B Y J O N AT H A N S H I P L E Y, C L A S S O F 2 0 2 1 PA R E N T
Deep Exploration of the Life of the Mind
“T
he point of everything I do is beauty,” says writer, film director,
Shakespeare Company as a casting
and producer Corrie Duryee ’77. “For
director. She also was a zombie killer
decades, while filming, I have called
with a baseball bat in Zombies of Mass
people to order on set by yelling ‘Alright.
Destruction, a 2010 film that was screened
Let’s make some truth and beauty.’”
at the prestigious Seattle International
A truth—it was Duryee’s godmother who
Film Festival.
turned a young Corrie onto screenwriting.
“I do my best to create beauty when I
Corrie’s godmother was Madeleine
make a film, even if the subject is very
L’Engle, the award-winning author of A
dark,” Corrie says. “I believe one of my
Wrinkle in Time. L’Engle handed Corrie a
main jobs in this world, as a human, is
stack of play scripts and said she wanted
to notice, appreciate, and celebrate the
her to turn them into something. Corrie
beauty that God has created. And what
dropped out of seminary at Seattle
follows naturally from that appreciation is
University, entered film school, and never
to try to help others do the same, through
turned back.
my work, if I can.”
A beauty—for the past sixteen years,
It’s been a long road for Corrie since
Corrie has worked at Kairos Productions.
taking James May’s “Intro to Film Class”
Kairos, according to their website is “a
at Bush. Bush was a place that gave her,
reverently irreverent Seattle-based
as she says, “a creative nest. It challenged
film production company dedicated to
me, enlarged me, and enlivened me.”
the creation of vibrant, idiosyncratic
The school catapulted her to where she
celebrations of life through filmmaking.”
is today. “I would not have become an
Corrie just locked the cut of her fifth
artist without the powerful inspiration of
feature length film, Language Arts. It’s
the people at that school. She mentions
currently in post-production. She
Midge Bowman ’51, James and Virginia
enthuses, “There is much rejoicing!”
May, Meta O’Crotty, Sally Pritchard,
It wasn’t until Corrie was forty when she got into filmmaking as a career, though storytelling has been a part of her life from the get-go. She’s performed as an actor with Book-It Repertory Theater, Taproot Theatre, and other
EXPERIENCE
the seven original co-founders of Seattle
George Taylor, and more, as those that inspired, and continue to inspire her. “The teachers and students at Bush honed my spirit and called me to a deeper and deeper exploration of the life of the mind and the heart and the eyes.”
local theater organizations. She was a
It was Madeleine L’Engle who said, “We
founding member of the Shakespeare
can’t take credit for our talents. It’s how
Workout in New York and was one of
we use them that counts.”
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