Today we’re talking to Miriam BC Tobin, winner of the Goddard Alumni Association Spirit Grant for her work with SCRiB Lab, a writing organization aimed at creating community through experimentation. SCRiB Lab provides writing labs in three categories: SCRiBE for literary writers; SCRiPT for dramatic writers; and SCRiBBLE for ideas seekers. Besides creating a playful space for writers, Miriam is a contemporary absurdist playwright, interested in using the grandiose and extraordinary to explore human truths.

We talk about Absurdism with a capital A in theater: how absurdism (like rocks starting to talk) can be used not to be silly or funny, but to make a point about human existence. Miriam says, “Absurdism is this idea, or this concept of what happens when a human faces the greater universe. And is that space in between ‘I am a small little human’ and the devastation of seeing the great expanse of the universe.” We also talk about how the themes of Absurdism relate to classical Greek and Roman theater, in how humans relate to nature.

At Goddard, Miriam was exposed to pre-Columbian drama (particularly Mayan) and Noh drama, both of which influenced her thesis play. She was specifically drawn to how both of those eras engage the community/audience in the participation or spectacle of the plays, and how the stories continue beyond the end of the theater piece.

Keep up with Miriam and SCRiB Lab at:

Website: https://mirbct.com/plays

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scrib.lab/

Website: https://www.scriblab.org/

And if anyone wants to compose an opera with Miriam, or sponsor SCRiBLAB do get in touch!

• Sleep No More: https://mckittrickhotel.com/events/sleep-no-more/
• The Catamounts: https://www.thecatamounts.org/
• Sweet Truth: https://www.instagram.com/sweettruthinsta/

• Sleeping Beauty
• Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
• The Bacchae, Euripides
• Medea, Euripides
• Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim

• Martin Esslin
• Samuel Beckett
• Theater of the Absurd
• Linda Addison
• Jeff Strand

Warning: SPOILERS ABOUND in this episode!

Sam Rebelein and Mike Alvarez are back for an appropriately Halloween-y episode! Last time we talked about their horror inspirations; this time we’re talking about their recent (October 2023) book publications!

We talk about their books individually and together: how and why they use body horror to enhance their narratives; monsters as metaphors for grief, loss, and trauma; and the act of writing itself and how it can retraumatize or heal the writer.

If you’re anti-spoiler DON’T listen to this podcast until you buy the books (spoiler: they’re worth it). If you don’t mind spoilers, take a listen and buy the books anyway!

Snag Edenville and check out Sam’s other work: https://www.srebelein.com/

Snag Mike’s Unraveling direct from the publisher: https://www.routledge.com/Unraveling-An-Autoethnography-of-Suicide-and-Renewal/Alvarez/p/book/9781032346519

Transformative Language Arts Network: tlanetwork.org

Books:

• Kathryn Harrison, The Kiss
• R.L. Stine, Goosebumps series
• Louise DeSalvo, Writing as a Way of Healing

Movies & TV

• Jeepers Creepers, Victor Salva

• The Babadook, Jennifer Kent

• Hereditary, Ari Aster

• Fargo (Season 2), FX, Noah Hawley

Video Games:

• The Last of Us
• The Witcher 3
• God of War

This week Amanda is hosting a Transformative Language Arts (TLA) roundtable:

• Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, founder of TLA and current chair of the TLA Network (TLAN) board
• Angie Ebba, graduate of the TLA program at Goddard; and
• Joy Zimmerman, board member of TLAN.

We discuss the role of words, especially poetry and song in our lives, particularly how we all recognize the power of words to make our experiences concrete and understood to ourselves and others.

All music in this episode is by Joy Zimmerman. Featured songs: “We Are a Bell” and “Nobel Prize” from Where the Light Lives.

Caryn developed Transformative Language Arts (TLA) as a concentration in the IMA program at Goddard. While it no longer exists as curriculum at Goddard, the nonprofit TLANetwork is holding community space for people who use written, spoken, and sung word for personal and community transformation.

One of the keystone events of TLAN is the Power of Words conference. Everyone at the roundtable will be presenting at the 2023 Power of Words conference:

• Amanda’s workshop: Using TLA to Create & Deepen Your Family Archive
• Angie’s workshop: My Body is Not a Battlefield: Illness, Body, and the Use of Metaphor
• Caryn’s panel discussion: TLA in the World: Transforming Communities Through the Power of Words
• Caryn’s workshop with Kathryn Lorenzen: The Big Picture of Your TLA Livelihood and Life
• Joy’s keynote performance with Erin McGrane: music and spoken word

2023 Power of Words conference: https://www.tlanetwork.org/conference

Transformative Language Arts Network: https://www.tlanetwork.org/

Joy Zimmerman: https://joyzimmermanmusic.com/music

Angie Ebba: http://rebelonpage.com/

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg: https://www.carynmirriamgoldberg.com/