DC Open Gathering
A full Day of In Person Play
Theresa Cunningham,
Douglass Farnum,
Liz Lescault,
Mike Perz,
Kathryn Sparks,
Kirk Johnson-Weider,
Elena Khazanova,
Monisha Mittal, and
John Peterson
Washington, DC
First Saturdays of the month / September 2023 - May 2024
The Open Gathering is a full day event, meeting on the first Saturday of each month from Sept. 2023 - May 2024.The DC Open Gathering is open to all. No previous experience is required.
Certified InterPlay leaders will guide participants through a series of InterPlay forms that anyone can do. Our leaders bring their own style and grace to the InterPlay table exploring different themes and concepts using InterPlay forms and philosophy.
InterPlay celebrates the creativity in every one of us and reminds us to play and embrace life, expand our personal awareness and discover our full potential. Leaders guide participants through a series of playful storytelling, movement, and vocalization. Each person decides how much or how little to do based on their own comfort level.
Interplay helps us explore our own new possibilities. Dare a little or a lot depending on how you feel on the day. InterPlay can move you in surprising ways, much like the quiet reflection of watching a sunset or the exhilaration and discovery of climbing a mountain.
InterPlay was created by Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter and is practiced throughout the world.
Covid Policy: full vaccination and boosters required. Bring your masks.
Cost: $25.00 for the day
Registration/Information: lizlescault@gmail.com
Leaders
Theresa Cunningham
Theresa Cunningham is an award-winning actor, singer, dancer, director, and teaching artist who does math for fun. A Certified Interplay Leader, she believes in the power of play as a tool for exploration, healing, and community.
Douglass Farnum
Since retiring, play deprived Douglass works hard at doing nothing. He finds that interplay feeds his inner growth and complements his meditation and Non Violent Communication (NVC) practices. After 10 years of dabbling in interplay Doug recently became an interplay leader.
Liz Lescault
Liz Lescault, a visual artist and sculptor, has practiced, exhibited and taught art for over 40 years. Liz founded the DC Open Gathering and continues to coordinate the Open Gathering for the DC InterPlay community in and around the metropolitan area. Liz is a member of the DC InterPlay Organizing Body. She leads Open Gathering days and organizes and leads workshops regionally and nationally, online and in person.
Liz also leads Art Lab and InterPlay for Smith Center and the Healing Arts. S
In 2021 Liz received an honorarium to lead a workshop for the Phillips Collection.
Formerly, Liz, was a hotline crisis counselor, for various suicide prevention lifelines and The Trevor Project providing help for LGBTQ youth in crisis and the Prince Georges County Homeless Hotline. Liz has also led InterPlay for elders with chronic illness and cognitive disabilities at Iona Senior Center in Washington DC.
Mike Perz
Mike is a collaborator. His reliance on collaborating has gotten so bad that he can’t seem to get anything done unless he is collaborating with someone else. During the day, Mike creates web applications. His customer has learned how to develop web applications in order to support Mike’s collaborating. (Or maybe it’s that Mike’s customer also likes to collaborate?)
Kathryn Sparks
Kirk Johnson-Weider
My introduction to InterPlay was a Men's Retreat I attended in early 2016, an amazing experience that began my journey with InterPlay. It has become an important part of my life. For me I enjoy InterPlay because it’s fun and deceptively deep. I’ve used InterPlay forms as icebreakers and teambuilding exercises at trainings and events I host. It’s a fantastic tool for community building and opening people up. This I why I became a Certified InterPlay Leader to better utilize it with my work, which involves a national service program, and my hobbies, which are pretty geeky like roleplaying games. InterPlay is something I’ve tried to integrate into all aspects of my life and I love sharing it with others.
Elena Khazanova
Monisha Mittal
Monisha Mittal is Certfied Leader (CL) and Life Practice Program Leader (LPL) in the Washington DC region. She has been playing since 2018 and cherishes InterPlay for supporting her daily recovery from overachieving. Inspired by the freedom, connection and laughter InterPlay has brought to her life, she creates workshops and courses to help humans grow their authenticity, agency and light with ease and joy. She writes weekly articles about the human journey in the weekly publication, The (tiny) Voice of Big Love with the tag line "Because Humaning is harder than Adulting." A certified Sacred Depths coach, she supports individuals in playing with their sneaky deep and discovering their embodied wisdom in one-on-ones.
John Peterson