“The House”, that’s what I call it whenever Chuck (Evered) and I talk about it.
It sits out in the middle of nowhere – Joshua Tree/Flamingo Hills, California.
Unlike most small towns found between road signs that read, “Slow Down” and “Resume Speed”, there is a very relaxed, maybe even spiritual vibe about the area. For those of you who might be familiar with the city of Visalia, California, in the San Joaquin Valley – circa 1969? It’s a lot like that…except Visalia, even today, doesn’t have a lot of cactus or Joshua trees.
First and foremost, IT’S QUIET. No, I mean really quiet. So quiet you can in fact, hear yourself breathe – 24 hours a day.
The people?
With what little getting around town I did (because there isn’t a lot of town to “get around” in), I think it’s safe to say you’ll find people that would give you the shirt’s off their backs – people like Joe Hertel. He’s what I would term, The Palace Guard and Caretaker of the “The House” – he gets what Evered House is about.
For me the house and the area, were a creative, motivational, Think and Do tank. I was focused – NO DISTRACTIONS. Nothing outside of what I came there to do, got in the way of me doing it. Not only was I able to work on a play I had just started, I was able to write a short play and stage a reading of that play while I was there. I was able to get into the Riverside area to contact a few of the movers and shakers in the Inland Empire theatre community and was successful in getting a producer committed to doing another play I have written.
In the above paragraph, I used “I” (referring to me) a lot. Because I think that’s what a residency at Evered House is. It’s all about the person in the residency and the work, and getting the work done. So that at the end of your residency – when you look at the body of work you’ve completed, you have something to show for it. Make no mistake. Evered House isn’t a residency for you to come out, sit cross legged on the floor, listen to Ravi Shankar music and ask yourself, “Why is there air?” It’s not a residency where you can come out and keep a daily journal of you changing the air in your bicycle tires. IT’S ABOUT THE WORK.
If you have a project you want to take to the next level, and you are willing to do the work to get it there? Evered House is the place to get it done.