Information Overload?

The first meeting of the workshop was fantastic. It's amazing how much knowledge and insight this group shares. I was a little overwhelmed, to be frank. And, apparently, so were some of the actors. The following is a message from The Infamous SJ (our fearless leader) which was posted to our discussion board:

Hello All!

I was talking earlier with one of our non-Trek-fan cast members and they addressed an interesting concern worth noting.

During our first workshop we had spent an extensive time discussing the ideas surrounding sci-fi, fan-dom, and of course, to a large extent Trek and Trekkies. There was a lot of astute information and wonderful observations shared by the cast in many different capacities.

However, it seems there was something that I should have made clearer to the everyone earlier on. It seems that there might be some concerns about whether or not the non-Trek fans have enough to contribute to the dialogue and in the work. What's interesting (or lacking in sufficient attention, depending on the way one views it) is that the thing we thought most needed addressing to the Trek-fans is that we were in NO WAY looking to make fun of Trekkies/Trekkers.

First of all, let me say that it would be ridiculous for us to expect anybody to catch up to 15 YEARS OF SERIOUS FAN-DOM in a matter of a few days or even weeks. The last thing we want happening is for the non-Trek-fans to be killing themselves trying to catch up to the Trek-fans and feeling hindered due to the stress during the workshops. We want everyone to feel free to play and create. Even after the very first rehearsal, we were able to generate so many great ideas that we are planning to continue building upon!

While some of you might have possibly felt that you were not able to contribute as much as you would have liked in the discussions, it was especially during the improv portion of the evening that the balance of Trek and non-Trek clearly showed and was exactly what we were aiming for.
The world is not made up strictly of Trek-fans and to create a play where there is no sense of Trekkies' negotiating their ideals or way of life in a world of non-Trek-fans would be remiss.

And most importantly, the reason we have called everyone in is because Margaret and I are in many different ways familiar with your work and understand that each cast member has a talent and intellect that Margaret and I were both extremely excited to work with.

Any information that the hard-core Trek fans share is there to inform your creative choices within the realm of the play being created.

It's a testament to your devotion as brilliant actors to worry about being able to contribute more and want to research so much! However, there is no need to kill yourself trying to watch every single episode ever made.

Watch what you can.

Watch whatever piques your interest. Make note of whatever it was that led you to find it interesting or things that struck you as inspired, fun or even funny.

Come in armed with some questions that you may have for the Trek-fans or come in ready to ask whatever questions that might pop into your heads as we go along.

And again, there's no need for worry. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact me or Margaret at any time. Or you know, even if you just want to chat. You guys are awesome!