getting the sacred joke about ourselves with irene loy
Image: Doug Carter
Getting the Sacred Joke about Ourselves is the embodiment of having a sense of humor about who we think we are. Medieval humor taught us, and we have mostly forgotten, how to overturn the rules of society at least once a year; so, too, must we on occasion (in safe spaces) overturn the rule of our egos and become more flexible in our self-concepts. To practice this, we will begin this session with a short participatory exercise, which will illustrate through experience the nature of Archetype Play and Applied Improvisation for attendees. Afterwards, a presentation will be given on the research questions and aims, key terminology, methodological background, methods, inspirations, and example findings for this doctoral project by Irene Loy. What is emerging from solo studio practice, facilitating workshops, personal lived experience, and writing is a contemporary Buddhist-Feminist Theory of Humor which reminds us to practice taking ourselves less seriously.
session Goals
For participants to understand, on an experiential level, what it is to practice taking oneself less seriously
For attendees to understand, on an intellectual level, the methodology, methods, and inspirations for this doctoral research project
For attendees to comprehend these concepts through the elucidation of some preliminary sample findings
For the doctoral candidate to make clear the dissertation praxis at hand in Getting the Sacred Joke about Ourselves
schedule
Participatory exercise (10-15 minutes)
PowerPoint presentation (35-40 minutes)
Q&A (5-10 minutes)
required readings
Suggested readings
Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World
Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes this World
Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies
Luce Irigaray, Sharing the Fire
Chӧgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Dharma Art
Other assignments
I highly recommend that attendees engage in Wandering as a lived improv experience for about an hour before coming to the session. Ideally, this would be an hour in Liverpool, or some other not-so-familiar 360-degree environment, where the sense of childlike wonder can be most easily accessed. The point is not to have a point, but rather to play with the senses in real time: What colors, textures, sounds do you notice as you venture through space-time? What did you imagine about this place before, and how is it surprising you in real-time? Similarly, who do you assume that you are? How does being in this new place either confirm or surprise your sense of self? What are you discovering or aspiring to in yourself? After wandering, take about 15 minutes to free-write a reflection on the experience, and on your sense of self in this new environment.
required materials
If possible, attendees should wear comfortable clothing in which they feel free to move. They may also want to have a water bottle on hand in the session and a notebook + writing utensil for taking notes.
BIO
Irene Loy is a theater maker, creative nonfiction writer, and university arts administrator living in Salt Lake City while she finishes her doctoral studies. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of New Mexico and an MA in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Indiana University-Bloomington. She is the Patron Services and Outreach Manager with the Westminster University Performing Arts Center. Her poetry chapbook, I’VE NAMED THE GODDAMNED RAVENS, was published in July 2023 by Common Meter Press.