Working Without the Net: An interview with David Moss, former Performing Arts Workshop student
by Beverly Mislang

We recently spoke with David Moss, former Performing Arts Workshop student at the Buchanan YMCA, the Workshop’s headquarters between 1963 and 1972. Currently, David can be spotted acting in his one-man play, “Cracked Clown.” Below are excerpts from the interview.

When and where did you begin taking classes with Gloria Unti and Performing Arts Workshop?
My mom dated an understudy in a play called “Big Time Buck White,” and I got to go to the theater from Tuesday to Sunday!!!

I told one of the cast members, Ted Lange, that I wanted to be an actor.  He said to go to the Performing Arts Workshop and see Gloria Unti. So I did. It was around 1968 or 1969. I was in junior high.

Gloria Unti (middle) with Performing Arts Workshop teens circa 1967

What do you remember most about your classes with Gloria and Performing Arts Workshop?
What I remember most was that we got to make s**t up! We were given a premise and then we were set loose!

We were working without the net and I never forgot how exhilarating it felt. Try something, and if it doesn't work? Oh well. We were fearless. Skip, Bobby, Carol, Lorenzo, Huey, Michael—absolutely fearless!

I did stand-up comedy for ten years on HBO, Showtime, ABC, and NBC. I was one the funniest comics you’ve never heard of. I was very popular and admired by my peers because I was so fearless. I loved taking artistic chances. I got that mentality from Gloria.

What role did the arts play in your life as a young person?
The arts gave me an identity. I was a professional actor by the time I hit high school. In fact, I was only the SECOND person ever to be admitted to the Drama II class at Fremont High [without a prerequisite], in the history of the Drama Department, and it was a direct result of my training at Performing Arts Workshop.

Gloria always talked about the responsibility of being an artist. I think she'd be proud that I took that responsibility seriously and climbed a lot of theatrical mountains: Stage, stand-up, singing (Mack the Knife, in “The Threepenny Opera”), Shakespeare—I was awarded Performance of the Year for Malvolio, in “Twelfth Night”—and now, solo acting. 

I wouldn't trade my time at the Workshop for anything! Keep your scholarships to Julliard and Carnegie. I don't think anybody has ever made risk-taking and fearlessness so much fun. It's a part of my DNA now, thanks to an elegant and majestic dancer with dangling earrings and a beautiful pointed nose.

What kind of impact do you think the arts have on young people?
I think the arts have a tremendous impact on young people!

Take me, for example. Mixed parents, black and white, and no sense of who or what I am. I was longing for acceptance, hoping to fit in somewhere, somehow. But through Performing Arts Workshop, I found an identity.  I'm an actor, a performer. I BELONG.

It also gave a painfully shy, unsure, and self-conscious kid a chance to express himself in a constructive and creative manner.

What role do the arts currently play in your life?
There used to be a time when I knew all about life onstage and absolutely NOTHING about it offstage. I was not the first artist to do that, and definitely not the last.

I was an artist, to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. I was headed for a hospital room, taking my last breaths, alone, holding only the complete works of Shakespeare in my hand, instead of the hand of a loved one. I acted professionally, in plays for THREE straight years without a break. I achieved a whole bunch of things, but at what cost? My family.

Now life, my life, is my art. Happiness is a choice, and it has nothing to do with applause. Fame and fortune is NOT the gauge of success. At the end of the day, it's about people, the people you love; it's about relationships, which is irony at its finest, because that's what makes good drama - relationships.

Thank You, Peter Rothblatt!
by Brian Wiedenmeier

Pictured at right: Peter Rothblatt (center) with Advisory Council Members Carlene Laughlin and Tom DeCaigny at Gloria Unti's retirement party 2009.

If you’re like most of us, time is the most precious resource that you have to give. Peter Rothblatt has volunteered for six years with Performing Arts Workshop as a member of the Board of Directors; three of those years as the board president.  He has served two consecutive three-year terms, the most allowed by Workshop by-laws.

Peter first came to the Workshop nearly two decades ago as a staff teaching artist, bringing dance to students in San Francisco schools. Since Peter joined the board in 2005, the Workshop has grown in size and scope, nearly doubling its budget and the number of youth it serves. Peter also oversaw the start of the Workshop’s advocacy initiative in 2008.

In his time at the Workshop, Peter has touched the lives of countless numbers of youth with his talent, open mind, and big heart. He is an example to us all, inside and outside the classroom.

On behalf of the Workshop community, we wish to recognize Peter, and thank him for his dedication to helping young people develop critical thinking, creative expression, and basic learning skills through the arts.

Be a leader in our community this holiday season! With a gift of $28, you’ll give ten students a week of arts education in 2012. Donate by clicking here.

Have You Written Your Will?
by Linda Belden

A will is perhaps the single most important document you can own, although more than half of all Americans do not have one.  A properly drafted will is the first step toward making the best use of your assets. By including Performing Arts Workshop as a beneficiary of your will, trust or other estate plan, you can provide a lasting gift for future generations of young people in the Bay Area.  Here is some simple language that you might use to update your will.

I give _________*to Performing Arts Workshop, 1661 Tennessee Street 3-O, San Francisco, CA 94107, for its general uses and purposes.

*You can specify your entire estate, a percentage, the remainder after personal gifts, a specific dollar amount, your retirement account, life insurance, etc.

Performing Arts Workshop is a non-profit corporation. Our Federal Tax ID number is 94-1614596.

Would you like to learn more about supporting the Workshop in your will?  If you have any questions, or if you have already included Performing Arts Workshop in your will, we’d love to hear from you!  Please call or email Brian Wiedenmeier at 415-673-2634, ext 205, or brian@performingartsworkshop.org.

Artist Spotlight: Tina Banchero
by Anne Trickey

The Artist Spotlight showcases artists currently igniting young minds in schools and communities. This month we are featuring Tina Banchero.

What brings you to Performing Arts Workshop?

I came to Performing Arts Workshop on a quest to find more daytime dance and creative movement teaching work, as well as to find an arts organization that truly appreciates partnering with "working" artists. I was so thrilled to find both at the Workshop.

I nearly fell over during the interview when I was told that I could shift a residency schedule to accommodate a show or tour as long as it worked with the school site. I was also overjoyed that I would not be penalized for taking a lighter teaching load one semester if my performance work was heavy. Just hearing that made me relax. I felt understood for the first time in 11 years as a teaching artist in the Bay Area. There was also NO judgment or conflict with regards to my other teaching work within studios or schools.

This consciousness was exciting it was inspiring. It inspired me to do my best implementing the teaching philosophy of the Workshop in the classroom, and to make myself as available as I could for residency work through the Workshop.

Inspiration is important when you teach an average of 15-20 classes a week and burnout is a bi-product of a heavy workload.  I am continually enlivened by artist meetings, teacher mentoring and staff development days at Performing Arts Workshop.  Recharging the creative battery and sharing struggles and successes with other teaching artists has brought a heightened awareness to my work. The diversity of the Workshop’s teaching and administrative staff is also noteworthy and certainly creates an organization that is varied, expressive and rich.

I feel grateful for the Performing Arts Workshop and my students.  I am currently teaching preschool through 2nd grade and loving every minute of self discovery, self expression and reflection we embark on. 

Discovering how to dance in a preschool class

Where can we see Tina in action?

I will next be performing as the Narrator in the Kidz Version of the Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie at Brava Theater December 10th at 2pm and 6pm and December 11th at 1pm and 5pm.  The shows feature the youth I have been training for eleven years at Dance Mission Theater and the Grrrl Brigade and Jr Grrrl Brigade companies that I choreograph for.  Adults from the Dance Brigade company and within the San Francisco dance community hold major roles in this story of resistance and revolution as Clara, an undocumented maid, embarks on a journey with a gay Drosselmeyer, female freedom fighter Nutcracker and Angel of Resistance.  Tickets are $15 on Brown Paper Tickets or $17 at the door.  Brava Theater is located at 2781 24th St at York. Visit http://www.dancemission.com/performances.html for more details.

In January I will be performing with the Dance Brigade in a play called "The Proud" directed by Timothy Near.  This production explores the life of one Iraq vet suffering from PTSD and the horrors of war and life in the military.  It includes dance, theater and taiko drumming.  The production will be January 7th at 8pm and 8th at 6pm at Dance Mission Theater 3316 24th Street @ Mission.  Check www.dancemissiontheater.com for more information.

Check out my clip! It is a duet I performed with Ramon Ramos Alayo from the Dance Brigade's production of "The Great Liberation Upon Hearing."   

http://youtu.be/82JPfKE6H2I

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