November 2026 | Issue 02
Idle
Thoughts
The Big To-Do
Issue
A Letter from our Producers…
Hi, friends!
Welcome to November at Idle Hands.
November is such an interesting month. We find ourselves in darkness at 5:00pm. We start to feel the change in the air. Peak fall foliage is glimmering around us. It’s a month of work, of projects finishing and winter projects beginning, and it begins the scary feeling of beginning to enter the new year. Personally, that’s terrifying. I’m excited to breathe in that fear, though, and set myself up to thrive in the year of unknowns that lies ahead.
This November, we are focused on intentionality. Goal setting. Making goals ahead of time, so you can be prepared to do the work and rigor required to maintain and achieve them. This month, we are also thinking a lot about community. Environmentally, this month is gorgeous. Finding moments of joy, love, community, and doing-nothingness in this weather and in this moment is so important. Make sure you do.
Idle Hands has been cooking all month, and we are so excited about everything coming your way soon.
We cannot wait to let you know what we’ve been up to and what there is to look forward to. If you’re feeling seasonally unmotivated or stuck, get involved with us. We are here to help you get out of that funk. We are here to help you create.
Inside this newsletter, you’ll get an introduction to one of our veteran Idle Artists, a peek into some of the work our collective members and producers worked on, and highlights of things to do this upcoming month! This newsletter will also highlight upcoming Idle Hands events for you to show up to! We will also give you another activity to try this month. It is not homework. It does not need to be perfect. You can share it or not share it. All you have to do is try the thing.
Welcome to November! Cheers to apple cider, messy to-do lists, the new Hunger Games movie, and deciding to intentionally set a goal for this month.
Thanks for being here.
– The Idle Hands Producers
What have we been up to?
Planning. Organizing. Curating. Getting ready to have you in or at our next events!
Meet an
Idle Artist!
Idle Hands is a community of artists. Each month, we spotlight one of the people who make this collective what we know it to be! This is a chance to get to know the people in our community. To know what they’re up to, what inspires them, and what they’re dreaming about. For our November issue, we are so excited to introduce you to one of our brilliant, creative, and veteran collective members. The fabulous Christina Morris!
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your artistic practice. What do you make, and what keeps you coming back to it?
Wow this is a really intense and amazing question. I make and create pieces that bring me a sense of joy or catharsis. Sharing your mind and ideas with others to connect and be understood is something almost primal to our human experience. That is what brings me back; processing my reality, whether comedically or through physical and emotional expression, and giving this piece of myself to an audience to process through their own lens of life. It is intoxicating.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently adapting a version of Medea by Euripides, and planning on Directing it come the new year. Keep your ears open for more news regarding that! I’m co-producing “Pussy P.I.” a Draglesque show that goes up at the V.U. Lounge November 21st! And I’m also playing “Dusty” in FPAC’s production of “POTUS” November 20-22! Come check it out, it's going to be outrageous!
Who is an artist that people should look at/pay attention to?
Oh my god Donatello Fermata! She is a GORGEOUS Drag Queen and Opera singer who blows my mind with creativity and beauty. She created Opera Haus, a drag opera, which I feel is opening up new artistic pathways that I can’t wait to be explored further! Check her out on Instagram @dontatella_fermata
What does “community” mean to you as an artist?
(Not to sound like a pageant queen but) It means everything. You simply cannot do it all alone without burning out. Community helps us actualize dreams we envision by working together as a unit. When everyone uses their own strengths whether physically, intellectually, or through love and support; together it creates a culture of growth that allows us to make meaningful art a reality. It also allows us to refine our vision into something even greater. We need each other to learn, to grow, to thrive.
What’s a piece of advice another artist has given you?
Everyone has a personal method when approaching their art that works for their brain; and there is immense freedom in breaking away from traditional pathways to “success”. You can take the advice/tips that actually work for you specifically and leave behind what isn’t helpful/useful. It is difficult to do this when the world is screaming there is only one way to do something, but listen to your mind and body.
How has your being in the Idle Hands Collective informed your work as an artist?
Collaboration. Spontaneity. Belief in yourself. These three things have carried on in my life after. I would’ve never thought I could write a 10 minute play in the middle of the night, and now I’ve done it twice! I would’ve never thought I could choreograph a dance piece in three days but I did! Listening to other’s ideas, rolling with the punches and following through with your gut can get you far.
If you had to give a piece of advice to someone looking to join Idle Hands, what would you say?
Idle Hands is an opportunity to launch an original idea and make it happen. This is a space for actors and creators to be more than a vessel for someone else’s work. Come in with a vision, a plan, and a passion!
What is something completely unrelated to the arts that you are obsessed with?
I love to rock climb, I crochet, I love a good puzzle, a little Sudoku and more importantly board games! Big into that. I’m always down to board game it up.
Where can people follow you or see your work?
You can follow me on Instagram on either: @singer_morris or @hersona_music
Bos
ton
Provi
dence
Idle Hands lives between Providence and Boston, and this newsletter is a tool to help you move between both cities. This section is a monthly guide to the people, places, and art-making happening in both creative capitals that we think you should check out.
Conn
ector
Something to see
Circle Mirror Transformation – Boston
November 18–21 | Semel Theater, Emerson College
“When four lost New Englanders who enroll in Marty’s six-week-long community-center drama class begin to experiment with harmless games, hearts are quietly torn apart, and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won. By Annie Baker.”
Get tickets here →Someone to meet
Brick Island Studios Fall Opening – Boston
November 14 | 1476 River St., Hyde Park
“Join the Brick Island Studio collective for our annual Open Studios event on Nov. 14th, Saturday from 4–8pm! Come check out our studios, meet the artists, and find out more about our creative processes. In our gallery, our group exhibition will showcase paintings, installation art, textiles, fiber, sculpture, ceramics, video, performance, healing arts and more! Participating Artists: Sam Fields, Sue Murad, Joanna Muehleisen, Josephine Burr, Leila Simon Hayes, Cloth Collaborative, Faith Johnson, Yuko Oda, Full Circle Healing Arts. Refreshments will be served. This community event is free and open to everyone.”
Learn more here →Somewhere to go
Little Pictures Show & Sale – Providence
November 15 | Providence Art Club
“First mounted in 1904, the Providence Art Club's Little Pictures Show & Sale is the oldest and largest exhibition of its kind in the United States. This year, the beloved tradition turns 122 years old and continues to be a strong source of pride for the Club and a beloved tradition in the Northeast. The 2026 show will feature over 700 works of original art sized at 16” x 16” or less and priced at no more than $350 spread across three unique gallery spaces. Over 120 local artists will be represented. Sales of art are tax free in Rhode Island.
A wide range of artworks will be on view, from paintings, drawings, photographs, and printmaking to jewelry, glass, and fine woodworking. With such a breadth and diversity of styles and media present, there is truly something for everyone. Purchased works may be taken home immediately and new works are added each day to replace them.
This show is the perfect opportunity for art lovers to purchase works for their own collection, or find a unique gift for friends and loved ones. It is also a great way to explore the Providence Art Club and learn more about the artists who make up the membership of one of the oldest arts organizations in the nation.”
Learn more here →
Support our
producers +
collective members!
This upcoming month, three of our four Idle Hands producers (that’s us) have performances in beautiful shows across Boston and Providence! We are scheduling Idle Hands “viewings”, to see how many people from the collective we can get to come see and support our collective artists and their work! Learn more and see dates below.
Idle Hands goes to see our friends in productions! Yay!
Idle Artist Christina Morris plays Dusty in the Franklin Performing Arts Center’s production of “POTUS” November 20–22. Tickets available here.
Associate producer and Idle Artist Noah Martinez is directing “The Laramie Project” at Leeds Theatre at Brown University this coming December 3–6. Tickets go on sale 11/11 and will sell out fast! Learn more/get tickets here.
From the
rehearsal
room…
Noah Martinez’s cast of The Laramie Project, with guest artist Jeffrey LaHoste (co-founder of the Tectonic Theatre Project) premiering at Leeds Theatre at Brown University this December 3–6!
What’s
next…
Join us for our first Draglesque show, The Pussy P.I., A Noir Night, with your hosts Tyler Tyler and Hersona on November 21st at 8pm in the VU.
Meet the slutspects, solve a murder, and dress to impress at our first ever Draglesque show! We’re taking you to the 1940s, a world of salacious murder, femme fatales, and a washed up private eye on the case. These slutspects must lipsync to prove their “innocence”…. Their fate lies in your dainty little hands. Wear your best for our best dressed competition, we will be watching. Bring your wife, your girlfriend, and your dollars!
GET TICKETS
Try this!
Choose three days in November to freewrite for twenty minutes. After you have completed the three freewrites, turn your three pieces of writing into a piece of art. It can be a play, a song, a poem, a painting, a video. Make something out of your most randomest thoughts.
We’re
wondering
about…
Is a Glee reboot necessary?
Thank you!
You did it! You reached the end of the newsletter. We hope to see you at a production or around town this next month. As you enjoy the colors of fall and the peak of pumpkin spice, we ask that you set one goal for yourself. Let yourself find something that will push you ahead of the game. Take care of yourself this fall.
And again, come support our producers and Idle Artists in their various shows this month! We’ll see you at Noir Night!
If this newsletter gives you any ideas, send them to us. You are a part of our community.
See you next time!
