A MONTH IN NEW YORK CITY

In a few days, I will leave my home to spend the month of September in New York City ... It is really exciting because instead of spending my time there as an artist, I will be working as a scientist gathering research for my dissertation about LEARNING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PRODUCTION.

My research will be gathered through interviews of people in the BROADWAY and OFF-BROADWAY communities and through my observations of a Musical Theatre show in its rehearsal process.   Instead of looking at a show as a work-in-progress, my intent will be to examine the interactions of people as they are learning 'in the room'.

Being 'in the room' is a term professional actors and creatives use to describe the time spent in rehearsal and preparing for a show, and it is undefined by scientific standards ... so every minute I spend watching the interactions will work to shed light on a process I hold dear--a process that will illustrate yet again how valuable the Arts are beyond the Aesthetics they teach.