The taster classes are there to give potential students an idea of what the Meisner foundation course will be like but also so I can see what kind of people I will be working with. All sorts of fascinating things happened in my last two taster classes. They were both very small and extremely dynamic groups and I can’t wait to work with them in my new course starting this Wednesday morning.
Unfortunately, the same problems I had when I started the first daytime course beset me now. The daytime class is a hard one for people to commit to for obvious reasons. At the last minute, I had to change the day from Tuesday to Wednesday to allow more people to join but I still don’t have enough students.
The space has also been a problem. I followed a neighbour’s advice about a new place opening just down the road. I’d been on the phone and laptop all morning trying to find a space so I decided just to go and check it out. I got there and had a look. It looked like it could be the perfect spot … except the builders hadn’t quite finished it yet. Fine, I thought, no space, not enough students: it’s just not meant to be. I cycled towards the park determined to cancel the course and just enjoy the classes I already teach. As I cycled, a building caught my eye. It looked like a community theatre. I got off and went in. It was indeed a theatre. I asked the man behind the bar if it was available for rent. He went and got the woman who ran the place. While he was gone I thought, well, it won’t be for rent, and if it is, not for ten consecutive Wednesdays, and even then there’s no way I can afford a space like this … Dear reader, I got the space.
This morning I thought I had nowhere and now, amazingly, I have three, affordable and lovely spaces … but not enough students. It’s too late to do much else except pray for a miracle. The night before the start of my Thursday evening course in April, someone called me up to ask if he could join last minute. He hadn’t done the taster class so I met him the next day, had a chat with him and knew at once that he was a good fit for the class. He has had his ups and downs like everyone who does this work and the other week he suddenly said “I think I’m starting to get it now – the repetition exercise helps you to bypass the bullshit.” It’s such a wonderfully accurate way of putting it. We all have our own kind of bullshit, and we all have to learn to get past it. Meisner called it “leaving yourself alone” but I like bypassing the bullshit better because it evokes the frustration of what happens when we don’t bypass the bullshit.
If there’s anyone out there who wants to swell the ranks of the Wednesday morning course, message me please. You can be my miracle student, the one that makes the course actually happen and I can help you, too, learn how to bypass the bullshit.
P.S. I had to “fix” the title of this post because Facebook considered it offensive. Well, if that ain’t bullshit, I don’t know what is.
Leila Gray 