EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED AT EARTH WISDOM: Join Jennifer Denning and the Soulprint Players for an evening of InterPlay improvisational forms

JENNIFER DENNING AND THE SOULPRINT PLAYERS. Pictured here on a Saturday rehearsal Soulprint Players look on while Director Jennifer Denning tells the last 3-sentence story  in a performance structure called "The Pittsburgh Form."(photo by Ruth Schowalter)

On April 22, the Soulprint Players will give an improvisational performance on the theme "Earth Wisdom" at Moving in the Spirit. See details HERE. In preparation for this first spring performance, Soulprint Player founder and director Jennifer Denning was interviewed by Ruth Schowalter, certified InterPlay Leader.

As the founder, director, and member of Soulprint Players, InterPlay Atlanta's performance troupe, can you tell us something about who you and your members are and what you do?

I am an actor and teaching artist. In my early 20's I improvised with Dad's Garage Theater. I loved having a platform to try on so many different characters and to make things up in the moment. I was great at committing to characters and being fully engaged, but not as great at having a quick wit or being up to date on current pop culture references. I am in awe of the talent of some of the improvisors at Dad's, but I wondered about what type of improvised performance might make the audience cry or connect or reveal the world in a different sort of way. 

When I discovered InterPlay and then the possibilities of InterPlay performance it clicked for me. InterPlay performance gives me a context to create and share the real stuff of my own life through story, movement and voice. I've found all three of these forms of artistic expression to be full and joyous for me.

SOULPRINT PLAYERS, GRATITUDE PERFORMANCE, November 2014 (photo by Dean Hesse)

Most of our ensemble members are performers of some sort- but not all. We have a man who is an 80-year-old dharma teacher who performs with us.  He creates some of the most honest and unexpected moments. Part of the magic of a Soulprint Player performance is the connection we create with each other and the audience. Training is less important than a willingness to show up with honesty and heart. That said, the InterPlay forms create an engaging format for what we create. That structure is important.

EARTH WISDOM PERFORMANCE. Soulprint Players give an improvisational performance on Friday, April 22, 2016, at Moving in the Spirit. Titled "Earth Wisdom," Jennifer will lead herself and her performers into the "unexpected" with inspirational input from audience members.

"Earth Wisdom" is the theme of your improvisational performance on Friday, April 22. What can the audience expect to happen and how do you engage them?
 
They can expect the unexpected! That is the joy and aliveness from creating out of who shows up and "what wants to happen." We are all connected to the earth, and I imagine everyone has a story to tell about a moment something in the natural world awed, inspired or changed them. We'll ask the audience to share a bit on that topic and use their offerings as inspiration for the dances and songs we create.  

In any InterPlay offering (performance related or not) we make space for the difficult stories as well. There is certainly plenty to grieve about when we think about losses in our natural world. There can be power and healing in a collective acknowledgement of what has been lost, and perhaps a greater awareness and commitment to action can emerge.
 
The funds that you collect from ticket donations will support scholarships for the InterPlay Atlanta sponsored June untensive, "Nda Ku Ona (I see you): From Fear to Promise," with national InterPlay leaders Coke Tani and Masankho Banda. Why?

Our connection to each other cannot be separated from our connection to the earth. If I am living my life primarily from a state of self preservation I am less likely to care about the earth or the needs of other people on the planet. Masankho and Coke are amazing leaders who will lead participants in an embodied exploration of the ways we cut our selves off from people who are different than us. 

The practice of releasing fear and stepping into promise in relationship with other people organically leads us into healthier relationship with the earth as well. We want to make this untensive available to those who might not have the funds to attend. Creating a scholarship fund through funds raised from this performance seemed like a perfect opportunity.
 
What are upcoming SoulPrint Player performances?

We will be performing on the theme of "The Art of Being Human" as a part of Breaking New Ground at the Decatur Arts Festival over Memorial Day Weekend.

Below is a slideshow of a previous Soulprint Players' performance with guest artist, Masankho Banda.

 

For Ruth Schowalter, InterPlay has alchemical properties

CREATIVE COMMUNICATION CLASS at Clarkston Global Academy 2016. Students take turns witnessing one another.

Interview with Ruth Schowalter, certified InterPlay leader, and M.S. in Applied Linguistics by Jennifer Denning, co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta

In the past few weeks, as InterPlay Atlanta prepared for the one-day fundraiser, "2016 Give InterPlay Day," on April 7th, the certified leaders were documenting their work with people in underserved communities through photographs, writing, getting endorsements, and interviewing one another. Here Jennifer Denning asks Ruth Schowalter questions about her work with teenage refugees in the Clarkston, Georgia, area and the role InterPlay plays in her life. 

Thank you for taking the organizational lead on this for Atlanta this year! Can you talk about your commitment to InterPlay Atlanta?

InterPlay has been life changing for me in the three short years since I “discovered” this gentle improvisational system! (I know InterPlay has been around for 26 years nationally and in Atlanta since 2008) But it was in 2013 that I came across InterPlay on the internet while I was researching the use of improvisation to teach English language fluency and knew it would be a useful tool for my instructional purposes.

From the time I met you (Jennifer), I was enthralled with the forms and principles of InterPlay and began integrating them immediately with my American English fluency lessons for short courses and workshops (i.e., instructing Brazilian educators) at Georgia Tech Language Institute, international graduate students at Emory University’s Goizueta’s Business School, and eventually with teenage refugees in Clarkston, Georgia (the Ellis Island of the south), at the Clarkston Global Academy.

INTERPLAY HAS CHANGED ME. Here I am (fourth from the right) with the participants in my "Creative Communication" class at the Clarkston Global Academy at the end of one of our classes. As I evolved from a "sage on the stage" kind of teacher to a "coach on the side," the forms and principles of InterPlay have assisted me in joining in with my students, being among them, supporting and not judging their efforts.

What I didn’t expect from InterPlay is that its alchemical properties would transform me! We’ve been so fortunate to have you (Jennifer) here in Atlanta providing the structure for us local InterPlayers to “play,” explore, and go as deep as we each desire to understand more about our own body wisdom.

I might proclaim that I am an InterPlay evangelist! That proclamation wouldn’t surprise any of my friends, colleagues, neighbors, or family members. InterPlay offers us all “choices” to the extent that we want to engage in this creative improvisational system that fosters authenticity, freedom, ease, and joy.

It's wonderful to see the pictures from InterPlay at Clarkston Community Center and also to read some of the reflections from your participants. What have been some of your favorite moments teaching InterPlay at Clarkston Community Center?

Unrestrained jubilance! While InterPlay forms are executed in a way that is recognizable no matter where you are in the world, unexpected executions of the forms can emerge because the people are different! The resettled teenage refugees are always exuberant during the InterPlay form, “Walk Stop Run.” As an educator who hasn’t worked with teenagers before, I wasn’t prepared for the boundless energy and chaos that ensues as they whir around the large auditorium with its raised ceiling and large windows emitting warm streams of sunlight on wooden floors. They chatter; they hook their arms and move together; and they mostly run with little stopping or walking. In addition to being wowed by their energy, I was also challenged by accepting their choices and wondering how I might tweak my directions to garner different results.

INCREMENTAL STEPS SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF CONFIDENCE. In this photo, you see students telling longer stories and "embodying" them.

Offering the students in this “Creative Communication” class the opportunity to play around with vocal and physical range has created punctuated moments of delight for me. More than one student has “popped” out of their comfort zone to speak louder or to create an imaginative body movement to accompany their name or tell a story. As I observe the classmates “witness” each other’s “creative communications,” I see them being both supportive and encouraged. These particular moments also encourage me because they reinforce my ideas about the role our community plays in our lives. Our actions can make one another stronger.

It has been such a delight to see a natural-born InterPlayer emerge from the group. One Nepalese young woman volunteers at every opportunity to tell a big body story, to do a DT3, to engage in the mystery of communicating something about herself even though she doesn’t know what the outcome will be! I am so appreciative of her courage to improvise and the fun that she experiences and demonstrates to our class.

How does InterPlay help the teen refugees at CCC become more confident communicators?

What is confidence? And how do we recognize it when we see it? I’ve been playing around with this concept for years as an instructor of English as a Second Language at the Georgia Tech Language Institute (I taught there for 20 years and now work there contractually).

I know that creating an environment in which students feel comfortable to take risks and make mistakes is key to developing an adventurous communication style. The improvisational structure of InterPlay offers the structure for creating this “safer” environment. Let me explain a few components here:

Incremental Steps—Confidence is built in the students one step at a time, beginning with “short tellings” and lengthening to longer storytelling moments engaging skills such as speaking slowly, speaking with enthusiasm, using a made up language, or describing something from a perspective of a child, expert, etc…. These incremental steps are sneaky and before they know it, students are engaged in telling their stories in ways they never thought possible.

Easy Focus—InterPlay participants are given clear directions but encouraged to soften their “gaze” or “focuser” and to discover how they want to execute the directions. In other words, the directions provide structure but the individual finds what they need to say or do within or outside of the structure. Giving students permission to be themselves and make choices is empowering.

Witness—Being seen and being heard without interruption is a powerful experience for anyone, especially if you are doing it in a language that is not your native language and in an adopted culture. InterPlay has us “witness” one another, creating a “sacred” place for these resettled refugees to tell their stories in English in a fully embodied way. To “embody” a second or third language is empowering. To have someone see you do that is positively re-enforcing.

Noticing and Affirming the Good—InterPlay is critique free! Instead of my writing down a list of things for students to improve in their pronunciation, organization of ideas, or nonverbal skills, I along with all of the paricipants applaud the accomplishments! Very good. Very good. Hurray! The students practice acknowledging what they are experiencing in their individual bodies, to ground the learning in their whole person—body, mind, heart, and spirit. This kind of affirmative noticing results in increased self-awareness..

Respecting an Individual’s Choice—Participants are asked to choose what is best for them as they “try” new behaviors “on.” That is, students are given freedom and authority as to how they want to execute the directions. Taking actions based on their own internal authority certainly helps develop confidence.

The practice of having these occur in the “Creative Communication” class is challenging and definitely a work in progress!

WORK IN PROGRESS. CPACS supervisors watch while I begin a typical "Creative Communication" class at the Clarkston Global Academy. We begin each class by saying our names, making short physical actions, playing with our voices, and sharing short snippets from our individual lives. We play around with expanding vocal range (volume, speed, and pitch) and physical range. The class is always a work in progress.

What are some of the greatest gifts you have personally received from your involvement with InterPlay?

Great question Jennifer! Although InterPlay has informed my life in many ways--too many to name, so I will speak about two here.

KINESTHETIC IMAGINATION.

Before InterPlay, I had never heard of the phrase “kinesthetic imagination.” What I found out is that I am very much a kinesthetic person and that is the way I experience the world. InterPlay really helped get me out of my head and intellect and to connect with my body. For example, last year, I collaborated with fellow InterPlayer on art performance piece, “Embody the Mother,” during which I danced and painted on stage. To prepare for this performance, I danced every day before painting three “quick” paintings. Creatively I was able to lead with my body, to have the ideas, brush strokes and images be generated through movement. Movement continues to impact my visual art making.

EXFORMATION.

Another gift I have received from InterPlay is the concept of “exformation” and a way to achieve it. This tool is a way of releasing excess information from our “bodyspirits.” Whether this information is deemed good or bad, we can let it go from our bodies, hearts, minds, and spirits. For those of us who are particularly kinesthetic, it is so much fun not to mention cathartic. Since 2013, I have been doing lots of exforming and my body loves it!

Why are you supporting InterPlay Atlanta on Give InterPlay Day?

I love InterPlay and have become a part of a warm local, regional, and national InterPlay communities. I know that InterPlay offers us all a sustainable way to be our authentic selves and still be present in our communities.

For Jennifer Denning, InterPlay Brings Connection and Spark of Aliveness for Self and Others

Interview with Jennifer Denning, co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta by Ruth Schowalter, certified InterPlay leader
 

Jennifer and John. On Thursdays, when InterPlay Atlanta goes to the Friendship Center at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in east Atlanta to facilitate an hour of movement, voice, storytelling, and shaping and movement, John (right) has already arrived and is waiting for us. Jennifer reflects about her connection with John and her meaningful experiences at the Friendship Center HERE. (photo by R. Schowalter)

Thursday, April 7th is Give InterPlay Day, a 24-hour time period during which you are invited to give a financial gift to InterPlay Atlanta to support us as we bring the ease, grace, and joy of InterPlay to refugees, people who are living with chronical mental illness, and incarcerated women. (Click HERE to make your tax deductible donation)

As we approached the 2016 "Give InterPlay Day," I asked Jennifer Denning, the co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta to share her perspective on why people might consider supporting InterPlay. Below is her warm personal response to my questions.

Jennifer, why give on April 7th, Give InterPlay Day?

I was teaching InterPlay to women at Atlanta Pretrial Detention Center a few weeks ago and a participant said to me, "Jennifer, I don't know how many of these groups you do, but you should keep doing them. I didn't know how today was going to be, but now I feel good." This was after only fifteen minutes of InterPlay. Her words were such affirmation to me of the value of InterPlay. The simple and accessible forms of InterPlay create connection and joy so easily. Giving on Give InterPlay Day helps the InterPlay movement to grow in the world- bringing more connection, joy, peace and transformation!

The Atlanta Pre-Trial Detention Center. Once a week on Tuesday mornings InterPlay Atlanta visits this location to facilitate an hour of play to incarcerated women waiting trial. (photo from the web)

How will the funds raised on April 7th for InterPlay Atlanta be used?

In Atlanta, our InterPlay facilitators currently have two weekly groups that are unfunded--at the Atlanta Pretrial Detention Center and Clarkston Community Center. We also have the possibility to expand our programming. There is interest from two additional prison programs as well as a shelter for homeless women and children. Funding will allow us to grow our programming, make the work sustainable for our certified leaders and bring new leaders on board. 

Who are you in relation to InterPlay and InterPlay Atlanta?

As co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta, in 2008 I began bringing InterPlay to the Atlanta community in collaboration with long-time InterPlayer, Debra Weir. Over the last several years, I have brought InterPlay to women in prison, girls in

photo by C. Gautreaux

juvenile detention, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Georgia, the refugee community and The Friendship Center. Wherever I bring InterPlay I experience a spark of connection and aliveness (in myself and others.) Currently I am leading the Atlanta Life Practice Program and am inspired by the new InterPlay leaders who will be continuing to bring the gifts of InterPlay to the world.

CLARKSTON COMMUNITY CENTER 2015. From June to November, InterPlay Atlanta offered a free taste of InterPlay at the CCC's farmer market one Saturday afternoon a month. Here, Jennifer is shown with refugee participants who InterPlayed with us while they were waiting for their free bicycle and helmet from Communicycle. (photo by Okello Justine)

Want more information? Here are other articles about the work InterPlay Atlanta is doing:

Incarcerated women 

Claiming a Name at Lee Arrendale State Prison

 

Crossing the Street to the Pre-Trial Detention Center

 

InterPlay at the Pre-Trial Detention Center

 

A Glimpse of InterPlay at Lee Arrendale State Prison (2015)

 

On the Eve of Give InterPlay Day (2015)

Clarkston Refugees

InterPlay is a Bridge for Teenage Refugees

 

For Resettled Refugees InterPlay is about Making Connections with Parts that have been Stifled

Playing with Noticing

 

InterPlay at Clarkston, Georgia (Ellis Island of the South)

 

Creative Communication Begins at Clarkston Community Center

People living with chronic mental illness and poverty

The Art of Being Human

 

InterPlay at The Friendship Center: Playing in the Pews

Thank you in advance for your financial gift to InterPlay Atlanta, which will help us continue empowering people who have been marginalized. Since InterPlay Atlanta is a non-profit, you can deduct your donation from your taxes. Donate here on April 7th: Give InterPlay Day (Atlanta InterPlay)

SAVORING SPRING: Our bodies, our voices, the light and the seed that rises from within

SONGBIRD EGGS. "You are given the questions of others to hold in the emptiness of your hands, songbird eggs that can still hatch if you keep them warm...." What questions are you holding in your hands today I asked the participants Saturday morning.  (photos by Ruth Schowalter)

Written by Ruth Schowalter, certified InterPlay leader and InterPlay Art & Soul Coach

Stillness, 
introspection, 
open, 
savoring, 
and expressive...

...were the words we InterPlayers strung together at the conclusion of our 90 minutes together playing around with dancing our questions and telling our stories to celebrate the approaching spring and daylight savings time. Using the InterPlay forms, we savored our bodies, voices, the light and the seed that rises within us.

HANDFUL OF INTERPLAYERS. When one or more gather to play, the time together is invariably rich and full. We missed others in our InterPlay Atlanta family in Jennifer Denning's absence but found connection and joy in the quietness of our small group.

In Jennifer Denning's absence, the Second Saturday gathering was small; however, among the five of us we were given the mysterious of gift of a kind of STILLNESS. We moved at a gentle pace, almost like molasses, especially considering one of the regular InterPlay participants' foot injury. As I facilitated this March InterPlay session at the Mask Theatre in the Little Five Points Community Center, I found myself transported away from "chronos" or linear time into something called "kairos," a kind of indeterminate time which can be restorative to both body and spirit. 

I found myself  leaning into storytelling pairs curious to discover something of their savorings. Yet I could not hear the exchanges taking place in whispers....
What had caused these fairly raucous group of InterPlayers to speak so softly and such lilting rhythms their voices blended with the air conditioner on this warm March day?

ONE HAND DANCES EXPANDING.

Playing with BIBO (breathing in and breathing out), we visualized seeds planted at the base of our stomachs unfolding. As the seeds grew, so did our breaths. They became audible tones. Then personal songs, accompanied by one hand dances.... We savored our voices and bodies in this blended song dance.

I MIGHT BE...?

Since Saturday night, we were moving our clocks forward, I asked everyone to think about the increasing light and longer days. "What might you be," I asked, "as the light expands and the seed(s) within you rises up?" After participants had popcorned back-and-forth numerous times "what they might be" and acquired a list of possibilities, they were invited to embody one or more of their imaginings.

LEADING AND FOLLOWING....

We finished up our time together playing around with this question:

As the days grow longer, and the light increases, what do you want more of? 

Partcipants told their stories in a made-up language, danced them, led and ecstatically followed partners. They told their stories a second time savoring them while using only their body and voice (tones). Then it seemed appropriated to conclude with the InterPlay form, "Dance on Behalf of," open to whatever idea, person, event, etc, they wanted or were called to move on behalf of....

From the poem, How the Light Comes, by Mane Richardson:

 "...And so may we this day
turn ourselves toward it.
May we lift our faces to let it find us.
May we bend our bodies
to follow th the arc it makes.
May we open 
and open more 
and open still 
to the blessed light
that comes." 
  

Accessing the Stories within You: Workshop with Masankho Banda

MASANKHO KAMSISI BANDA. Facilitating the storytelling workshop, "Accessing the Stories within You." (photo by Ruth Schowalter)

by Ruth Schowalter, certified InterPlay leader

We slipped our shoes off at the door of the Rising Phoenix T’ai Chi studio located in the Little Five Points Community Center and joined Masankho Kamsisi Banda, international storyteller and InterPlayer from Malawi. After a centering meditative activity, we shared our names and began by telling a one-minute story about “walking” with the group of six participants that had gathered for the evening storytelling workshop.

Masankho prefaced this one-minute storytelling activity with the question: “Where do our stories hang out and how do we tell them?”

To my surprise as we went around the circle telling our one-minute walking stories, I discovered that I have gathered numerous stories about my walking experiences over the course of my 57 years. This realization thrilled me! It is possible that storytelling can come in categories of simple unpretentious words! Consider the following words: toothbrush, cake, mosquito, and sidewalk. What stories organize around those words for you? Is it possible to tell a one-minute story about each one of those words? I think the answer might be “YES”! This is the beauty of InterPlay’s incremental steps and Masankho’s calm peaceful facilitation of them.

On this warm rainy Friday night in November, InterPlay Atlanta was privileged to offer a workshop to our metro Atlanta area folks to learn how to access the stories that are already with us and how to share them in dynamic and fun ways. Masankho, who learned the arts of storytelling and drumming from his village elders in the African country of Malawi, blends his cultural learning together with Interplay providing powerful learning tools for both the emerging and accomplished storyteller. (For more information about Masankho go here: http://www.ucandanc.org/masankho_biography)

After doing some “noticings” about our one-minute stories, we warmed up using  InterPlay forms accompanied by what I can only describe as “poetic” instructions. As a lifelong writing teacher who has struggled with ways to get students to be more specific by paying attention to their senses, I experienced a master teacher ease us into observation. Masankho asked us to notice the colors, the shapes, and the textures as we moved about the room. With excitement, I experienced the “embodiment” of details as I stretched my arms out and swung them and stepped about the room looking and seeing. It was almost as if the colors were brighter and the shapes more defined! And that was just the warm up!

Going deeper into the warm-up, as we continued to move, Masankho called out letters of the alphabet and asked us to give him words beginning with that letter. Moving and creating together, a symphony of voices filled the room in response to “T,” “M,” and “W.” Being a voice in a community of voices allows you to listen, to speak out and to layer on top of other voices.  Yes! It was challenging, fun, and satisfying.

Masankho offered us poetic phrases to repeat. Some were poetic phrases composed with alliteration; others were of ordinary things but compellingly visual, and still others were just really fun to say! He then asked us to complete sentences for him. Imagine such fun word play while still engaging yourself in stepping about the room, looking or not looking, listening to others, responding when you are ready!

InterPlayers around the world will gasp at the “sneaky deep” and elegant play we did to access our stories within. Masankho partnered us, with one person being “Partner A” and the other being “Partner B.” Then we did the InterPlay exercise, “Walk Stop Run” while he played the drum. When he stopped playing, we told whatever story came up from our running, stopping, and walking. Movement for me triggered a memory from the early 1980’s at a syrup sopping festival in Loachapoka, Alabama.

 

FIND MY STORY. TELL MY STORY. SOMEONE WILL LISTEN. We finished our evening with an affirming three-sentence song about being storytellers. (photo by Ruth Schowalter)

The progression of Masankho’s movement and storytelling workshop led us to a “Hand to Hand” dance with a new partner and a word given to us by Masankho, which we released with a “wheee” before beginning our “dance.” The “wheee” is permission to let the word go, be present, or a launching pad for something else.
After this activity, we sat down and noticed what are experiences were. Masankho acknowledged what we said, and offered: “Physical proximity and touch are fertile grounds for stories.”

Before leaving, we had the opportunity to do a “DT3,” an InterPlay form, which the storyteller moves first, then talks in three successive intervals while a partner witnesses. Masankho encouraged us to “move, and move, and move, without thinking” and to allow words to emerge from our movement. This experience allowed some of us to relinquish “linearity” to our stories.

There is so much more to the rich experience of this storytelling workshop with Masankho. I have just given you a “taste” here with this blog post written hastily on a Saturday morning.  (It is still raining by the way.) I hope Masankho will forgive me if I have misportrayed anything about last night’s workshop by giving this broad view. It is “my story” of my first meeting with Masankho. I look forward to future ones! He led us in this short song before we dispersed out into the rainy night skies over Georgia:

Find my story

Tell my story

Someone will listen

Acknowledgments:

Thank you Jennifer Denning for contacting Masankho Kamsisi Banda and engaging him in the workshops and performances this weekend. And, as always, many thanks to Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry, co-founders of this amazing improvisational system of InterPlay. Also a shout out to Sheila K. Collins, Ginny Goings and Tom Henderson, who also gave storytelling workshops for InterPlay Atlanta.

THANK YOU MASANKHO! Here I am (left) with Masankho and Jennifer! Feeling a lot of gratitude for all that InterPlay has brought to my life. I am beginning to "grow" the storyteller in me and it feels good! I know someone will listen. (photo by Tony Martin)

Soulprint Players Perform on All Saints Day at Pine Lake Art Salon

SOULPRINT PLAYERS PERFORM AT PINE LAKE ART SALON (photo by Sabra Bowers)

By Ruth Schowalter, Certified InterPlay Leader

The beginning of November brought Soulprint Players to their first performance of the month at the Pine Lake Art Salon in Pine Lake, Georgia, on All Saints Day, the afternoon after Halloween. In this quiet idyllic community nestled around a lake replete with turtles and geese and punctuated with a sandy beach and beach house, there are two women Kathie DeNobriga and Alice Teeter, who have a big red barn next to their home where they have been hosting this art salon for eight years.

Joyce Kinnard (photo by R. Schowalter)

This November 1^st  salon began with Joyce Kinnard (who coincidentally is a Soulprint Player) reading a collection of her prose and poetry. She was followed by Stephen Windham, who read poetry from his chapbook, “After Words.” The cool air poured in from where one whole wall of the barn was opened up to the Pine Lake neighborhood. While these writers shared their work, audience members lounged on couches and chairs watching leaves fall from trees in a gentle autumn rain.

Stephen Windham (photo by R. Schowalter)

After a short break during which conversations were conducted, furniture was rearranged, cheddar cheese, cornbread muffins, and grapes were munched on, the Soulprint Players began their performance in this informal and welcoming Pine Lake space.

Jennifer Denning, Soulprint Players director, warmed up the audience with shaking their bodies out, clapping, and creating foundation and decoration songs. Then she collected their ideas about Halloween and All Saints Day. Since Soulprint Players are an improvisational troupe, these audience-given topics were our material for performance.

SOULPRINT PLAYERS PERFORM THE PITTSBURGH FORM (photo by Sabra Bowers)

We are so fortunate to have the drummer Wade Levering, a new Soulprint Player, join Debra Hiers, a clarinetist to play music during our performance. We began with the Pittsburgh form and were invited to tell stories about someone in our lives who had died.

Afterwards, Jennifer called a new InterPlay form,“Been Stiller,” one we learned from the Minneapolis InterPlayers at the InterPlay Leaders meeting in Racine, Wisconsin, this past summer. Asked to sing a song inspired by Saints real or imaginary given to us from the audience, a group of five InterPlayers perform with one player singing and moving until another player began singing or moving.

Next, Jennifer called the “Gesture Choir” form, and Vivian Slade, also a  new InterPlay performer, told a story about her grandmother. Audience members were invited to join the gesture choir and one member did. It is was fun! Everyone can do InterPlay!

SOULPRINT PLAYERS PERFORM THE GESTURE CHOIR (photo by R. Schowalter)

We concluded our performance by playing around with another new form for our InterPlay Atlanta group--“Solo Group Movement” form. In this form, individual InterPlayers have their own spotlight for a solo dance but five movers go out incrementally and then are replaced one at a time by other InterPlayers during the performance. We did this form on “behalf of” people who had passed away with names given to us from the audience and for someone we named ourselves.

SOULPRINT PLAYERS PERFORM SOLO MOVEMENT (photo by Sabra Bowers)

Big thank you’s to Alice Teeter and Kathie DeNobriga for inviting us to perform at the November Pine Lake Art Salon and to the warm audience who played with us and gave us such great topics!

We look forward to our next performance this Sunday, November 8th at the Holy Comforter Episcopal Church at 5:00 PM. “The Art of Being Human,” will have special guest artist Masankho Banda, international InterPlayer and storyteller.  Please join us at 737 Woodland Avenue Southeast, Atlanta, Georgia,  30316. Suggested donations $10 to $50 (be affordable but generous). Donations will support InterPlay sessions at the Friendship Center of Holy Comforter.

SOULPRINT PLAYERS. Here we are! A handful of Soulprint Players. We will be joined by other players for our performance this Sunday at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church. (photo by Art Salon audience member)