OnStage - Goodman Theatre

IN THE WINGS
GeNarrations: Stories from the School of Life
The following excerpt is taken from Mary Anthoney’s story
“Drink of Choice,” which she performed at the first reading
of the season for the Goodman’s GeNarrations program. The
GeNarrations program offers life-long learners age 55 and up
the opportunity to craft performative oral history pieces centered
on a theme from a main-stage show at the Goodman.
“My very first week on the job I was taken to lunch at the
Kinzie House (which is now Harry Caray’s). I was brand
new to the big city, and so easily impressed! We were
seated in the elegant dining room, a sea of crisp white
tablecloths and napkins. A solemn, tuxedo-clad waiter
approached our table. ‘Would you care for a cocktail?’
“This was new to me! I had never had a drink during the
day, much less during working hours, and I was caught
completely off guard. I had no idea what to say. I didn’t
even know what would have been appropriate to order.
I covered my naïveté—and ignorance—by quipping,
‘Nothing, thanks, I’m already intoxicated by the newness of
the city.’
“Problem is, I couldn’t use that line more than once. But I
did my research and learned that of all alcoholic beverages,
scotch and water has the fewest calories. That became my
drink of choice, even though the first sip never failed to
make me grimace.”
This season marks the fourth year of the Goodman’s
GeNarrations program, which initially began as a writing and
reading series at community centers throughout the city and
has expanded to include workshops that provide participants
with the performance skills needed to best bring their stories
to life on stage. The Goodman’s Education and Community
Engagement department, along with GeNarrations Lead
Teaching Artist Bobby Biedrzycki, now hold these workshops
prior to every GeNarrations performance.
The first writing topic for our 2012/2013 Season, which was
based on themes in Sweet Bird of Youth, was Stories from the
School of Life. Participants began writing their narratives in
early October and came to the Goodman on October 25, 2012,
for their first workshop of the new season. The workshop gave
participants the chance to use new techniques in the creation of
their stories while also developing performance skills. Goodman
Theatre Teaching Artists Bobby Biedrzycki and Julie Ganey,
who are professional performers as well as instructors, worked
with experienced members of the Goodman Youth Arts Council
(our teen leadership and advisory group) to walk GeNarrations
participants through myriad exercises, including devised theater
techniques in which scripts or stories are generated by collaborative,
group improvisation. Participants also practiced Anne
Bogart’s Viewpoints exercises, which help actors and artists
experiment with movement and gesture as a method of creating
dynamic staging for their scripts and stories. The result was not
only new acting skills, but the collaborative creation of crossgenerational
content that GeNarrations participants used in the
culmination of the training, the final reading of the Stories from
the School of Life session on November 10, 2012.
Next up for GeNarrations is our Family Secrets reading, which
will be performed in conjunction with Other Desert Cities.
Writing for this workshop will take place in our partner senior
centers from January 2013 through late February 2013, with
a final performance set for Saturday, February 23, 2013, at the
Chicago Cultural Center’s Renaissance Court. After that, we’ll
hold a writing workshop for Stories of Ambition and Identity,
in conjunction with our production of By the Way, Meet Vera
Stark; workshops will run from late April through late May
of 2013, with a final reading on Saturday, June 1, 2013, at
Renaissance Court.
For more information or to get involved with GeNarrations,
email GeNarrations@GoodmanTheatre.org or call 312.443.5581.
ABOVE: Members of GeNarrations participate in Viewpoints exercises at the October 25th,
2012, workshop by using their bodies to “sculpt” emotions and abstract concepts.
Goodman Theatre would like to thank the Field
Foundation for its generous support of
GeNarrations AND ALL EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT DONORS FOR THEIR HELP IN MAKING
THIS PROGRAM POSSIBLE.
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