Willow Arts has been blessed with his contribution to arts conferences for years. This year he is teaching both skill based breakouts and masters classes in the area of drama. The Double-Minded Director: Directing Dramatic Action and Coaching Actors at the Same Time is a brand new offering. This interactive workshop will be a hands-on lab in coaxing actors toward their best work while chasing the overall vision of the scene. Through the live rehearsal of a dramatic scene, participants will be given the opportunity to observe directors at work, give feedback, ask questions, and perhaps even direct.
Get to know Jeff and I hope some of you have the opportunity to sit under his teaching at the conference.
How did you develop a love for your art?
It has to do with experiences with both creating and making theatre. Productions of Man of La Mancha, Godspell, and Hamlet inspired me in my high school years, as well as various musical performance opportunities. I majored in theatre as an undergrad because there wasn't anything else I really aspired to, and it was just what I did. It was in graduate school that I actually fell in love the theatre itself. The shape of a moment, the juxtaposition of the various design elements, the major idea of a play, Shakespeare...all of this came as I soldiered through a demanding grad program in directing, a program pretty post-modern in its approach, although we didn't call it that. And then I saw a production of Richard II by Le Theatre Du Soleil in 1984 that ruined my life because I loved it so much.
What inspires you?
Flowers I don't know the names of, moments in which I can catch a glimpse of people unguarded, actors who suddenly "go up" on their lines, my children. Words. The wonder of things. Experience is so dense with what I think of as the Glory of God. I believe in taking time to observe, being present with nature, with "the other", with whatever presents itself. Invariably, there is a beauty lurking somewhere. But like everyone else, I also find people who overcome incredible obstacles inspiring, which is maybe another way of saying the process of redemption is pretty inspirational. Grand pianos hammering on the lower octaves.
Describe your ‘creative process'.
I thrive on the new idea. I like to just leap in a direction, a response to an initial impulse. It's a bit of a game to get far enough into a project before the judge on my shoulder tells me it's a lousy idea and I don't have the tools to pull it off. Because if I can get far enough into a project for its possibilities to begin to insinuate themselves into my deeper world of faith, I can shut the judge up and find my way. But beginnings are easy for me (I suspect that's true for most), and it's the long middle part of the work that's hard, but that's where the gold is mined. And endings are hardest. If I can get to the final stages and just push the draft or whatever onto the last page...well, that's the major goal. In a summary far too short, I live in a constant trade-off between the excitement of responding to the impulses that are the life-blood of the work, and the day-to-day, rehearsal-to-rehearsal grind of the necessary grunt work that any work of art requires.
What is a common mistake you notice during the creative process?
Probably the unwillingness to let go of the first idea. Inevitably, every "great" idea I have later reveals itself to be not nearly as great as I thought it was. But we get attached to these ideas that launch us, and we have a hard time letting go. Jesus words about dying to live are true in art as well as in the larger life.
What are you learning these days?
Humility. Not that I'm getting more humble (the Spirit and those around me will have to say yeah or nay to that), but I'm learning why God loves the humble so much. Humility is walking beauty. There is something absolute luminous about a face that has nothing to hide and nothing to wrangle falsely over. I am beginning to suspect that humility and jaw-dropping presence are closely linked.
How would you encourage artists, like yourself, who serve the church?
There is no substitute for craft. God may use bad art to change people's lives sometimes (I suspect He does), but human beings are built to respond to various aesthetic properties and structures that are built into the very nature of "making." God knows this-He put these realities together intentionally. If you want to serve God with your art, work to understand the discipline you're working in. Key word being "work." In my experience, though things are getting better, most people doing drama or theatre in church don't really care about theatre. They don't love the form itself. Treat the theatre (or music, or writing, or design) with the respect it deserves, with mystery and care, and then make work meant to move people closer to truth. Fall in love with God's capital-B beauty, and try to figure out how it works. The Spirit can lead here, too, though I think He likes to use teachers who can paint, act, draw, etc.
What are you looking forward to at this year's arts conference, Wonder?
Learning something. Inevitably, as I work with people, especially when I'm teaching or facilitating, I learn unexpected things. Plus, there is nothing like the face of an actor who is no longer pretending, but has somehow made the leap into actually being present to the work itself. I always hope for at least one such moment. And also, it is always a pleasure to hang out with people who follow Christ who actually grasp why this thing we call the pursuit of art and beauty is part of His plan.
Jeff Berryman is a writer, actor, director, and teacher who lives in Seattle, Washington. He taught theatre at Abilene Christian University from 1990 to 1996, and since then has been writing and performing, mostly one-man shows. He wrote a novel, Leaving Ruin, which he has adapted and performs as a solo work. Other solo shows include, "When Comes the Way", "Set Loose from the World", "The Little Guy", and "Postmodern Art". He is a frequent performer and teacher in the acting studio of Taproot Theatre and continues to teach a course each January at Abilene Christian University on The Intersection of Christianity and the Arts. He is currently working on his second novel.
You can check out Jeff's work on Toward Wonder. Some of my favorites are Pilate on the Beach, Coming Back, and Waiting.