Is it possible to have too much of Og?

[oggbashan]

I am at the half way point of a two day seminar on how to stage Literature as a performance art. I am attending the seminar because I want to include some literature-based concepts in my town as part of our annual festival or as stand alone events. My intention is to be an impresario or facilitator, not a performer.

A large part of the seminar is a masterclass on producing literature in various performance styles. I am not a performing poet, and any of the AH who have read my poetry would probably agree that I am not a poet either.

I am one of ten participants, with six significantly qualified facilitators. I keep having to hold myself back because when faced with an empty stage, an empty dias with lectern, an unused microphone or lack of cohesion about what is to be done - my natural instinct is to fill the vacancy.

In the words of my wife 'In a public arena you are just impossibly embarrassing and I usually have to disown you.'

So far I guess that I have hogged 30% of the whole activity despite the facilitators and my other colleagues.

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

I am at the half way point of a two day seminar on how to stage Literature as a performance art. I am attending the seminar because I want to include some literature-based concepts in my town as part of our annual festival or as stand alone events. My intention is to be an impresario or facilitator, not a performer.

A large part of the seminar is a masterclass on producing literature in various performance styles. I am not a performing poet, and any of the AH who have read my poetry would probably agree that I am not a poet either.

I am one of ten participants, with six significantly qualified facilitators. I keep having to hold myself back because when faced with an empty stage, an empty dias with lectern, an unused microphone or lack of cohesion about what is to be done - my natural instinct is to fill the vacancy.

In the words of my wife 'In a public arena you are just impossibly embarrassing and I usually have to disown you.'

So far I guess that I have hogged 30% of the whole activity despite the facilitators and my other colleagues.

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

Og should continue to be Og.
It has been my experience at some of these seminars that the ones pooh poohing you are the anal retentive ones that only wish that they were as comfortable as you are speaking.

You know who everyone is going to remember..... you... everything you did, said, and made them feel.

Do not dim your own sunshine to appease someone else's lack of...

Be Og... and let the whiners step off

Lizzy

 

[Guest]

In the words of my wife 'In a public arena you are just impossibly embarrassing and I usually have to disown you.'

So far I guess that I have hogged 30% of the whole activity despite the facilitators and my other colleagues.

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

Kin under the skin! I know that feeling sooo much. And I do like you do.

Try calling out to the others "Hey there Roberto, why don't you show us thusly?" or "Does anyone have an idea there? I'm interested in what you've got to say."

And you wait. If no one else steps forward, then they are waiting for you. Once you get up there, enlist them. Ask tons of questions of them (I've rarely met the person who could resist being asked their opinion). If everyone is doing the "too shy/too polite/too embarrassed" thing, then maybe getting up and being a bit of a friendly fool will work. Give stage a lot. Start something and ask others to finish.

And if they don't, make it the Ogg show!

 

[oggbashan]

More Og!!!

Okay, that's not helpful, sorry.

Can you sort of lure the other participants into, you know, actually participating? Toss them questions the way the zookeepers toss fish to the otters?

Yes. They participate because I don't let them sit back.

That is part of my problem. My group of five is producing 4 pieces chosen from a possible 16. They all agreed with my suggestion that we did those 4 after an inconclusive discussion would not agree even on a short list.

How they will be presented: 90% Og ideas with 10% modification by the facilitators.

I started on the wrong foot in the drama warm ups. In pairs we had to portray concepts such as 'Modern Times', 'Walking Away' etc. Every pair I was in did my idea...

Og can be a bull in a china shop while more creative, sensitive souls hang back.

We are performing in a full size 400 seat theatre. I am clearly heard in the back row without microphone or amplification...

Og

 

[Guest]

Yes. They participate because I don't let them sit back.

That is part of my problem. My group of five is producing 4 pieces chosen from a possible 16. They all agreed with my suggestion that we did those 4 after an inconclusive discussion would not agree even on a short list.

How they will be presented: 90% Og ideas with 10% modification by the facilitators.

I started on the wrong foot in the drama warm ups. In pairs we had to portray concepts such as 'Modern Times', 'Walking Away' etc. Every pair I was in did my idea...

Og can be a bull in a china shop while more creative, sensitive souls hang back.

We are performing in a full size 400 seat theatre. I am clearly heard in the back row without microphone or amplification...

Og

I forgot to mention..... My grandma is the one that said that quote....

Do NOT dim your sunshine because they are too insecure. Shine and shine brightly

 

[oggbashan]

Pushing your envelope...

Thank you for the replies so far. I would have felt uncomfortable not being my normal self.

The opening gambit of the event is that everyone should 'Push their envelope' to participate to an extent beyond what they feel comfortable doing.

Making an idiot of myself in public is NOT 'pushing my envelope'. If I can perform as Henry VIII for two days in front of a large audience, or give key-note speeches to conferences, where does my envelope start? Live TV? Done it. Ad-hoc radio news? Ditto. Father Christmas? I'm booked for several years.

Pushing my envelope might be encouraging and allowing others to perform. That I am doing but the others are doing it because I have asked, suggested, cajoled, persuaded. It's still the Og show.

 

[Just-Legal]

You can never have too much Ogg.

*nods*

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the replies so far. I would have felt uncomfortable not being my normal self.

The opening gambit of the event is that everyone should 'Push their envelope' to participate to an extent beyond what they feel comfortable doing.

Making an idiot of myself in public is NOT 'pushing my envelope'. If I can perform as Henry VIII for two days in front of a large audience, or give key-note speeches to conferences, where does my envelope start? Live TV? Done it. Ad-hoc radio news? Ditto. Father Christmas? I'm booked for several years.

Pushing my envelope might be encouraging and allowing others to perform. That I am doing but the others are doing it because I have asked, suggested, cajoled, persuaded. It's still the Og show.

That still works. In any group, people respond to the energies and personalities of others. You may simply have a leader energy, a personality that makes people feel comfortable enough to follow what you say. Don't be ashamed of being what and who you are. A good leader doesn't always have to take center stage or stand in the spotlight. As long as you are honestly careful to give other people's ideas air and light, you're leading, not running the Og show. You're using your talents to help others do things.

And that's good!

 

[McKenna]

That still works. In any group, people respond to the energies and personalities of others. You may simply have a leader energy, a personality that makes people feel comfortable enough to follow what you say. Don't be ashamed of being what and who you are. A good leader doesn't always have to take center stage or stand in the spotlight. As long as you are honestly careful to give other people's ideas air and light, you're leading, not running the Og show. You're using your talents to help others do things.

And that's good!

I couldn't have said it better.


You're bound to be a powerful presence wherever you go, Og. I say enjoy it.

 

[Guest]

I couldn't have said it better.


You're bound to be a powerful presence wherever you go, Og. I say enjoy it.

But you'd definately say it with more tongue!

(that cow is SCARING me )

 

[BlackShanglan]

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

The only useful thing I have ever learned in a "team building exercise" (*shudder*) is that some people appear to be waiting for someone to ask them what they think. In fact, they will respond sullenly that no one listened to anyone and people's opinions were not respected despite - in the case for which I was a designated observer of the "team process" - never attempting to say a single word.

I would say do both, oh Og the magnificent. Step right into the spotlight, get things moving with energy and decision, and start that by asking someone who has said nothing what he or she thinks about a specific question.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

Is it possible to have too much of Og?


No. Never.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Is it possible to have too much of Og?


No. Never.

I agree wholeheartedly!! I just hope he is wearing his hat to the event...

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I am at the half way point of a two day seminar on how to stage Literature as a performance art. I am attending the seminar because I want to include some literature-based concepts in my town as part of our annual festival or as stand alone events. My intention is to be an impresario or facilitator, not a performer.

A large part of the seminar is a masterclass on producing literature in various performance styles. I am not a performing poet, and any of the AH who have read my poetry would probably agree that I am not a poet either.

I am one of ten participants, with six significantly qualified facilitators. I keep having to hold myself back because when faced with an empty stage, an empty dias with lectern, an unused microphone or lack of cohesion about what is to be done - my natural instinct is to fill the vacancy.

In the words of my wife 'In a public arena you are just impossibly embarrassing and I usually have to disown you.'

So far I guess that I have hogged 30% of the whole activity despite the facilitators and my other colleagues.

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

If they don't tackle you to the ground and tear the mike from you, then they don't WANT IT as much as you do.

 

[oggbashan]

Completed project

The seminar ended this afternoon with a performance before a small invited audience mainly of theatrical professionals.

All the performers were amateur - writers, librarians, arts outreach workers and Og.

Apart from performing I found my niche - getting the audience into position and moving them through three changes of location, starting in the university's canteen for the first item (after getting the uninvolved customers to be quiet), sitting on chairs on stage for the second and third, moving them through the partly open curtain to sit on the upstage floor for the fourth, then off stage to standard front row auditorium seats for the last set of items.

I enjoyed chivvying the theatre's director and various university notables around. Some of the other participants, junior university staff, found the audience intimidating.

Tomorrow is another day, and another seminar. I thought that I had retired...

Og

 

[oggbashan]

I agree wholeheartedly!! I just hope he is wearing his hat to the event...

No. I wore a stethoscope and operated my own ferocious looking box of electrical tricks that is actually a useless French machine for relieving the pain of arthritis with electrical currents passed through various electrodes attached to the body.

Og

 

[CharleyH]

Actually - NO! I was just thinking about you because I had this fetish question, which just baffles me and I can't for the life of me find any research, and if I can rely on ANYONE for a fetish answer - it is the GREAT AND POWERFUL OG!

Someone asked me (not that I am an advice columnist) what his fetish was called. He pleasures in having his shirt ripped from his body, and even suggested Madonna sings about it in one of her albums. Well, I have hear almost every album of hers and listened today and can't for the life of me figure out the name of this fetish.

GYNONUDOMANIA is the term given to those who enjoy ripping women's clothes, but what would be the term for ripping men's clothes? I thought to look up 'homo' related Latin root words, but came up blank. Any ideas?

Welcome back, and I hope your vacation was incredible!

And I see the seminar was.

 

[CharleyH]

I am at the half way point of a two day seminar on how to stage Literature as a performance art. I am attending the seminar because I want to include some literature-based concepts in my town as part of our annual festival or as stand alone events. My intention is to be an impresario or facilitator, not a performer.

A large part of the seminar is a masterclass on producing literature in various performance styles. I am not a performing poet, and any of the AH who have read my poetry would probably agree that I am not a poet either.

I am one of ten participants, with six significantly qualified facilitators. I keep having to hold myself back because when faced with an empty stage, an empty dias with lectern, an unused microphone or lack of cohesion about what is to be done - my natural instinct is to fill the vacancy.

In the words of my wife 'In a public arena you are just impossibly embarrassing and I usually have to disown you.'

So far I guess that I have hogged 30% of the whole activity despite the facilitators and my other colleagues.

Any advice? Should I hold back and wait for others to overcome their inhibitions or continue to be myself? Or should Og continue to play the power-hungry medieval King?

Og

Having been in a similar scenario myself, I am not sure that you need to hold 'your-self' back. At the same time, I think that in a class of ten, you need to give up the desire for centre-stage to others. While it might not be easy, I do believe you can learn a lot from those others, particularly the ones a bit more shy and modest. Perhaps, as the person you are? You might dabble a bit in encouraging others to fill the space that you speak of? That way, you still get to be you, but also get to learn more than the 70 percent you are at the moment?

Edit to add: too little, too late.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Let Og be OG!

and I wish I could have been to that seminar, just for the performances.