When one undertakes the Keto diet, there is a metabolic shift, in which the body moves from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat. This transfer from sugar energy to fat energy is called ketosis.
I am attempting something analogous, but the transfer involves sources of money. This Gospel of Luke project is my first real entrepreneurial enterprise, and it is a difficult transition from normal kinds of employment to carving a new path with an innovative idea. It involves lots of anxiety, and a need lay a proper foundation.
Last week I sent a proposal to the Idaho Department of Correction. I would love to perform for residents of the prison system, for a variety of reasons.
Image by Gemini
The day after submitting the proposal, they called! There is interest in the project, and they wanted to know more about me, and about the legitimacy of my proposal. It seems that everything went well. The process is underway.
This is encouraging, and the response was much quicker than I expected. There is a lot more foundation work to do, but this little bit of progress does a lot to keep me on track and motivated for all that is to come.
This seems like the time of the year when things show their first beginnings. Today I talked to a priest who is open to having the Gospel of Luke performed at his church. This priest can be impulsive and unfocused, and he suggested performing it during adoration at the church.
Adoration happens there once a week in the evenings. The eucharist is presented in an elaborate case, and congregants come to meditate in its presence. This is a common practice at Catholic churches.
But most people take this as a time of quiet reflection and meditation. It is not normally interrupted by speaking of any kind. Usually, it is done in silence.
In my eagerness to begin this project, with an audience, I may end up committing a kind of faux pas. Will they appreciate what I’m doing, or see it as an interruption of their prayer practice? Should I accept the priest’s offer to perform the Gospel of Luke, or should I refrain in favor of a better opportunity?
Image by Gemini
I suspect that this is the first of many such difficulties. I just don’t expect things to flow easily and naturally in this project. There is another church where the clergy have expressed interest, but we have yet to settle upon a date.
If the priest gives the OK, I will perform. Whatever negative reactions may arise can be directed at him as well as me. And there are far more antagonistic venues that I will be exploring. How will people react in prisons? Assisted Living facilities? There may be outright disdain and derision there, and it will have to be endured. Perhaps this will help to inoculate me against future difficulties.
It does seem that things will be more definite in the coming weeks. This is a slow-growing plant, and there is nothing to be done but keep watering, keep providing sunlight, and let it take its course. My hopes are high, but patience, especially now, is vital to future growth.
I have been working on memorizing the Gospel of Luke, up to chapter 9 verse 50, for a little over a year. Luke 9:50 is a transition in the narrative, and it takes over an hour to speak out loud up to that point. I did not know that the effort would be sustained this long. There were some low points, at which it seemed like it could or should be abandoned, but circumstances conspired to keep it in play.
Now it is not a matter of continuing to memorize, but to consistently recite it so that it stays fresh in my memory. I could memorize more, with the goal of having the whole Gospel in memory, but it seems best, at this point, to spend energy getting this in front of audiences first.
There are a lot of possible audiences, including prisons, schools, assisted living facilities, and more. Making bookings is the hard part. I have to go from an introverted bibliophile to a salesman, approaching strangers, most of whom probably won’t be interested.
Image by Gemini
One of the most valuable experiences of going to school at my age is the normalization of being pushed out of my comfort zone. Especially in Theatre Arts, there are many embarrassing classroom situations, as well as classes, like Scene Design, that require skills that I have not developed. So in some sense I have been strengthened for this phase of the Gospel of Luke project.
Hopefully, the first performance will be at a local Catholic church. But whether that happens or not, I am going to need to shift gears, and become truly entrepreneurial. I will have to approach a lot of people with a pitch. This is terrifying, well out of my comfort zone. But it has to be done.
There is some headway in my search for a venue. Because I am Catholic, it seems significant, if only symbolically, to start this production at a Catholic church.
Across the street from the campus is the St. Paul Catholic Student Center, and this seemed like a great place to start. This might be an ideal venue to incubate the project, get feedback, and learn how BSU students might react to it. I went to the student center, and was immediately told that I am too old to be welcome there. It was a remarkably rude rejection, and immediately lowered my opinion of the center and those involved in it. I then sent a letter to the pastor, Fr. Dail, explaining that the Gospel of Luke presentation would be my senior project, and asking if the St. Paul student center might be a venue for developing it. His rejection was categorical. They were not interested.
This was both surprising and insulting. I am not sure what motivates that group, but clearly it would not be worth putting more effort in that direction.
I wrote a letter to the pastor of my parish church in Meridian, explaining my senior project, and asking if there might be an opportunity to perform there. There hasn’t been any response. There doesn’t seem to be any interest.
These two places left me in deep doubt about the course I was pursuing. If my local churches weren’t interested, who possibly would be?
Image by Gemini.
But at a third Catholic church, there has been interest. I expect to schedule a presentation in the next week or two, for the first public performance of the Gospel of Luke. And the audience might include local school officials, who can then judge if it would be a good program for their schools.
I think this is an important project, with real value. That conceit is what keeps me pushing for options, even when some doors remain closed. Rejection was temporarily demoralizing, but my attitude is that I am making an offer, and those who reject are losing a valuable opportunity. Development may be slow and halting, but there is no other path but to push forward.
The Gospel of Luke and the search for an audience.
It seems like the Gospel of Luke could use some flair. Costume choices, blocking, maybe a compelling set, and flexible, dramatic lighting. These things, with some talent and experience, might make it into a sort of extravaganza.
But then there are considerations of mobility and flexibility. Will the show require a moving van full of set pieces and gear and costumes? Where can it be parked? As equipment deteriorates and breaks, will it be easily replaceable? What if a costume gets a tear, or a stain? Do I have the sewing skills to deal with that? What about the price of gas?
It would be so much easier to travel light, and to rely on my voice more than any visual component for the presentation. I would like to perform in local prisons, and you generally can’t bring things inside. There something very appealing about requiring very little, and being maximally flexible.
Looking over these options, the question arises of what exactly I am trying to do. Thinking this over, I have memorized something and the hope is that there will be some demand for it to be recited.
Photo by antonio molinari on Unsplash
This is a stripped-down understanding of what it is to be an actor, but it’s pretty accurate. This defines theater, in a simple, clear way. There is the decision process of determining what should be memorized, and then efforts to recite the memorized thing in a way that makes people happy.
My decision to memorize the Gospel of Luke makes sense to me, and will make more sense to you as this Substack develops, as there are further chances to explain how this came to be. This is the first part of the equation. Now the recitation part needs to be addressed.
Part of the recitation process is rehearsal, and the competence that comes with repetition. This is pretty well taken care of.
The next problem, or challenge, is finding a venue to present this to other people. There have been some difficulties on that front, which I will explain in a future article. But something should open up this summer, with multiple opportunities for performance when school starts up in the Fall.
Can one make a living in this way? Are people willing to pay to see a recitation? This is the test, and the innovation that I want to make real.
In looking how to develop the simple tasks of memorization and recitation into a career, it has been helpful to ask for advice from Artificial Intelligence. But there’s not many other avenues in which to incorporate AI into the process. It’s quite a basic undertaking, without recourse to shortcuts. What to memorize, where to recite?
This story is developing, and if there is some success, I can imagine many ways it might be expanded into educational programs and incarceration programs and theaters and assisted living facilities. There is a lot of potential for venues, but that potential needs to be realized soon, as I try to develop this project.
