Art of Play: a 6-month Series

What if ten people in a class speak ten different languages? How do you find a common method of communication? One answer: Play!

For six months, Kate Spacek facilitated weekly "experiments" to explore what Play is and what it is not, what is required for people to enter a playful state of mind and body, and how perceptions of Play differ across cultures. 

Using games as a foundational tool to integrate art, movement, story-telling, sound, non-verbal communication, team challenges, and all sorts of spontaneity, the course content was a surprise to every student, every time. To find each student's own definitions and parameters of Play, occasionally the activities triggered some discomfort, which in itself was a powerful learning experience for all involved. And Kate pushed her own boundaries as well, making it a rule to add at least one newly-designed game or untested activity to the curricula each week.

Most frequently, classmates who entered the studio as strangers were crafting lunch plans together after class. Middle-aged men and women became teary-eyed, confessing they had not felt these sensations of freedom since childhood. Students entered as adults busy with the rigors of daily routine and walked out calm, liberated, and wide-eyed to the possibilities of creative potential around them and within them.