Membership Spotlight – January 2024

Your Name is a Song commissioned by Seattle Children’s Theatre is soon going into the next phase of development which is extremely exciting. I am also thrilled to be working with Gus Weltsek and José Casas on documenting the Superheroes Project. I feel honored to witness all the work and partnerships that will happen. I am humbled to even think about the future instances when I am a welcomed guest in these communities of creation. Lastly, I have to mention a project Meriah Sage, Kristala Pouncy, and I began ideating on a couple years back intended to uncover hidden and erased histories of BIPOC TYA scholars and practitioners. It feels like a huge undertaking at times but we continue to dream and invite other educators like Joshua Streeter and Elizabeth Horn who joined us as we facilitated a conversation last summer at AATE about moving forward toward some broad reaching, focused, and actionable plans to diversify scholarly options in this field but also to strive for what feels like more just citational practice. This is only happening if we acknowledge that as we dig into any section of American history, including TYA, has been marred by legal and systemic barriers to documentation of multiple artistic practices and participation by folks holding these identities. Similarly, we acknowledge that other folks are/have been doing this work, so I will use this as an opportunity to say both please reach out to me if this has been part of your research and work, I’d love to hear and learn from any colleague out there passionate about the same things but also don’t be surprised if you hear from me soon randomly!

I visited Onna Bugeisha: WARRIORS OF LIGHT currently at The August Wilson African American Cultural Center back in November of 2023 and this series of pieces really have stuck with me and has energized my spirit in many ways. Specifically The Expectant Guard and another with a group of samurai women which the title has since escaped me, both reminds me of love, the constant battle that happens for love to exist, and generally are images that inspires my professional vision this year.

First of all, I’d love to write more. As I write scripts and children’s books, it’s easy to push that part of me aside and say “no one is reading them so do this other thing.” But I’d like to write more, more plays, stories, articles, and even get back to my first love starting in middle school— poems! I’ve recently returned home to the Detroit area, so I have a few seeds for projects planted and at a place where I don’t know what will sprout but my dreaming goes toward community engaged work.

Young folks are honest and their imaginations haven’t been worked out of their spirit yet. It pushes us to be collaborative, listen more, connect more, and imagine more.

Oh, I have so many favorites! But to uplift one specifically, I was able to work with Khalia Davis among some other amazing collaborators around organizing, visioning, facilitating, etc. for BIPOC in TYA related events and spaces.I am so excited that we will be working together artistically very soon —it’s truly a gift to have opportunities to create together but also anytime Khalia is around their is authentic cultivation of joy!

I took on a new role as Assistant Professor at University of Michigan this past August and have been very grateful to grow and learn with support from Tiffany Trent and José Casas. Additionally, Jessica Decky Alexander at EMU did, as my advisor, and continues to cheer me on in the process of creating and navigating a journey that is true to me no matter how ‘arbitrary’ it may feel when comparing it to others.

IG: Shav_T_Artivist, Email: ShavTArtivist, or www.shavonnetcoleman.weebly.com

After a short, strategic pause upon my arrival at Oregon Children’s Theatre, I am ridiculously thrilled that we are opening TWO shows in January 2024! We start with Goodnight Moon, which launches the beginning of a new friendship/partnership with Seattle Children’s Theatre. I was also able to bring in the amazing Lauren Jost, founder of Spellbound Theatre in NY, to direct our production! Then one week later, we open the TYA version of The Lightning Thief – which will be my Portland directorial debut! So fun! It has been a total joy meeting and working with the incredible actors and designers in the PDX. I am in awe of the talent! While I am keeping incredibly busy in my new role as Producing Artistic Director at OCT, I am also excited to continue workshopping my new TYA Musical – Keys – with Roxanne Schroeder-Arce and Anthony Runfola of Magik Theatre in San Antonio. I will head back to Texas at the end of February for that workshop, with plans for our world premiere in the fall of 2024 at Magik!  With all that said – I am also excited to start planning for the 24/25 season and for the beginnings of some VERY exciting new collaborations!

I just recently re-read the novel: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr for a second time. There is something so tragically joyful about the effort and dedication of humans over the centuries to preserve stories and to pursue truth. This book inspires me to think about who of us gets to tell our stories? Who gets to save them? Who gets to decide what stories we consume? (Which ones get turned into TYA scripts!?) And how hard would we fight to keep them alive? It breaks me open to think about all the stories that are being pulled from shelves right now and denied access to so many young people – it is truly a crime – and this novel ignites deep reflection on my own role as a storyteller and a gatekeeper.

And on a totally different note – my 10 year-old daughter is in full-on Swifty mode and I’m finding myself forced to listen to A LOT of Taylor Swift songs and lyrics these days. While some are just super silly, some are REALLY GOOD! She truly has a gift and I marvel at the story of a young girl who picked up a guitar at such a young age and was encouraged to write and perform what she wanted to write and sing about. If only every child had the resources, support, and platform to write their own stories. Can you just imagine? Isn’t that what we all wish for the young people we work with?  It’s an odd thing to admit, but I am just a wee bit inspired by Taylor Swift right now. Shhhh! Don’t tell my daughter.

Now – if only we could convert all the Taylor ticket buyers into TYA ticket buyers… am I right?

Honestly, this still feels like a dream project:
Moving my entire family – 3 dogs, 2 kids, 1 husband, and ridiculously too much stuff – from Austin to the Pacific Northwest. Being here in this new role is a great honor, and a lot of work, but I’ve committed myself to serve this community with integrity and heart. My colleagues, who have been on a really difficult ride out here at OCT over the past few years, inspire me to show-up and commit to making sure we are around for another 35 years, serving and supporting the young people of Portland and beyond.

Why? Because there is something uniquely profound about TYA that allows us to connect with groups of children like no-other medium can. We bring them together, in community, and invite them to laugh, wiggle, scream, and cry together. We encourage them to ask some big questions about the world and hopefully inspire them to make it a better place. To this day, I get a little weepy when I am sitting in the back of a house full of kids. They are just the BEST!!!!! And when they lose their minds all at the same time over something that a live artist performed on stage – it reminds me that we do still need each other. In rooms, not on screens. And maybe we actually can overcome our differences and heal some hurts and build pathways for social/emotional health in our young people. I am truly driven to make sure littles have the tools to tell their own stories. And the more diverse stories we put on stage, the more likely our audiences will know that they have an open invitation to write their own. Or maybe they just see something on stage and they finally see themselves for the first time? As I’ve been in rehearsals for The Lightning Thief, I have marveled at how much my 8 year-old son connects to Percy Jackson because he also has ADHD. One day he asked me: “Does that mean I also have powers?” And I was like…ummm….YES!!!! I just love that. He is so excited to see the show and it will be a pretty special experience for this momma/director.

I have to shout-out my dear collaborator, Suzan Zeder. Writing Gretel! and then The Battlefields of Clara Barton, with Suzan has been one of the great honors of my life. I feel like I have a second MFA in “Zeder” – ha! – and have become a better storyteller and dramatist because of our time together. No doubt. She and I have stories about spending HOURS troubling over one lyric…one WORD…to make sure we get it right. I just love that work with her. When we both started crying as we discovered the ending to ‘Clara’ together. Not only am I deeply proud of our musicals, but I am forever grateful that she and I have built a lasting relationship that goes beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

Kathy Krzys, Goddess and Retired Archivist of the Child Drama Collection at Arizona State University. She had such a huge impact on my trajectory in the field, but also she changed my life. I love her so big and am grateful for every gift she gave me.

For our work at OCT – head to: www.octc.org / For more on my music go to: www.jennhartmannluck.com / To learn more about Gretel! go to: www.gretelthemusical.com (Available for licensing through DPC)

I am currently working on a top secret collaboration with the Coterie Theatre that will premier in January of 2025. I’m excited to share this with the Theater for Young Audiences community.

I’m currently inspired by the work of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and working on a production based on his book The Little Prince featuring 50 artists from the disability community at Circle Theatre in Omaha, NE.

I would love to stage a production of A Charlie Brown Christmas weaving American Sign Language into the storytelling as a integral and centered part of the production.

TYA is where all the dynamic and groundbreaking work is occurring. It’s a privilege to be making art with and for the most important audience, children and families.

We’re going to cheat and shout out about two. The first would be my husband, Mark Kurtz, who was the longtime music director at Stages Theatre in Hopkins, Minnesota. Mark is currently writing musical theater for children and families. The second would be Courtney Stein Cairncross, a dynamic multi-disciplinary artist whom I believe the TYA community needs to get to know. I have worked on countless projects with both Mark and Courtney and hope to work on many, many more.

We are going to cheat again and have two. Carole Waterman, the first director of education at the Rose Theater in Omaha, NE. Carole taught me, among other things, how to respect and honor young people — something that I strive to do everyday. The second is Carolyn Owen Anderson, who taught me everything I know about arts administration, including how to lead with empathy and how to empower others to do their best.

fran@ovationsnwa.org