Suddenly I Actually Saw It

This week the D'AI Blog is taken from an email that was sent to Associate School Director Stephanie Thomspon by Zoe Teets, a Professional Training Program alumni who graduated in June 2008. Like many Dell'Arte alumni Zoe finds she sees the world differently than almost everyone else around her...

Hi Stephanie and all the Dell'Arte faculty,

I've been thinking of Dell'Arte a lot and wanted to give you an update about what I've been up to and how I am.

I applied to a University in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH in late June and got accepted, which means that I get to live at home and save tons of money. Things weren't going well at all until I auditioned for a play. When the director saw Dell'Arte on my resume, she told me she trained with Carlo! I was so shocked and pleased to have a Dell'Artian at school!

One of the audition requirements for her was a movement piece. I planned a very short piece with my clown pretending to ice skate on the wooden stage. The director smiled through all of it, but the other students looked at me like I was insane. Everyone else did a "movement piece" with mime and a place and event...like burying their pet or getting pulled over by a Policeman. I think my clown playing loud music and excitedly using the entire stage and her whole body not only shocked them but also disrupted their quiet, quaint stories.

During the second part of the audition the director told me that she knew how I felt. I thought to myself "I doubt it," and then she said, "I know your head exploded in Blue Lake. I know you see everything in a different way now, and you're walking around here and can't understand why other people don't see things the same way you do. You have a different sense of humor, you're a different person, and you don't fit in here, I know." Then she offered to be my mentor and help me retain the things I learned at Dell'Arte, while trying to remember how to be around people who haven't had the same experience. I was amazed. I felt so overwhelmed because I do see everything in a different way now.


The other day in History class, we were discussing briefly the arts in Greece and a picture of the Discus Thrower on the board. I have seen that sculpture a thousand times before, but suddenly I actually saw it. I saw how beautiful the spiral of his body was; I suddenly saw how his arms are like wings, and his feet bizarrely at ease.

I remember a time when I was training at Dell'Arte that it got so difficult that I thought, "I never want to do this again." I wanted to give up theatre, never touch it again and have horrible posture that no one ever corrects. Once I left Blue Lake and got a real break, I felt extremely desperate for theatre! Now I'm addicted. I've had nearly nonstop rehearsal since September in three overlapping shows and I am already signed up to assistant stage-manage the next one. Four plays in a row for a freshman is unheard of. Not only have I found a group of people I can play with, but I also got nominated for the Irene Ryan scholarship and get to go to the American College Theater Festival in January to compete for it. (Wish me luck!)

My resiliency has really grown. I'm trying to listen to my instincts and act on them more to help figure out who I am. Things are going really well, but of course, I'm homesick for little ol' Blue Lake. I hope everything is going splendidly there!! All my best. All my love.

Zoe Teets
Professional Training Program, Class of 2008

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