Day 3: The Hermit

The Card

The first Major Arcana card to show its face!  Which is kind of ironic.  But the Hermit happens to be one of my most favorite cards, if not my favorite card, of all time.
Why?
Because Hermits are madd pimps.
This cards tells me that it's time to slow down, to take time for oneself.  It also represents wisdom, a slow-paced type of wisdom that can only be learned with time. Because, contrary to the popular belief, hermits don't keep themselves locked away from society to avoid society, they leave it to better understand it and to gain a higher knoweldge of being.
Aka they're madd pimp.
This is what my hermit looks like:
 

Sup.

The illustrations of cards change from deck to deck.  Not everything can be faeries and magic unless you talk to me.  But there are always key elements that will be included regardless of the deck.  For example, the Hermit will more than likely have a lantern in one hand and a pimp walking stick in the left.

I'm interested in exploring the hermetic impulse that humans have; it's almost as strong as the impulse to tell stories and create theatre.

I guess what I'm very simply trying to say is : Hermits rock.

The Process

I could actually feel sparks flying from my mind, ready to light my fingertips on fire.  I had too many thoughts running through my brain, too much possibility.  I was like one giant AHHHHHH of potential.

Now I get it.

Because my mind was hay-wiring, it actually made it harder to write than easier.  I couldn't focus on just one idea so I was getting a mushy mashy soup of ideas rather than a play.  So I used an exercise that I learned from the wonderful Cassandra Medley, one of the many that she taught us as a part of her Writer's Gym; a class composed of wonderful exercises designed to produce work and  enhance creativity.  

Instead of beginning with dialogue, I started with the description of the character's hands; what their hands look like, what they feel, what the character does with their hands, what they make with their hands, what they destroy with them, etc.  Pretty soon, the character's voice started narrating instead of my own and she began to speak in the first person.  And then all of a sudden, I was writing and here's...

An Excerpt

 

[ADAM opens the door.  He is dragging the body of a woman behind him]

FERTIE

Well what do we have here?

ADAM

She’s sick.

FERTIE

So you drag her through the dirt and muck?

What kinda man are you?

ADAM

She’s sick

FERTIE

I can tell that now, can’t I? 

She’s been drug for 20 miles, don’t you think I can tell?

ADAM

She feels like a furnace

[FERTIE gets up; she uses a stick to walk.  She gets a few eggs]

ADAM

Are you going to use that to make a potion?

[FERTIE cracks the eggs on the girl’s forehead.  They sizzle]

FERTIE

Just as I thought.

ADAM

It’s bad, isn’t it?

FERTIE

Not bad enough to fry bacon.

Want some egg?

 In Conclusion...

  Whenever two people speak, it's like worlds colliding; entire eco-systems with our own, unique histories that will either compliment or disregard's another.  We want to protect ourselves, our worlds, from being damaged, from getting hurt.  So we hide pieces of ourselves away, tuck them inside, in order to observe another, in order to figure out when its safe to bring those pieces out and show them to another.  This is where I believe the impulse to create theatre comes in; it's a safe way to communicate with one another, to share with one another. 

And Now, Some Pimpage:

Here be my hermits, yo!

In Starlight, there's Grittle, an inept witch who has shut herself away from the world because of her inability to perform the "right" kind of magic, and C.S. in The Old Man in the Woods, a man who has escaped to the woods to be with his thoughts, his words, and more importantly, his too-vivid imagination.

Grittle the Witch (Madalina Ripanu) is harassed by Baby the Ghost (Chelsea Militano) in Starlight

(Reading at TheatreLab, directed by Gina Femia)

C.S. (Shane Gilern) is bothered by Fernie (Charlotte Long) in The Old Man in the Woods

(Workshop at Sarah Lawrence College, directed by Tamara Winters)