A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts and entertainment during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.
magazine
MARCH 2021
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ACTORS THEATRE OF LOUISVILLE Romeo & Juliet's New Stomping Ground Page 6 | LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA Steve Causey: Celebrating 50 Years Page 12 |KENTUCKY PERFORMING ARTS Musical Collaboration Celebrates Love, Justice & Togetherness Page 18 | LOUISVILLE BALLET Company Dancer Shares Her Ballet Journey Page 26 | KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare & Juvenile Justice Page 30 | FUND FOR THE ARTS Award Recipients' Accomplishments Will Inspire Page 34
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SOCIAL & ARTISTIC REVOLUTION Art is a ripening, an evolution, an uplifting which enables us to emerge from darkness into a blaze of light. — Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theater director and theorist
As of this month, it’s been a full year since stages around the world went dark. None of us could have predicted what a long, difficult road we’d have to trudge to get back to live shows. That time is coming, but we’re still not there yet. This past year has been an unprecedented time of reflection, creativity and evolution in the performing arts. Evolution is a central tenet of all forms of artistic expression, and that’s because art, by its very nature, is a reflection of the community. Our society and its cultural norms are constantly changing, growing, transforming and progressing. Art and performance respond in kind. Usually, change happens slowly. Evolution is gradual. In some cases, we don’t even notice it until after it’s happened. But the events of 2020 — the pandemic and community unrest — kickstarted a revolution of social and artistic change that’s still gaining momentum today. From shifting the way content is delivered to their audiences, to reimagining the content itself, our local arts groups have risen to the challenge and then some. Amy Higgs Managing Editor
In this issue of Audience Magazine, we’re highlighting some of the ways performing arts organizations are transforming their craft, their audiences and our community. You’ll read about how Actors Theatre is re-envisioning a classic, and get some insights into the past and future of the Louisville Orchestra from one of its longest tenured musicians. You’ll find out how Kentucky Shakespeare is improving the lives of at-risk youth through education, and get a preview of Kentucky Performing Arts’ innovative programming. You’ll also meet two transformative leaders who are committed to increasing arts awareness. These stories are brought to you free of charge thanks to our generous advertisers. Spring is just around the corner, bringing a new warmth to our bodies and renewed hope to our hearts. We look forward to the day when we can all gather again — whether that’s at outdoor venues, limited-capacity indoor events or hybrid virtual/ in-person shows. Until that time, we’re here to be a voice for Louisville’s performing arts groups as they continue to evolve, and move our community forward.
Until the curtain rises again, G. Douglas Dreisbach Publisher
– The Audience Group
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TABLE of CONTENTS MARCH 2021
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REIMAGINING A CLASSIC
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INTERVIEW WITH STEVE CAUSEY
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ALL TOGETHER NOW
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THE DANCE BETWEEN THE DANCES
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SHINING THROUGH
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ADVOCATING FOR THE ARTS
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TICKET
GIVEAWAYS
SPECIAL INVITES
SHOW PREVIEWS Stay Connected with Sign up for our e-news and be the first to hear about ticket giveaways, special invites, email news alerts, show previews, reviews and the latest happenings in the performing arts scene in Louisville.
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A behind-the-scenes look into Louisville’s performing arts and entertainment during this unprecedented time of reflection and artistic creation.
PUBLISHER
The Audience Group, Inc. G. Douglas Dreisbach MANAGING EDITOR
Amy Higgs CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Rhonda Mefford SALES & MARKETING
G. Douglas Dreisbach CONTRIBUTORS
Actors Theatre Louisville Orchestra Kentucky Performing Arts Louisville Ballet Kentucky Shakespeare Fund for the Arts
To read current and previous Audience playbills and performance guides, go to issuu.com/audience502. On the Cover: R&B artist Zaniah performs during All Together Now, a concert featuring a wide array of musical collaborations, made available for streaming by Kentucky Performing Arts. Read more on page 18.
GOT AN ARTICLE IDEA? Audience Magazine is a platform for the arts in Louisville. If you have an article idea or something you think we should cover, email ahiggs@theaudiencegroup.com © Copyright 2020. The Audience Group, Inc. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
Audience® Magazine is published by The Audience Group, Inc. 136 St. Matthews Avenue #300 Louisville, KY 40207 502.212.5177 | Audience502.com D E C E M B E R
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REIMAGINING
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ROMEO & JULIET: LOUISVILLE 2020 COMBINES PERFORMANCE WITH TECHNOLOGY by Actors Theatre of Louisville
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ctors Theatre of Louisville is an arts and culture organization as well as a social enterprise. Sharing experiences centered in a commitment to create a more just society, we dive into digital production to become an interdisciplinary laboratory for a storytelling (r)evolution.
This has been going on for a really long time, these resentments against other peoples, as well as the ways in which the pursuit of happiness, love, and self-actualization are complicated by systems of oppression.
Unfolding in a vibrant alternate universe that reimagines the classic story alongside our troubled moment, Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020 is a resonant retelling that illuminates how history reverberates in the present. Featuring a cast working together virtually from around the country, the production combines wonderful performances with new media technologies, ranging from documentary footage to video art and animation. As rehearsals and filming got underway, Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Fleming, the director of this adventurous undertaking, spoke with Dramaturg Amy Wegener about the ideas fueling his production — which envisions the Montagues and the Capulets as prominent families, one Black and the other White, caught in deeply rooted animosity.
and killed without recourse. That the laws on the books are insufficient to provide justice, due to a longstanding legacy of injustice and the attendant relentless interpersonal enmity that seems so difficult to source. So when you think about this ancient grudge, that no one really remembers how it started since it’s become so normalized, the awakening because of a tragedy evidences a connection between the Shakespearean narrative and the contemporary story. The intersection of race (a social construct, not a biological reality), when seen through an economic, policy, and legal lens — to me, that’s all in Romeo & Juliet. This has been going on for a really long time, these resentments against other peoples, as well as the ways in which the pursuit of happiness, love, and self-actualization are complicated by systems of oppression.
Amy Wegener: Could you share your thoughts about the relationship between Romeo & Juliet and Louisville 2020? How do you see Shakespeare’s story in conversation with this time and place? Robert Barry Fleming: By imagining a heightened contemporary world for the play, I’m bringing this tale from the 16th century into, perhaps, a more immediate conversation, and that’s very purposeful — not in an effort to valorize Eurocentrism, but to say, “How is our experience shaped by the history informing this moment?” In some ways it’s still 1870, after reconstruction, where Jim Crow and Black Codes allowed wanton lynching of Black folks without protection. That’s the kind of thing we’ve seen with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: that Black people can still be terrorized
Also, the intersection of these states of affairs with pandemics throughout history, where again and again you see a tragic disconnect between public health, politics, profit, and who has been prioritized in terms of safety. There are so many layers in Shakespeare’s play. And just as he mined many sources to tell a story that’s been around for a long time, we keep meditating
Juliet, played by Avery Deutsch and Romeo, played by Justin Jackson.
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In addition to capturing the actors’ work in quarantine, we’re incorporating documentary footage I filmed during the protests and around Louisville. We’re also playing with visual abstraction that’s very much like video art, and using animation for the heightened nature of the events of 2020... − Robert Barry Fleming on this cautionary tale because it identifies vulnerabilities in our cultural landscape that don’t seem to get a lot of humanist traction through the annals of time. AW: Part of what makes the loss in this story so palpable is experiencing all of the love, humor, and liveliness animating this world. How do you think about that mix? RBF: As big as the conflict is, so is the love. Love and hate are the two sides of a coin, intricately bound together in this narrative. You don’t take time to fight with somebody unless you have a very strong investment in them. When the cast first read through the play, I was struck by how funny and playful so much of it is, how delightful it was to spend time with these characters. There are big stakes, but there’s also a real window into the human comedy, and
ROMEO & JULIET: LOUISVILLE 2020
Avery Deutsch as Juliet
Justin Jackson as Romeo
boldly drawn, archetypal characters; our cast has wildly unique takes on who they are. And the plethora of talents that this company brings makes for a very diverse world, in every sense of that word. It’s made up of several generations, Black and White, both conservatory trained actors and spoken word performers — there’s an incredibly vibrant palette to work from, as all these artists come together to tell the story. It feels like the story world possesses the complex, ambiguous, and dynamic relationships we see in our world. AW: You’ve used the term “new media” to describe your experimentation with technology to create this experience. How are you thinking about the visual world of the production, and how the storytelling references Louisville?
by William Shakespeare directed by Robert Barry Fleming
RBF: In addition to capturing the actors’ work in quarantine, we’re incorporating documentary footage I filmed during the protests and around Louisville. We’re also playing with visual abstraction that’s very much like video art, and using animation for the heightened nature of the events of 2020, which were unreal and continue to unfold. I’m following creative impulses as I go, taking what I have and letting that tell me what it becomes, and I’m excited to see how that continues to reveal and manifest itself.
dramaturg Amy Wegener part of the Bingham Signature Shakespeare Series
THE CAST (in order of appearance)
Reverend Laurence Mercutio Benvolio Tybalt Capulet Lady Capulet Montague Lady Montague The Prince Romeo Nurse Juliet
Devin E. Haqq Lance G. Newman II Isiah Fish Alexander Stuart Chris Henry Coffey Jennifer Mudge Ken Robinson Christina Acosta Robinson Eric Sheffer Stevens Justin Jackson Jessica Wortham Avery Deutsch
A contemporary interpretation necessitates an alternate story universe. The action is happening in our time period, in this space — a world informed by a reckoning with systemic racism and a pandemic. But that world has its own rules, and Shakespeare is very clear about those, in terms of power structures and access. And yet there’s so much freedom; we have a super cool playground to explore.
PRODUCTION / ARTISTIC TEAM Artistic Producer / Casting Director / Costume Coordinator Line Producer / Casting Associate Director of Production / Props Coordinator Video Editor Sound Editor
Emily Tarquin, CSA Sujotta Pace, CSA Paul Werner Philip Allgeier Paul Doyle
Romeo & Juliet: Louisville 2020 will be released this spring. Purchase virtual tickets here.
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EXHIBIT SPOTLIGHT
Isabelle de Borchgrave FASHIONING ART FROM PAPER by Speed Art Museum
Speed Art Museum unveils its highly anticipated exhibition featuring the artwork of Isabelle de Borchgrave, the Belgian artist whose life-like creations and elaborately-adorned period clothing are entirely handmade with paper. The exhibition, entitled “Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper,” features nearly 100 lifesize, trompe l’oeil paper costumes and works that involve the manipulation of paper and paint to create fully formed sculptural costume pieces. The costumes span nearly 500 years of fashion, replicating historical garments found in European masterworks and in collections around the country.
Isabelle de Borchgrave, b. 1946, Belgium English Sporting Dress and Hat, 1998 Based on a ca. 1872 dress in the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Isabelle de Borchgrave, b. 1946, Belgium Mantua, 2011 Based on a court mantua ca. 1750 in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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Isabelle de Borchgrave, b. 1946, Belgium Lorenzo il Magnifico, 2007 Inspired by the painting Journey of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Medici Chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence. He is represented her as page Gaspard, down from his horse
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The exhibit runs until August 22 and is organized in partnership with the Dixon Gallery and Gardens of Memphis and supported by W. L. Lyons Brown, Jr. Foundation (Cary Brown & Steven Epstein).
For more information, visit www.SpeedMuseum.org
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February 19 – August 22, 2021
This show-stopping exhibition features life-size, trompe l’œil paper costumes spanning nearly 500 years of fashion, replicating historical garments found in European masterworks and in collections from around the world.
Members see it all for free! Learn more at
speedmuseum.org
Advanced ticket purchase strongly encouraged and face masks required. This exhibition is organized by Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, in cooperation with Isabelle de Borchgrave Studio. This exhibition is supported by: W. L. Lyons Brown, Jr. Foundation (Cary Brown & Steven Epstein)
Media sponsorship from:
Exhibition season sponsored by: Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein Paul and Deborah Chellgren Debra and Ronald Murphy
Images: Isabelle de Borchgrave (Belgian, b. 1946) Detail of Paysanne, 2009 Based on a costume design by Mikhail Larionov for the Ballet Russes Isabelle de Borchgrave (Belgian, b. 1946) Detail of Pallas, 2007 Inspired by a figure in Sandro Botticelli’s painting Pallas and the Centaur, dated 1482, in the collection of the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
S P E EMixed D media, M U Sprimarily E U M acrylic, ink, metallic powder, and adhesive on paper
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AUDIENCE INTERVIEW
STEVE CAUSEY CELEBRATING 50 YEARS WITH LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA by G. Douglas Dreisbach
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he Louisville Orchestra has some of the most talented musicians in the industry. Selecting just one to highlight is a daunting task, as each member boasts unique talents and contributions to the company’s magnificent performances. We caught up with Steve Causey, one of the longest tenured members of the orchestra, to talk about his 50-year run with the group, his thoughts on playing instruments, the evolution of the Louisville Orchestra, and more. This is an excerpt from the full interview. To read it in its entirety, visit Audience502.com. G. Douglas Dreisbach: You are one of the longest tenured musicians at the Louisville Orchestra. Do other members come to you for advice or look to you for direction? Steve Causey: Well, timpanist Jim Rago is a couple years ahead of me, and we have had a few others who were here longer in the past, but I’m number two on the list right now. I don’t know if they really look up to me, but I do think it’s nice we have such a broad spectrum of ages in the orchestra, and people do find it interesting that we’ve been through so much. There are a lot of us who have been here for decades, so it’s not like it’s us versus them. But yes, people are kind of amazed that I’ve been here this long. I have been fortunate to have a good job all these years. GDD: How did you get involved with the orchestra? SC: I grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and occasionally, I would come to Louisville and study with Jerry Ball, the assistant dean at UofL’s School of Music, and he was also the horn teacher. He later became the dean, but at that time, I was studying with him, and there was an opening for an assistant French horn in the orchestra. So, I auditioned for Jorge Mester (LO music director from 1967-79) and the principal brass players, Leon Rapier, Ken Albrecht, and Pat McHugh. I don’t know how I played,
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Steve Causey has played with the Louisville Orchestra for 50 years. Photo by O'Neil Arnold.
but do remember it was pretty scary for a 17-year-old to go through. But I got the job, and here I am. GDD: You’ve seen a lot of changes at the Louisville Orchestra, especially with the explosive energy of Teddy Abrams and what he has done over the past few seasons. What are some of the biggest changes you have seen over the years? SC: When I started, the orchestra had been what we referred to as a “nighttime orchestra” because almost everybody in the orchestra had a day job. We had a lot of music teachers and various other forms of employment, so we rehearsed at
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night. And then in the late ’70s, there were some people who just couldn’t do two jobs because the orchestra got busier and busier, so the players decided that we should try to go full time, which we did in ’81. Since then, we have been a "daytime orchestra." It has been a long road, keeping that working, but fortunately, we have, and we’re still going. Also, every time we change music directors, the orchestra takes a different turn. Teddy has been simply magnificent as far as community involvement, and many other things, but what he has done in the community has been great. The programming he created really caught people’s attention. It was great because we were getting more people in for the concerts, until the pandemic hit, of course. It is interesting to look back over the decades and see which direction the orchestra has gone, and where it will go in the future. Right now, we are certainly on a positive trend, even during the pandemic. We are doing as much as we can with the streaming, small groups, and everything else, but we’re working, and that’s a great thing.
their distinct differences. Some jazz players can switch instruments very quickly, but that’s mainly in the woodwinds. So, for example, saxophone players might also play the clarinet and the flute. But in orchestras, it is a different deal, and you specialize in a certain instrument. I always like to tell the students that I am still learning how to play the horn, and you really never stop learning. With Teddy, we do a lot of modern music, but everything brings new challenges. And that’s part of the fun, the challenge of it. GDD: Are there things that the pandemic may have forced you to do, that you weren’t doing before, that you’ll continue to do when everything gets back to somewhat normal? SC: I am just hoping to get back to playing concerts for people. I am fortunate that I have two large musical families with both the Louisville Orchestra and the church choir, which is a very large family of 120 people. During the pandemic, it’s been totally different. But the orchestra is functioning, and
...playing music is such a thrill, I mean, there’s really nothing like it. I won’t say that every concert or every day is as exciting as the next, but there’s nothing like playing for people.
GDD: You play the French horn, which is an interesting instrument in that it isn’t like a guitar where you might be able to control the volume with a knob, but more with airflow through the instrument, controlled with your lip muscles and positioning around the mouthpiece. What is the hardest part about playing the French horn? SC: I think one of the hardest things about the horn is getting started playing it. For kids in high school or junior high, middle school, or whenever they start playing — it’s a very difficult instrument to start playing. The reason the horn is difficult is that it’s a very long piece of tubing, versus the trumpet, which is a shorter piece of tubing, so the notes are wider apart, and on the horn, the notes are closer together. It’s higher ranged, and it can be frustrating, especially for a younger player. But once you get the hang of it, once you get past a certain level of getting technique and memorizing the fingering and everything, I think all instruments become equally difficult once you get past the first part of the learning curve. GDD: Are all horns similar to play? SC: Not really. I can make a sound on those other instruments, but I can’t play them. I did grow up with a father who played the tuba, and we had an old German tuba that I would play occasionally. The way you support the sound in a trumpet is totally different than the way you support the sound, lung capacity or air-wise, on the horn. And they all have 14
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we are doing our best to take care of our own and provide music as we can, and that has been working for the pandemic. But we hope to be back to playing live concerts for live audiences as soon as we can. It has been a hard year for me because my wife died back in September, and her dad, my father-in-law, died in August. They were both patrons, and they were always at concerts. I don’t want to dwell on that, but that’s what my year was like. It was a very hard year. So, it’s nice to be working. I’ll be playing on a concert in a couple weeks and am looking forward to that as well as getting things back to a more normal form. GDD: Fifty years is quite the career. When the day comes to “hang up the horn” and retire, what will you miss the most about performing with the Louisville Orchestra? SC: The people, definitely. And, playing music is such a thrill, I mean, there’s really nothing like it. I won’t say that every concert or every day is as exciting as the next, but there’s nothing like playing for people, whether it’s a full audience, or whether you’re playing with a small group in the schools or teaching somebody. When I’ve stopped with the orchestra, I will miss the people, and I hope that I’ll be able to continue teaching. I know I’ll be singing in the choir, so there you have it. But retirement comes to everybody, and it will for me, too. I just don’t have that part figured out yet. A U D I E N C E
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Steve Causey. Photo by O'Neil Arnold. L O U I S V I L L E
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ALL TOGETHER NOW KPA UNITED LOCAL ARTISTS FOR A UNIQUE, VIRTUAL EVENT by Christian Adelberg
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n January 30, a unique event happened at Old Forester’s Paristown Hall. Thanks to generous support from the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, Kentucky Performing Arts and 91.9 WFPK recorded All Together Now, a concert that brought local artists together in a safe environment, moving out of the living room and onto the stage. These artistic collaborations created a musical time capsule reflecting perseverance, love, justice, peace, and togetherness. Themes that define our present, while giving us the creative inspiration to build a better future.
The recorded performance was made available for free through Kentucky Performing Arts from February 13 to 21 and garnered hundreds of views and wonderful feedback from the community.
Maestro J and Friends with Phillip Hancock performing in All Together Now. Photo courtesy of Kentucky Performing Arts.
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LISTEN UP! Kentucky Performing Arts has put together a Spotify playlist of the songs featured in All Together Now. Click here to listen. Photos courtesy of Kentucky Performing Arts.
Dequan Tunstull, Zaniah, Ben Sollee and Dani Markham
Kiana Del and Otis Junior
Aaron Bibelhauser and Michael Cleveland
Maestro J and Friends
Carly Johnson
Scott T. Smith
Ben Sollee
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Diva Amon underwater. Photo by Solvin Zankl
Kentucky Performing Arts is proud to bring you National Geographic Live. These virtual events allow you to experience the behind-the-scenes stories and stunning imagery from National Geographic's world-renowned photographers, scientists, authors, filmmakers, conservationists, and adventurers from the comfort of home. Tickets are available at KentuckyPerformingArts.org.
MYSTERIOUS SEAS
National Geographic Live Tuesday, March 30, 7PM Get a glimpse into the ocean’s greatest depths — and the fascinating creatures that live there — with two leading marine biologists and National Geographic Explorers. David Gruber searches the oceans for bioluminescent and biofluorescent marine species and designs delicate and noninvasive tools for studying and interacting with deep-sea life. Diva Amon participates in expeditions around the world to study the unusual animals living in a variety of deep-sea habitats — and how humans impact them. Through stories and conversation, they’ll shine a light on this dark, cold, and mysterious world. David Gruber with camera-lights. Photo by Elias Carlson.
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Photo by Saiyna Bashir
WOMEN & MIGRATION
National Geographic Live Tuesday, April 13, 7PM
Photo by Danielle Villasana
Danielle Villasana Danielle Villasana is a photojournalist based in Istanbul whose documentary work focuses on human rights, gender, displacement, and health around the world. She is a National Geographic Explorer, Magnum Foundation awardee, and an International Women’s Media Foundation fellow. Villasana strongly believes in pairing photography with education and community. She is a co-founder of We, Women, an Authority Collective board member, a member on
MIORA RAJAONARY
Miora Rajaonary is a documentary photographer born and raised in Madagascar, currently based in Mauritius. Through her work, she focuses on identity and the social impacts of and adaptations to climate change in Africa. Rajaonary was named the winner of the Juror’s Choice of the 2019 edition of The Fence, the First Prize of the Addis Foto Fest’s Portfolio Review sponsored by National Geographic in December 2018, and one of the four winners of the inaugural Getty + Array Grant in July 2018. She was named one of the “10 emerging photographers of color to watch” in January 2018 by I-D magazine. SAIYNA BASHIR
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Saiyna Bashir is a Pakistani photojournalist currently based in Islamabad. After studying journalism at P E R F O R M I N G
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the Columbia College, Chicago, Bashir worked as a staff photographer for Cap Times in the United States for two years. The overarching themes of most of Bashir’s long-term project publications involve human rights, healthcare, migration, climate change and gender. Her photos have been published alongside news stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, and The Telegraph, among others. She has also worked for international nonprofit organizations such as Unicef, Sightsavers, Medicin du Monde, and the WHO. JENNIFER SAMUEL (Moderator) Jennifer Pritheeva Samuel is a photo editor at National Geographic, where she produces stories about culture and the human condition for the magazine and website. She edited many of the stories in the magazine’s 2019-20 series highlighting women, and the 2018 series on race and diversity. In 2019, Samuel received second place as POYI’s magazine media visual editor of the year and an honorable mention from NPPA as magazine picture editor of the year. Prior to National Geographic, she oversaw public programming for Photoville and managed Anastasia Photo gallery and Hank Willis Thomas’ studio. She was a co-founder and curator of the Brooklyn Photo Salon.
Photo by Rebecca Hale
SPEAKERS
Photo by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic
Photographers with The Everyday Projects, who use their medium to challenge stereotypes and amplify storytellers worldwide, have come together to document the impact of migration on women around the globe in a major National Geographic magazine feature and several online stories. The project was created with additional support from the National Geographic Society.
The Everyday Projects’ Community Team, and a Photo Bill of Rights co-author. She is also a member of Women Photograph and Ayün Fotógrafas. Ultimately, Villasana works by the words of Donna De Cesare: “You are a human being first and a journalist second.”
Photo by Amber Arnold
Never before has the world been more tightly woven and the movement of people greater between and within continents and countries. Although COVID-19 has slowed migration, in 2019 more than 270 million people — nearly half of them women — were living in countries other than the one where they were born. Drawn by the promise of a better future, women increasingly have traveled to wealthier countries, taking jobs in child- and eldercare and domestic work, as well as manufacturing and agriculture — a shift described as “the feminization of migration.” For women who are forced to leave home because of famine or violence, migration is a gamble for their very survival.
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UPCOMING PERFORMANCES As the saying goes, “the show must go on.” Kentucky Performing Arts' venues may be temporarily closed due to COVID-19, but we are happy to bring you new performances.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SEASON SPONSORS:
MARCH 6, 7PM | APRIL 3, 7PM Kentucky Performing Arts presents: The Besnard Lakes, Live Stream Series Virtual Events Tickets: KentuckyPerformingArts.org Nearly five years after their last lightning-tinted volley, the magisterial Montreal psych-rock band returns with their sixth album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT There are many causes worthy of your support during this uncertain time. We invite you to consider a gift to Kentucky Performing Arts, so that we may continue to build lifelong relationships with the arts across the Commonwealth. Donate.
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Get away from it all to discover all we have.
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THE
DANCE BETWEEN THE DANCES
FINDING BEAUTY & HOPE IN THE NEGATIVE SPACES by Alison McKim
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ouisville Ballet is well-known for its emphasis on community outreach and programming that makes the arts accessible to all. Erica De La O, a Company artist since 2003, is passionate about providing opportunities for arts education to those who might otherwise feel left out.
Audience writer, Alison McKim, caught up with Erica to talk about her journey through this pandemic year, including stories of new life, loss, and dance as a foundation for social change. She also touches on finding beauty and opportunity within the constraints of the pandemic and recalls those who first opened the doors of ballet for her as a young student. Alison McKim: Let’s just dive right in and talk about the pandemic. How has it impacted your life and your art? Erica De La O: A lot of beautiful things can come out of something bad or scary. They’re harder to see when you are losing someone in your family, or your neighbors are affected. For the arts, there were definitely positive things that came out during this crazy year: Voices came out. Social conversations that we have to have came out. Finding ways to lift one another, to stay connected. Finding ways to continue doing what you love. It really pushed us to find a different way to continue on. That is the beauty of the human spirit.
When I was very young, a woman in my neighborhood, Miss Martha Baldwin, taught classes in her garage for 25 cents a class. She was literally someone just passing down a passion she had... Because of her, our mostly minority community in Los Angeles just grew up knowing about ballet. This time has made me aware that I can always find more ways to grow in humility and to be more empathetic and aware of others’ situations. I don’t think I ever want to stop learning how to constantly look at that. AM: You mentioned having your first baby during the pandemic. Tell us about that. ED: She’s been a huge inspiration. It’s so beautiful and wonderful. We’ve been waiting for her for a long time, and were just so blessed to have her. She was born June 1, so she just turned 9 months old. It’s been really fun to figure out how to keep her busy and see her develop. Children are beautiful. But the pandemic keeps going on and on. I think every parent understands — it’s not easy.
AM: What would you like to hold onto from this time period?
I take an online dance class with her taught by my friend Elena Diehl. I love seeing her movement develop. It’s innate in us to move and to find our bodies and find our ways.
ED: The value of life. I lost a few friends in the pandemic. My daughter, Ariana, was born during the pandemic. That made me really find even more value in life. Seeing myself in the role of taking care of another person, under not-average circumstances.
Our class is based on local motor movement and childhood development — looking at the body from Day One and being aware of how the body and nervous system are developing. It’s teaching me the patience I’m going to need to rebuild. Little by little.
Also, empathy. Learning how to really see others. Acknowledging that everyone isn’t having the same experience right now, for socioeconomic reasons — where they are, where they live, their culture. So many factors.
I had a C-section, so after she was born, I had to pull back and just let nature do its thing. Parenthood requires a lot of support. Women are definitely finding new ways to support each other. For me, being a mom is like being a different kind
Louisville Ballet Company Dancer Erica De La O from Lucas Jervies' The Firebird. Photo by Sam English 2017. L O U I S V I L L E
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Louisville Ballet Company Dancer Erica De La O and Former Company Dancer Kristopher Wojtera from Lucas Jervies' What Light is to our Eyes. Photo by Sam English 2015.
of Wonder Woman. It’s not super-impressive to look at, but it is quite consistent. One thing that has been difficult is that I haven’t seen my family in Los Angeles since she was born. That’s totally killing me. My family is so important to me, and nobody has met Ariana yet. AM: Tell us about your background. How did you come to ballet? ED: I come from a socioeconomic background that does not usually have the opportunity to experience arts education. In America, ballet education is mostly private, which really limits who participates. In many other countries, it is very different. My husband, who grew up in Poland, was selected to go into the National Ballet School, which is paid for and run by the government. It’s a full ride, for free, based on merit, not socioeconomic background. As long as he passed the ballet exams, he could continue. That’s completely different from the schools in America. Here, if you want to dance, you go and pay for a class. I became a ballet dancer because of people who introduced me to the arts, because of my mother and her efforts, and because of people who opened doors.
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When I was very young, a woman in my neighborhood, Miss Martha Baldwin, taught classes in her garage for 25 cents a class. She was literally someone just passing down a passion she had and serving the community. And that was really rare. To just have this random ballet teacher, teaching out of her garage — teaching ballet! Because of her, our mostly minority community in Los Angeles just grew up knowing about ballet. She brought in the right people to lead me. She became my godmother. My fairy godmother, I think. She took me to places that I went back to as an adult and couldn’t believe. I’m so grateful for all she shared, and grateful I can give back as she gave to me. Then, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I began professional dance lessons at La Studio in Pasadena. I remember how scared I was. And excited. English is my second language — and I had not yet learned to speak English by then, so it was even more frightening. But they were so welcoming, that made everything okay. I know how scared my mom was, too. I know exactly what she had to go through to walk through those doors in Pasadena, with no English. Driving a beat-up car. None of it mattered. She was just so determined to show us art. La Studio literally opened their doors to my family and made it feasible for me and my brother to take classes. It wasn’t based A U D I E N C E
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Yes, the kids are in love with dance — and everything about ballet, like pointe shoes and tutus and jumping and so forth — but it’s not only for them, it’s for the parents. I know this, because I witnessed what changed in my mother and my dad, and in my brother and I in our formative years. — Erica De La O Being in dance made us more susceptible to falling in love with the arts, rather than drugs or gangs or things that would just lead us astray. Instead of striving to be part of a group of individuals that just rob you of any opportunities you have in life, instead, you fall in love with music, with dance. A studio is a home. It built me up as a person. It helped me navigate in this world that I was not normally invited to. It’s almost like a team. Ballet was my journey. I couldn’t have chosen it — it just happened. Programs like this plant a really important seed. Parents are already searching for this. They’re trying so hard, and when an opportunity like this comes up, and it’s positive reinforcement to the dreams they have for their children. Like an education, a doorway to bigger life. AM: Can you tell us about Bridge the Gap? Erica De La O in arabesque. Photo by Eddie Dante.
on our talent; it was based on this mother who really wanted her children to have a full education, and that includes the arts. And then time passed, and I got a scholarship. At Louisville Ballet, that’s the essence of the Ballet Bound Program. It’s welcoming, doors opening, sharing, teaching, guiding, walking alongside. AM: Tell us more about Ballet Bound, and other Louisville Ballet programs that are opening doors for community members of all backgrounds. ED: Ballet Bound sponsors children from underserved populations across Louisville. They can take professionally taught ballet classes for free. This is a really important program — it is more than just the kids taking lessons to dance and perform ballet; it is opening the door of the arts to family and friends who might not feel welcome there otherwise. I think that is a really important part of the Louisville Ballet organization as a nonprofit in the community. Yes, the kids are in love with dance — and everything about ballet, like pointe shoes and tutus and jumping and so forth — but it’s not only for them, it’s for the parents. I know this, because I witnessed what changed in my mother and my dad, and in my brother and I in our formative years. L O U I S V I L L E
ED: Bridge the Gap provides free and reduced-price tickets to performances to schools and community centers. It opens the door for people who have never been to the ballet to see a performance. I’m obsessed with bringing people to the ballet for free and finding donors to do that. Last year I managed to host about 18 Latinx families to see The Nutcracker in the theater. This was their first Nutcracker for most of them, and the very first time in a theater for some. This year, Louisville Ballet and Lexus of Louisville made that happen virtually by lending the link out before Christmas Day. Their generosity allowed me to connect and host mostly all Spanish-speaking families for La Casita Center, Backside Learning, and Adelante. The virtual Q&A session was enough to convince me that it takes a village to achieve anything, and that sharing your journey in person, in film, or on Zoom is impactful. I’m so grateful for these opportunities to share the arts in Louisville in ways that can transform communities. I want to give in the same way my mentors gave to me. I’m devoted to their example. Another mentor, Jeffery Bullock, my professor and director at Hollins University, who has a saying I really love to quote. He says: “I see dance between the dances.” It’s true. Ballet is just a technique, a way of movement and expression, but it’s what happens in between that really creates the dance. It’s up to us to create that atmosphere. B A L L E T
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SHINING THROUGH
KENTUCKY SHAKESPEARE’S JUVENILE JUSTICE PROGRAM PUTS THE SPOTLIGHT ON INCARCERATED YOUTH by Denise Lacey-Corcoran
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entucky Shakespeare was founded by C. Douglas Ramey in 1949 as The Carriage House Players. Since its beginning, the organization has been dedicated to arts education — teaching students acting, vocal technique, theater history, and playwriting.
Kentucky Shakespeare continues this tradition of community outreach today through programs such as the Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program. The program is made possible through a Shakespeare in American Communities Juvenile Justice grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Arts Midwest. Kentucky Shakespeare is one of 10 U.S. theater companies selected for the 2020-21 program. Two people who know firsthand about the benefits of the program are Keith McGill and Jennifer Swanson. Keith is a theater teacher not only with the Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program, but also with Shakespeare Behind Bars, StageOne, Commonwealth Theatre Center and vActors’ Theatre’s New Voices playwriting program. He has appeared in numerous theater productions and performs internationally as a professional stand-up comedian. Jennifer, the Education Director at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, has been teaching for over 20 years. She holds degrees in education and psychology and has also worked as a Safe Crisis Management Trainer and a Tier 3 Behavior Coordinator. This is Jennifer’s third year at the Detention Center, which has a student-centered education program, allowing her to create individual education plans for each student. Most of the youth at the Detention Center are housed there for a short period of time. Some are there for a couple of weeks, others stay a few months, and while rare, some need to stay for a year. The youth participate in school five days a week, studying the same subjects they were taking at their own middle or high school. The one difference is the Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program. Twice a week, all of the Center’s residents meet for one-hour Shakespeare sessions led by Keith. He says that sometimes
Keith McGill working with students through the Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Swanson.
students learn a skill in one session that is carried on to another session. Jennifer adds, “When you build off of those classes, if we did something the week before, but we have a new kid the next day, those kids that were here before help Keith re-teach what they’ve done. Or they can share what they know so that the next part of that lesson can go on, and that gives them the spotlight, too. It gives them that feeling of ‘Hey, I know this’ and lets them be leaders among the group.”
The Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program creates a safe place where youth feel comfortable expressing emotions and being themselves. K E N T U C K Y
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If you are not ready, maybe you’ll be ready next time.”
In one exercise, students are asked to create sentences with nonsensical Shakespearian insult words, like, “Thou art a boney-faced, hair-brained boar pig!” THE PROGRAM IN ACTION Keith said most sessions begin with a simple question, ranging from: “Tell me something good that happened today,” to “What’s your favorite cereal?” Then they move on to a warmup exercise like “Story Circle,” where each person adds one word to a story, or “Emotion Charades,” where a student acts out an emotion. Other times they may do a theater improv game, where Keith stresses that students “can’t get it wrong, whatever you say is the right thing.” Then, Keith eases them into a short piece of Shakespeare, such as a sonnet, a monologue, or an action-packed scene. Students learn about this piece for the remainder of the time before their final wrap-up question. Keith always takes the last five minutes of class to ask each student to share something they liked or something they learned. He says he does this because it teaches the youth that, “No matter what the situation is, I can take something positive away from it,” says Keith. For instance, students may think, “At least I learned what iambic pentameter is, or at least I was able to do that really fun improv game where I pretended to be somebody else.”
A SAFE PLACE TO SHARE AND LEARN Keith and Jennifer have created a safe place where youth feel comfortable expressing emotions and being themselves. “For me, part of this program is it’s a conduit into you being able to talk about something,” says Keith. “You know, ‘I can’t talk about my family, but I can talk about the Capulets and the Montagues. I can’t talk about somebody making fun of me, or somebody using power over me, but I can talk about Prospero using power over Caliban.’ And then they can express it that way, and they can put it on those people, and they can sort of open it up without having to say, ‘My parents are oppressive or people make fun of me or I’m being bullied.’” “One of the things I have really learned from doing this so long is that you can’t push anybody into doing anything,” he adds. “Instead, I need to go where you [the youth in the program] are ready to go. If you are ready to go there, then we’ll go there.
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The goal of the Juvenile Justice Program is not to produce a theatrical production after rehearsing for several months, but instead to help students learn how to express themselves. In one exercise, students are asked to create sentences with nonsensical Shakespearian insult words, like, “Thou art a boneyfaced, hair-brained boar pig!” One young woman who did not speak at all in the first session was inspired to write a story using the insults, which she brought with her to the next session. Another woman who did not participate in the first session was the first to volunteer during the second meeting. Keith reminds students that things said within the circle of the Shakespeare session are not repeated anywhere else. He tells them, “You can’t get this wrong. We spend so much of our lives having to get exactly the right answer, give exactly the right number.” “I think these kids are so used to being told how wrong they are and that they’ve made mistakes,” Jennifer adds. “They’re afraid to do it again, but this is also another outlet for emotions. This is such a good outlet for them to get into a different role and use those emotions in a positive way, so they are not building up inside of them.”
LIMITLESS BENEFITS FOR ALL Jennifer says the youth love Keith and look forward to their sessions with him. “They seem to enjoy it because it’s different.
One of the best ways to understand how meaningful the Kentucky Shakespeare Juvenile Justice Program is to its members, is by reading their words. The Kentucky Shakespeare Sonnet, below, was written by recent participants.
Their watchful eyes watch all we do right now A lonely place we feel no trace of love Together we can change our path somehow Talking to clouds, waiting for words above Keep faith and know our past won’t define us The choices that I make do not own me With hope we can put our past behind us Fake friends make white walls rather be lonely So take a stand and make a change for greatness Let’s go to school and get our education We must act quick we have no time for lateness Till then we have to learn how to be patient The future is bright where once it was bleak We need a change time to stand up and speak
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They do the same thing in this place every single day, so it gives them something to look forward to other than court. Right now, they don’t even get visitation because of COVID, they just get extra phone calls but don’t even get to see their family. So, Keith is their family because we only have a handful of people that are allowed within our facility in person right now.” Jennifer says she’s “seen kids that are really quiet and maybe not take part in a lot, who end up really shining through some of the lessons Keith has done. Kids who would not stand up and be loud and emotional get into some of those parts and really excel. Some of my rougher, tougher street kids that you would never see even pick-up Shakespeare are really getting into their parts... I have seen kids shine that I never thought would shine in that element. I have had kids who had a niche for the rapping or the rhyming. They can really show off that talent through Shakespeare, which they never realized they could do... We’re seeing some different kids be leaders that normally aren’t leaders within a classroom or other parts of our facility.”
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ARTS FOR ALL “As we pull back farther and farther from having arts in any curriculum, taking it out in favor of more testing and more STEM work, which is important, but so is being able to express yourself in a different way because not everybody is good at math or science,” Jennifer says. “Art is especially important, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that. The biggest thing I want is that for people to know — and for the students themselves to know — is that you’re not just this one label. You’re not just this person in an orange suit that has been put in this place. There are other parts to you.” “My hope is that everyone can understand that. Next time they see somebody who has been incarcerated, [understand] that he or she is not just this crime. There’s a whole other facet to them.” For more about the Kentucky Shakespeare’s educational outreach programs, click here.
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ADVOCATING for the
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FUND FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS TOP HONORS TO KEN CLAY AND DARREN HARBOUR by Daniel Chioco
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wards season is here! After postponing due to the pandemic last year, Fund for the Arts is now celebrating the 2020 winners of its distinguished Awards in the Arts, which recognizes leaders who are cultivating Louisville’s vibrant arts community.
Among the honorees are Ken Clay, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award, and Darren Harbour, recipient of the Emerging Leader in the Arts Award. We had the opportunity to connect with both recipients to learn more about why they are so passionate about the arts. Please join us in congratulating them both!
KEN CLAY 2020 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award At the age of 81, Ken Clay has not only lived through Louisville’s explosive growth, he has also played a key role in cultivating the Derby City’s arts community. When the call for Awards in the Arts nominees went out, nominations were accepted from fellow artists, patrons, and the general public. Past award recipients served as the “committee” to determine which of the nominees would be named the 2020 winners. When Fund for the Arts called to inform Clay that he won, he says, “I was just overwhelmed with it. It’s something that I’ve always admired, as far as lifetime achievement awards. I was delighted to have been a recipient. I’m very appreciative of that award.” Clay was born and raised in Louisville. When he was younger, he and his brother, Cecil, would sing doo-wop together. By the time he was in high school, Clay was involved in opera and classical music, though it was clear that jazz had a special place in his heart. “Music was a major direction that attracted me to the arts,” he says.
Ken Clay is the 2020 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award. Photo courtesy of Fund for the Arts.
Another formative experience for Clay was going to Walnut Street, now known as Muhammad Ali Boulevard, on Saturdays. “Old Walnut Street” was a booming business district and social gathering place for African Americans before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He compares the old Walnut Street to Memphis’ Beale Street. “On Saturdays, we used to go to the movies to see the features,” Clay says. Then came “The Midnight Ramble” a live performance by the Chitlin Circuit that featured Black entertainers. It was this fellowship and entertainment that gave Clay a place to belong — and it would serve as a foundation for his vision of what the arts community in Louisville could become. The late 1960s, Clay established the Corner of Jazz, the first black culture shop in Louisville, selling books, music, sculptures,
The Awards in the Arts honors artists and arts organizations for their passion and dedication to the arts, and in doing so, celebrates and advances Greater Louisville’s vibrant arts and culture.
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During his first year at The Kentucky Center, Clay spent the summer going to community centers in Louisville to do outreach, which would later be dubbed ArtsReach Louisville.
I’m continuously amazed by the contributions that young artists are already making. Under the proper guidance and encouragement, there’s a great future for young artists in Louisville.
“People in community centers knew a lot about athletics, but didn’t know a lot about the arts,” Clay says. He gathered friends who were jazz artists and began visiting the centers. “We helped the mentors at the centers learn about the arts so that they could effectively relate with young people about the arts.”
— Ken Clay
Today, ArtsReach is a statewide initiative that has “expanded considerably” and received recognition as one of the top outreach programs in the country.
and local art by African Americans. The civil disturbance in 1968 began right there at the intersection of 28th and Greenwood, and the Corner of Jazz served as a safe haven for many in the community.
For the past 20 years, Clay has also been the producer for all the entertainment at Louisville’s WorldFest, a four-day international festival. “We can be very proud in Louisville [for] what the arts have accomplished both in terms of our international communities and African American communities,” he says.
“Back in the ’70s, I founded an organization called Renaissance Development because I wanted to bring more arts to the inner-city communities,” Clay says. Partnering with the Louisville Urban League, Renaissance helped raise artistic awareness in the inner city. The goal was to help visual artists bring their exhibits to schools, clubs, and public places. But it wasn’t just visual artists. “We helped performing artists do the same,” Clay adds. “We also started a dance company.” While working with Renaissance, Clay raised money by knocking on doors of potential sponsors. During his efforts, someone told him about the “new arts center being built.” Clay would later meet Marlow Burn, the developer of The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. This serendipitous encounter led to Clay joining the Center’s programming department. The first public show that Clay produced was a gospel extravaganza, which included gospel groups from across Kentucky. One of the standout performances of the night was by Rev. James Cleveland and his group. “I was pleased with that show,” Clay says proudly. Clay’s early success paved the way for him to become the Vice President of Programming at The Kentucky Center. “One of my chief responsibilities and goals was to get Black people into the Center,” Clay says. His experiences attending the midnight series at the Walnut Street Theater inspired him to start the Midnight Ramble Series, a schedule of five shows a year that featured different artists, especially Black artists, from across the country. One of these shows, called the “Walnut Street Review,” featured local Black artists. “That was a big success,” he says. But for Clay, his vision went beyond the walls of The Kentucky Center. “The arts have played a vital role in bringing people together,” he says. “The arts need to be appreciated on those community levels, not just in the polished performing halls but also in the community centers, in parks and other places where people gather: churches, schools, etc.” 36
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Clay co-authored the book, Two Centuries of Black Louisville, featuring untold stories and rare, historical photos. Now, he is collaborating with four other authors to craft a tribute to the African American entertainers and musicians of Louisville. When reflecting on the growth of his hometowny, Clay has nothing but encouraging words for the next generation: “I’m continuously amazed by the contributions that young artists are already making. Under the proper guidance and encouragement, there’s a great future for young artists in Louisville.”
DARREN HARBOUR 2020 Emerging Leader in the Arts Award The Fund for the Arts recognized Darren Harbour with the 2020 Emerging Leader in the Arts Award for his inspiring impact on this community and its people. In 1999, Harbour’s family moved to Louisville from Gary, Ind. As a child, he was a passionate visual artist who spent his time drawing, coloring, and painting. His dream was to create comic
Darren Harbour would like to recognize the team at Imagine Blind Players: Darren Harbour B.T. Kimbrough Patty Cox Barbara Henning Ben Wright Charmaine Walker Helana Keaton Emery Jasmine Ross Jennifer Star Jennifer Wreath
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Katy Carpenter Mandy Cox Pamela Cox Sharri Anderson Sandra Williams Sue Ellen Melo Thomas Saling Terri Terlau Tanya Johnson Tavian Taylor
Grindhouse is now the blindhouse; I’m taking over. — Darren Harbour
The WhoDunnit team took Harbour out to dinner and told him that they wanted to help him produce a play. And thus, Imagine Blind Players was born. Soon after, the paperwork was filed and the organization was officially established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Darren Harbour is the 2020 recipient of the Emerging Leader in the Arts Award. Photo courtesy of Fund for the Arts.
The inaugural show for Imagine Blind Players was an original play written by the WhoDunnit murder mystery team, titled Lady Anderly’s Rose. “It was almost too much,” Harbour says, “and that’s why I liked it.”
books. Harbour was also a performer in his elementary school plays, though he jokes that he probably would have enjoyed working on the costumes and set design more as a visual artist. But Harbour’s eyes were changing. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) Cone Rod Dystrophy (CRD), a degenerative eye condition that gradually caused him to lose most of his sight by age 22. “Through losing my sight and my ability to do visual art, I found I was losing my sense of artistic expression and gratification,” Harbour says. “I was looking for something to give me the same sense of fulfillment that drawing once did.” However, being legally blind, Harbour says that he often experienced rejection, no accommodation, stereotypes, and even “false inclusion.” He eventually came to the Braille Readers Theater at American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville. “My braille is not very good,” Harbour admits, “because I lost my sight later in life.” But he made friends at the theater and promised that they would “one day be doing a play without their canes and dogs.” Harbour didn’t know how it would happen, but he says he was the “Brave Little Toaster and I kept going.” A few years later, Harbour joined the WhoDunnit murder mystery dinner theater in Louisville. “Not only are you coming on stage showing your body language, but in-between scenes, you’re walking around tables so that the audience can grill you and take their best guess at the end,” Harbour says. “I was worried about knocking drinks over, putting fingers in food. What if I tripped over something or went to the wrong table?” At the end of the season, the WhoDunnit crew was impressed with Harbour’s talent and dedication. “You all let me in here,” he joked with them. “I have a whole slew of people who are blind,” meaning his friends at the Braille Readers Theater. “Why don’t you just let them in?” F U N D
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Everyone who performed in Lady Anderly’s Rose has a “diffability,” as Harbour puts it, meaning a “different ability,” rather than disability. It was important to Harbour to provide his actors with the opportunity to move on stage, learn blocking, and perform their own stunts. The musical featured four different dance sequences, including a highly choreographed ballroom dance. Harbour hired a professional ballroom instructor to help the players pull it off. The cast had to learn multiple songs, and they also had to walk around to the dinner tables in character. The musical was a rousing success, not only for audiences, but for the personal growth of the players as well. Aside from the inaugural performance, a key memory for Harbour is when Imagine Blind Players won the theater award for “Best Fight Scene in Louisville” for their performance of California Suite. The stage combat was so believable that audience members took to the stage to break up the fight because they thought that it was a real brawl — that something had gone wrong during the play. For Harbour, his goal is to give those with “diffabilities” the safe space to set aside the canes and dogs and say to the world, “We can do this just like you.” In the works is a podcast where those involved with Imagine Blind Players will talk about how it started, the journey, the challenges they met, and the triumphs they shared together. Harbour is also looking forward to the eventual end of the pandemic so that the group can continue to fulfill its mission. Until then, he’s excited to be the first blind person to compete in professional wrestling. His slogan? “Grindhouse is now the blindhouse; I’m taking over.” T H E
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StageOne’s 75 Anniversary
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Looking Back and Playing It Forward by StageOne Family Theatre
If you attended elementary school in Louisville, there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed the thrill of seeing a StageOne play. For many students, this is the first live play they’ve ever been to. The experience includes the excitement of boarding a yellow school bus and pulling up just outside the Kentucky Center, climbing the steps inside to take a seat in the Bomhard Theatre. The performance might be a classic like The Snow Queen or Charlotte’s Web, or perhaps one of over 30 world-premiere 38
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shows like And in this Corner: Cassius Clay, Harold and the Purple Crayon, or even last year’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of American women’s suffrage, Lawbreakers! (A Fast and Furious History of Women’s Suffrage). Or it might be the beloved annual production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, performed by 32 student actors alongside a slate of professional talent. Audience members who were lucky enough to catch a StageOne performance in the early ’70s may have even seen Diane Sawyer on stage!
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There’s a long list of titles to draw from, because next month StageOne Family Theatre kicks off its 75th anniversary celebration. The year-long event honors the enduring power of theatre and education, including the organization’s impact to millions of people across the greater Louisville community and beyond. The tribute begins with the virtual My StageOne Story initiative, which collects personal testimonials from people who have been touched by a StageOne performance or program. Beginning in April, the organization will also offer a single-barrel commemorative bourbon bottle gift to donors, with plans to expand events and experiences for artists and audiences throughout the year.
regard to diversity, representation, and response to the global pandemic. In addition, the organization’s popular Storytellers performances bring to life familiar stories for StageOne’s youngest audience members, and both year-round DramaWorks Academy and popular summer camps light up the lives of future performers and theatre lovers. But it wasn’t enough to reach regional students with an interest in theatre and the performing arts. With careful attention to accessibility and equity, StageOne launched an innovative ticket underwriting program in 2010 called “Play It Forward,” which has helped reduce the cost barrier for students attending productions with their classrooms.
While StageOne performances have called The Kentucky Center home for the last 30 years, the stage isn’t the only place where this Louisville staple has brought the transformative power of theatre to young people across the region. Every year, thousands of kids from pre-K to 12th grade experience StageOne in their classrooms through arts-integrated in-school residencies.
StageOne is also a certified Autism Friendly Business and, in 2013, became the first Louisville performance organization to introduce sensoryfriendly performances as a staple of their mainstage season. And that’s not all. StageOne regularly partners with the Girl Scouts for STEAM events and hosts yearly celebrations for community members served by local outreach organizations as well.
As a part of these programs, students engage in the dramatic process, giving them an opportunity to meet academic objectives as they connect theatre with another subject. Relationships with Jefferson County Public Schools and the Archdiocese of Louisville have helped StageOne keep a finger on the pulse of the academic and social-emotional needs of students, especially with
Concerns about reaching students have been particularly highlighted in this last year during the global health crisis. StageOne’s Andrew D. Harris, who stepped into the role of Producing Artistic Director just weeks before the pandemic began, has helped address these evolving student needs with new flagship programs that are shepherding the organization into the digital era. S T A G E O N E
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Under his direction, the organization launched both Theatre for Everywhere and Channel StageOne within Harris’ first six months of leadership. Theatre for Everywhere is an engaging virtual program that’s flexibly designed to fit both distance-learning and in-person curriculums. In addition to providing performance opportunities for Louisville artists, the three plays developed for this pilot were created with attention to social-emotional learning and center on timely, relevant topics like recognizing and celebrating racial differences, identifying big emotions, and navigating peer conflict. StageOne is currently providing these virtual performances to 149 schools across four regional districts, serving 64,000 kids in their first three months of operation. This winter, they’re taking Theatre for Everywhere nationwide. For over 75 years, StageOne has been a cornerstone for an arts community that’s more accessible, creative, empathetic, and engaged. Through their innovative new digital performance series and a host of upcoming activities, this longstanding Louisville staple continues to look ahead to ways they can provide Theatre For Everyone.
LEARN MORE Learn more about how to access Theatre for Everywhere digital performances, share a My StageOne Story, or check back for more information here about ways StageOne Family Theatre is celebrating 75 years in our community.
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THANKS TO THIS COMMUNITY, WE'RE CELEBRATING OUR 75TH YEAR DURING 2021.
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