It has been my good fortune to work with no small number of actors and directors from the Chicagoland area theater community.  They come into analytic treatment for pretty much the same reasons that everyone else does, really.  But one thing that does stand out is that frequently, either a director or an actor will come into the treatment room, script in hand, complaining, “I don’t get this!  What does the author really mean?”  Or more often, “My director tells me I’m blocked, but I don’t see how.”

To my great surprise and delight, I have found that psychoanalysis lends itself perfectly to the process of artists trying to dig into themselves, find out what is there, both good and bad, and mine deeper into what they find there for their craft.

One time I was engaged with such an actor, and this person’s off hand remark at first didn’t mean that much, “Wouldn’t it be great for you to be available to the whole theater company for when we get stuck like this.”  At first, I thought that this person was simply saying a kind remark out of generosity.  But then it hit me:  What if an analytically trained person was available to an acting company while they are finding their way to a script’s meaning?  This is not to say that the analyst would or could ever take the place of the director…God forbid!  But even if the analyst was there part of the time, available on call, available for actors and company members to explore themselves and their work, the actual product that the company produces might improve just a little, might improve immeasurably.  Either way, might it be worth a try?

So as a first go around, Spark of Creation Therapy is willing to accept the challenge to be the “ensemble therapist” as an “in kind” donation to whatever theater company might think it might be a good idea.  (Given logistics, travel times, and all the other real life issues that occur.)  But it might be fun.  Most importantly, could it be possible that it could help create even better theater than the high level of theater that people in Chicagoland are somewhat spoiled with?  There’s no way to know but to try.  So be in touch actors all around.  SPARK thinks more highly of you than Max Bialystock.