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[0:00] Ken Davenport: Hey everybody, guess who? I told you I'd be back when I had something very important to talk about. And listen, we are debuting right now a very special six-part mini podcast series. Here's what we did. We did a live stream theater maker challenge on Facebook recently called Places Please. What theater makers can do right now to get ready for the rebirth, the renaissance, the reopening, whatever it is you want to call it of the theater. This is a pivotal time of theater going. We need to be ready for it. So we got some fantastic speakers to join us, and all they did was talk about strategies, tips, techniques, hacks, what they are doing right now to get more theater and better theater out there in the world.

That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do the six-part audio series now, which is ripped straight from this Theater Makers Challenge. You're gonna hear from some fantastic speakers over the next six episodes of this special mini-series podcast. And I guarantee you this you stick it out through the end of this thing, you are going to be ready to make more theater and better theater than you've ever made in your entire theater making career. So, enough of me. This is not about me. This is about these great speakers that are ready to entertain, inspire, and educate you into the rest of 2021 and beyond. So let's get to the Places Please challenge. It's the Theater Makers challenge. Places please. Places. Please.

[1:57] Alicia Albright: Hi, everybody. I'm so honored to be here. What an amazing experience for you guys to get to do so many things every day and then to be held accountable and have homework assignments and get to really apply it to your life. I think that's a really, a really beautiful challenge that has great impact on your life. So what I wanted to offer to you guys is something that's really changed my life as a performer, but most importantly as a human being. It's the practice of mindfulness. And that can encompass so many things. And so what it had me thinking of to offer for you guys today is this idea of what is the recipe to clearing the path to creativity and inspiration. And for that creativity being an act of service.

So the beauty is there's so many answers to that. There's so many things. I'd like to think of it as each of us has a toolkit. Each guide who's on this journey of this week with you has ideas that we can add to your toolkit that you can use in your beautiful life. And it's whatever comes up for you in that moment that you might need, but it's that you have all these tools that you can pull from at any time that can clear the way. And so I think this is a really important thing is taking time and taking space. We've all been through so much in this last year and a half. And even before that, there's a lot of stuff, and there's this tendency to go, go, go and not take time or space. And then sometimes when you're trying to create or write or direct or perform or offer your talents when there's a level of stress or anxiety, or feeling like you need to prove yourself or put out a product really quick, it can kind of dampen the light of creativity.

So my teacher, my mentor, is 83 and still teaches yoga meditations. She's amazing. She has an image of those old-fashioned lamps that have a flame in the middle. There's glass on the outside and flame. And sometimes that glass gets dirty, and you can't really see the light. It'll get dirty with soot or ash, and you have to clean the glass in order for the flame to shine brighter. But the beauty is the flame and the brightness never went away. It was just dampened by what was around it. So, and that makes me think of for us that light inside of each of us that shines so bright, never ever, ever goes away. The light of creativity, the light of sharing the gifts that you have with the world, the light of the authentic self of who you are, never goes away.

We forget. And that darkness that surrounds it can be our negative thought patterns, stress, anxiety, pressure, feeling like you need to perform. All those things can be the things that dampen that glass around the light of who you are. So what these practices help clean the glass, you can think of it that way. So that light that never went anywhere shines brighter. So what I love the most is to give direct experience of these things. So then instead of just me chatting about it, you get to feel it and see how and kind of try that on and see how that feels for you. And also then put those things in your toolkit for someday.

[5:12] Rodrick Covington: So I'd like us just to start by connecting to our breath. The breath is a beautiful gateway to connect the mind to the spirit and the body. We often can get stuck up here, and then we're totally disconnected from everything else of who we are. So you can think of your breath as a bridge. That can be a really quick tool that can bridge that gap. So whatever you are, whatever you're doing, you know, kind of shake it out, find a comfortable seat, or if you're standing, and I want you to just take a deep breath in and out. You can keep your eyes open or close them if you like. Inhale, exhale. Feel your body relax, relax the tension in your jaw. One more deep breath in. Exhale, just release tension from your head, your jaw, your shoulders, your neck, your belly.

Even that. Just in three breaths, you can drop more into the moment. So an acronym I like to use that I've learned in classes I've taken is called modes. M-O-A-D-S. Modes. Toolkit. Put it in there. So it stands for mindfulness is the M. So things under that mindfulness umbrella can be breath work, meditation, yoga, movement, exercise, things that you're bringing your awareness and your mind fully into. It can be baking, it can be going on a walk in Switzerland. It can be any of those things can be under this beautiful umbrella of mindfulness. And we're gonna practice some mindfulness things in a second. The um O is opposite action. So if you're feeling a certain way, you might be feeling anxious or stressed, or if you have a deadline that's coming up, and you're feeling pressure and you're feeling kind of this heaviness, it's noticing how you feel, where you feel it, and then you take the opposite action.

So, say if you're feeling really kind of heightened and you need to calm, you could put on calming music, you could take a bath, you could do anything that kind of shifts the energy, and then it kind of does the job for you. In the same way, if you're feeling really low energy and you need to pull yourself up, it's as simple as you can put on your favorite fun dance on and dance around a room when no one's looking. Or it's something that's the opposite action can help shift the energy inside of you really quickly. So it's another tool. Mindfulness, opposite action. A affect identification. So what that means is naming it. There's a real power and empowerment in naming how you're feeling. I am feeling stressed right now because I have this deadline and I feel a blockage and I don't know what to do.

Or I'm feeling stressed because in this moment in this play that I'm directing, there's a moment that's just not fitting. And sometimes just naming it helps release it, and then you can be in the flow more. And so that can be through journaling, it can be through having a conversation with a trusted friend. That there's just such a power of identifying without shaming how you're feeling, what you're going through, that again just takes that lid off, and suddenly it's like I feel like we tap in. I often feel like we're given these gifts that we have that are meant to be shared with the world. And sometimes we just have to open that floodgate so it can flow through us. And sometimes stress stuff closes it off.

So sometimes just identifying that you're feeling that way opens the gates. D of modes is distraction. So, distraction can be powerfully choosing to watch the Great British Baking Show, powerfully choosing to play a game. You know, instead of just like avoiding what's going on with you and falling into watching Netflix, it's choosing it so that you can shift your mind, and then in choosing doing something different, you can often get inspiration when you go back to the project that you're working on. But it's all in the power of your choice. And the last one is the S is support systems. So that can be along with affect identification, it's just knowing that you have people who have your back, whether it's family and friends, um, it can also be people who have done work similar to this, or work, you know, that you can use as a tool.

And those people might have the key to unlock what you're going through, or they might just be there to tell you it's okay. So, this modes, the idea is that we give ourselves tools all the time, and we always forget when we're going through something. So, my teacher calls it a remembrance practice. So, the more tools we have, there can be a day that you try it on. There can be days that certain things really land for you for a long period of time, and there can be a day it doesn't really help, and you pick another one from all the teachers that you've had in your life, from the students you've had, from any interaction is a possibility and an opportunity to learn.

[10:06] Ken Davenport: So now let's have some direct experience. So, for some of the stuff for mindfulness, like I said, breath work is a really great gateway to calm the body down. And a lot of this stuff can work for anxiety and stress, um, for blockages in the creative path. Um, so one thing is called a box breath. So, what it uses is it uses your breath as well as a tactile thing. So, you're gonna use your finger and you're gonna draw a box. I'm gonna draw it up here so you can see me. You can draw it on your table, on your leg, and as you inhale, you're gonna draw up, hold as you go across, exhale down, hold as you go across. Let's do a few more. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold. Inhale, hold, exhale. We'll slow it down for two more.

Inhale, big breath in, hold, exhale, hold. Last one. Inhale, hold, exhale. Hold. Good. Let your hand rest wherever it needs to rest. And let's just go through our body really quick. And we're gonna do a body scan. So as you go in your own breathing pattern now, start at the top of your head, and we just scan down. Notice where you might be feeling tension or holding, sometimes in your jaw, in your neck, your shoulders. Big breath in. And as you exhale, just think of releasing that tension, going down the body to the chest, even to the internal organs. So as we hold a lot of tension in our stomach area, release down to your hips. We can hold tension in our legs, our hips, our thighs without judging, just noticing the holding. And as you exhale, think of I allow my body to relax. I allow my body to relax. And going a little further down to your feet and your ankles.

[12:16] Alicia Albright: One more breath in. And out. This can be a quick one to two-minute check-in. You can do while you're sitting at your desk. You can do at any point. You can do it in a rehearsal that no one needs to know you're doing. A lot of these tools you can use, and no one even needs to know that you're doing something for yourself. You can do it in the bathroom too. So, and now to bring our energy back up. So we've grounded our energy down, which could be a good one for opposite action as well. So another one, I want us to shake our hands. So it also kind of rub your arm. So as we touch ourselves and we rub our arms and maybe your thighs. We start to bring blood flow to the body, and that can help wake us up.

More blood flow can then when it goes through the body, can go to your brain and you can get new ideas. We can even go and let's take our hands right here and go like this at our jaw and go down to release this tension in our jaw. Any of those places that you mind felt tension when we did our body scan, give yourself just a little, but can there be kindness in your hand? They say your hands are the communication from your heart. Can there be kindness in those hands? Now shake. Shake is. I also used to teach children's yoga. So we would do this shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, and stop. I start to feel energy pulsating. Try to get shake, shake, shake, reach to the top.

Ah. Ah, I start to it makes me feel alive. One more time. Shake and stop. Good. Now I want you to kind of scan anytime when you might feel blocked for creativity or stressed, where might that land in your body? So there's a qigong technique where we release the stuck energy or blocked energy in our body. And it's not about pushing away our thoughts because what you resist persists, and what you try to push away comes back louder. But there can be energy that's blocked in our body that when we release that, again, we can be more in the flow of creativity. So as you inhale, I want your arms to come up. Exhale, think of pushing energy out two more times. Inhale, exhale, push. Think of releasing any energy that's stuck inside of you.

Inhale, exhale, and then finally you reach your arms out and up, and then you bring your palms to face down and they wash over your body one more time. And you think of pulling in now. What do you want to in that space? I'm gonna be in the flow. I want to access my heart space or whatever it is, so the creativity can come out one more time. Reach up. Maybe it's just calm as it flows over you, and then just to get our body moving, do one head roll half head roll to your left and then the other side, roll your shoulders up and back and down. Good, interlace your hands, exhale, round your spine, push forward, inhale, reach up high, and release down, and we're gonna end with this quick meditation that really helps me.

That I've done I do before auditions, I do I do before I had 12 callbacks for Frozen, crazy, and I did this before every callback. I did I do this, I did this this morning for you guys. It's a this idea of sending love ahead. Um, because it helps shift the energy instead of feeling nervous or insecure or worried, or all those things that can kind of mess with our head or our energy. It puts us in an open-hearted space to create, to connect, to be fully present. So again, just find a seat. We've moved our bodies a little bit. And you can keep your eyes open, you can close them, or you can just bring them down a little bit. Take a deep breath in and out.

[16:22] Alicia Albright: And I want you to start by thinking of someone who deeply cares about you or loves you. All of who you are, beyond your talent, beyond your achievements, someone who really cares about you, and that could even be a pet. Or in your body to feel supported and enough and accepted exactly as you are. And imagine it like a light that's shining in the center of your chest. Of that light comes out and then comes back to you. Can you think that for yourself? You could say, may I be happy? May I be healthy? May I feel loved? You can think it again and again in your mind. May I be happy. May I be healthy? May I be loved. Now, from that space, I want you to think of that light coming out to everyone on this stream right now.

To Carrie, to Rodrick who is coming on next, and to anyone who's watching, anyone who's helped create it, to Ken Davenport, to everyone who's a part of this, and to yourself. May they be happy. May they be healthy. May they feel loved. Think of this as a genuine well-wish for these people. And I want you to extend that further to anyone you love, your family and your friends, maybe the person you thought of in the beginning. Pets. May they be happy. May they be healthy. May they be loved. And now you can extend that to anyone you're working with in a project you might be working on. And in that space that you work with them, that you're not only filling them up with these well-wishes, but the space where that project is created, or where it's meant to be created.

You wish that for them. And you wish that for the space. And then you extend it further to any person you might see today, work with today, and strangers even on the street. May they be happy. May they be healthy. May they be loved. And then further to the projects you're working on, whatever they may be, the reason you showed up for this. May those things be filled with love, with integrity, with whatever it is that you want to come from your heart to be infused into everything you do. Wish that from yourself into that future experience. To that part of yourself that maybe has a hard time, or other people that you might have frustrations with. You wish that for them and for yourself at that time.

May they be happy. May they be healthy. May they be filled with love. And finally, you wish that well-wishing to the whole world. All people, all beings, animals, plants, and the whole globe. May they be happy. May they be healthy. May they be filled with love. Finally, you let that as if it's a light that's streamed out like water, that slowly recedes and washes over all the animals, all the people, the oceans, every person, every project you have done, every project you will do, all your loved ones, everyone on this stream, back to you. And you take that well-wishing one more time into yourself. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I feel loved. Take a deep breath in. And exhale. One more.

Inhale. And exhale. And you can slowly bring your palms to touch. One more breath in. Exhale, sigh. Thank you for sharing space with me. I wish you all happiness and healthiness and love in everything you do. And your homework would be to make a list. We have to-do lists all the time. What if you made a to-be list of things that remind you of who you are beyond all that stuff that you can then infuse to what you create? Your own toolkit. And you can put it up in your workspace. You can make it artistic or just make it a list that's somewhere where you can see it that can help you remember in times that you forget, things that help you tap in or raise up, or any of these things you're learning from this experience of this week and beyond. You just keep adding to that list, and then to just have it somewhere for you as your toolkit that's always there for you when you're in time of need.

[23:38] Rodrick Covington: So that was absolutely amazing that we just experienced with Alicia. I mean, so you all are already in a great space to receive this offering that I have. You're already like set. So I'm going to just dive right in on this tip. So my ask for you is to lean into your inner child. Every month, our community at Core Rhythm Fitness, we have a monthly mantra because you know, at Core Rhythm Fitness, we believe in mind, body, spirit, transformation, not just you know, getting in the body, it's a mental spiritual shift. So today, my ask is for you to lean into your inner child, lean into the child that you were before this pandemic, when everything about you was a wonder, magic, when you were discovering your body for the first time before your own trauma began, right?

[24:50] Rodrick Covington: The skin, the bones, the blood, the tissue, the hair, the muscles and water and pores, cartilage, fingers, toes, organs, veins. I mean, the physicus of your being is just as sacred as the non-physical parts of your being. You don't have to divorce yourself from your body, from your goodness of yourselves, from the idea of your bodily presence to be accepted, right? Um, so maybe like me, some of you were taught that your body is a temple, right? And only a temple, brick and mortar here to serve a very specific one, a purpose that isn't yours exactly. A lot of times, um, especially as performers, you know, with our bodies, we're preparing for a specific role or an event. So that's when we, you know, you know, value, start to value our body.

It's it, and it's it's it's like it's that's when it's holy. I can't even remember precisely what age the message about my body started to seep into my bloodstream, that I couldn't trust myself, that my body is to blame for my urges and acts of others, that I need to hide this and cover that and not speak of this, that my body serves a purpose beyond myself and needs to be sacrificed for the greater good of service. That only a body that looks like this and smells like that and can only wear these things is a worthy body. But even then, worthy of what? Objectification is my body is only as good if someone else says it is. What we're doing, what we're gonna do is reframe all of that because you don't need permission to love your own body, to be in your own body, and to allow your body to be.

You never have and you never will. Your body doesn't need to look a certain way for you to value your body. I'm saying this from experience. When I was in college, my uh professor, you know, I was um, I mean, now I wear around like 170, then I weigh like 125. Same height, same everything. So imagine. My dean, he came to me, he said, Rodrick, you're talented, but you need to get in the gym. And I was like, okay, I hated the gym, hate it. Woo! I mean, imagine I hated the gym then and now I'm running one. Um, but before I went into the gym, for some reason, and I'll never forget because I still do it. I meditated and I touched every part of my body. And I dedicated my body to me. To me. And I committed that everything that I do, like, you know, it when it comes to exercise, it's for Rodrick.

Because Rodrick is worthy to have a bicep or a tricep or some abs. It's all for Rodrick. It's not for a show. It's not for an event. It's not for, you know, my partner could see me. It's for Rodrick. Because I believed then if I could do it for Rodrick, then I could actually be comfortable completely in my body for me. And it didn't matter what anyone else said about my body. Because I because one, I had already said it. So I will love to do this exercise with you all. So can you please even you carry butt for rub your hands together? Like, like really rub it together and feel that heat. You should feel some heat, right? Keep rubbing and feel that heat. So that energy that you feel, I want you to imagine that heat, that fire is abundant love.

Yeah. And so for now, let's take a deep breath in together while you're rubbing. And exhale out. Keep rubbing that fire. Deep breath in. And exhale out. And so now take your hands and touch your shoulders. And this giving your shoulders love. Loving your shoulders. Touch your bicep. Give it love. Anoint your self. Touch your chest if you can. Touch your stomach. Whatever it is. However it is, touch it. Love it. Accept it. Touch your thigh. Touch your other part, shoulder. Touch your bicep. And touch your thigh. And so just be for the sake of our children, this generation, and the next. I want you to turn towards your body with love, respect, and tenderness. Your body is you, and you are your body, and you are good.

So go ahead and let go, whatever ways in which you've been torn apart or haven't accepted your body. Because this is healing for you here. Why are you sending me somebody else's body? Send me a picture of your body and how you want to love on your body. Because your body, that's what we're that's what we're working with here. That's all that matters is you, not some picture of somebody else. I don't want to see nobody else's picture when you know you sending me talking about some of your goals. The goal is you. That's it. Because when you start from you and accepting you as your body changes, shifts, and transforms, you start it with love. So you'll be able to love your body and accept your body at all different forms, faces, and shifts, as opposed to when you know get the shift and the transformation, then it's never good enough because you started from a place of not enough, or you start it with somebody else's body image as opposed to your own. Yeah, so.

[33:30] Rodrick Covington: So homework is what? Well, well, first, I need you to rub, okay? Really, really rub those hands and touch every part of your body. I mean, for me, you know, touching every part of my body is a way of me anointing my body and accepting my body. Um, also just really being in my body and feeling comfortable, especially when I'm feeling nervous uh for either an audition or before I'm going on stage, you know, I'll just touch my body. Oh, okay. Yeah, Rodrick. You're real. So let's just be real. Um, but your homework is to answer the question what would you tell your younger self about her, his, or their body? Not it, because your body is not an it, your body is an actual person. So your body is a her, him, or they.

What will you tell them about their body? That's your homework. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you so much for being a part of this special podcast mini series, The Places Please Challenge. Are you inspired? Do you have strategies? Are you ready to make more theater and better theater? Well, listen, if you enjoyed this series, here's what I want you to do. If you like listening to speakers and getting these kind of strategies, then I want you to check out the TheaterMakers Summit. This is a virtual conference that is coming up, coming up right now on November, November 6th and 7th, with a bonus day on the 8th. It's all virtual, all virtual. Go to TheaterMakers Summit.com. It's our fifth anniversary of what I believe is the largest conference for theater makers anywhere.

Last year we had over a hundred speakers and over a thousand attendees. This year we've got even more speakers, and we're expecting even more attendees, lots of education, lots of networking opportunities. I hope to see you there. The summit is my favorite event of the year. My favorite event of the year. And now because it's virtual, you can attend from the comfort of your own bedroom in your pajamas. I mean, what's better than that? Learning about the theater in your PJs. Go to theatermakersummit.com, TheaterMakers Summit.com, or just Google it and you will find it. Grab a ticket, join us for the TheaterMakers Summit. I promise you, you're gonna leave inspired and with more knowledge than you came in ready to tackle the renaissance of the theater.

I look forward to seeing you at the conference, and I look forward to seeing one of your shows on a stage. Thanks again for joining us at the Places Please Audio Podcast Challenge. It's the Theater Makers Challenge. Places please Places Places.