ARTIST, JOURNALIST, LEADER

MARIAN HIGH SCHOOL’S CECI URBANSKI

t was obvious early on that Ceci Urbanski was destined to create art. “I’ve been an artist since I was 9. I used to love drawing on my mom’s walls,” reflected the Marian High School senior on her earliest creative endeavors.

Urbanski’s work has evolved far beyond the confines of her mother’s and even gallery walls. In November 2022, she won an art contest open to all OmahaCouncil Bluffs area middle and high school students. Sponsored by Metro, Omaha’s Transit Authority, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, “Wheel Appeal” will feature Urbanski’s vibrant art on a city bus for up to a year.

The message is simple and in line with Marian’s Christian values. “The World Needs More Love,” says one colorful side set against a group of diverse men and women meant to represent the bus-riding pubic. “Spread Love, Omaha,” exhorts the other.

“I was thinking about the future and what it’s going to look like,” the 17-year-old revealed. “I think about what makes us human: our ability to love.”

That love shines through the young artist’s work and is why for her, art is about more than colors and conceptualizing. Urbanski sees her artistic practice as a form of advocacy and a vehicle for being seen and understood.

“There’s always activism to my art,” she explained. “I’m a very opinionated person, and I talk a lot. I feel like art is the easiest way to have my voice heard.”

As a confident woman artist, Urbanski is aware that many people misinterpret her confidence as arrogance. “At this point in my life, I really care about being myself,” she said. “There are things that people may find overbearing about me. I care a lot, and that’s important because what you care about and what you do really makes a difference.”

That difference for her is critical.

“Kids my age need to know that there’s hope, and that what you do matters,” she continued. “I’ve embraced the title of ‘overbearing,’ and I identify with it.”

Urbanski knows that people probably view her differently than her male counterparts. “I think that anything you do as a woman is going to be different from a man,” she said. “I’ve had the privilege of being surrounded by great female role models my entire life. My mom, my sister, and attending an all-girl school with a legacy of successful women helped me quell any doubts I had that being a woman would stop me succeeding.”

Urbanski credits her influential teachers at Marian for helping guide her along the way in her pursuit of art. “My journalism advisor Marsha Kalkowski helped me realize my potential,” she said. “She’s there to push me and to celebrate me. Ms. Roger, my AP U.S. History teacher last year, inspired me to start new things. Her class was my favorite of all I’ve ever taken.”

Marian’s influence can be seen in the student’s success, both academically and extracurricularly. Urbanski serves as the graphics editor for Marian’s student newspaper as well as the editor-in-chief of “Burn,” the school’s literary art magazine. She is involved in Marian’s theatre program and is interested in documentaries. The active senior also runs Marian’s Sustainability Club and volunteers in a South Omaha community garden during growing season.

“It’s been really interesting progressing through high school, because I’m figuring out what I like,” Urbanski admitted. “One of my greatest strengths, but biggest weaknesses, is that I say yes to everything. I’ll try anything once. I was in trap shooting for one day–I hated it. I did speech team for a week. I did debate for a year. I did soccer for a while. I did wrestling for a month. I like to try everything once, and I think it’s helped me find a lot of new opportunities. It’s gotten me far.”

Her advice to other students is to get involved in a variety of activities and not be afraid to try something new. “I like to think whenever I jump into something new, what is the absolute worst thing that could happen? Maybe you feel a little embarrassed, but that will maybe last a few days. Usually, the best thing that could happen greatly outweighs the worst thing that could happen in every case.”

As Urbanski nears graduation, she finds herself weighing the pros and cons of a professional life as an artist. The people around her have plenty of opinions on what her future should hold.

“There’s a split,” she said. “Some people in my life would not like to see me go into an artistic field because my talents would be better suited in law or better-paying disciplines because I do take my academics very seriously. I love studying and I love school.”

Urbanski has not yet decided on which college she will attend, although she did earn a scholarship to Loyola University Chicago, a private Jesuit Catholic University. She previously wanted to major in global studies but has since decided that she’ll pursue art in one fashion or another.

“There’s a stereotype of artists that they all wind up burned out and broke. And if that’s the case, so be it,” said the Marian senior. “I keep finding myself coming back to art. It’s what I love.”

For more information about Marian, visit marianhighschool.net.

FEATURE

STORY BY KIM CARPENTER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY BILL SITZMANN DESIGN BY RENEE LUDWICK

THE WHOLE ME— AND SO MUCH MORE

FRAN SILLAU, DIRECTOR OF ACCESSIBILITY AT THE ROSE THEATER, MEETS STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE

hen Fran Sillau began taking classes at the Rose Theater as a child, he felt like he belonged.

Born three months early, Sillau developed cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder impacting movement, posture, and muscle tone. That didn’t stop him from exploring his creativity. He started theater during the late 1980s at the Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater (before it moved to the Rose Theater on Farnam Street) when he was only 4 years old.

“It was magical to me,” he recalled. “They didn’t look differently at me than the rest of the class. They welcomed the whole me, and I felt completely whole when I worked with groups of people. They didn’t focus on my having a disability. I was just Fran. It really saved me.”

Sillau spent most weekends at the theater, and some 35 years later, he’s never really left. Even with studies and jobs elsewhere in the intervening years, the now 39-year-old always found himself coming back to the Rose’s familiar stage and classrooms. He became a high school intern in 2001 and continued as a threetime college intern. “I learned all the ins and outs of a professional children’s theater,” he said.

He has also worked with organizations like the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Kennedy Center and is today the executive artistic director of Omaha’s Circle Theatre, which engages individuals of all abilities in creative opportunities both on and off the stage.

Still, the teacher, published playwright, actor, director, and advocate for youth with physical and developmental disabilities is exactly where he wants to be: at the Rose, where he is the director of accessibility, ensuring that theater is for everyone.“Here, every class can be inclusive, and the theater goes to great lengths to accommodate barriers. We’ve always been an accepting and open place where you can make any work come to life on the stage. It’s in the DNA here,” Sillau said. “They formalized that inclusivity in 2016 when they created my administrative position.”

Since then, the director has overseen the Rose’s “classes for children with exceptionalities,” which provide theater opportunities for students from pre-Kindergarten to their early 20s who are on the autism spectrum, have Down syndrome, or are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

“We meet the child where they are and remove real or perceived barriers,” he explained. Addressing real barriers involves providing ramps for mobility access, extra instructors, sign language interpreters, or cool-down spaces for students who become overstimulated and working with healthcare providers to meet medical and medication needs. Financial barriers are also dissolved thanks to scholarships made possible through the Autism Action Partnership.

But what of perceived barriers? “Children might wonder, ‘Am I welcome?’ You are,” he affirmed. “You are welcome.”

When looking into classes at the Rose, families usually start with Sillau, who discusses their specific needs.

“I say, ‘Let’s have a chat. Tell me about your child. Why are they special? What excites them? Why do you think this is the place for them?’” Sillau explained. “This allows us to know what their needs are. We stay in constant contact with the families to make sure everything is going well. We want their relationship with the theater to be as long as mine and have that same sense of belonging.”

The Rose achieves this in large part by integrating creative play into theater so that youngsters can inhabit the world by moving beyond the parameters of a script to explore works through creative interpretation. This story-driven approach allows students to develop communication skills they can use long after stage lights have dimmed.

“In an inclusive class, we let the young person be the center of the world. They use the body, voice, and imagination as the basis for the story,” Sillau said.

This approach, he explained, provides a solid foundation in life skills that goes well beyond the Rose’s stage.

“If students are like me, they can take the tools we give them as a basis for inquiry that can open the world of communication. We all have to communicate.”

This is true of Sophia Kazmierski, who is autistic and was slow to speak. She began taking classes at the Rose when she was 9 and today, at 21, is a theater student at UNO and resident artist at the Circle Theatre.

The Rose’s inclusive space for her was always important. “The Rose always found a way to fit everyone in,” she explained. “Different actors sometimes needed different accommodations, and they always made the space accessible, which then made the people feel included. This might have meant smaller classes for autistic actors because larger crowds can be overwhelming. The Rose gives people whatever they need to be successful. The space is meant for everyone.”

That kind of experience is exactly why Sillau does what he does. “I’m where I always wanted to be,” he reflected.

For more information about inclusion and accessibility at the Rose, visit rosetheater.org/box-officeaccessibility.

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