What is it that makes a person creative? Is it something that can be inherited, like eye color? A gene passed down through generations? Can it be caused by the environment? A specific circumstance, a twist of fate?
Children are endlessly creative.But many of us seem to lose that ability as we move on through the years. Picasso said he had spent his life trying to get back to that place, the lost world of childhood,where creativity flowed so freely.
That makes it sound as though creativity was nothing but fun, like children’s play. Of course, anyone who knows is aware that the truly creative — artists,musicians,writers — work extremely hard. Someone once called genius “an infinite capacity for taking pains.”
The 10 young people profiled here have almost nothing in common.Their backgrounds vary so widely there are no conclusions to be drawn as to what makes creativity thrive.A musician is born to musicians — this we can understand. But an artist spends years in a military career? A writer is stirred into life after experiencing the hard discipline of total silence?
There are no rules here.The child of scientists becomes an artist; an Orthodox young woman is born with the cool eye of a photojournalist.
The creative urge can grow slowly, evolve naturally, or burst out all of a sudden in a blaze of glory. No hard and fast rules.And only one basic similarity.
Each of these 10, in his or her own way, is involved in bringing something new to the world.
We celebrate them all.
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Julie Zakar
drama
At 20, Julie Zakar is the youngest person in the group.No matter — she already knows something about creativity. Mainly that it involves looking at things in a whole new way, coming up with a new idea to solve a problem.
The situation: Julie Zakar had the acting bug.As a student at Baltimore’s Yeshivat Rambam,she often appeared in play productions. She assumed she’d have even more chances to get involved with drama, once she was a theater major at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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After all, the university has a sizable Jewish student population — Jews of all types, across the spectrum, including plenty of observant ones. Surely there’d be some accommodation for those who weren’t able to participate during Shabbat.
Think again. In short order, she learned there was none whatsoever.Orthodox Jewish students who wanted to get involved with theater were up the creek.“I thought I might be able to come to agreement with them,but it never worked out,”said Miss Zakar.
Faced with that kind of a wall, some might throw in the towel
. Miss Zakar simply started her own theater company. The Weekday Players, who operate, of course, only on weekdays.
“I approached a friend, she was interested, so together we put out fliers, looking for a director, held auditions, and came up with a group,”she said. She and her friend, Ilana Glatt,a New Yorker, are co-founder-presidents.
That was over a year ago.They’ve since put on three productions — two plays by Neil Simon, one by Christopher Durang. Miss Zakar has acted in all three. The first was a feminine version of Neil Simon’s “Odd Couple,”in which Miss Zakar played Olive (the Oliver character, of course).The university allows them to use a small theater.
Another group at the university, a few years back,was also Jewish in origin,but “we occupy a different niche,” she explained.“They did shows just for Jews, with totally Jewish content.We’re more Jewish-friendly than actually Jewish.”The company, which usually numbers about 20, includes “Jews, observant and non, Catholics, Protestants, every religion.”
Despite the initial theater roadblock, she’s been quite happy on campus.“Because there’s such a large community of Jews, you find so few things you can’t do. Really,”said Miss Zakar,who works at the campus Hillel.“There’s so many opportunities here. It’s just a matter of putting your mind to it. It’s all doable.”