by Steve Stettler
The glorious and frightening thing about theatre is that it is a deeply collaborative art. I remember my early experience as a director, fresh out of grad school. After a few days of rehearsal, one brave cast member asked, "Are you ever going to get out of my way and let me do my work?" It was liberating to learn how to encourage the unique contributions of all the artists involved, resulting in a far richer production than anything I could have accomplished on my own.
Collaboration is even trickier when one is developing new work, particularly musicals which may have a separate book writer, lyricist and composer who must collaborate long before a show moves into production. The creators usually have day jobs, many have families, and they often live in different locations. One of the greatest gifts they can receive is the time and a place to get away and work together with nothing and no one to distract them.
That's where Weston's annual Artists Retreat comes into the picture. For six years now we've been bringing writers, composers, directors and actors to Vermont for a week of uninterrupted creativity, providing transportation, lodging, work space, meals, and an occasional reading; and all we ask is that they acknowledge Weston's role in the development of their piece. Valuable to any artist, the retreat is especially meaningful to the teams that create musicals, and this spring's group are all involved in that noble endeavor. One project involves a new collaborative team, one is a new show for an existing team, and one brings a writer/composer/performer together with a director to help shape his work.
Of course the ultimate collaboration in theatre is between artist and audience. The culminating event of the retreat week is what we call an Artists Salon in which the retreat participants share experiences and material with our community in a rare and meaningful dialogue. Please join us on May 4 to be a part of the collaborative process and to celebrate the gift of time that we've been able to give another exceptional and generous group of artists here in Weston.
