Blog | Shearwater Productions

How Popular Fiction Can Make a Difference

December 16, 2012

This blog is about how popular novels can and do move the general public’s assumption of What Is Okay forward in wonderful ways—in other words, you can stop hatin’ on chick books as an auto-response and look a little deeper to find the forces making slow but big changes in how women perceive themselves and are perceived by others. Yup, I am about say that romance novels are important. The idea for this blog came to me as I had just finished narrating the wonderful romance by Joan Reeves, “The Trouble with Love” (shameless plug—it’s available at Audible Inc) and

Holly in a classroom teaching 4-grade students

Rigor and Joy: Teaching 4-graders how to make art

December 6, 2012

From mid-September through mid-December, I am a teaching artist in six fourth-grade classrooms, twenty contact hours per classroom (theoretically). The project involves using performance modalities (usually as alternative learning strategies) to co-teach academic and social content, then facilitating the creation of an original piece about that content. I have been happily doing this project for 15 years. Normally, I love this project and look forward to it every year. I love rediscovering the material through students’ experiences, I love mid-wifing their process of becoming artists, writers, performers; it is such an honor. I look for ways to grow and tailor

The Importance of Downtime

November 30, 2012

I am normally pretty driven. Even when I feel sick or depressed, I get up, put one foot in front of the other, or boogie half awake in the shower, muttering the ‘song’ Dory sings in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming…just keep swimming.” There is a part of me that feels ultra responsible for my family, my art, my community, my work, my granddogs, everything around me. Not that I am important to it all, but just that it is important for me to keep doing as much as I can. Sometimes, however, it’s like the time I was speeding

Holly Adams in her Longhorn tee-shirt in front of her desk

Biz and Art: Tips for bouncing back from failure

November 23, 2012

So, there you are, gearing up for another busy month. As usual, “work on website” and “go to networking event” and “get business cards” move to the bottom of the “to-do” list. They can, right? Face it–your schedule is full! But then business trauma hits—your project is cancelled. The sponsor has withdrawn, a school loses its funding, a theatre has to cut back its budget, or a community organization is cutting the department that contracted you. How do you turn these moments into business success? There’s a few things you can do to get ahead of the game. How to

Holly Adams in her studio recording an audiobook

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

Why do we love mysteries?

October 27, 2012

I often ponder the question, “Why are we drawn to the mysterious?” From zombies to Agatha Christie, we are sucked in like moths to flame by the unknown. As part of my work, I run Mystery & Adventure Agency and have narrated many mystery novels, so I get a little glimpse into this genre and why it appeals to us so strongly. What makes mysteries so fun and exciting? There is something wonderful and joyous about the opportunity to safely “let go,” whether that means portraying something or someone scary or allowing oneself the latitude of being deliciously, shriekingly frightened.

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

Liberia and Theatre 101

October 12, 2012

A friend discovered—with very little notice—that he had an opportunity to go to Liberia and teach theatre to youth at an orphanage for 2 or 3 weeks. He asked me for some suggestions for over-arching goals as well as for a sample initial class and advice on how to make it run more smoothly. Because artists are often working with people whose culture is different from their own, I thought it might be useful to share my reflections. How to teach art cross-culturally as an artist in residence Study their history Of course, the first thing a visiting artist should

Crisis in Education

September 30, 2012

“Art is the Queen of all sciences, communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” -Leonardo DaVinci By any definition of ‘Youth at Risk’, the percentage of those who graduate from high school is doubled—doubled!—when those students are coming from an arts-rich school environment. At-risk students in arts-rich school environments also get better grades, have better attendance, are more likely to take upper-level classes and succeed in them, and on, and on, and on. Dr. Donna DeSiato, Superintendent of East Syracuse Minoa Central School District is one of the administrators who has taken the STEM initiative (Science Technology English

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