David Cassidy on the Web
Arts Education: Persistence and Perseverance
July 30, 2009
By Merryl Goldberg
http://blog.artsusa.org/2009/07/30/arts-education-persistence-and-perseverance/
Arts teach many things - and one really important lesson of the arts is persistence and perseverance. I was thinking about this notion all week as a new TV show, Ruby and the Rockits premiered on ABC Family. The show is a family sitcom centered on the Gallagher family, two of whom were pop stars of the 80s (Patrick and David Cassidy). Ruby, the daughter David never knew existed, suddenly comes into their lives at which point all the fun begins to unfold.
My friend Larry Reitzer is a writer on the show, so I've been following the show's development for nearly a year, and to celebrate the premiere of the show, my daughter hosted a big premiere party. Later that week, having the inside track, we were lucky enough to attend a live taping of the show in Los Angeles, and were able to meet some of the cast and crew.
Live tapings are an experience - and a great example of the process of art in action. The Ruby and the Rockits taping had something for everyone - which is also a keen aspect of the show's success. For my ten year-old daughter there are talented young heart throbs on the set - Alexa Vega, Austin Butler and Kurt Doss. For the parents there is the excitement of revisiting the careers of David and Patrick Cassidy, not to mention Shaun Cassidy on set as a producer, Ryan Cassidy as lead set dresser, and as a bonus, Shirley Jones - in her role as proud mom (literally!) in the audience. Admittedly, I am of the age that as a teen, I had David Cassidy posters all over my room, and constantly read about him, the Partridge family, the Cowsills, and yes - the Monkees..in my coveted Tiger Beat magazines. Thus, it was a pretty fun experience to be able to be within 20 feet of my teenage crush, David Cassidy.
A typical taping begins at 5:00 and can easily go until 10:00 or later - all for a show that lasts approximately 22 minutes! Scenes are acted out several times - perhaps even four or five times, each time with slightly different actions, lines, or stage direction. Actors continually accept multiple directions and literally act upon them. Egos, to a certain extent, must be left at the door as part of the process of the taping is engaging with the different points of view taken from the director and producers. And this process is what makes the art of acting - or in fact any of the performing arts come alive. Throughout this process leading to and including the performance itself there is constant attention to making the art as best as it can be.
A parallel artistic process has played itself out much earlier in the week via the writing process. Earlier in the development of the show, the writers develop and pitch story lines, after which scripts are developed and written to prepare for individual episodes. On the week of each new episode, the new script is presented to the actors. On Monday the actors and writers engage in a read-through and the process of adapting, tweaking, and change begins. This process lasts right through until the taping where it is not uncommon to tape scenes trying out a few different punch lines. Though there is a lead writer for each episode, the entire team has contributed to each script. Here again, the lead writer must have the ability to listen and take suggestions and watch as his or her script evolves in many ways - including some that might not be the writer's choosing.
This artistic process is fundamentally important to the creation of a great show. It is also a process that truly teaches one to listen to and ultimately be accepting of varying points of view, and changes to one's own work as the team moves forward. And this process - between the writers and then the actors, director and producers - plays itself out on a weekly basis. Isn't this a process that one should learn to do well in life?! Gosh, if there ever were a great reason to have kids engage in the arts, never mind the intrinsic value of the arts in and of themselves, the process of art as a tool to teach listening, adapting, accepting different points of view and being able to give up enough ego to be part of a successful team (but keep enough ego to contribute to the conversation) is key to engaging with society no matter what field one enters as an adult. All of this emphasizes the reason to engage in the artistic process in schools on a daily basis.
This brings me to perseverance. I've known Larry and his partner Matt for nearly fifteen years, and we've known each other through various stages of our careers - all of which involve the performing arts. When I first met Larry, he was an assistant for various TV and production producers. He did a lot of grunt work. And before L.A., Larry was thick into theater as a Production Assistant on Broadway, in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. He was an Associate Company Manager on the Broadway/Los Angeles/First National Companies of LES MISERABLES and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.
As he moved up and through the ranks of television production, Larry has written for BIG FAT GREEK LIFE (CBS), TWINS (CW), and wrote the telenovela scenes for the second season of UGLY BETTY. He has developed three pilots: BROTHER'S KEEPER for Warner Brothers/ABC, JEWRICAN for Lisa Kudrow's Is or Isn't Entertainment/NBC/Universal and LOADED for Brillstein Entertainment, and of course now he is writing on the David and Patrick Cassidy series RUBY AND ROCKITS for Shaun Cassidy/Marsh McCall and ABC Family.
For Larry, for the Cassidy brothers, for most performing artists, myself included, perseverance is a part of our vocabulary. We stick to it because it is who we are, it is the nature of what we do, and it is the nature of the business of performing arts. One is rarely born a star (despite the myth otherwise), it takes a lot of work. It is not all that uncommon, for careers to start out like mine did, by accepting cheese for a gig that didn't bring in enough money to pay the musicians (true story - first big coffeehouse gig and my music partner and I ended up with the leftover cheese as pay). It may begin as an intern on a stage arranging for coffee for the producer as it has for so many successful actors, writers and producers.
My point is that the arts have the intrinsic potential to teach lessons of persistence and perseverance. I'm not advocating that everyone turn into an artist to learn these lessons. I do believe, however, that if kids engage seriously in the arts, they will learn these important skills. Currently the majority of kids throughout the US do not have arts on a regular basis at any point in their K-12 education. Skills that can be taught through the arts (and I might add physical education) - such as the ones of persistence and perseverance need to be highlighted again as a curriculum goal versus the much more mundane emphasis on things children must know. Knowing is one thing - but the ability to do and succeed in life is far more dependent upon people who can work with others in a team and follow pathways that take them in directions that they might not have imagined.
Congrats Larry and team Ruby and the Rockits - isn't it great when persistence pays off?! I'm super glad you've shared your talents with me and the (millions!) of viewers in the world.
