One of the educational emphases of The Earl Wentz and William Watkins Foundation is “expanding the vision and abilities of young artists by encouraging them to learn about and experience a cross-section of artistic activities in disciplines outside their primary areas of interest”.

Using a multi-disciplinary approach helps us see and understand the world in more profound ways and, as artists, to make richer and more interesting choices in our expressive work.

Stories can be expressed artistically in many different ways, through many different disciplines. Describing the process, particularly as it relates to acting and directing, often is best done metaphorically. These metaphors can be gleaned from the various modes of expression of similar ideas by analyzing construction, composition, color, tone, etc.

To get you started….

Following are two exercises — taken from my forthcoming book Expansion: Toward a Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Creativity and Expression — that show how studying and experimenting with photography can be used in the dramatic arts. Exercise #1 introduces you to the approach. Exercise #2 applies it to the realm of the playwright or author.

I’ll include other examples for actors and directors in the next blog post in two weeks. In the meantime, please also feel free to have a look at some of the recently added images in the “Images Gallery”. What do they say to you and why?

I welcome your feedback on this approach and the exercises below. As always, feel free to submit “comments” at the bottom of this page.

Have fun!

EXERCISES

For each exercise, please view the images related to the exercise then complete the brief “survey” questions. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers, only choices. After completing the questions, you will be able to see how your choices compare to those of other readers of this blog.

Exercise 1:

The six images below each have different emphases, light exposures, and frames (different croppings). Sometimes these are subtle; sometimes they are radically different. (You can click on each image to enlarge it if you would like to view it in more detail.)

Each involves different choices on the same subject about what to “tell” and how to “tell” it.

You can only tell one story. Which image do you choose to tell it and why?

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Exercise 2:

Click to enlarge any of the thumbnail images in this exercise.

You’re a playwright. This image shows a big story that you’ve encountered:

You’ve got to pare that down, though, to get it on the stage and within a reasonable playing time. Here’s a first edit:

Now where do you go?

Here?

Or here?

In the “survey” below, choose your approach and tell why.

Remember to check for additional exercises in the next blog post!

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