FLOODESIGN

Montclair State University (students of language, history, biology, anthropology and even the performing arts) were given access to this work, so as to understand the adaptive creative process that is the signature mindset of artists who grasp what we do not — or not yet! Kirsten summarized her PeARL experience beautifully: "Over the course of our six workshop weeks spanning nearly two seasons, I've been drafting, developing and editing the music with HOWL to test and challenge physical limits, to experiment with vocalizations, to discover how we might transform books and paper into musical instruments — all for the purpose of getting to the heart of Don Quixote, the real leader of this project. "Without the physical space, support, infrastructure and especially the extended development time frame that the PeARL residency afforded us, this adventure would not have been possible." Dr. Linda Gould Levine, professor emerita of Spanish at Montclair State, introduced graduate students to the creative possibilities of "Quixote" and offered her own endorsement: "It was particularly rewarding to have the opportunity to attend several of the rehearsals of the work and witness its evolution over the 19-month residency of 'Quixote' at Montclair State University. From its first moments in the bare room on the ground floor of Kasser to its explosive force in the wide expanse of the theater, this work redefined Cervantes's novel." How do artists of considerable imagination realize their ideas without compromise, and how do audiences come to appreciate new performing arts ideas as personal resources in achieving continuity in daily life? Amy Beth Kirsten, Mark DeChiazza and the performance ensemble HOWL started in our studio with little prewritten material and ended up on our Alexander Kasser Theater stage with the chamber opera "Quixote," which The New York Times called "dreamlike" and "wildly inventive." 42 CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT

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