Pedro Reyes: Play is central to the creative process. To have room to play is to have room to say what if?

Eric Zimmerman: There is the play of shadows on the wall. There’s the idea of playing a musical instrument.

Jade Ivy: Going outside and playing Woodchucks with your friends, like, on a warm, sunny day. You’re just kicking back, relaxing.

Eric Turiel: Relax, take a load off.

Tritemare: Very reminiscent of childhood, early things. Things that ordinarily aren’t fun become fun.

Charlotte Richards: Starting from when we’re really young, it’s the foundation of how we learn, how we have fun.

Mattie Brice: Play is a context where we practice or live through—sort of—alternate realities and experiment with new customs and protocols for various forms of catharsis or exploration.

Travis Larchuk: You’ve got work, rest, and play. Play is the one that is not work or rest.

Jaden D. Francis: Dancing with my mom. And I play with my bike.

Tracy Fullerton: Play is movement within constraints.

Jane Friedhoff: I tend to think about play as existing within a set of confines or constraints, and thinking about creative ways to kind of move in, out, and around them, to subvert them, to take advantage of them.

Sam Roberts: One of the things that lets us immerse totally into play is when we know there is a safety net there, right? It’s like, you’re not happy to jump from a height unless you know something below can catch you, right? Play is a trust exercise. Close your eyes and fall backwards and hope that they catch you.

Alioune N’gom: Play is putting yourself in a situation that is not reality and interacting with other people in a situation that is not necessarily a one-to-one match with reality.

Everett Phillips: Play is laughter. That would be my one-word answer.

Duke DeVilling: Play and sports just go hand in hand.

Kristen Skillman: Relaxing and it takes your mind off of the more serious things.

Randall Roberts: It’s almost like meditation with a smile. It’s chasing after that, it’s chasing after bliss.

Amanda Penny: Play is imaginative because you get to put your own way to everything and it’s just kind of creative!

Courtney Price: Play doesn’t necessarily create anything. It isn’t necessary. It’s funny because I think it’s so necessary. [laughter]

Stephanie Barish: Play is my favorite thing.

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