theatre | Shearwater Productions

A group of clowns standing together during a performance

The Importance of Theatre Education

July 20, 2014

“Best times of my high school life.” I just received this comment on my Facebook page after posting a PSA on how theatre transforms students’ lives. This comment does not represent a desire to goof off and party, nor is it an isolated sentiment. Theatre Education programs provide a safe place for students to be themselves, explore relationships, develop compassion, and discover delayed gratification. These are the obvious take-aways. Here’s some less obvious ones. Success in school By any definition of “Youth at Risk,” the percentage of those who graduate from high school is doubled when those students are coming from

Holly Adams in her studio recording an audiobook

“On the Spectrum” and On the Stage

May 5, 2014

My wonderful and amazing students from “A Class Act” with The Magic Paintbrush Project performed on April 27th (a play they wrote!) and hit the ball out of the park. They were amazing, they were incredible, they brought the house down. And every single one of them has a disability. I wrote about them last fall, when we were just beginning our process (see “Life is Washable”), but as a result of the show, folks have been asking about children, challenges, and performance, especially children who are on the Asperger-Autism spectrum. I last posted some specific observations and activities about working

Boy stands in front of white board with a science lesson on it

Fourth Graders and the Magic of Theatre

December 17, 2013

(Music plays) “The Earth is a magnet. It’s the (beat) third planet from the sun. Flowing electrons and protons/come together to make things run!” The Kid Scientists and Benjamin Franklin sing valiantly through an explanation of their thinking while the storm rages and the flying kite conducts electricity down to their home-made motor. The adults watching in the seats of the professional theatre are grinning, completely enchanted as the first group of fourth-graders performs the play they wrote, with an important plot-driving song, thank you very much. I am once again at the Hangar Theatre for the Project 4 performances,

A group of editors around a table working

Theatre Ed: making it happen

July 14, 2013

I have spent the weekend with 15 driven, crazy, garrulous, impassioned, over-scheduled people who have one thing and one thing only in common: the belief that all children benefit from theatre education. We work from noon on Friday till 10:30 p.m., 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. We work in committees, we work as a large group, we go to drinks at 10:30 and inevitably talk shop (usually social justice issues in art accessibility). We do the heavy duty work in prep for our annual Educators’ Conference (in NYC this year)

Holly and JR in Melodrama and Murder by Mystery & Adventure Agency

A Mini-history on the Mis-Maligned Melodrama

April 30, 2013

You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent! I’ll pay the rent. My hero! I admit I LOVE melodrama — the true stuff, the new stuff, and the mustachioed tongue-in-cheek stuff. That being said, I weep copious tears, gnash my teeth, and rend my garments when folks use “melodrama” in solely disparaging ways. In truth, melodrama grew from the dance hall, cheap entertainment (thrills, chills, and crazy love stories!), into a means to forward a progressive social agenda and large-scale cultural and system reform. WHHHHAAAAAT?!?!?! NO!!! Yes, my friends, yes. The history of melodrama In Victorian England, if

On Teaching Intimacy (theatre is life)

March 3, 2013

I recently taught a workshop on Dramatic Improvisation for a Comedy Festival focused on Improvisation and Stand-Up comedy for adults. Mine was the first workshop of the day (a Saturday), and I had anticipated a small turnout of people, mostly men, who might resist all but the hilarious and shallow. Why? Because Dramatic Improvisation only works with deep vulnerability and an almost intimate relationship with a scene partner, who may be a stranger. It’s hard to do, and if the commitment to the scene partner is not complete, the scene is unsatisfying. It’s also not necessarily funny (although it can be),

Veterans’ Day and Armistice Day

November 12, 2012

Whether we have family members of the past or the present in war zones, or live in countries affected by war, Veteran’s Day and Armistice Day focus our reflections, thoughts, research, hopes, actions, wishes, and prayers. Myself, I am drawn to war memorials, war histories, parades, and the stories Veterans and others who have experienced war have to tell. My own brief war-zone experience brought home what I have heard many say: there is no way people who have not been in the midst can understand. Artists, though, can bring us closer, can make us smell the aroma, see the

Don’t Stop Believing: lessons from my adult students

October 19, 2012

“I think, I think, that we should end it with, with a party.” J.T. is the last one to make a suggestion about how our movie should end. This is the third session of “Theatre 101,” an open workshop for adults with a range of developmental challenges, and our group has grown to 10, counting myself, the Coordinator of Recreation Programs for Individuals with Disabilities, and the Specialist in Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities. Although I have worked with folks with various challenges and disabilities all my life, this is a pilot project with this particular organization. The coordinator and

Art, History, and the Zombie Apocalypse

September 7, 2012

I am lead writer for the Mystery & Adventure Agency, and we have participated in many events, including co-hosting a fund-raising 5K for arts education in our community. It was spectacularly popular, fabulously fun, and full of people clamoring to dress up and perform, and who paid for the privilege and then felt better afterwards. It was a 5K Zombie Run. But why are zombies popular? One evening I was taking a break with an international publication, and after finishing the article about Mauritania’s Conservation Coast, I turned the page. It was an article called, “Monsters from Mesopotamia.” It was

Fear of the Face Plant: surviving creativity

September 2, 2012

I recently saw a posting on Facebook with a list of 11 qualities creative people possess or actions they tend to take. Number 2 on the list is “Willing to take risks”, number 9 is “Experiment” and number 5 is “Make lots of mistakes” . . . all of which are, of course, directly related. While I had to admit to all 11 (some happily and others ruefully), it was these three and their inter-relationship that jolted me out of a blue funk and back into a clarity. “I have of late, and wherefore I know not, lost all my

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