Dear Reader,
Here in Nashville we’re entering the dog days of summer. It’s currently 93 degrees and still climbing.
It’s also the dog days of summer for our family in a literal sense.
After 27 years of marriage my husband finally got the dog he’s been dreaming about for a quarter of a century. I’m happy to report we’re past the sleepless nights and accidents in the house and we’ve moved onto adventurous hikes, splashing in the creek, and compliments from onlookers about how handsome Henry the Pup is.
Also teeth, there’s a lot of teethiness.
Speaking of summer, summer is supposed to be a season of P-L-A-Y, at least for kids, right?
Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to play, especially in regards to making art.
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Today I’m sharing ten things I’m know (or I’m learning) when it comes to play.1
I know that P-L-A-Y is associated with childhood but I have very few memories about playing as a kid. What I do remember is worrying about the past, the future, and everything in between.
I know that I’ve always thought P-L-A-Y was synonymous with happiness and/or fun. Just look at two of the definitions of play on Dictionary.com:
exercise or activity for amusement or recreation.
fun or jest, as opposed to seriousness.
I know that I don’t remember much about P-L-A-Y-I-N-G as a child but I remember the act of making things.
I remember writing short stories in fifth grade, the same year I made my stage debut as an elf in Santa Goes Back to the Future.
I remember when we had to make a poem project in the 7th grade all about colors, collecting published poems along with writing and illustrating some of our own.
I remember in 8th grade when I won the contest in Graphic Arts class for designing the program for a music performance at our school.
I remember that I seemed to take the most dry, academic assignments and turn them into a creative project.2
I know that as a child in a stressful home with an anxious inner life, it’s easy to assume I studied theatre in high school and college to escape the hard stuff. Maybe even as a way to find the P-L-A-Y that I’d missed when I was younger. But that idea has never rung true to my experience of being in theatre. I took everything about theatre very seriously and I do now as a theatre teacher.
I know that when people look at the style of my artwork or hear that I teach theatre, they assume I’m good at P-L-A-Y-I-N-G but pretty much everyone in my family is better at it than I am, at least in the way I’ve always thought of “play”.
I know that things started clicking into place for me recently when I came across a different perspective on P-L-A-Y by writer, teacher, and artist Lynda Barry.
“Playing and fun are not the same thing, though when we grow up we may forget that, and find ourselves mixing up playing with happiness. There can be a kind of amnesia about the seriousness of playing…”
-Lynda Barry
I know that Barry3 defines play as:
“a vital, highly focused state of mind, an interactive experience, and a core form of human work.”
I got chills when I first read these quotes and began to reconsider the idea in my head that P-L-A-Y automatically means a state of relaxed, ecstatic joy.
‘A focused state of mind’ is an idea that makes sense to me!
When I look back at my days as a theatre student I can see now that I found a portal, not to leave reality, but to keep my mind and body in the present moment through the focus required of the games and exercises we did in class.
I know that it’s actually nice to begin to think of myself as a playful person. Instead of feeling I’m missing out on all the fun because I don’t show up with a ready laugh and a party hat.
I know that when I encourage someone to play4…what I mean is to be fully present in their body and mind in the moment. To lower the stakes and work without any expectations, to create without judging whether the thing they’re making is good or bad.
I want them to lean into their body, follow their instincts, move their hands. Be brave.
I know that some of the most satisfying moments of my life have been in the midst of serious P-L-A-Y-I-N-G, when I’m creating something from nothing.
And on some occasions, even the happiest.
I realize all of this might make me sound like a rather dull, serious person! I do have fun while I’m making art and I certainly aim to make my theater classes fun, too (I know my students would agree with that). But I’m also grateful, thanks to Barry, to see aspects of play that have always been there in my experience but I couldn’t name them until now.
What about you? Would you call yourself a playful child? A playful adult? Do you have your own definition of play?
May you find space for beauty and art this week,
Aimee
This format is directly inspired by a writer I found in my early days of Substack, Lauren Lanoue. I always thought her “10 things I know” posts were both witty and meaningful and imagined it would be a fun format to play with as a writer.
In the 7th grade, my partner and I were assigned a project on the digestive system. We wrote a script like we were announcers in a car race, describing each organ as passed through it. We recorded the script and played it for the class.
I believe this is someone else summarizing Barry’s thoughts on the concept of “play” but I I haven’t been able to find the link where I originally read it.
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