In the middle of the busiest theater month in memory, the theater company Playco held a group nap today. It was the first of its slate of free events during its “Month of Rest” – including a sound bath, a nature walk through Shakespeare Garden in Central Park, and volunteer gardening in St. John’s Park in Crown Heights, Brooklyn – “that encourage rest, dreaming, and doing less,” (see schedule below).
This one was virtual, on Zoom.
“Thank you so much for joining me and Playco on this rainy cloudy day for our fourth group nap in the past four years,” Playco’s Carolina Do began, accompanied by, well, restful music. She instructed us to get into a comfortable position, and into the right mood. “If there are any thoughts that come in, just Say hello to the thoughts and let them go about their day. You have a nap to take.”
And so, we napped for half an hour, each of us in our space.
Playco is an innovative theater company that for more than twenty years has produced some first-rate work from around the world, such as (plays I’ve seen) Caught, Lunch Bunch, Hound Dog, 9 Kinds of Silence. So I was curious: Why was a theater company sponsoring a month of rest? What does it have to do with theater? And WHY in April?
Her answers were eloquent:
“The past few years have distorted, eroded, and reshaped our personal and professional boundaries. At PlayCo, we’ve been digging deeper to understand the role of theater and theater artists (besides putting on shows and performances) and working to find ways to activate ourselves in a role of service + healing for our community. We know that theater when done right can be a ritualistic and communal experience for our audiences.”
The first Month of Rest, which was entirely online, began during the height of the pandemic and lockdown, in response to a virtual play that PlayCo commissioned, William Burke’s “Is it Supposed to Last?” which addressed the question: How do we care for each other?
“We see our role as a theatre company to actively care for the wellbeing of our community beyond just the shows we produce—and we understand that the many artists that we work with are multifaceted and multi-hyphenated which is why theater artists lead all of our facilitated events in Month of Rest.”
Previously their Month of Rest events took place in February, “but because we were in production for “Munich Medea: Happy Family” in February, we thought it’d be silly to pretend to rest in such a busy time. We chose April for this year because it’s our slow month, and we knew it’d be busy for our theater colleagues. We wanted to offer space and activities that would assuage burnout.”
4/20 @ 12 – 1 pm Sound Bath
Bring yourself, warm clothing, a water bottle, and a yoga mat. The sound bath will be an hour-long meditation. Sam Xu will lead us in a workshop utilizing gongs tuned at a series of vibration frequencies that resonate with the moon and other planets in our solar system.
This event will be in person at Mai House Studio, 99 Canal Street, 4th Floor, NY NY 10002.
4/21 @ 4pm – Stroll through Shakespeare Garden
Join us for a nice leisurely stroll through the 4-acre space and observe nature, as well as, plaques that carry quotes from Shakespeare that reference plants. Please feel free to bring a friend (or 2), sunscreen, and water!
4/30 11am – 2pm – Volunteer Gardening St. John’s Park
Help get the park in shape for spring by engaging in various horticulture activities such as weeding, mulching, and tidying up the garden beds! We are still in need of volunteers, so please sign up or share with anyone you know who has a green thumb and loves supporting our public parks!
