Jared Fladeland, Artistic Director Conduit Theater
During a performance lab for melodrama, we were to write a monologue from our character’s point of view. I was feeling particularly lost and unconnected in the physical and the verbal. As I perform it I feel more lost. Ronlin finally gets up and joins me on stage. He grabs me by the top of my head, reminding me of Alexander technique principles. As I allow my body to hang, and relax, suddenly I feel a channel open up inside me. Phrases from the monologue come out of me, and I begin to feel physical impulses. The craziest part is, that as the impulse is happening, Ronlin whispers it in my ear – almost as if we are channeling the same energy and he is able to confirm, in the moment, that the impulse is true. I found something in that performance – the heart of that character, and a vulnerability that took my work in melodrama in a new direction.
I learned two things that day: relax so that I can be an open channel; and when the impulse strikes, I must allow it to move through me.
