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March/April 2008 Cosmic
Astrodrama: When Astrology Comes Alive

by Vicky Thompson

When Layla Elam walks in to an astrodrama class, she doesn't carry a laptop computer to do your chart.

She carries a feather duster just in case order-loving Virgo wants to tidy up. Or a glittery golden top hat for showy Jupiter to parade around in, vying for the spotlight. Or an "Astrology Police" flak jacket so that officious Saturn can arrest any signs that get out of line.

Astrodrama isn't astrology by the book. It's a live improve-style class for playing out your astrological dramas. Aspects get real. Oppositions mirror and merge. Squares conflict. Trines sing in three-part harmony. Conjunctions collide.

Go to an astrodrama class and you might sit in the hot seat with your chart offering fodder for the class to act out.

"It's like the chart comes to life," says Elam, who fell in love with astrodrama in the mid-1980s in Tucson, Ariz. Now a Portland resident, Elam grew up in Hollywood, a daughter of the late Jack Elam, a character actor in Western TV dramas, including Gunsmoke and Lonesome Dove. Her love of community theater and astrology merged in astrodrama. An astrologer and teacher for 40 years, she has 20 years experience as a facilitator of experiential astrology.

In an early astrodrama sketch in Tucson, Elam played a caricature of her father as South Node Sam, who was at war with North Node Norberg. Dressed like an outlaw with a rope for a belt and an old hat perched on her head, she became the treacherous South Node Sam.

"I am going to steal all the Saturns and I'm going to collect 'em all and have 'em all for myself. And then I'm going to rule the world. Because I have all the Saturns," she says, growling in a Western twang in a reenactment of the scene. Years ago her father watched the skit on video, but didn't seem to get her tongue-in-cheek, cowboy-swagger tribute.

"I wanted to see what it felt like to play the type of characters my dad did because I had been watching him act since I was three. I admired him even though he was aloof," she says.

The scenes played in astrodrama aren't always about laughs. In one class, Elam played the role of a father who had abandoned his daughter. The scene, played with another class member, was intense.

"In the scene, I came back once in a while, but she rejected me because I was not a good guy," says Elam "And I felt so bad. I wanted her forgiveness. And I played this character and I kept asking for forgiveness. I cried afterward - it was a catharsis."

If you've ever wanted to wear a red cape and let your inner Mars warrior shine through, attend an astrodrama class near you. Elam's next class meets on April 8-29 on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. at Fir Grove Apartments Community Room, 4820 SE 122nd Ave. in Portland. Call 503-762-6854 by April 3 to register for the $60 series.

In the greater Pacific Northwest, you can find astrodrama classes at the Tree of Life Mystery School north of Spokane at www.treeoflifeschool.com.