WORK-IN-PROGRESS Asher Lev

I've been collaborating with Theatre UnSpeakAble on this physical melodrama adaptation of the book "My name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok.
The process of this collaboration has been rewarding and challenging in different ways, giving me a chance to dig deep in the various aspects of being an artist.  What does it mean to be an artist? How do you hunt for expression and how do you gather all that you find withIN and withOUT yourself? How do you find meaning and purpose in what you do?  Where is the balance between what you feel, what you think and what you do?  How do you integrate the spiritual side into the mundane life?
We research, we discuss the book, we identify with the characters and the circumstances, we create physical images, sounds, space, we use our body and voice and intellect, we dance, we sing, we play, we draw, we look for a story to tell within the story, we integrate our experiences with each other, we feel the presence of the book and his author and we're driven by curiosity.  Everyone is different but we're all one.  We share universal problems and joys.
Here's my attempt to sketch Asher Lev's ancestor...symbolizing a line of his fathers, present in the history of this world, there to watch the moves, reminding Asher of his responsibilities towards the Jewish people and its traditions.  Maybe this ancestor is showing Asher his shadow....what he is not...seeing his shadow is possible because of the light in Asher...  The light of his gift, being an artist, against the shadow of orthodox views of what being an artist might mean.

"...slight of body and huge of head, with eyelids swollen from lack of sleep, face pale, lips dry, the veins showing blue along his cheeks and temples..." ("My name is Asher Lev" )