Some early memories: when learning how to talk, I would wonder if others actually saw the same thing as I did when they identified colors. Was my yellow their yellow? At costume parties, I liked to help my friends pretend that they were someone else, and wondered why we had so much fun and opened up by transforming our identities. Yet later, I would ask my girlfriends to imagine beyond the limits of our town, of our country, of the world, of the universe. Usually, they became afraid, hiding under the covers at a pajama party, crying to get me to stop talking. I didn't understand why they were afraid to think beyond the boundaries of their imagination, and I wanted to know what made them like that.

Then when I was 15, a group of professional actors came to my high school and gave a demonstration of voice exercises. That night, I went to see the performance at their theater, with a pass to go backstage afterwards. There I found those same actors in their dressing rooms, still with makeup and costumes on, having just given a very emotional performance, some still sweating like dancers or athletes, all of them in an altered state from the performance. I noticed bouquets of flowers, cast–aside costumes, street clothes hanging on hooks, and photos, jokes and lucky charms scattered about, taped to the mirrors or lying on the dressing tables next to tins of face paint. The sense of focus, of playfulness, seriousness and togetherness was intense. I knew that this was the life for me. I wanted the discipline, the inner freedom, the friendship, the gift to communicate, the joy of creating living breathing people who live through me and my colleagues.

When I find the character, I will spend a lot of time acting as if I were she. Acting as if you're another person is different than pretending to be someone else; it involves observing yourself acting someone else - there's an extra step involved. More discoveries come working onstage and with others. At a certain point, I must complete my involvement with the character, or else I find 'she' controls too much of my life.

In each grouping (say, 8-20 person groups, as they form organically) within the greater community, there should be weekly dinners, lively themed salons with role–playing and conversations. Speeches can be given once a week at a special festive dinner where each person expresses what she/he is feeling and thinking that week.

The colony could have several informal ensembles which would perform for the others in a special setting. Music, speeches from the heart and mind, and above all, the actual practice of theater, grow personal connections that can be as deep as a family or tribe.