I learned first as a Theatre Arts Major at UC Santa Cruz

Lotsa folks ask me "how did you get into being kinky?"

I was lucky. At age 19 my lover of the time, ~K~, went to a workshop put on by some Leather Lesbians at UCSC. She came home and told me what she had been exposed to and what her reaction was to it. Thus the first ever "kinky" thing I did (technically) was to have her hold her arms above her head while I gently tickled her armpits. I learned so much with her through our wonderful explorations. We tried everything as switches and quickly found we both got totally turned on when I topped and she bottomed but vice versa was, if anything, a sort of turn off for us.

What always amazed me too was that this absurdly beautiful, vibrant and highly powerful person wanted to be dominated in the erotic aspect of our lives.

In parallel to what would turn out to be 6 years of relationship and exploring kinky play together, I undertook a study of the art of theatre arts. In studying acting, playwriting, directing and production management I learned a zillion helpful things about life and humans and the world we live in. Through the art of theater you can study all other arts and aspects of life. It is a tool for reflecting back the given circumstances and creations of our experience here on earth together.

It was in acting and directing that I had the most powerful cross referencing of my Kinky and Thespianic (is that a word even?) studies. Acting teaches you that the human experience is much more mailable than we are led to believe. Everyone should take acting classes their whole life in order to keep up their skills and learn control of their physical and emotional systems. In a way, we sorta DO take acting class all our lives - merely by living in this huge structured improv of life. But the specific study of the methods of the masters and goddesses of theatre arts- in my view, would hugely benefit the average person.

Acting teaches you that you can change your emotions if you want. Just like I learned later on in life about the hypothalamus's ability to change your emotions, acting techniques allow you to get fired from your day job but still play romeo that night... cuz .. the show must go on baby! Using breath and staying grounded were two helpful tools. As an actor one works on developing the ability to let the character you spent time developing "take over" your person and psyche. It's a tricky thing to put into words...It's most like a dream where you can be you but someone else at the same time.. know what I mean?... As an actor you create the character as someone you know who lives inside yourself....The skill comes in having the FOCUS to have all your input and output come from the part of you that houses the character.

Think of it like windows on your computer running another program. Windows might still be there but if you put your ITUNES visualizer on Full Screen mode then widows is nowhere to be seen. I might still be me, but YOU experience me as The Earl of Warwick (A role I played in Edward II where I got to break the villains neck with my bare hands after jumping down out of the rafter beams of the theatre to "appear" behind him on the stage)

Directing, on the other hand, is, among other things, the art of being able to Guide humans into states of being that are in alignment with what one desires them to be. In the case of theatre this means guiding an actor to represent the directors vision of the script.

Though many actors might cringe or rail at this comparison, the similarities between the Director Actor relationship and that of a Dominant/Submissive are many.

A director has ultimate say over the actor. The actor must do what the director says, however the medium itself allows for a great deal of latitude in HOW the actor does what the director says. So too the Dominant may command the Submissive to do a particular thing and there is latitude for how they do it. Of course in both cases this is all dependant upon the strictness of the Director/Dominant...

I am not saying that D/A and D/S are the same but more pointing out that by studying them concurrently I really benefited and learned alot quickly.

A Director is ultimately responsible for focusing on and watching out for their actors. They are the overmind of the play. So too does the Dominant have to stay extremely focused on the Submissive so that they may ensure the safety, well being and positive experience of them both.

Furthermore, in studying theatre arts I was blessed to work deeply with the art of improvisation. A good Dominant in my opinion will not be too rigid (unless that is their specific style or what their partner/lover/playmate desires)... Improvisation is a key element to good D/S play... Being dynamic leads to the most connected and enriching experiences~at least in my book.

I am not even going to go INTO right now how much it helped me to master the art of role play by being a theatre major...that is for another blog

I encourage those of you who are kinky to study theatre if you are able. I encourage those of you who are thespians to get kinky if you are so inclined!

Lots of love to everyone! A reminder to keep that positive energy flowing here in 2006! Let's keep the momentum rising!

~Namaste~
Captain Erotica