Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ellen Kaplan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ellen, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Being a “Professional” was nothing I gave any thought to ( I didn’t equate doing what you love and getting paid to do it with what ‘professional’ meant – now I understand!), but I spent much of my childhood playing out every comic book character, every fairy tale character. My big role was to be the Witch in Sleeping Beauty in 6th grade, and I was decimated when I got a cast on my leg and my teacher wouldn’t let me do it, I cried so hard…
It was falling totally in love with theatre that got me: at 14, I wandered into a (for me) life changing performance – Joe Chaikin in Beckett’s Endgame on 6th ave and 14th street), From then on, I’d find every wild, weird theatre I could find. Each new magical experience was exhilarating – I left Equus thrumming with excitement; I flew on a cloud of dazzling stars at the end of Tap Dance Kid.
Without giving it thought, I happily worked professionally as writer (mostly) and actor (periodically) in NYC for some 8 years. It was fantastic to get paid, actually making a living, while I was completely invested in the work. But it was later, in classes, in NY, where I took a head long dive into process. Nothing was more important or more interesting. I’d discovered this first as a resident actor in Rhinebeck, NY working with an ensemble, but it was in classes that the craft – the foundations, the physical and vocal explorations, up to the amazing power of transformation, really hooked me. First in private classes, and then getting my MFA, acting became a way to dig into myself, explore my own stories and expand who I am.
I have one (of many, many) story to share – about rehearsing a scene from Goat Island in Irene Baird’s class, and an extraordinary physical realization, that I’d love to chat about.
Ellen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Herbert Marcuse said: “Art can’t change the world, but it can change the consciousness of those who can.”
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I’m a Theatre Educator, an actor, director, playwright and researcher/scholar.- I make “traditional” theatre, staging and performing in conventional plays, on regular theatre stages. I’ve done this for almost 40 years. BUt in addition, I work “outside the building” in theatres and universities around the world
An anecdote can give insight into the kinds of work I do, and WHY – As a resident actor with Open Studio Theatre Project, in Rhinebeck NY, directed by Tony Award winner Larry Sacharow. In the company I played Mother Courage at the Bardovan Theatre, a :900 seat opera house in Poughkeepsie. . It was a great production, of Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece, a brilliant play about the relationship between war and capitalism: it’s full of humor, music, vaudeville fun (Spaas). The audiences seemed to love it, But, I could feel it – after the applause, before the audience got out the door, the rousing enthusiasm evaporated. (As Anna Deveare Smith said, it’s like the show is over after the popcorn is gone. I wanted theatre to matter, to change the world.
As I said, I love process. I love ambiguity, contradiction, beauty =- and including lots of participation and dialog.. I began to work with diverse groups who don’t like – or can’t afford – mainstream theatre. I’ve done work with theatre & literacy, at risk youth, elders, prisons, adjudicated teens (with whom we created raps about STDs and AIDS. I’ve written stories from verbatim accounts by IDPs in Iraq, with survivors of the wars in Bosnia, with Jews and Roma; with men on, Death Row, and written plays about Israel/Palestine.
Theatre is a social practice: space to dream, deliberate, debate: negotiate conflicts, explore contradictions, question, affirm, celebrate; I’m engaged in 3 kinds: 1) telling stories:, in regular plays, devising; with verbatim texts. 2) Boal inspired – analyzing issues, problems, conflicts, thru dialog, 3) PLAY. Improv, games, community building, to develop imagination, expressiveness, self-esteem, psycho social support.
I want to be engaged, to invite, to listen, to play – doing that work with as many people who wish – that’s my “mission”.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have had significant (major) health and mobility issues for at least 30 years now. This obviously has affected my performance work. One insight from Wodick Staniewscu, an internationally known , Polish director helped me to re-frame how I approached the work. Wodick pointed out that the body is your instrument, whatever its limitations. I started to think about myself as a violin, and allowing the text(s) and partners to play on my sensibilities as if I was a violin – broken, scarred, but producing its own unique sounds. That helped a lot – I perform far less than I did and still find it a challenge (a shoulder roll as the Clown in Antony and Cleopatra just about did me in). I also began to see that the creative well within is the source, whether I was teaching, writing, performing – they were like spokes of a wheel, integrated, whole.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Unpack the culture! Look from another angle at the hyper-materialist, competitive, judgmental, wasteful, individualist (self-serving) culture we are swimming in. Challenge yourself, challenge each other. And – MAKE ROOM – for those who have been excluded. Lots to discuss here…
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Michael Harris Feder (black and white)
Danielle Tait (headshot)
I have several photos from my shows, but I have to find them! I’ll try.