Why you should see "Every Brilliant Thing" at the Wallace! - A Director's Statement

Every Brilliant Thing is a joyful play about an uncomfortable and often taboo topic. Depression isn’t easy to talk about. It stays hidden, confined to the dark corners of our minds, left unspoken because of so many different societal and cultural stigmas. EBT challenges us to ask, why? Why can’t we discuss depression in the light of day? Why can’t we have these discussions, openly, honestly and yes, even with humor? The answer is that we can, if we make the space for it, if we examine our false ideas of what it means to be depressed. Depression is not a weakness, in fact, living with the disease requires a great deal of strength. People with depression don’t require pity or for us to wear kid’s glove, actually, these tactics will often quickly make them feel alienated or othered. What we can do is listen, empathize, and be there when needed.

With EBT, Duncan Macmillan dares us as an audience to not only look at the subject matter in a new way, but also to engage with it in a way we haven’t before. By using the audience as characters within the story Macmillan has removed the barrier between performer and audience and made it “our” story. And it is our story. It’s what makes Every Brilliant Thing so popular. Everyone has experience with depression either directly, or through a family member or close friend. That is why it is so hard to talk about openly. It is also the reason we need to be able to talk about it. So that everyone can realize that they aren’t alone in dealing with these issues. There’s no shame in battling depression and certainly none in seeking out help when it is needed. 

Our Narrator points out that depression is different for everyone. There are many different types of depression and diagnoses. How his mother experienced depression is not how The Narrator does. There are similarities, but also differences and we must understand that there is not a universal treatment for depression. Treatments need to be as personalized and individual as the people receiving it. Macmillan also reminds us that success is a moving target. Depression isn’t something to be cured, but managed. Expecting otherwise is unrealistic and creates unnecessary pressure. 

The way that our narrator chooses to deal with his depression is by reminding himself of all the wonderful parts of life. His list of Every Brilliant Thing. The list is a celebration. It’s a recognition of what in this world is worth sticking around for, and my goodness is there a lot. As part of my research into this project I began work on my own list. The narrator and myself shared quite a few, but most of my list were personal things that I find joy in. I will keep my list to myself, but I invite you to go home and make a list of your own. Start with the easy ones. First things that pop into your head. Eventually you will come to a point where it will get difficult to come up with something new. Push on and you will once again come to a point where the ideas just pour out. With each thing you will remember a bit of the joy that inspired you to write it down.  It’s a wonderful way to remind yourself that even in as crazy a time as we are living in now, the majority of “things” are still “Brilliant”. 

Come to the show! Enjoy. Engage. Think. Play. Laugh. Afterwards if you have any questions, we will have a talk back where we can discuss anything that you might have on your mind. Finally, if you or anyone you know is looking for some help you can always contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. 

Cory Lawson, Director of Every Brilliant Thing.

A Snowy Day Wallace Weekend Players Activity for you!

The Wallace Weekend Players kicked off last week with 21 students! We had a great session in acting and learned how to build an ensemble. We will take a break this week to keep everyone out of the weather, but we have a prompt for our players from the director, Cory Lawson! Read on - You can participate whether you are a weekend player or not, it is a great snowy day activity!

Hello Wallace Weekend Players, 

I hope you are all staying warm! I’m going to miss seeing your face this weekend but always better to be safe than sorry when dealing with weather. Besides, if there is snow, I hope you are able to go out and enjoy it! 

In the meantime, I thought I’d give you a fun prompt for our next meeting the following Saturday. 

Think of your favorite movie to watch on a snowy day. Choose one scene from this movie and recreate it for us in 3 minutes or less. You can use other people, but they can’t speak. You will need to pose/move them and speak for them (think of a living puppet).

Get creative! You can use small props if you’d like and if there is music behind the scenes you can bring that too. We will start with these when next we meet. Have fun and I can’t wait to see them and you next Saturday!!

Cory

2nd Edition: Get to know those who make the show!

An Interview by Alycyn Keeling

Today I got to talk with Dr. Zachary Daily who is directing “The Woman in Black.” Zach just finished defending his dissertation and officially received the title of “Dr.”!  Congratulations, Zach!  What a great accomplishment!  Zach is originally from a small town just outside of San Antonio Texas

In speaking with Zach you understand his sincere passion for what he does, and learn that his motivation comes from helping others through teaching.  Zach has an incredible talent in leading and bringing people together.  His leadership creates the elements that make a spectacular show, or in this week’s case a “Spook-Tacular” show!

Photo by Mallory Prucha, taken in the Ancient Greek Ruins, Pirene, Turkey

Zach’s favorite part of directing theater productions is seeing and experienceing the development of relationships among characters.  Zach describes the cast of “The Woman in Black”, “It has a smaller cast and creates a very intimate evening with a lot of really interesting moments for a small show.”

Zach’s love of theatre began with his involvement in church productions. He has always liked telling stories and sees theatre is a way of doing that in a different medium. Zach received his BFA in performance with a concentration in directing at Baylor University and spent some time in Ohio before moving back to Texas. (Good job, Zach! As my former boss in Washington, D.C. quite frequently liked to say, “All good Texans come back home!” - Or we spend a lot of time trying!)

When talking with Zach, I most enjoyed seeing and hearing his passion for teaching.  As I mentioned above Zach has a talent for empowering people. Zach says he loves teaching everything from directing, acting, literature, to history and he really enjoys teaching theatre to “non-theatre” people. Theater has a lot of transferable skills that will help you out and about in the world, and they are not skills you can just learn from reading a book.

There have been multiple surveys published over the past few years where employers listed the top qualifications they are looking for in job candidates. Communication skills and emotional intelligence are top of the list and that’s what theatre does.  “If you participate in theater, we ask you as an actor to step into someone else’s shoes for a couple of hours a night. Being able to portray and see something from someone else’s perspective is inherent to theatre.” It teaches people to consider what it might be like to see things through different eyes. Zach also talked about the business students he taught in a non-majors theatre class.  “If you’re presenting a business opportunity in front of a group of people, improv and theatre training teaches you how to listen to their questions, listen to their ideas and develop your response and own ideas in that moment.”

We also talked about the community theatre creates.  “That’s what I like about the Wallace, we want people to see the show, and be as safe as possible doing that in this vast open space, but it still feels intimate. You are going on a journey through this play with everyone around you.  As the story unfolds, as the mystery unfolds, we are all solving it together as the audience. It can give you back that sense of community that you may feel like you have lost over the past 6-8 months.”

““What I like about this show is how quickly the story unfolds for you. At the top of the play, the story takes off.  You are in it from “Go!””

— Dr. Zach Dailey

In my last post about Paul, I told you I don’t like scary things.  Zach had a similar feeling.  He said, “I don’t normally enjoy horror movies, they aren’t my favorite thing.  I don’t like jump scares.  I don’t like something frightening me out of nowhere.  This play isn’t like a horror movie.  There aren’t jump scares.  It is unsettling, it is a mystery, it feels like a classic, almost Hitchcockian thriller. This show is about what’s not seen.” He said, ‘This play is also interesting because the story has to do with local legend of a small town in England.  This play really gives honor to those local legends stories.’

So, I invite you to come see this show because it is going to be an incredible experience thanks to hard work from the cast and crew that have worked with Zach! Engage yourself in this story and maybe we’ll have a new local legend of our own, right here in Levelland!

Purchase your tickets now for “The Woman in Black”, the next great experience at the Wallace Theater!

Performances run:

• Thursday, October 22th 7:30pm

• Friday, October 23rd 7:30pm

• Saturday, October 24th 7:30pm

• Friday, October 30th 7:30pm

• Saturday, October 31st 9:00pm (Celebrate Halloween with us!)

General Admission Tickets are $20; Student Tickets are $10

Get to the know those who make the show!

An Interview by Alycyn Keeling

When someone asks me, “What the Wallace is about?” The simplest answer to me is the people!

Today I want to introduce you to actor, Paul Kortemeier. Paul is starring as “Kipps” in the upcoming show “The Woman in Black.” (a ghost story theatrically adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill's novel of the same name.)

I must admit, I am the first person to say, “No, thank you” when it comes to watching anything scary! But …. after talking with Paul, hearing his enthusiasm for this show, and observing bits and pieces of the rehearsals, this play is now a must-see for me!

Read on to learn more about Paul.  I hope you feel the same sense of excitement I do about this show!

Paul Kortemeier is very much his own actor with a strong and striking stage presence.  That presence comes from an intriguing set of experiences and influences!  Paul grew up under the purview of his father’s career as an actor and a professor. His father’s career has combined teaching and acting in many parts of the country and had an influence on Paul before he even realized it.

Photo Credit: Bill West-Davis

Paul got his undergraduate degree in Wisconsin and moved to Alaska where he worked as a tour boat captain.  He describes himself in some ways as a “jack of all trades”. His experience also includes entertaining as a wedding and karaoke DJ. 

The spark for acting came when a friend encouraged him to audition for a production of “The Little Mermaid”.  Paul’s talent was noticed and he was cast in a lead role as Sebastian. What really encouraged Paul to pursue acting as a career was a conversation with his father.  The tight-knit family of five was gathered for Christmas when Paul apologized saying, he just wasn’t feeling very happy.  His dad immediately said, “What can we do about it?  What do you want to do?”  Without hesitation, Paul surprised himself and said, “I want to go back to school for acting. I want to do what you do!”

That was that! Paul signed up for an audition in Chicago where he was introduced to the Texas Tech University School of Theater & Dance. The upcoming production of “The Woman in Black” is Paul’s Thesis project which is the culmination of his educational experience.

When asked about the significance of the show, Paul said, “At face value when I first approached this play, I thought, “Wow, this is such an incredibly well-written story.” Paul went on to describe that this play served as a valuable reminder of how effective and important a well-written story can be to relationship building in our lives, to create a sense of community that only comes from shared experiences like this production.

Rehearsal Photo by Garrett Haslam

“The rehearsals are going so well and we’re finding new discoveries every day! It has been such an exciting process.” Even the cast and crew come to the end surprised with goosebumps, every time!

For anyone that may want to look a little deeper into the play, there is storyline to challenge your thinking. “This play for me is an example of the “Maleficent” syndrome.” It makes you think about a person’s actions from a different perspective.  It challenges you to not take everything at face value. 

When asked what the audience might experience Paul said with a bit of thought and a big smile, “I don’t want to spoil it!”

“It is such an entertaining play! It’s going to be scary, it’s going to be funny, it’s going to be spine-tingling! This play is going to surprise you!”

— Paul Kortemeier

Paul says with great enthusiasm that he is very excited to be doing the show at the Wallace. “It is as if the Wallace was built for this show! When I first walked into the space, the Wallace just felt like it was designed for this. It was such a perfect match.”

Paul gives credit to his good friend Cory Lawson as the reason he is doing this particular show.  We plan to post an interview with Cory, who also directs the Wallace Weekend Players program on Saturday mornings, and Zach Dailey who is directing the show.

After speaking with Paul, I can’t imagine any reason you won’t leave in awe of this wonderful production! I’ve mustered up my courage, determined not to be a scardey cat, and am anxiously awaiting opening night! Will you join me??

Purchase your tickets now for “The Woman in Black”, the next great experience at the Wallace Theater!

Performances run:

• Thursday, October 22th 7:30pm

• Friday, October 23rd 7:30pm

• Saturday, October 24th 7:30pm

• Friday, October 30th 7:30pm

• Saturday, October 31st 9:00pm (Celebrate Halloween with us!)

General Admission Tickets are $20; Student Tickets are $10

1st Semester Recap: Wallace Weekend Players

The Wallace Weekend Players have wrapped up their 1st semester!  We started the semester strong with a great group of 18 students.  As schools closed we continued the program and consistently had 3 to 6 kids join us via zoom each Saturday morning for the last half of the semester.  

The final performance didn't happen as we expected, but these kids showed great enthusiasm for their monologues, a few wrote their own plays which were fun to read together in our last meeting and each refined new skill sets.  It was exciting and inspiring to see their progress, creativity, and self-confidence grow each week. 

To supplement the end of the program each of these students will have the opportunity to accept a full scholarship to our Theater camp in June.  

The students have given us great ideas for our theme days at camp.  They said their favorite parts of Wallace Weekend players included getting to meet our guest artists from Texas Tech, learning about costume design, different types of acting, and even directing.  

We are so proud of the way these students worked together and encouraged each other.  We are thankful we had the opportunity to work with such incredible young people and build relationships with them. We look forward to seeing them at theater camp and picking the program back up on Saturdays in the fall! 

Thank you to The CH Foundation for their generous support of our inaugural year and making it possible to extend the opportunity for these students to continue their learning at Theater Camp this summer.

Art Adventures with Aby

There is so much beauty right in our own community.  If there is a silver lining to a self-quarantine it is finding more time to spend with those we love and appreciate the simple beauty all around us. For me this has included taking a daily break to go on a walk or jog with my dog, Abygail. 

We both enjoy staying active and getting a little fresh air.  Taking a daily walk especially right now, is a good opportunity to remember to take things one step at a time, one day at a time! (Thank you to my dear friend, Betsy, for that inspiration!)

I've always enjoyed the mosaics around Levelland, but to be honest, I haven't taken much time to stop and appreciate them.  There are parts of my world that are moving at super speed trying to keep up and figure out where to go, and other parts that have come to a disappointing screeching halt.  On these walks with Aby, I've given myself the freedom to slow down and think.  

As I stopped, I took the time to appreciate the small individual tiles in each mosaic.  I admire the vision of each artist and the commitment it took to get each piece placed just right. 

Just as each tile is unique and special, so are we. Right now we are all trying to figure out how to live in our new normal, but we as individuals have the opportunity to create something beautiful together as we help each other during this time.  The greatest beauty in the world is recognizing the unique gifts each person has to contribute to their community.  

I'm proud that the Wallace has a platform to showcase and support our local musicians and give our community the opportunity to appreciate their art.  I'm looking forward to finding ways to do the same with artists in other fields.  

Aby and I went on a self guided Mosaics tour: https://www.golevelland.com/sites/default/files/files/MosaicSelf-guidedbrochure.pdf 

  We were inspired by the chalk mosaics many of our Wallace Friends have done!