Being intentional about art

I am an artist. This is true. I am often unintentionally so. I do it cuz I can.

I am trying something new in my journey. It's inspired by my small group THE ARTIST'S WAY. It is important to be intentional and to do what I do on purpose.

To this end, I begin blogging about my process for developing the character of Mama Morton in CHICAGO. This is one of my favorite kind of roles.... one that is more of a cameo than anything else. Two songs, two scenes be fabulous and I'm out! The risk in that is I can easily zone out and not put any effort into my process.

That is why I am doing this. If I claim to be an artist, and I long to encourage and teach others to honor thier process, I should actually be intentional about my process.

Today, I am thinking about how to go about developing a character. The writer and the composer have given me the skeleton, the outline of the character. I bring my own nuances and personality to the mix. To start with I am going to write a biography for my character. I'll take the information that I have been given - the clues that lie in the script and in the words of the other characters and develop an idea of how and why she is who she is.

One of the challenges of doing this process for a musical theatre piece is that the potential for one dimensionality is so high. You have to make a choice to be real on stage. I think it is the difference between the performer and the actor/artist. I have to be truthful, I have been known to perform. Just go out there and do "my thing". Realistically, I dont think most of the audience will know the difference or care - especially if I sing the heck out of the numbers. But I will know. And for the first time in a long time, it actually matters.

Stay tuned.