![The healing power of live theater: Part 1](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=50890500&width=980&quality=90)
Photo by Aly Morrisey
At its core, live theater is about (1) the escape and disconnect from daily life and the stress of our external environment and (2) the immersion into a new experience that requires our full attention. While these concepts are not unique to live theater (watching a movie or television program, listening to music, viewing art, reading literature), the immediacy and experience of being in the presence of live performers offers a specific set of health benefits — both mental and physical — that are not accessible in other media (certainly not in the digital age of streaming, email and social media) Nor will AI ever replace live actors.
A lighthearted romp that prompts a spontaneous eruption of laughter is therapeutic. The Mayo Clinic says that a good laugh can go a long way. Laughter makes you take in more oxygen, which stimulates the lungs as well as your heart. Positive emotions elicited from laughter and similar sources also trigger the brain to release what are known as happy chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins. The immediacy of live theater is intended to transport us to another world and create a unique relationship between performers on the stage and those in the audience. A seething drama can pull you into a conflict, or an intellectual exercise can challenge us to consider (or reconsider) held beliefs. We in the audience are not merely observers; we are participants in the creative process, as performers need us as much as need them.
“Attending a live performance creates a special bond between the performers and the audience,” says Lakeville and New York City resident Astrid Baumgardner, JD. She’s the author of "Creative Success Now: How Creatives Can Thrive in the 21st Century," a lecturer at Yale University’s School of Music, and a TEDx 2020 speaker, Cracking the Code on Creativity. “My students at Yale — all professional musicians — feel inspired by the presence of the audience. This, in turn, fuels their desire to make great art and to provide the audience with the transformative power of live, communal performance, to elevate us from our day-to-day lives, to inspire us with the beauty and power of music and to comfort us in challenging times.”
In his book "All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me," author Patrick Bringley describes his transition from a publishing job to a becoming a guard at the Met, following the death of his brother, as a coping mechanism. Unfettered by other responsibilities, he spent his days steeped in works of art, both famous and obscure. He considered in a way not possible when one is rushing through the museum.
Much has been written about the use of art and drama therapy in treating people with anxiety disorders. Yet surprisingly little exists about the therapeutic value of attending live theater as a member of the audience.
“When we’re absorbed in a situation that is created on the stage by talented performers, we can become a part of it, sometimes forgetting time and our surroundings, and losing ourselves in the creative process. This state has been referred to as ‘flow.’ It is a feeling that allows us to focus on the present moment and moves us away from current anxieties in our lives. The experience can expand our own world, facilitate empathy, take us out of our habitual way of thinking, and allow us to discover new ideas and sometimes new ways of coping.
All of these developments are expressions of a creative process that allows us to shift from current anxieties into areas that bring us to a more hopeful place,” writes clinical psychologist Sophia Richman, Ph.D., author of "Mended by the Muse: Creative Transformations of Trauma."
Richman adds: “The experience of good theater is also one that is shared with others and can provide a sense of community. Often when we go to the theater with friends, we have an opportunity to discuss our experiences and reactions to the show. This can expand our perspective and encourage us to look at things in a new way. Discovery, curiosity, surprise are the hallmarks of the creative process. As we watch this taking place on the stage, we experience our own version of the creative process within ourselves.”
Thank you all for your patronage of The Sharon Playhouse’s record-breaking 2023 season. And stay tuned for announcements about upcoming productions and the 2024 season. For more information — and to make a donation to help us keep you mentally and physically fit healthy — please go to www.sharonplayhouse.org.
Lee A. Davies is a Member of the Board of Directors of The Sharon Playhouse and a resident of Cornwall Bridge
Next Part: Eight Health Benefits of Attending Live Theater.
Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.