Magic Soup, Indeed...

Puppet Showplace Theatre...before MAGIC SOUP...

MAGIC SOUP was a delightful puppet performance designed, written, and performed by resident artist Brad Shur.  Stylistically, a very different way of telling a story than I am used to--and played to a completely packed, rapt audience.  It was a joy...

Afterwards, coffee break with Artistic Director Roxie Myhrun...refreshing and exciting.  Ideas and methods of development and education were discussed, exchanged, and explored.  More thoughts on this entire experience after I see tonight's Puppets at Night production at the theatre, called BEND, about a young Japanese woman's father's experience in an internment camp.  Filled with anticipation to see how she treats sand as puppetry to tell the story...

So far, this whole thing has been very engaging and informative, and I can only see it getting better as the evening progresses...

More later!

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Rental Cars and Smells, Oh My

So...I would very much like to recommend that you NOT use the Avis rental car place in Maynard, Massachusetts.  Today was the first day of my visit here that I actually needed a car to get where I am going, and it got off to a rocky start, as the person who was supposed to run the rental place came in half an hour late and admitted that he'd "had a rough night, was hung over, & forgot" he had to work today.  Rude to another customer on the phone in my presence, he then proceeded to upgrade me, free of charge, to a lovely Hybrid vehicle to make up for my inconvenience.  Glad to have the very nice, fuel-efficient car for my travels to theatre adventure today, but oh, my.  Let's just say that he smelled...interesting.

BUT, the sun is out, and it is a gloriously beautiful day. I have an amazing multi-layered children's theatre adventure ahead of me that will encompass the entire day and evening, and I am a child again in my enthusiasm.  Stay tuned for more from this intrepid reporter!!!

Hugs (and puppets) from Massachusetts!

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Puppet Soup!!

                                             MAGIC SOUP, and Other Stories                                            

(pictured, resident artist Brad Shur)

The reality has just set in.  I now have meetings set up with both the resident puppet-magic-maker, Brad Shur, and the Artistic Director, Roxie Myhrum at Puppet Showplace Theater.  I am beyond excited, and look forward so much to trading ideas and viewpoints with both of these warm, welcoming people.  Two totally different shows in one day...is this not bliss?  This is bliss!!!  (And the weather in the Boston area is supposed to stay in the 40's and 50's while I'm there, so couldn't be more ecstatic about THAT, either!)

Stay tuned!!

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Wings in the Air, Puppets in my Heart...

And so, I'm off!!!  On Thursday, I leave for Boston--visiting, for one, what sounds like an incredible arts organization, Puppet Showplace Theater.  I will be seeing two of their shows on Saturday, one an international tale told with puppets by their resident puppet master, and another that is for an older audience by a visiting Japanese artist that tells the tale of her father's time in an Internment Camp.  I am so relishing the start of this adventure--to finally get wings in the air, boots on the ground, and unknown puppets on my hands and in my imagination!!!  More from the road, but just had to share how exciting this is!!!

Live your dream!!

Seeking the Holy Grail of Children's Theatre...

For me, this is one of the most important children's theatres in the country.  Currently, I am awaiting response to see if I can talk with them about the specific quest that I am on.  Cannot WAIT to sit down and talk education and story-telling with them, and hear their thoughts on how they reach out to and engage the community all around them.

While I am in Seattle, I am also visiting THIS incredible place:

And several other smaller theatres in the area.  With everything I want to do out there, I think I'll need to take a separate trip to see Portland children's theatre...Particularly fascinated with a theatre out there called Shaking the Tree...

I'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, reading my little heart out!!! 

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

In the Heart of the Beast

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre.  Minneapolis, MN.  My second theatre booked.  A good friend, Claire Robinson May, hooked me up with her cousin, who is a puppeteer there.  He has most generously offered to introduce me to the creator of one of their pieces there, and to talk with me about the theatre, and the childart scene in their area.  HOTB appears to be incredibly imaginative, and a "color outside the lines" organization--which is exactly what I love.  So...second theatre BOOKED!!!  Airline confirmation in hand, and the adventure expands. (I am also hoping to visit Children's Theatre Company while I'm there--pending!)

I have decided to start my reading research with Parallel Myths.  What I've read so far is thought-provoking.  I've always been fascinated with this exact theme--how did all of these disparate and far-flung civilizations, who, at first, had little to no contact, develop so many parallel ideas of creation and existence?  I've always loved to compare the multiple ways in which they have been passed down, and how they bump against each other in some places, and then wildly spin away again in others.  Oh, the places we've been!

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

Treasure, Treasure, Travel...So it Begins!

These came in the mail yesterday afternoon...pure treasure.  I am already filled with excitement over the journeys I will make within their pages.  The first and third books in this selection deal with comparing creation stories and myths between different cultures.  The first explores how different peoples explained the creation of the world around them--the earth, the seas, the skies, the weather, the nature of all things.  The third compares the mythologies between different countries and cultures--exploring the similarities, and questioning the differences...The second and fourth books seen here tell stories that I am new to--a perfect way to start "fresh" for this adventure.  The second book, Tree of Souls, is the mythology of Judaism.  The fourth, is a short anthology of Eskimo folktales.  Wings of imagination...

...Wings of airplanes.  I booked my first visit with another theatre today, and with it, my first airline reservation to take me to scout and delve and mine for gold.  I will be visiting The Puppet Showplace in Brookline, MA, seeing two shows in one day--MAGIC SOUP, which is a puppet show that incorporates folktales from around the world, and BEND, which is a solo show that tells of a woman's parents' time in a Japanese internment camp.  In between, the Artistic Director of the theatre has offered to introduce me to the movers and shakers in the youth arts community there, as well as show me their facility, and their methods of creation and education.  I am also invited to an artists' reception following the second show, where I hope to make contact with many more creators of art for youth.   This seems an auspicious start to my "one foot in front of the other."

I am elated.

 Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

And so I take one step...and then another...and there is joy...

For those of you just finding me, this blog is to journal the travels, growth, experience, joy, hardship, glee, frustration, and extreme open heart, mind, and arms that this year represents.

First and foremost, I want to say a heartfelt "thank you" to CPAC (Community Partnership for Arts and Culture), and to CAC (Cuyahoga Arts and Culture) for giving me this incredible opportunity.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I'd be able to make this particular journey, and I am awed and humbled to be standing in the company of so many AMAZING artists who are fellow recipients. 

I have been given a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship grant--a reality that is JUST beginning to kick in.  Today, I FINALLY finished the spread sheet (which looks like a jigsaw puzzle with TINY pieces) to show where and when I will be aiming to travel across the country (or rather, in a kaleidoscope pattern around the country) to meet with other creators of childsplay, other tellers of international stories, and advocates of children's imaginings...It is a beautiful, daunting, exhilarating map of places to go, and people to see, and stories to hear.  Emails of introduction have been sent, and...I cannot WAIT to begin!

I am a creator of Children's Theatre.  In that form, I am an actor, a director, a puppet maker, a mask maker, a storyteller, a movement person, and a lover of folklore.  From my grant application, three strong focuses emerged, and they are the fundamentals on which I will be focusing this year:

1) To travel around the country, visiting children's theatres to exchange ideas, share stories, compare art, examine artistic disciplines, talk about arts education for children, and to learn how they reach out into their surrounding communities, so that I can come home and be a more effective, community-active artist in my own neighborhood and surrounds.

2) To research more deeply folktales, stories, and myths from around the globe.  Celebrating the differences, understanding and embracing the not-so-different, and really seeing and feeling how and why these stories resonate with the people who tell them, hear them, and pass them down.

3) To run a series of professional workshops that focus on creating the trappings of "found" theatre--my vision of combined devised and scripted works for children.  To include different aspects of what goes into devising with and for children, so that what is "found" is engaging, intriguing, and wholly unique...

...and through it all, to become a more mature, more playful, more adventurous, daring, open, and nurturing artist.

Please join me.  I think the journey is going to be glorious!

Thanks,
Ali

Alison is the recipient of a 2016 Creative Workforce Fellowship. This Fellowship is a program of the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. Funding for the Fellowship program is made possible by the generous support of Cuyahoga County residents through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.