You can find many different people in our community at the moment, people with different interest, skills and hobbies. Some of these hobbies are shared with the ones interested at our weekly workshop events.
Today I’ve been digging down into one of those persons with a certain interest – one that involves people: how they think, feel and act. Theater. Ingeborg has been interested in theater and what it includes: acting, instruction and script-writing for many years. So i asked her some questions about her passion, and how she includes it while being here, now beginning her 7th week at Fridayhappiness.
“Water with ice and lemon, please” she says. “Otherwise I won’t do the interview.”
And so it begins with Ingeborg already acting out a sarcastic line.
Do you feel inspired in relation to theater while being here?
“Yes. I get a lot of inspiration from the people here. When i write a play, the characters are inspired by people i meet. People are interesting, and I usually write plays with people as the main focus, instead of some kind of word structure or surroundings.”
What do you think is outstanding about these people in this place?
“I can find inspiration everywhere there is people. But here, time is different. Time is not as structured here, as I have experienced at other places. Dinner is not ready at 12:00 o’clock. Dinner is ready when dinner is ready. There is a certain freedom here, a space where people are allowed to be themselves, have their own routines, have whatever conversation they want, at what time they want. It is really visible how people here use their time, and it says a lot about their personalities, or their character. I wouldn’t see these sides of people if i took a walk in the city or talked to somebody at a bus stop.”
Do you have an example of a situation that you thought was interesting with a theatrical point of view?
“Everyday when we have our morning meeting. You really get to see how people interact in a big group. You see their visions for themselves and the place, and you see their daily state of mind and mood. It is always interesting to see what happens when people gather and has to solve something. Especially when they are so different, coming from all over the world.”
Can you explain the importance of intimacy when it comes to theater and acting?
“It is important not to be afraid of intimacy, neither mentally or physically. To be willing to trust and be trusted. You give away a little piece of yourself every time you are creating something, so you have to be willing to put yourself out there, and not be afraid of making mistakes or doing something wrong. ”
Can you give an example of some characters you been working on, that are based on people from here?
“I have not fully developed the characters, but here is some ideas:
We have a guy that cares about insects more than human beings. He lives in his own universe. He has only good intentions, but he is not necessarily very productive, because he doesn’t see the bigger scale, and is wrapped up in his own projects.
We have the guy that believes that nothing matters, because we are going to die, and the universe is going to collapse anyways. This makes all of his actions pointless, so why would he do anything? That is the contradiction in this character and what makes it interesting to me.
And then we have the girl that is incomprehensible for others. She collects all sorts of random little things, puts them together and plays with them. Everybody has to take care of her. In the end its her random invention-thing that’s going to save them all.”
