Project: Connecting Landscapes and Stories: Homeland Architecture: Seeking Universal Truths
In a temporary era of division, we are separated by physical
distance and personal stigmas. We seek to connect landscapes by building
bridges and escaping “Plato’s Cave”. We will achieve this by bringing together teaching
artists and Willard high school and collegiate performance artists in New Town
and Fort Berthold and the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College. We will create
artistic work and celebrate with an original performance to connect to the
people through friendship and an ongoing devotion as we interlace our stories
and share in the world of “I AM”.
Approximately 30 artists from Southwest Missouri will travel to
North Dakota to collaborate with local participants, ages 12 and older, to seek
and find individual and collective voices and narratives through movement,
dance, spoken word, instrumental and vocal music, creating a landscape
performance about the internal and external terrain, with focus on subterranean
vulnerabilities and gifts. The performance, at the end of an intensive,
reflective, and uniting series of creations, will showcase collaborative works
and solo tributes. We will gather around the actions and conceptualizations of
our treatment of the other as well as how we receive our nourishment and listen
to silences and expectations.
The first day of arrival our ensemble will set
up photos, architecture, and items from our homeland and prepare to share our
treasures, trinkets, and collected stories and creations for the incoming
participants. They will explore and connect with the new homeland, natural
architecture, and historical roots of the earth. Local participants will connect
us to the landscape as well as the known and felt history of the land.
Willard Community Theatre Program Description:
Willard Community Theatre strives to change and
heal the world and ourselves, one show and one moment at a time. We tell the
stories that matter, strive to build a stronger community, and craft narratives
to deliver urgent and epic meaning. It’s about invention, collaboration,
connection, sweat, and energy. Art is a way, and it is for everyone. Our
mission is to act locally, think globally, and to serve the sweetest of
stories. We design and construct, connecting people and ideas by light and
sound and through our journeys. We don’t have to dance through the air on silks
and hoops or create visual poetry or serenade images into unforgettable feats,
but we will. We are the creators of physical and artistic theatre that you have
come to expect.
We practice and believe in RADICAL hospitality. Art is for everyone.
We practice and believe in RADICAL hospitality. Art is for everyone.
Willard Community Theatre endeavors to build a stronger
community by inspiring connections and playing an integral role in the
development of young people in our community. We work with organizations to
enhance funding, support philanthropic aims, and promote awareness and
education. Through interdisciplinary exploration, installation, and academic
commitment, we will build STEAM bridges to weave design, people, and education
together. WCT has connected with many organizations in hopes of creating a
better planet and building a powerful future. These organizations include:
Willard Children's Charitable Foundation, Worldwide Orphans Foundation, Convoy
of Hope, Humane Society of Southwest Missouri, Charity: Water, Missouri Stream
Team Watershed Coalition, Hartsburg Grand: Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs, American
Cancer Society, St. Jude’s, and our academic community.
Abstract #1:
Abstract #1:
1. Connecting and sharing stories, food, and landscapes
2. Devising works based on authentic narratives of our homeland, the interior of our heart and mind; the lineage of our pathway and terrain; the accountability for our own journey; the work of our body, song, movement, and holistic self in our creation of art; the art-making of our interconnected circle through the work and the performance
3. Use of story circles, prompts, grid work, dance, song, movement & rhythm, composition, interpretation, listening/ receiving and giving: use voice and agency to make new learned connections
4. Intense mining to gather our personal story; gathering and revealing the specifics and the details to unveil the universal truths and uncover the things that matter
5. Travel to New Town/ Fort Berthold
6. Lodging in a nearby hotel
7. Bringing food from our homeland and creating dishes on site
8. Feeding our people, the travelers and our new circle of friendsAbstract #2:
1. Source work: created and devised pedagogy: all travelling ensemble members will have material and ways of working
2. Transportation costs: $11, 250.00 per person $375.00: US Coachways (Tony- 504 A Extension)
3. Food for resident artists on a 7 day journey: $15.00 per day times 30 participants: $3,150.00
4. Food for resident artists and participants on site: $900.00
5. Total allowance for food: $4,050.00
6. Performance venue: unknown
7. Costs for housing per person (days will depend on the method of travel)
8. Kitchen or facility for food preparation: unknown
References:
Baum,
L. F. (1900). The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago: George M Hill
Company.
Boal, A. (1992). Games
for Actors and Non-Actors. New York City: Routledge.
Bogart, A. (2014). What's
the Story: Essays About Art, Theater and Storytelling. New York City:
Routledge.
Brook, P. (1968). The
Empty Space. New York City: Touchstone.
Landau, T., &
Bogart, A. (2004). The Viewpoints Book. New York, NY: Theatre
Communications Group.
Mardirosian, G. H.,
& Pelletier Lewis, Y. (Eds.). (2016). Arts Integration in Education:
Teachers and Teaching Artists as Agents of Change (1 ed.). Fishponds,
Bristol, United Kingdom: Intellect.
Palmer, P. J.
(2011). Healing the Heart of Democracy. Jossey-Bass: San Fransisco, CA.
Weigler, W. (2016).
The Alchemy of Astonishment: Engaging the Power of Theatre. Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada: University of Victoria.
Community
Service and Interdisciplinary Work
Willard High School
and Community Theatre advocates for those who cannot and those in need by
educating and sponsoring philanthropic causes connected to the narrative of
productions. This holistic approach
allows deep reflection by joining artists, audience, and community to authentic
roots, current crises, and conditions.
Working towards genuine possibilities for solutions, our partnership and
multi-disciplinary collaboration provides funding, stewardship, and advocacy.
Here are some of our favorite and recent endeavors:
Here are some of our favorite and recent endeavors:
- 2018 Spring: Urban Roots Landscape, Devised Works, and studies through science, historical agriculture, visual arts, and performance. Our goal is to increase understanding of our food and its source, get the dirt under our nails, and garden for our community and have a firm understanding of urban neighborhood agrarian pursuits. Multicultural and interdisciplinary study and creation.
- 2017 Fall: Placeworks Grant: Visual Artists/ Thespians/ Technicians: STEAM Community to participate in Placeworks Workshop at the Springfield Art Museum / Entire School Invitation to participate and create Shoe & Soul Art for Installation and see The Wizard of Oz/ and Extended Community Invitation to explore public art Shoe Installation and attend the Willard High School and Community production November 16-18:
- To explore and learn from and with area art-makers and develop as scholarly artists and to eventually create a shoe design for an installation for interdisciplinary exploration of "there's no place like home". As each of us pursues essential questions about a hero's or shero’s quest, the steadfast strengths buried within, and our purposeful mission- we will individually and in collaboration craft and fashion a gallery.
- The driven focus will be soul shoes for the traveler based on the ingredients mined from the essential questions which can be adapted, enhanced, and re-envisioned. As the questions evolve consider yourself through the lens of the characters or the quest in “The Wizard of Oz” for the design of that which has already been cobbled is about the journeyer, you. Please, utilize the symbolism and archetypal narrative from this wonderful world to explore your life, your purpose as well as the many pursuits, journeys and life-giving forces driving mission.
- The end result will be the displayed installation of a “there’s no place like home” gallery that will further unite visitors and student-artists. The exposure of students to guest artists and diverse ways of creating, thinking, and pedagogy offers enriched development in the academic and artistic training process. Performance of the rediscovered “The Wizard of Oz”, a circular adventure that begins with a tornado will take place from November 16-18th, 2017. The extended result will be more student engagement in the classroom with curated knowledge of method, technique, and structure.
- 1986-2017: Red Ribbon Week: Prevention Theatre or Giving Voice to the Children. Each year Willard actors tour local schools and present an action-packed, multi-genre, original blend of comedy, pantomime, sound and movement, dance, and so much more. Our objective is to empower grades kindergarten-8th by providing touchstones and narratives that convey purposeful healthy choices, demonstrating characters navigating conflicts and triggers. Each production is research-driven, including guidance and communication with peers, staff, and artists.
- 2011-2017 (and ongoing): Annual summer world premieres and performances: all ticket sales and proceeds benefit Willard Children’s Charitable Foundation, contributions of $1,000+ to over $2,000 annually. The mission of the Willard Children’s Charitable Foundation, a spoke of the Care to Learn foundation, is to raise, manage, and distribute private investment to benefit the children and future generations of the Willard community.
- 2016 Fall: Placeworks Grant: Willard High School Theatre and Visual Arts Departments
- Timeline: September for creation and reflection/ process to November 15-19 for Production of Pippin and Purpose Installation
- Number of Students: 80+ more: 32 performance artists and 50 visual artists
- Vision: Seeking Purpose
- Willard High School Theatre inspires to craft a multi-disciplinary production/ installation connecting the over-arching theme of seeking purpose in our daily lives and as a hero’s journey in the tale of Pippin. Our vision is to work with Placeworks teaching artist to help us mine meaning from existing artwork at The Creamery through academic questioning and exploration on line, shape, movement, composition, value; applying historical/ artist biography to deepen understanding; and continue with physical interpretation of space, landscape, topography, movement, tempo, rhythm as valuable work and training.
- After working with existing pieces, our ambition is to provide a timeline for visual artists and performance artists to create separately and together within and beyond our disciplines and knit together a collaborative public artwork of Pippin. This will be a community event of personal stories, a ritualized tale, and emotionally bonded by the collective students. Let us delve into the conceptual question together of “Stories are about whom for whom?” while also investigating our own purpose and pursuits.
- 2015: The Caged Bird, Still Singing, an original compilation about women, the ever-changing roles of humanity, the current crisis for half of the population locally, nationally, and globally, will be performed in the spring. The hope: promises and commitments to explore, envision, and narrate a more loving and cohesive world for all of us. The Empathy Project: a student-driven multidisciplinary installation of stories that have made us. The exhibit will include each storyteller’s shoes hanging in the common area. The story will be in the left shoe and received letters will be delivered to the right shoe. There will also be anonymous pen pal networking, narratives beyond the mask, and guest speaker Ellen Hopkins.
- 2014: Once on this Island Developing Dinner: This evening was a devotion and enactment of 3rd world diners and developed world diners sharing one meal together. This meal included rice and beans and “unsanitary water.” The elite first world diners were provided with four course meals and entertainment while developing nations walked for water. All audience members were recipients of collegiate speeches on the conditions of Haiti and other poor nations. All proceeds went to Worldwide Orphans Foundation.
- 2014: Once on this Island Poverty Simulation: Over 370 students and staff volunteered to participate in SOS: Struggle of Survival. Participants were responsible for finding food, shelter, and water as well as work in Haiti. A debriefing included a speaker from Convoy of Hope, a student missionary, as well as the creators of the simulation.
- 2014: Have I Ever Told You? This play featured original, historical, and personal stories provided by cast, family, and members of the extended community that documented the biographical hardships and discoveries of our people. This was a “Story Corps” response to strengthen our bonds and unite not just through proximity but through empathy and compassion.
- 2013: Cats. We partnered with our local humane society.
- 2013: She Weeps: An Unquenchable Tale- WCT paired with students and local artists by auctioning art and collecting donations for Charity: Water. Ticket sales for this production benefit WCCF. Our 2013 theatre enrichment camp for Water Warriors, elementary through eighth grade, was thematically driven to support stewardship and love of water, a preshow the week before the grand debut She Weeps.
- 2013: The Women of Lockerbie. We hosted the Onassis Award winning playwright Deborah Brevoort for talk back sessions. WCT technicians created a plane installation to hang in Willard High School’s Commons, and artists crafted paintings or mixed media portraits of the 270 victims of Pan Am flight 103, the Lockerbie bombing of 1988.
- Other productions with community partnerships include: Free to Be You and Me – created funding for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; A Piece of My Heart – WHS built a small replica of the Vietnam War Memorial where community members left tokens and letters for their beloved; Disposable People – partnered with social workers, Rare Breed (a Nonprofit sanctuary for homeless teens in Springfield) and business representatives promoting local and global fair trade.
ACCOLADES
2015 Workshop for Educators and Students: An independent
and collaborative process in pursuit of education. This workshop is about learning how to
integrate history, current events, and meaningful involvement with and for a
group, as well as ritual, execution, and individual and holistic
responsibility. We will create a student-driven script, discuss
interdisciplinary efforts and projects, and show how we can involve our
communities through theatre. This
workshop is about teaching others to give voice to their selected cause.
2014 Speech and Theatre Association
of Missouri workshop: Kendra
Chappell, Brandon Compton, and members of the Willard Troupe presented: Empowerment
and Healing Theatre (Willard has a history of presenting, educating, and
performing for state and local organizations).
2014 STAR Summit: Workshop for area educators:
exploring how to utilize essential questions and Socratic thinking to tell
meaningful thematic truths.
2014 American Alliance for Theatre
and Education, Theatre in Our Schools: Presentation of original work by ensemble for theatre
educators.
2014 and 2015 Placeworks recipient: An arts initiative / rural schools
partnership: exploring and learning with teaching professionals in our region
to build stronger inter-connected ideas and worlds.
2011 Performance for local and state
legislators, university professors, Missouri Arts Council, and DESE: To promote theatre in public schools:
original production of Being a Creator.
2010 The National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, The
Missouri Arts Council, Willard Children’s Charitable Foundation and the
Community Foundation of the Ozarks:
Partnership with a nationally recognized artist and supported the original
creation of Apron Strings, another
world premiere created by WCT
2001 International Fringe
Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland: Performed Speaking
from the Clay, traditional stories from the 1st people in the United
States: nominated by American High School Theatre Festival; Willard
receives an invite every year as one of the top theatre arts schools in the
nation to represent high school theatre at the Fringe.
1996-2015 Missouri
State High School Activities Association: Competitive and festival exploration for young actors and
technicians. Competing with the top schools in the state since 1996, Willard
High School continues to craft, build, and create beautiful theatre. We are
thankful for competitors who inspire, challenge, and encourage a disciplined
commitment to art. WHS theatre holds the most championship titles in the state
of Missouri, including over 7 titles for Readers Theatre and 11 titles for
One-Act Play.
2017 MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 4th place
2015 MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One Act play - 3rd place
2015 MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theatre - 3rd place
2014
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theatre - 3rd place
2013
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theater - 1st place
2012
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place
2011
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place
2010
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 2nd place
2009
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theatre - 1st place & One-Act
Play - 2nd place
2007
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 2nd place
2006
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place & Readers
Theatre - 4th place
2005
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place &Readers
Theatre - 1st place
2004
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 3rd place
2003
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theatre - 1st place
2001
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place
1999
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 2nd place
1997
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: One-Act Play - 1st place
1996
MSHSAA State Theater Championship: Readers Theater - 2nd place
Ongoing Accolades: From numerous teaching
artists, and professionals working in the trade.
What other people say about our creations:
“Willard, under the caring guidance of Kendra
Chappell and Brandon Compton, lifts theatre to a whole new level and it is
simply outstanding. When Willard uses the power of theatre to addresses issues
of social relevance, it is also invaluable. Always honest and engaging,
audience members do not leave a Willard theatre performance but take away an
experience that stays with them, for they are changed.”- Dr. Carol J. Maples,
Missouri State University
“There is no doubt that live theatre is perhaps the most compelling form of media civilization has encountered. The Willard High School Theatre program has shown itself as a true voice of the socially conscious. Having them and the Willard community addressing what is perhaps the greatest problem our world faces is a no-brainer.” – Bill Townsend, Retired Nixa High School Theatre Director
“At the heart of Willard High School and Community theatre is
collaboration—working together to create art and to explore solutions to issues
facing our world. The beauty of their collaborative work is that is doesn’t
stop at the front of the stage; it continues on in an effort to make the world
a better place.” – Andy Willadsen, Assistant Education Director, Springfield
Little Theatre
“Willard High School and
Community Theatre is an outstanding company of talented theatre and performance
artists. They always produce outstanding, insightful and creative work
that inspires and entertains audiences of all ages.” – Dr. Bob
Willenbrink, Founding Dean, School of Fine Arts, Missouri Western State
University
“The Willard High School Community Theatre program is a
dynamic group of student leaders who excel on stage, in the classroom and in
the community. Their efforts to develop a "custom" program for
our students tied to our school's theme of being heroes was a home run with our
students! The Willard community is blessed to have such a high caliber
theater program serving our students!
Thanks for all you do!” – Shane Medlin,
Principal, Willard Central Elementary
“I
can think of no better group to address the issues our society faces than the
great artists at Willard Community Theatre. These are forward-thinking truth
tellers who engage, entertain, and enlighten their audiences. Honest. Creative.
Fun. An ensemble of actors who are at their greatest when they flex their
creative muscles together. Their shows are a visual and auditory feast.” – Ruth
Schafer, Drury University
“This is to highly recommend Kendra Chappell
to you. I had the pleasure of having Kendra direct my play The Women of
Lockerbie at Willard High School in Missouri. I came away from the experience
not only impressed by Kendra’s artistry and talent, but hopeful for the future
of the American theatre because of the way in which Kendra is igniting a
passion for theatre in young people.
When
she produced and directed The Women of Lockerbie, she engaged over 700 high
school students and the faculty of history, English, art, journalism, and
industrial arts in the production. Journalism students did a series of articles
for the school paper in the Lockerbie incident; English students wrote
contemporary Greek odes; history students did papers on terrorism; art students
created public art installations installed and built by the industrial arts
kids. This engagement not only excited students but the parents as well—her
production of my play became a focal point for the entire community, fostering
an enthusiastic and deep interest in the theatre.
If
every school had a Kendra Chappell the American theatre would have an
unquestionably bright future!” – Deborah Brevoort, Onassis winning playwright, librettist &
lyricist
Statement of Need:
Willard High School serves 1,357 students 38.9% of whom are eligible for free/reduced lunch in a district with 45.5% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch. Willard Public schools has a mobility rate of 27.5%. Student resident artists needs for collaboration will be travel expenses, food, kitchen facility, and lodging.
Travel expenses
Food expenses for travelers: $15.00 per day x 30=
Food expenses for travelers: $15.00 per day x 30=
Number of days per traveler at $15.00 a day
Expenses for the 2 days: for traveling artists and participants $15.00 x 60=
Lodging Expenses= $50.00 per day
Transportation Van(s) on Site to go back and forth from lodging to venue=
Expenses for the 2 days: for traveling artists and participants $15.00 x 60=
Lodging Expenses= $50.00 per day
Transportation Van(s) on Site to go back and forth from lodging to venue=
Kendra Chappell and Brandon Compton
Storytellers and Teaching Artists
Willard Community Theatre
515 East Jackson
Willard, Missouri 65781
417-742-3524
Storytellers and Teaching Artists
Willard Community Theatre
515 East Jackson
Willard, Missouri 65781
417-742-3524
Email contact:
kendrachappel@willardschools.net
