What do I do to get what I want? - What actions do you take (both physically and verbally)? What tactics?

🩷 Actor - Polyhymnia - Muse of Hymns, Sacred Poetry & Pantomime - Crown Chakra - Craft: Performance - Sunday ☀️ (Sun)

• In addition to your soundtrack choice from work with Euterpe (music) and the mantra or themes discovered with Erato (Romance), let Polyhymnia’s power refill your spirit as the taxing, mundane steps of sewing a garment, editing music, doing reps in your workout, learning your lines, keeping up with a specific sport or physical feat ie. a show, etc; to let a “melody” or lyric out AUDIBLY! Verbalizing our intentions, our hopes, our needs throughout our work (and lives) will see you through distractions and reset you back into your process.

• Drawing or painting to music is wonderful way to hone Polyhymnia’s power and manifest your faithful practice into a tangible piece of divine art. Re-write your lines. They are there to help you. Let the dance of your pen foster such a familiarity with author’s text, sinking into your bones, that you could recite it by heart, not just today, but if and when you’re called to do so in the future.

(“Scene 00” from Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, adapted by Brett Crandall & Monica Wiles)

(Scene 00 Playbook)