Pinocchio: Awake My Soul
Director's Note
Pinocchio has always been a favorite of mine and many others. It is ultimately a cautionary tale of choosing right from wrong, and where those choices, be they good or bad, will lead. However, it was my personal challenge to search deeper, and I discovered a transcendent vision of HOPE and ENDURANCE.
Picture this: The curtain rises on a new story and you are its central character. You step forward with your head held high and confidence in the expected dialogue. But wait… Life takes center stage and steals the spotlight. Suddenly your script is thrown out and the set changes. Can this be credited to your director, Choice? Or is it the stagehand, Mistake? Or neither, when the power of Circumstance simply shuts off the light? Do you run for the dark and the hidden safety of the wing? Or do you stay to improvise with courage and faith in what you know?
Life hands us the unexpected and the lines of blame have become blurred. We all live within the consequential circumstances of life’s human imperfections; and blame won’t solve anything -- because it is not about what happens to us, but what we do after it has happened.
Somewhere along my journey to create Pinocchio: Awake My Soul, the moral undertone evolved from our challenge to choose the right, into our responsibility to overcome the wrongs…and where we find the strength to do so.
I, like many others, grew up watching Walt Disney’s animated film, Pinocchio. In the process of developing my personal adaptation I discovered even more behind Blue Fairy’s words: “Awake; the gift of life is thine.” In life, we awake not only once, but over and over again. With every closing of our eyes from fear, doubt, and pain, we are given a new opportunity to awake. Life is not a one-time gift waiting to be perfect – Now is the time to awaken and experience the gift that already surrounds us.
And know that someone is watching over you.
Pinocchio has always been a favorite of mine and many others. It is ultimately a cautionary tale of choosing right from wrong, and where those choices, be they good or bad, will lead. However, it was my personal challenge to search deeper, and I discovered a transcendent vision of HOPE and ENDURANCE.
Picture this: The curtain rises on a new story and you are its central character. You step forward with your head held high and confidence in the expected dialogue. But wait… Life takes center stage and steals the spotlight. Suddenly your script is thrown out and the set changes. Can this be credited to your director, Choice? Or is it the stagehand, Mistake? Or neither, when the power of Circumstance simply shuts off the light? Do you run for the dark and the hidden safety of the wing? Or do you stay to improvise with courage and faith in what you know?
Life hands us the unexpected and the lines of blame have become blurred. We all live within the consequential circumstances of life’s human imperfections; and blame won’t solve anything -- because it is not about what happens to us, but what we do after it has happened.
Somewhere along my journey to create Pinocchio: Awake My Soul, the moral undertone evolved from our challenge to choose the right, into our responsibility to overcome the wrongs…and where we find the strength to do so.
I, like many others, grew up watching Walt Disney’s animated film, Pinocchio. In the process of developing my personal adaptation I discovered even more behind Blue Fairy’s words: “Awake; the gift of life is thine.” In life, we awake not only once, but over and over again. With every closing of our eyes from fear, doubt, and pain, we are given a new opportunity to awake. Life is not a one-time gift waiting to be perfect – Now is the time to awaken and experience the gift that already surrounds us.
And know that someone is watching over you.
April 2014
Classical Ballet Academy: Jennie Creer-King
Photography: Luke Isley
Costume Design: Kathy Folkman and Marthanne Argyle
Lighting Design: Matt Lund
Set Design: Doug Ellis
Photography: Luke Isley
Costume Design: Kathy Folkman and Marthanne Argyle
Lighting Design: Matt Lund
Set Design: Doug Ellis
