December 11, 2014
Everyone made it!!!  An adventurous day of travel, defying the snowy, slushy, road sliding elements.  Lisa Portes was actually a little bit early!  This morning woke to a ghostly landscape, foggy mist meeting new fallen sown, every branch with a toothpaste spread of snow.  A woodpecker’s out snacking on some suet, just a dash of red on its head to holiday up its black and white feather pattern.   Richard and I are staying just 2 neighbors down at Alison’s, trudged down there late last night and and then back this morning to stoke the fires and greet Simeon’s breakfast delivery.  

Our directors are meeting upstairs while Richard and I write downstairs and ready the table for our lunch visit from Philip Himberg and Christopher Hibma, braving the elements and driving over from Sundance’s gathering at Mass MOCA.   
A moment ago I was putting out silverware and a solitary oboe rendition of “Asleep the Snow Came Flying” played our speakers and that mixed with the soft murmur of the women upstairs and the sound of Richard laughing to himself, the sight of both the snow coming down, almost in slow motion, and a female cardinal – gorgeous soft beige yellow coloring – dining at our bird feeder, all of these things at once so perfectly provided a poem of this place.  This is this place now, right now, this wintry day.  Look, see, be.  Be grateful.  Be part of it.
Welcome Leah, Colette, Lisa, Laurie.  Welcome back Jackson.  Thank you Simeon, Robert, Lenice, Alison, Jennifer, Royce, Shannon, our many donors and backers from Hatchfund, so many others who are sending their warm thoughts.  Hooray for the beginning of things 

December 9th  10:30 pm
The word is SNOW.  Just outside to use the extended roof shovel to pull down some of the 5-7” of snow from off the various roofs and the tops of our cars.  Shannon, the snow plower of our drive and parking area, is waiting until morning when he hopes the predicted rain will take down a bit of the accumulation before he sallies forth with his mean machine.  Then another set of flurries comes through around 1.  According to him.  Hmmmm?  Most weather reports I’m reading say it will RAIN all tomorrow.  We shall see.  I’m thinking all of our directors and Jackson will rock flying, driving, and bussing here tomorrow.  Art shall prevail!  Lisa Portes, Colette Roberts, Leah Gardiner, and Laurie Woolery, safe travels.  
Our power went out this evening at a bit past 8.  A flutter, flicker and zap! black darkness.  Our down the road neighbor Alison and Richard and I were in the midst of a postprandial chat when this happened.  Flashlight led us to the oil lamps and soon we were basking in deep vanilla lamplight, taking it all in stride.  Lights back on at 9:19.  Our power crews are amazing!
It is gorgeous in its prodigiousness, this snow.  All the trees heavily flocked.  Inside Christmas music.  Sort of perfect.

December 8th.    A recharge day.  Very cold, white, calm, still outside.  Woodfire warm in.   Calls to Simeon, our fantastic cook down the road, to accommodate all the dietary restrictions for this upcoming group.  Calls for creativity and we’re all up for it.  Waiting to hear about a project in New York I’d love to do.  We were just able to let Martyna Majok, a very promising new writer, know that we will be able to host her and her dramaturge for the first part of January.  So excited that we’re able to keep the spirit of the place going immediately after our first retreats.
A storm is on the way!  Big snow and ice expected beginning Tuesday morning and continuing through Wednesday evening.  We’ll see how it impacts travel Wednesday.  It conjures up memories of ice storms from our past here when the entire countryside turns into Narnia, every tree, every branch encased in ice, a glass world.  Silent, silent, then C-R-A-C-K!!! a huge branch somewhere gives under the extra weight and crashes to the ground.  Power outages, trees on roads – all of which people here take in stride.  In stride.  The road and the power crews here in Vermont are so efficient and expert and dedicated.  Very impressive.  So come on storm!  Wishing and intending everyone safe travels here to the warmth and safety of Fuller Road.

December 7th, 2014  11:30 pm  Bedtime.  Taking over the homestead by ourselves for a few days after saying goodbye to our new dear friends.  The house feels happy with all the creative juices absorbed, kind wishes of safe travels transferred.
A full day.  Arose at 4:15 am to take Elena to catch a 6:20 bus out of Hanover; rehearsal for her for another play started this afternoon in New York.  Back to stoke fires and converse with Jennifer Kiger and Diane about Indiana roots, empowering oneself, embracing all the contradictions of being an American, Ocean Springs, Mississippi and their dynamic Democratic female mayor.  Then I drove Jackson, Kym, and Jennifer down to the Citgo Station where we’d taken their non-snow tired cars to rest for a day in a parking area and wished them well for a safe trek home.  Jackson will return on Wednesday, driving up with Leah Gardiner, one of our 4 directors in our second group, after a quick visit home to New York with Lola and Dickson.  And back to Fuller Road to pick up Diane and her 1:20 bus out of Lebanon.  Lots of driving today.
All hail, Philip Himberg of Sundance Theatre Lab!  Originally we had Maria Goyanes and Stephany Ybarra from the Public Theatre joining us next week as artist mentors, but this all changed with the recent tragedy surrounding Oskar Eustis’s son.  I reached out to Philip to see if he or he and Chris and Ignacia might think of joining us for a day to replace Maria and Stephany and Philip got back in touch with me immediately saying they happened to be at Mass Moca in North Adams, Massachusetts about 2 hours away.  After details and timings were worked it out with his staff, he has agreed to drive over on Thursday to join us for lunch and to lead a discussion/workshop with our 4 directors.  Fantastic!
To sleep!

December 5th, 2014  

8 degrees this morning.  Thank God for Subaru Outback heated seats.  Gorgeous morning.  Back in the groove of being up here, going by its pace, lovely, lovely morning.  Pink morning skies, gentle, new.  The snow looking white washed.  I drove over from our friends Robert and Lenice, leaving Richard in flannel jams, and stoked the fire, got the coffee going, cleaned up, and welcomed Simeon and his breakfast delivery (an excellent quiche on top of granolas, fruit, homemade yogurt, jams, apple sauces and muffins left over from yesterday!).  A terrific talk with Elena and Kym as they stopped through for a break from their writing – talk of structure, storytelling, form, head and heart wrangling.

It’s 5:50 pm now.  They’re discussing Kym’s project (“Time’s Up”) downstairs.  I unfortunately had to scramble to fix a printer and also schedule a new artist mentor for next week while also putting an audition on tape and couldn’t join in the discussion, but the talk is warm, constructive, energizing.  

Yesterday morning (the 4th) we all took parts in reading Diane’s “The Sweetheart Deal” out loud, even in this stage of development, an involving, theatrical investigation of loyalty and family set against the backdrop of the UFW’s struggles in 1970 California.   The afternoon held talks and inspirations surrounding Elena’s work inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey.  Lots of writing, lots of “eureka” moments.  And the meals are the places where the day’s discoveries are shared, loosened up, storied.  There’s a gratitude for being here.  Lovely. 

Dec. 6th
It’s 9:00 am now.
Around 6:30 last night (it gets dark up here just past 4) we were joined by Jennifer Kiger from Yale Rep who will be helming a workshop/discussion this morning.  After we welcomed her into the fold,  we all piled in our 2 all-wheel drive Subarus (the New England cars!) and brought everyone to Robert and Lenice’s where they hosted a wonderful dinner of risotto, cooked squash from their garden, turkey cutlets with capers, salad, fruit, and wines.  And there was Anu, their golden lab, nuzzling in beside people for pets and pats and giving warm licks of love.  I had to get down on the floor and hug on her later in the evening.  Fantastic stories from everyone lit up the evening.  Lots of laughter.  And our hosts sitting there, smiling, joining in, so happy to have their home enlivened by such a vital, creative, stimulating group.  
I’m doing a little writing of my own this morning; Richard took the reins of getting things going over there, then off for a grocery run.  Elena’s sharing 14 new pages she wrote yesterday at 10, then Jennifer’s workshop, lunch, a quick reshoot of the audition, possible break time and hike – perhaps a dash over to Fairlee and their Christmas store – then a reading of Diane’s “The Sweetheart Deal” with newly incorporated changes at 4.
We got 4 inches of snow last night.  Sleet today.  I will hike over to the place a little bit later, a mile from here, a good morning jaunt.An Addendum
And may I say what respect I have for Jackson Gay who created the idea for these retreats and is guiding them with such respect, balance, cool-headedness, intelligence, and warmth.  Watching her at work reminds me how rich I am counting her as one of my friends.
And may I also say how much Richard Waterhouse, my husband, contributes to this weekend.  He’s been a reader, a contributor of ideas (whether around the table concerning a particular project just read or for larger Fuller Road issues), a quiet planner and administrator of all food related issues, so many other things.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And to our 2 directors – Diane Rodriguez, Elena Araoz, and Kym Moore.  Our home is so happy to be breathing in and absorbing and passing on the creative spirit coming from these wonderful women, our first group of creators at Fuller Road.  We’re all beginning a tradition.

Day 1.  No, 2.  December 4th, 2014

Alright, it’s the morning of the 2nd day and I haven’t blogged yet.  Things got away from me.  Like turning 60 on the 2nd.  Like during the drive up with Jackson and Richard finding out that dear Jennifer Chang, one of our invited directors, 34 weeks pregnant, had begun having Braxton Hicks contractions and her doctor submitting a no fly order.  Like my mind not able to shut off thinking about all that had to be done, trying its best to be organized, then dissolving me into incoherent, incomplete sentences and utterings.  Ugh.

But it’s a new morning!  Chilly, bracing, beautiful.  As I write this a little snow flurry has snow globed the view out the windows.  Chickadees are digging into the new suet at the bird feeder.  Simeon Cook, our cook for these first 2 days, just dropped off a big breakfast basket of homemade yogurt, granola, late harvest apples, jarred raspberries. Richard and I just came over from Robert and Lenice’s, our mile or so away “neighbors” who are putting us up for these 2 weeks, and stoked the fire here, got the coffee going.  After a day of travel, our directors – Kym Moore, Elena Araoz, and Diane Rodriguez – are holed away in their various bedrooms, catching up on sleep, writing.  The first session is at 10 am with a reading of Diane Rodriguez’s project.  Richard and I may pitch to help read some of the parts.

Travel went well yesterday.  I picked up both Elena and Diane in Hanover and Lebanon, both coming in on Dartmouth Coach, Elena from New York, Diane from Logan Airport where she’d flown in from LA.  Kym Moore drove up from Providence RI and kept musing what she was getting into as the “Moose Crossing” signs appeared and the dirt road drive from the main road to our place wended on forever deeper into “wilderness.”  Then dinner time.  9 pm.  Glasses of wine. A sumptuous feast of Simeon’s extraordinary chicken pot pies, cooked kale with cider, salad, a HUGE apple crisp and homemade whipped cream.  And the conversations, getting to know one another, laughter, gratitude for being together.  Wonderful varied talk of the fierceness of young Brown University actors, of the exodus of actors and dancers and visual artists to Detroit and New Orleans and Omaha (Omaha?!), of projects past and future, of dreams and vitality and renewal.  After feeling a bit spent with preparation for these weeks it was the rejuvenation I had hoped for.

Coffee now with Elena and Jackson and Richard around the kitchen wood fire.  9 am.  Our home is very happy.  Fuller Road, you have begun.