CalArts Statement of Purpose
January 4, 2016
My life in the theatre began at seven years old, playing the matador in an elementary school production of The Story of Ferdinand. I enjoyed being seen, the vanity of applause (much like my character), and the pleasure of making people laugh. Additionally, I had some vague premonition that the stage was an anarchic arena that could be used by the small and the governed to chasten the proud and to contest the mandate of authority.
My first teacher of theatre as a young adult, Malcolm Tulip, confirmed for me a conception of stagecraft as an art whose primary purpose was to expose injustice, unsettle the powerful, and give the afflicted the opportunity to laugh at an order of things constructed through stupidity or fear. Malcolm told me of going on tour with an English company in 1986 through Soviet Ukraine. In April, they found themselves in the North of the country performing a satire of Stalinist tyranny, thinly veiled as a parody of Hitler’s Germany for the censors. When the nearby Chernobyl plant caught fire, a dispensation was given to Western foreigners to evacuate the region first. In solidarity with their audience, Malcolm’s company opted to remain and to continue with performances until orders for a full evacuation went forward. At sixteen, this story cemented in me the conviction that the theatre is not a calling for the narcissistic or the effete, but for the heroically bold and generous of soul. I had the opportunity as a high school student to work under Malcolm for four years, practicing Commedia dell’arte and improvisation within structure while performing in plays by Ionesco, Alfred Jarry, and Dario Fo.
My first work as a director was a very Spartan production of Waiting for Godot with my friends in 8th grade. My productions as a college director included Cloud 9, Marat/Sade and Danton’s Death. Collaborating with a group of young Ancient Greek scholars, I also had the chance to adapt and direct a new translation of Lysistrata.
If my plays as a college director loosely focused on the theme of the sexual, feminist, ontological and political rebellion of the young, my work since university has been fueled by a desire to fight political alienation and loneliness. My primary goal was to open spaces for non-virtual, face-to-face civic debate, and localized democracy to flourish. I founded a new theatre company in downtown New Haven and staged plays in libraries, bars, and old dance halls with the intent of drawing a diverse local audience, much of which was priced out by the proximate regional theatres. After each of our productions, we fed our audience and allowed for hour-long “salons” for New Haveners to talk with each other about the dominant themes of the play, contest ideas that related to their lives, find common ground, and develop friendships.
For the last year and a half, I have lived in New York City and have worked as an actor, a director, a producer, a private tutor, a legal secretary, and as a guest lecturer on dramatic literature at Barnard College. With my artistic partner Luisa Muhr, I have founded the Fengari Ensemble, a new production company for theatre, music, dance, and dramatic arts coaching. We have two full productions currently in rehearsal. One of these is a new play by a brilliant under-produced New Haven playwright named Steve Bellwood, whose work investigates the privatization of the military, post-traumatic stress, and the ramifications of the “war on terror” on the American domestic front.
I’ve always had a hugely positive impression of the MFA program at Cal Arts. I feel now, more than ever, at a unique point in my life where I am hungry to grow, to learn new things, to abandon fixed ideas, and to take the adventures of aesthetic trial and error with highly talented colleagues, actors, and instructors. Thank you very much for your consideration.
My best,
James Leaf