Bit of the ordinary, Design Stuff

The Power of Theater

I’ve seen this shared from a couple of people over the past weeks. Below a scenic artist shared it on her blog.

Yesterday a friend shared the performance report from the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. I had been having a pretty rough day, and this account of the performance changed my entire attitude. I was awe-struck.

If you can't read the above text, here's what it says:

It was generally agreed by all that the show was “kind of rough” (tech wise). But after the show we learned that there was a 5 year old autistic child in the house. He had never spoken. But as the lights went down, he began to talk. In full sentences. He called the teacher by name. She had no idea he even knew her name. He was engaged in the show – at one point commenting to the teacher that if there is a dragon then there will be fire. And there was fire. He talked all throughout the show. When the lights came back up – he quit talking and returned to his world. So, yes, I could list all the little things that wrong today but that is not what this show is about. And that little boy certainly didn’t see those things as he sat talking in the dark theatre watching Harold and his Purple Crayon.

This. This. This is why art matters. Art reaches into those hidden places places inside of us. Art speaks in a language that doesn't even have words. Art touches the unknowable. Art inspires dialog. Art creates something, when at times people thought there was nothing at all.

via How’s Robb?: The Power of Art (This will make you cry, unless you have a heart of stone.).

It is a truly amazing story. I hope that what I do can touch people and make meaningful change happen.

Bit of the ordinary

The James Baldwin Project

Front row, l. to r.: Thurber, Zheng, deBessonet and Collins. Back row, l. to r.: Lambie, Contreras, Rosado, Mannering ’10, Cartmill ’84 and Worsham ’10.

Last week was a whirlwind. I worked on a project called “The James Baldwin Project”. I was joined by a bunch of friends, old and new, from New York. Playwrights Lucy Thurber, Christopher Cartmill, along with director Lear deBessonet, and former students Jenna Worsham and Kevin Mannering, and actors Julissa Contreras, Alexander Lambie, David Zheng, and Cesar Rosado.

To explain the project a bit here is an excerpt from our flyer:

These artists would like to engage in an open conversation, one that revolves around the inspired work of James Baldwin, as he addressed so well what is often seen as unaddressable in our American history, namely: class, race, sexuality, economy, art, and government.

I brought down these artists to engage in conversations with people at W&L and create a piece of theater. We used quotes from the writings of James Baldwin. It was a ton of work. I set up 45 interviews/conversations with students, faculty, staff and residents of Lexington and Rockbridge county. We made care to match the interviewee with someone to complement them from the project team. The project team was made of people from many different backgrounds and races. Because one of the goals was to spark genuine conversation between disparate groups who they might not outside of this project.

The week generated a lot of very emotional conversations among us and the interviewees. Ultimately everybody wrote parts to include in the final piece, including me.

The W&L communications office piece on the event is here.

It was such an amazing and invigorating experience.

Here is the drawing I did for the flyer and program:

Bit of the ordinary, Geekiness

Letterheads of the past

The Official Letterheads of Edison, Tesla, Hitler, Groucho, JFK, Johnny Cash, James Dean & More: http://t.co/7lNGFSkh —

These are some amazing letterheads. It shows how much about a person can be said by their choice in letterhead design. If you look at it you may think, like I did, that Nikolai Tesla is overcompensating for something when comparing things to Edison.

Family biz

Breakfast is more important than ketchup

We were having a discussion at dinner last night and talking about good eating habits. What came up naturally was how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Which inspired Arden to say: “Breakfast is more important than … ketchup!”

From the mouths of babes…

Family biz

The Gift of sleep

My son fell asleep in my lap. It happens sometimes. When it does, I just carry him to his room and set him down. But today was different. Not for Liam, he slept the whole way and the night. I was different, I just saw how amazing it was to sleep like that. To have such utter deep and relaxing sleep that you can be lifted up, moved around and set down in a bed all without waking up . That is pretty amazing. To not have to worry about what is happening, to just trust the the world deposits you somewhere other than where you fell asleep and that is OK. I don’t sleep thru the night. I hear the noises of the kids, murmuring or stirring in their sleep, and it wakes me up. I wake up before Ann, mostly she sleeps thru their little noises, but I hear them. I get up and see what they need. Some of the time they are just asleep. Some time they need something. I worry that they need me. Do I know too many things that can go wrong and I have to check on them? Are they sick, do they need to throw up, are they scared and need to a hand to hold before they can fall asleep, do they need to go to the bathroom and I need to get them there so they don’t have an accident( this doesn’t really apply anymore though). Could it be something else, in that strange way that some describe as fate, or god’s will, or the random workings of the universe that something could affect them and they would need me to be there? Or even worse, that I would be there and not be able to help? Do I just know too much of the world to sleep deeply?

Seeing Liam sleep in my arms is a gift. I could never sleep like that anymore, but at least I can be there for my children so they can. And it kinda makes it worth it to be woken up during the night.

the Blog of Owen Collins