Martin de Maat

"In the often unkind world of "the business," where a true friend is hard to come by, he’ll be impossible to replace. A bruised ego or shattered dream found refuge in de Maat’s gangly embrace, and found genuine affirmation in his Cheshire smile and often glass-shattering laughter. Everyone — literally everyone — was deserving, unique and special in his eyes, and everyone who wanted to play got at least one, if not one hundred, turns at bat. He believed wholeheartedly in the work’s ability to heal, to nurture, and to save your ever lovin’ soul. In his own special way, he was a missionary. He understood the slings and arrows, but never indulged a cynic for long and never gave up on his core belief that there was transcendental joy to be found in sharing (on-stage and off) that which is human, that which is true and real."

"You know what intimacy is? Its into-me-you-see... its allowing someone to know who you are when you have all these defenses to keep them from knowing."

"The base of the work is one of individuals believing in themselves, trusting themselves in the moment and being accepting of themselves and the people around them. In order to improvise in front of an audience, you have to be accepting, involved in the moment and courageous. Those issues, when transferred over to general communication, makes the communication richer and helps in all areas of life."

"The beginning of this work is just how to get people to remember how to play, to be in play. Once youre in play, youre in the moment. Youre not judgmental, youre enjoying each other, youre accepting of everything that goes on; youre trusting yourself and just doing the game as best as you can. Your critical mind is gone, your analytical mind is not involved. Really, its just the flow that goes on between human beings, the group the power of the ensemble. As with any ensemble, it is the team effort or the group effort that makes the individual grow or look good. Thats what the center of this work is all about, what these games and exercises are all about . . . breaking down barriers between people, empowering the individual to believe in their own associations and ideas, uncovering the courage to create, the courage to communicate."

"What happens in the ensemble work is that in a cooperative work, the power of communication in being with each other in acceptance and "yes, and"-ing each other, is that you as an individual start to believe in yourself because you begin to see yourself in the others eyes. Your ensemble, your group, your team, your committee, is the one thats believing in you and you pull it together to do it for them. You know, its simply recognizing youre not alone. Im way out in theory here; its the study of what the power is, the power in improvisation and why it changes lives.... Im crazy about it, and thats why Ive dedicated my life to the study of it. The power is love, if you want to know the truth. Its love and unconditional acceptance. You put yourself in a place of support, unconditional acceptance and love for who you are, the way you are and your uniqueness, and what you do is grow. You surround yourself with people who are truly interested in you and listen to you, and you will grow. And it doesnt take much to start advancing you, it doesnt take much of that support, it doesnt take much of that love and that care and you can do it. You can play act with people. You can be in a state of play together."

"Each of us is unique, and if we dont respect that uniqueness, if we dont allow that which we are to surface, then the world doesnt have it."

"No one will ever follow you down the street if youre carrying a banner that says, "Onward toward mediocrity.""

"Let’s try and create scenes that are about something... About something deeper than this ashtray."

"The Hokey Pokey. Think about it. At the end of the song, what do we learn? What is it all about?... You put your whole self in!"

"You do not have the right to use this art form to feel inferior."

"Theres a lot of laughter that goes on. Since were laughing together, were true community. Its a very safe place to confront your fears. The minute somebody says, "Perform!" your fear comes up..."

"I think many of us go through our life not fully having permission to be who we are and what were going to become. Most of us are often looking for approval. We hate it when were not approved of. Its that approval that has us in our minds worrying about what were doing as were doing it, trying to figure out whether or not its appropriate or will be accepted. We walk through our lives like were on our first date. Trying to see if were appropriate and trying not to step on other peoples toes . . . you know, cautiously, prophylactically, for fear of not being approved of. In this work, theres only approval."