by Susan Knudten
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The author's drink of choice circa 1985.[/caption]
When I was 20, I had a perm, wore neon off-the-shoulder T-shirts, drank Miller Genuine Draft, and listened to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. And I found my people. They were improv actors.
I started doing improv before anyone knew what it was and it became my life. I loved it for many reasons, but mostly because I loved my fellow performers.
Good improv actors operate in a different realm than the average person. They aren’t afraid to try and fail; they’re interested in just about anything; and boy, oh boy, are they fun to hang around with. You really haven’t fully lived until you’ve played a round of “Whose Butt Is It?” with a bunch of drunk improv actors.
After 20 years of good times, life intervened and I was no longer performing regularly. I still saw my people, just not as often. Instead, I spent more time around different people – you know, the ones I worked with at my ‘real job.’ The copier is broken. Another meeting to discuss the last meeting. Quiet voices and polite titters. Not the same.
Was this it? Sigh.
Until late 2013. A friend (an improv friend, of course) invited me to come with her to the Lighthouse Writers Workshop holiday party. The people were friendly and the readings were fascinating. I started hanging around more – parties, classes, joining a writing group. The next thing I know, I’m attending an information session for something called The Book Project. I apply. I get in.
And [insert ascending notes on a harp], I’ve again found my people!
I felt like Harry Potter escaping the Muggle world. The folks I met in The Book Project had magic. They could create whole worlds using only their minds.
I even got Sorted. See, there are a few different Book Project mentors. There’s Chris Ransick, head of the Hufflepuff poets. Laura Pritchett, with lots of memoirists, oversees the brave and bold Gryffindor. Bill Henderson leads the learned Ravenclaw, serious and stalwart novelists. And, sorry Brad Wetzler, you and your nonfiction crew will have to be Slytherin. You are dealing with the harshest realities of life, after all.
Wait. I see now that I’ve drawn a bad analogy. There are only four houses in Harry Potter, but there are five groups in the Book Project. What about my group, headed by our mentor Erika Krouse? What are we?
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The Dorkleheart quaff. Made from grapes untouched by a woman's nostril.[/caption]
We’ll be the Dorklehearts – empathetic, and unafraid to make fools of ourselves. Our house “animal,” in case you’re wondering, is a beautiful woman with a grape half-stuffed up one nostril.
It’s been a year since I became a Dorkleheart, and I consider it one of the better decisions of my life. I have found a true community. A community of learning, of support, of intellect and of camaraderie – a community of my people.
This community would not exist without Mike Henry (Dumbledore) and Andrea Dupree (McGonagall, who, let’s face it, was really co-head of Hogwarts when it came down to it). Lighthouse is just as special a place as Hogwarts, but even better, because it’s real. The fact that there is even a Moaning Myrtle in the plumbing system is the icing on the cake. (Seriously…have you heard those pipes sometimes?)
When I was 20, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to find a group of people who were engaging, witty and inventive. But at 50, after knowing how some of the rest of the world operates, I appreciate it more than I can say.
Applications for The Book Project are being accepted through July 23.
A freelance writer and performer, Susan Knudten is also one-half of The Novelistas, a comedy duo offering original shows, workshops, practical jokes, and coaching in performance skills for writers and others. The Novelistas will be performing at the LitFest Opening Party on June 5. www.thenovelistas.com
