Imagination Workshop's NATURE TEACHES Gives Free Shows 4/2,3

The world-renowned Imagination Workshop was founded 40 years ago by Margaret Ladd, the award-winning actress and Founding Artistic Director, and her husband Lyle Kessler, the critically-acclaimed playwright, and Co-Founder of the organization. Today, the Imagination Workshop, a unique theatre company comprised of professional theatre artists collaborating with patients recovering from mood disorders and other mental illnesses, is one of the longest running Arts and Social Institutions in the country.

To kick off the Imagination Workshop's 40th Anniversary Year, Ladd and Kessler have announced the organization will present an original play entitled "Nature Teaches." Free performances will be preceded by a brief video presentation and followed by a Question and Answer session and Reception with Margaret Ladd (Founding Artistic Director), Lyle Kessler (Co-Founder and Director of Play Development), Dr. Les Zackler (President of the Imagination Workshop board) and Jim McGrath (Director of Training, Writer and Director of "Nature Teaches"), along with current Imagination Workshop artists, Chip Bent (Actor and Producer), Gerald Jones (Chorographer, Actor and Dancer) and Christina Linhardt (Actress and Opera Singer).

"Nature Teaches," which is under the direction of Jim McGrath, is an original play about people in a forest community who lose their fortunes, but gain new excitement in their lives through their appreciation of nature and the words of William Shakespeare. Free performances will be held at the Semel Institute Auditorium next to the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA; 720 Westwood Plaza; Los Angeles, CA 90024 on Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. Reservations may be made by calling the Imagination Workshop office at 310-206-8067. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis, as seating in the auditorium is limited. Theatergoers are advised to arrive by at least 30 minutes prior to the curtain time.

Parking is available in the Medical Center Plaza on Westwood Boulevard on the UCLA campus for $11 per car, at the Broxton Street public parking garage nearby, or on the street. For further information, please visit the website, www.imaginationworkshop.org.

Later in June 2009 the Imagination Workshop will present another original play written and performed by male and female veterans of war at Greenway Arts Alliance in Hollywood, CA, as a continuation of the organization's 40th Anniversary celebration. Further details about this event, and others, will be announced in the near future.

How the Imagination Workshop Began:
Margaret Ladd reminisces, "It's hard to believe that it's already been 40 years, but the Imagination Workshop was first launched way back in 1969 when I was working on the World Premiere of Eugène Ionesco's ‘Hunger and Thirst' at Berkshire Theatre Festival. The theatre was adjacent to the grounds of a mental institution, The Austen Riggs Center, and over the summer the entire company, including Ionesco, came to know the patients.

"We were invited to see the patients perform Gertrude Stein's ‘In Circles.' The production was simple. Their performance was magic, a revelation. All of us were taken aback, to say the least, at the total metamorphosis that we saw in these patients. They inhabited their characters. They were able to leave their own problems, their withdrawn personalities, at the stage door. Instead of their illnesses, the characters and poetic metaphors in which they involved themselves became the focus of their attention. Ionesco summed it up: ‘They create from the place that dreams come from.'

"The production was not a fluke, of course. This phenomenon is something we see in many professional actors who are totally withdrawn offstage and come to life behind the guise of a character, and then are able, slowly, sometimes over a lifetime, to learn to use that metaphorical ability to become more comfortable in society and with intimate relationships. When Ionesco and I spoke to the doctors after that memorable performance, for which James Taylor provided the music, I believe, they said it was remarkable, but that there was no carryover.

"So we gathered together a group of fine theatre artists, including Lyle Kessler, my husband, along with Sam Waterston and Jill Clayburgh and decided that it was possible that the reason the patients didn't benefit from the carryover was that they performed characters and plays written by someone else. When the play was over, it was if the armature of their personalities had been removed and they slumped back into their former selves."

"We reasoned that if we had them choose their own characters, far removed from their own condition, characters based on fairy tales, or historical or mythical figures, or characters from great works of art, they would internalize the gains they had begun to make. They would adapt their already highly developed imaginations - which had turned inward, resulting in hallucinations, delusions and unrealistically negative views of life and their potential - and they, like artists, would turn these intense imaginative images towards more socially outgoing and positive directions."

"It worked! Over the years we have served over 45,000 patients and worked with major scientists, artists and medical centers (Cornell; Columbia; Mount Sinai in New York, where we began; and UCLA). We have engaged in statistically significant research, which, at its base, proves the exceptional power of the dramatic imagination. When we successfully implemented the project in Japan, we saw how universal this language is. We discovered that creating theatre transcends even the words that appear to be its building blocks.

"My husband, Lyle Kessler, joined me in 1972 when we were performing in a play called ‘Felix' at the Actors Studio in New York City. I developed the basic intervention process in the Imagination Workshop, while Lyle trained the other artists and developed the training methodology. For instance, if a patient cried, we would intervene as if the patient were a professional actor, saying: ‘That's just what the character would be feeling.' This relaxed the patients and made them feel proud of what they were doing, rather than ashamed of their illnesses. All kinds of characters are part of our world in the theatre. Laura in ‘The Glass Menagerie' is not a crazy girl, but a poetic noble human being. The humanity of theatre welcomes patients back.

"This is what I realized. I had no impulse to ask the patients what was bothering them if they couldn't handle a situation. I would intervene within the metaphor of theatre that was created. But until Lyle came into the picture, I was unable to teach the other actors effectively, or to do plays which the long-term patients, kids, vets and seniors began to need. Lyle did this. That was when we were able to make even greater changes in the patient's ability to integrate into the world. I fell in love with Lyle when I saw the way he deeply respected the patients and was so tender towards them. And then we got married and had children.

"In the theatre, actors deal with dreams, metaphors and characters far removed from themselves. The power and discipline of theatre - listening to others, being heard, understanding characters outside of one's self and fitting into a social structure - undeniably helps Imagination Workshop patients. As they create their own plays and workshops, the inner issues inevitably come out and can be worked through. There is a therapeutic as well as an artistic benefit. The research that has been done at UCLA on the Imagination Workshop through the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior demonstrates that what we do at the Imagination Workshop has startling positive outcomes for patients, especially in terms of depression. This program should be shared with the world. We have a responsibility to make sure that this work endures."

More About The Imagination Workshop:
The Imagination Workshop, which is an alliance between Art and Science, is located at the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Distinct from therapy that is limited to examining the patient's real-life problems and challenges, the Imagination Workshop applies the transcendent power of metaphor. During weekly workshops held year round, participants play characters far removed from themselves. In the guise of these characters, and under the protective guidance of Imagination Workshop artists, patients are able to break out of their isolation and create genuine relationships. As the characters, they express feelings, needs and wants that they have been unable to express as themselves. It is an integrative process. The patients experience the joy of a whole self, some for the first time in their lives. Imagination Workshop offers them a bridge to a more optimistic future.

The Imagination Workshop has drawn together hundreds of renowned actors, writers and directors from Broadway, film and television, including such well-known talents as Robert Altman, Susan Sarandon, Paula Wagner, Jill Clayburgh and Sam Waterston, to create transformative theatre-based experiences with more than 45,000 Imagination Workshop participants. Over the last 40 years the Imagination Workshop's Advisory Board has included luminous artists as: Alan Arkin, Beth Henley, George C. Scott, Geraldine Page, Alan Pakula, Trish Van Devere, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Blythe Danner, Alan Rosenburg, Kirsten Dunst and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Currently, Imagination Workshop programs, under the leadership of Jim McGrath (Director of Training and Writer), Chip Bent (Actor and Producer), Gerald Jones (Chorographer, Actor and Dancer) and Christina Linhardt (Actress and Opera Singer), benefit patients at the Semel Institute, veterans at New Directions (a non-profit residential self-help program for homeless veterans on the Veterans Administration campus in West Los Angeles) and "at-risk" children at the Accelerated School and Olympic High School in Los Angeles. These groups represent a broad spectrum of income levels and ethnicities.

About the Co-Founders of Imagination Workshop:
Margaret Ladd (Founding Artistic Director, Imagination Workshop and Actress) is a versatile actress who perhaps is best known for her portrayal of the eccentric character of Emma Channing, which she played for nine years on television's "Falcon Crest," opposite actress Jane Wyman. Ladd won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Comedic Relief in a Dramatic Series for her role. Ladd made her professional stage debut at Williamstown Theatre Festival where she played the role of Kathleen in "Long Days Journey Into Night" with Olympia Dukakis. The New York Times wrote of her auspicious debut: "Only Margaret Ladd's exquisite performance as Kathleen, the Irish Maid, evoked in us Eugene O'Neill's intimations of immortality."

She then appeared in Mike Nichols' Off-Broadway production of "The Knack," which then led to her Broadway debut with Geraldine Page in "The Great Outdoors," followed by several other Broadway plays, including the World Premiere of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" with Zoe Caldwell. Ladd was unanimously accepted as a Life Member of the Actors Studio, where she was youngest member ever admitted at that time. Her film credits include Robert Altman's "A Wedding;" Peter Yates' "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" with Robert Mitchum; and Lindsay Anderson's "The Whales of August" starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish. On television she has portrayed many roles.

Ladd won a Drama-Logue Award and Robby Award as Best Dramatic Actress of the Year for her performance in "The Fox," presented at the Back Alley Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.

In the summer of 1969, while appearing in the World Premiere of Eugène Ionesco's play, "Hunger and Thirst" at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, adjacent to the grounds of a mental institution, The Austen Riggs Center, Ladd founded the Imagination Workshop, which utilizes artistic methodology, actors, writers and directors to create scenes and original plays with psychiatric patients, veterans and "at risk" students in Los Angeles Public Schools. Later, in 1972, Ladd's husband, playwright Lyle Kessler, joined her as a Co-Founder of the Imagination Workshop while they were performing in a play called "Felix" at the Actors Studio in New York City. The couple now resides in Southern California. They have twin children, Katharine and Michael. Now celebrating it's 40th Anniversary, the Imagination Workshop was the recipient of Los Angeles' first Ovation Award for Community Outreach.

Lyle Kessler (Co-Founder and Director of Play Development, Imagination Workshop; Playwright; and Co-Moderator of The Playwright/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio West) Kessler's critically-acclaimed play, "Orphans" was originally produced at Los Angeles' Matrix Theatre, and subsequently in Chicago and New York by The Steppenwolf Theatre Company directed by Gary Sinise. A recent local production of "Orphans" at Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles starred Al Pacino. The play has been performed in almost every country in the world. Albert Finney won The Oliver Award in London's West End production of the play.

Kessler's other plays include: "The Watering Place" which was produced at Broadway's Music Box Theatre starring Ralph Waite, Shirley Knight and William Devane, directed by Alan Schneider; "Possession" which played at New York Ensemble's Studio Theatre starring Tom Berenger; "Robbers" which played at the American Place Theatre starring Michael Rapaport, directed by Marshall Mason; "The Viewing" which Kessler also directed at New York's Lucille Lortel Theatre; and "Unlisted" which played at Los Angeles' Tiffany Theatre directed by William Devane.

Kessler's newest play, "First Born," will be produced in the near future. Another new play, "If You Love Me," will have its World Premiere at The Geffen Playhouse in Westwood, CA during the 2009-10 season. In addition, "Orphans" will receive a Broadway revival in 2010. Kessler's plays have been published by Random House, Grove Press and Samuel French. Kessler adapted his play "Orphans" for the screen, starring Albert Finney, Matthew Modine and Kevin Anderson, directed by Alan Pakula. He wrote and executive produced the movie "The Saint of Fort Washington" starring Danny Glover and Matt Dillion, directed by Tim Hunter. Other films include: "Gladiator" starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Brian Dennehy and "Touched," which Kessler also co-starred in with Robert Hays and Ned Beatty.

Kessler is a playwright, actor and director in the Los Angeles and New York theatre. He starred in the Philadelphia Premiere of "Waiting For Godot" opposite
Bruce Dern. He studied acting with Lee Strasberg. He and director, Mark Rydell, are Co-Moderators of the Playwright/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio West. He has served as the director of The Sundance Screenwriters Lab, and also participated in The Sundance Screenwriters Conference in Hungary working with writers from all over Eastern Europe.

Kessler was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Playwriting Grant and he won the New York State Council on the Arts Playwriting Award. He and his wife actress Margaret Ladd are Co-Founders of the Imagination Workshop located in the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA. The Imagination Workshop utilizes a unique artistic methodology, actors, writers and directors to create scenes and original plays with psychiatric patients, veterans and "at risk" students in Los Angeles Public Schools.

Performances will be held at the Semel Institute Auditorium next to the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at UCLA; 720 Westwood Plaza; Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Thursday and Friday, April 2 and 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.
Reservations may be made by calling the Imagination Workshop office at 310-206-8067. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis, as seating in the auditorium is limited. Theatergoers are advised to arrive by at least 30 minutes prior to the curtain time. Parking is available in the Medical Center Plaza on Westwood Boulevard on the UCLA campus for $11 per car, at the Broxton Street public parking garage nearby, or on the street. For further information, please visit the website, www.imaginationworkshop.org <http://www.imaginationworkshop.org>.