Spider Speculations

by Carson, Jo

• ISBN13: 9781559362832
• ISBN10: 1559362839
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-30
• Publisher: Theatre Communications Group

Summary

"I've spent about 15 years plus some working with people's stories in a series of communities in this country. I write plays from oral histories for those communities. Just finished my 30th. I'm watching people's lives and communities literally change, sometimes drastically, for the work. Spider Speculations is the beginning of trying to understand the hows and whys of all the changes."-Author Jo Carson Jo Carson lays bare her personal investigation into her own creative process after a spider bite on her back begins a series of life-altering events. Spider Speculations applies cutting edge mind-body science, quantum physics and ancient shamanistic techniques to describe how stories work in our bodies and our lives, and what happens when real stories are used in a public way. Carson, whose ability to capture the spoken word hallmarks her community-based work, sets down this story in her own distinctive voice, interspersing the journey with examples of her performance work. This truly original American book will speak to anyone thinking about art and community or engaging with people's stories. Jo Carson is a writer and performer living in John City, Tennessee. She has published award-winning plays, short stories, children's books, essays, poems and other work. Her play Whispering to Horses and solo show If God Came Downa_ premiered at Seven Stages in Atlanta. She currently performs Liars, Thieves, and Other Sinners on the Bench, made up of selected stories from her oral history plays, which will be published by TCG in 2007.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Do Read This First	p. 3
My Observation Position	p. 15
Flannery O'Connor and Old Thinking (still Valid) About Story Work	p. 29
My Brother the Neurolinguistic Programmer, and the Idea of Reframing Events	p. 43
The Physical Keeping of Emotion in the Body	p. 67
The Energy of the Body	p. 77
Monkey Mind	p. 83
The Work of Imagination in the Body and in the Energy Around the Body	p. 101
Shamanic Soul Retrieval and a Digression About "The Knock of the Spirit"	p. 113
The Holographic Model of the Brain and the Universe	p. 137
Three Nods to the Goddess Tiamat/Mama Chaos	p. 147
Intent! Intent! and "Praying Rain"	p. 155
Time and the Storyteller	p. 169
Agency	p. 177
Making Art	p. 199
Paradox	p. 205
Further Practice: A Bibliography	p. 207
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