Rowe Labor Day Gay Men’s Retreat

Andrew Plummer & Benjamin Seaman

 

Andrew Plummer

Benjamin Seaman

Aug 31 - Sep 3, 2007

Now in its 22nd year, Rowe’s Labor Day Gay Men Retreat is one of the country’s oldest and largest gay gatherings. This New England country retreat is nestled in the Berkshire Hills, where Rowe’s spirit of acceptance enables a sacred and amazing community to emerge that offers a unique refuge from our busy, hardworking lives to men who are gay, bisexual, questioning, or transgendered. This is a wonderful holiday retreat, led by young, vigorous directors and filled with community, connection, and magic.

Rowe offers new participants a bridge to gay community, a safe space to explore coming out, and the opportunity to make new and true friends. For men returning, Rowe offers the warmth and caring of old friends whose emotional and spiritual connections are deep. Expect the unexpected. We promise mystery and surprise, intrigue and wonder.

Honor the man you have become and the man you are becoming. Rowe is a place of transformation and we are tailoring the retreat to provide a wide range of emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual growing experiences. You will feel welcome and whole. There will be much laughter and there will be some tears of release and of joy. The mountain will vibrate with the energy of many gay men coming together to find renewal and rejuvenation.

The weekend will be filled with workshops, group ritual, sharing, gift-giving, play, and delicious home-cooked meals. Workshops led by highly experienced, skilled leaders will include art making, dating, relationships, creative writing, recovery, the search for intimacy, yoga, body work, movement, meditation, and much more.

We will create space for men to share, without fear. Surprises will delight your senses. Moments of joy will create lasting memories. There is time for walks in the forests that surround us and quiet talks with new and old friends. We see happiness and love in the faces of men year after year as life-long friendships are formed. You are welcome here. The door is unlocked. All you need to do is open it. This program is one day longer and costs $85 more than our regular weekends.

Andrew Plummer started going to Rowe Camp in 1985 when he was fifteen and has been involved with Rowe ever since, including creating a camp for young adults where play, theater, and magic joined to create a unified experience. He makes his living working as a visual engineer for the international theater sensation Blue Man Group and is studying landscape design at the Landscape Institute of Harvard University.

Benjamin Seaman, a previous workshop leader at Rowe, is a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City, specializing in men’s work and couples’ therapy. He consults at Pratt Institute for Fine Arts, and the Villlage Center for Care and he regularly presents workshops in the gay community.

Adam Brown, L.Ac. is an New York State licensed acupuncturist and bodywork therapist in New York City. He also teaches classes in QiGong, practices QiGong Therapy and leads Heart-Centered Touch groups for Men. His work focuses on the embodiment and integration of energy, emotion and spirit. He has been a student of Taoism for many years.

Douglas Ferguson’s transdisciplinary art-making spans from his signature costume designs featured in the exhibitions “Goddess; the Classical Mode” at the Metropolitan Museum of New York and Momu Fashion Museum, Antwerp, BE.; to his film & video work; “Free Fall” (1994); an official selection of filmfest München (1994) and the New York Film Festival (1994). He is currently teaching time-based media at the Parsons New School of Design.

Bill Hubner is an actor, story teller, puppeteer, & singer who has performed around the world, at Carnegie Hall, and was part of the original company of “The Lion King” on Broadway. He has built puppets for “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Ave. Q,” & Crank Yankers. He founded “Cat’s Paw Collective” a group of puppeteers writers & artists. Bill has been a ROWE alumni since 1997. He co-facilitated last years Drag Play work-shop which was an unparalleled, hilarious success. Bill is thrilled at this opportunity to once again return to the loving supportive community that is Rowe.

George Jagatic, Founder & Creative Director of Axis Danz, and Dance Therapist at Village Care of NY, has a long history in dance and other movement art forms. His company, Axis Danz, has performed at a variety of international venues including television and film and was recently featured on Gotham TV as one of the exciting dance/art forms to emerge from the creative Manhattan scene. Much of his clinical work focuses on helping cross-addicted men and women cope with having HIV and achieving a deeper engagement in their daily lives.

Jean-Claude van Itallie was a central force in the explosive American theater of the sixties. An early LaMama playwright, his over thirty plays include the award-winning “America Hurrah,” “The Serpent” (written with the Open Theater), “The Tibetan Book of the Dead,” “Struck Dumb,” and much-produced translations of the major plays of Chekhov. Jean-Claude is founder and artistic director of Shantigar Foundation for theater/spirit/healing, located in Rowe. Author of “The Playwright’s Workbook, he has taught at Yale, Harvard, Amherst, Columbia, NYU Princeton, Esalen, Naropa and Easton Mountain. In 1999, his one-man show “War, Sex, and Dreams,” was acclaimed in NYC and LA. In 2005, his “Fear Itself, Secrets of the White House,” premiered at Theatre for New York City in NYC, while his play “Light” premiered at Theatre at Boston Court at Pasadena. “Light” will open at Theatre de Montparnasse in Paris in 2007-2008 season.