The sustenance was succulent, the potables plentiful and the discourse diverse. Yes, the annual dinner meeting of SoloTogether was the place to be.
Who was there:
The recession must be behind us, as everyone seems to have been fairly busy. Alex brought along the video of "Space Theater", in which he starred (no pun intended) and it played on the wall in the living room as food was being prepared and consumed. Ted gave a short update on the American Theatre of Living History program, this spring in cooperation with Longfellow National Historic Site. Not too much other new news, except that Steven has started working on a program on Robert Frost.
Keiko Ikeda, our visiting scholar at Harvard University told us about her travels around the country, learning about how history is taught. She found it interesting that, while solo interpretation seems to be thriving for our practitioners and at museums, etc., the academic world seems completely oblivious to the method. This opened a fairly lively discussion about the fact that, as Rodney Dangerfield would say "We don't get no respect." From Chatauquas that seldom use our performers, to a particularly pointed slight Steven once received, our craft seems to be the black sheep of history education. Not that it seems to have phased any of us, we just keep on working and having one heck of a good time.
No date for the next meeting yet, but we'll keep all informed as we know. If you have anything you'd like to add to these notes, for the calander or to pass along to the group, send it along.
Mike Francis