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Waiting in the Wings

...And Ready to Reconnect with Live Audiences. Despite Immense Challenges Facing the Performing Arts During the Pandemic, These Four Local Artists Agree: The Show Must Go On

Megan Janssen

Dancer, Writer

Executive Director of Dance Initiative

How has your organization adapted to maintain a connection with the community through dance?

"We’re learning to collaborate with our community better and finding ways to get people moving that are outside of the box. In addition to the small classes we're currently offering at The Launchpad, we’re striving to bring dance into families’ homes instead of requiring students to come to us. We’ve created an audio dance class for kids that is part of a take-home art box (a collaboration with The Art Base) and we're also working with the local nonprofit Raising A Reader to provide recorded dance activities related to the books the kids are reading each week. In February, we're hosting a dance residency with Nicole von Arx and we'll have special behind-the-scenes rehearsal viewings and discussions for our members. On February 27, Nicole will do a unique outdoor performance on the rooftop deck of Aspen Art Museum. The dancers will perform outside of the sliding glass doors and the small, masked audience will be inside. Lastly, we’ve created a class specifically for kids dealing with Covid-19 and stress. In collaboration with Carbondale Arts, we’re providing journals and art supplies and our teachers will guide students through fun movement, journaling exercises, and art activities in both English and Spanish to learn to express themselves, de-stress, find emotional intelligence, and shake off the burden of our times."

 

Jennetta Howell

Actress, Singer, Teacher

President of Defiance Community Players and Owner of Jennetta Howell Theatricals

What have you missed most during Covid, and what are you looking forward to once the world is back to normal?

"I have missed my connection to this community! In a perfect world I would have closed another successful show for Defiance Community Theater. I would’ve been putting on my lederhosen and hosting Oktoberfest for the fourth year with the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub. I would've had another chance to showcase the one-woman cabaret show that I wrote called “Home." For the holidays I would have been performing sold-out shows at the Redstone Castle and other venues with my 1940s Christmas Cabaret Holiday Show with talented local cast members. 

Instead, I have found a new connection to music that runs deep, and in turn have found ways to share it. I taught an in-person kids' summer arts program for kids with Colorado Mountain College. I'm blessed to be the music teacher at Cactus Valley Elementary school while also receiving my elementary education degree online with CMC. This year Defiance partnered with radio station KMTS and the Glenwood Arts Council to create the radio play “A Christmas Carol." Then, KSPN had me select a few songs from my "Home" show and talk about a need for performers to have a place to express themselves. This community is so special and our roots are connected in a way that will allow us to continue to grow together. I made sure that the local theaters had my support and donation. This is what we can do! We need to continue to help our performers. Stand united in creativity, and we will show you our collective passions. I can't wait for our chance to reconnect." 

David Dyer

Pianist and Music Director

Performer with Theatre Aspen, Thunder River Theatre Company, and the former Crystal Palace

What new insights have you learned about yourself as a musician during the pandemic?

"Undeniably, it’s been a challenging time!  When the first period of 'lockdown' began last spring, it felt like a wonderful opportunity to learn new music for no other reason than to enjoy new musical discoveries. Sadly, I wasted the luxury of that time through procrastination, though I believe my batteries were actually recharged all around through the process of isolation. Collaborating later on a cabaret concert for Theatre Aspen, we selected some music that was out of our collective wheelhouse. At first it was a little intimidating inhabiting a new realm musically, but ultimately became highly rewarding in our Aspen performances and on the Front Range. It was good to be pushed out of the comfort zone! I evaluated a classical piece for a Basalt Library blog, and again, not my usual artistic territory but highly satisfying to write something of a more academic nature. I have participated in a number of virtual, online music performances, and while successful in their own right, it’s been quite a revelation to realize the importance of the energy received from a live audience, something I had probably taken for granted previously. That chemistry certainly results in achieving a higher level of artistic satisfaction. Without the audience, we are nothing! Here’s to a return to live music of all types in the near future, and cheers to our loyal supporters. I’m happy to be back performing on weekends at The Maroon Creek Club, and look forward to monthly engagements on Sundays at The Collective in Snowmass Village this winter."

Sue Lavin

Director and Retired Theatre Educator 

Director of Thunder River Theatre Company's Spring 2021 production

What's been an unexpected silver lining for you as an artist during this difficult year?

"Thunder River has produced two online shows already, and this will be our third. It's been very challenging at times, but the theatre never says die, though—so we keep going. We have this idea in the arts: if we deprive the artist of sensory perception, how will they go through? With improv, for example, we might blindfold an actor or cover their ears, and they must work through it. In a way, that's similar to what's going on right now. The obstacle we're facing is not being able to meet face-to-face, and work together. But the creativity is always present within all of us, so it continues flowing, only it moves in a new direction. I think that's a silver lining for me. To work with actors who are adapting in wonderful ways to everything that's going on. I really believe in actors, and their ability to be flexible. It's a gift they have that's even more visible in times like these. So although we're naturally discouraged by the obstacles of this period, nothing stops—it shifts. And that's just fun."

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