Blog | Shearwater Productions

Holly Adams in her studio recording an audiobook

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

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

Rebekkah, my daughter, poses in her princess costume before a show

The Courage of Art

August 18, 2012

Picture if you will, a starry-eyed performer and teaching artist. The year is 1996, and said artist has been on faculty at the Community School of Music and Arts in Ithaca, NY for about a year. A brand new program, Star Search, has a writer/vocal coach and a dance choreographer, but is without a theatre person…. and thus began my love affair with a project I have done, without fail and with supreme joy, every August since. What is Star Search? Star Search is a no-audition, 2-week camp for kids between the ages of 10 and 16 in which we

Three kids sit on the floor of their school playing

The Importance of Play

August 3, 2012

Even though much of my work has been with 4th graders, I sometimes find myself in the company of the younger crowd, like 3-5 year olds. I used to think of it as glorified babysitting, but several years ago, I realized that the secret was to have some delicious fun. Obviously, if I have fun, I will be a better teacher, but more importantly, it’s the KIND of fun I wanted to have. How to teach pre-school kids and have fun I make sure we have some active time and some quiet time, some movement, performance, visual, and music arts

Holly Adams sits with her daughter Rebekkah who is wearing a Texas shirt

Arts and Life

July 28, 2012

My daughter is getting married in less than 24 hours. Somehow, we have all survived this week when the bridemaids were living here and we all have been cooking and doing the flowers and erranding and all the thousands of things that need doing, and we haven’t killed each other. And we have done our work, which is art-based, sliding it between the cracks of doing a big wedding. It’s the artistic moments, I think, that have saved us. Choosing and scanning cute/embarrassing childhood photos. Rebekkah helping me record the opening of my latest audiobook narration. Matching colors of flowers

Doing arts-based learning in an mixed proficiency classroom

Theatre Workshops and Kids with Autism = AWESOME

July 21, 2012

In June, I had the amazing opportunity to work with 3 Tier Consulting (http://3-tier.org/home/ check out some of their amazing blogs and work) and some fabulous kids who are also kids with Autism or Asperger’s Syndrome. We were doing theatre/dramatic play/acting and playbuilding exercises and games, partly because yes, those skills are what those kids need to analyze and memorize social cues and responses, but also because it’s fun and develops social awareness for anyone! Were they scared at first? HECK yes. Another opportunity to not understand what is going on and feel out of place. Great. But once they

Holly poses in her clown makeup in front of a vehicle at the Abu Dhabi airport

Clowning: some what, some why, and a little history Part Two

July 13, 2012

To follow up on part one, a history of clowning, this little section looks at ‘what is clowning’ and how that was understood early in the history of Islam in the Silk Road countries. What is clowning? The exchange of styles, skills, characterizations and so forth was (and is) facilitated by the itinerant nature of performers. Three main reasons why performing clowns traveled were: *The search for new markets *As part of royal court retinue (they were expected to accompany various court members) *Self-preservation; as laws changed and social pressure increased, it became in the clowns best interest to keep

A clown meeting with women at an orphanage in Kabul

Clowning: some what, some why, and a little history Part One

July 6, 2012

As some of you may know, my Master’s Thesis was called “The Search for Indigenous Clown Forms in Afghanistan” (of course it was), stimulated in part by participation in a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan in February of 2002 with the the Italian military, an Italian film crew, and approximately two dozen clowns, mostly Italian. My passion for Silk Roads clowning continues unabated. Thus, this blog entry! This is an excerpt (sadly made slightly ‘rumpled’ in tone in my attempt to cut words) from a paper I presented at a Silk Roads Conference in Australia. It also provides a working definition/explanation