As we launch our 10th season of theater, music and educational arts programs, I am channeling some early memories. With each season, Creative Cauldron has grown into a vibrant, diverse, and talented circle of artists supported by a dedicated Board of Directors, and a loyal family of patrons and donors. I am so grateful for what we have achieved together and wanted to share some of the highlights and anecdotes from each of our past 10 seasons. I’ll do this over 10 blog posts in the coming weeks and I encourage you to share your favorite memories with us along the way.
2009-10 Season
After seven years as vagabonds, renting various community facilities and outdoor amphitheaters, we finally took occupancy in ArtSpace in June of 2009, a herculean accomplishment. We began with our popular Arts Adventure Camp summer program. Then in September, we presented our first professional production Martin: The King of Pizza—a pourquoi tale about the origins of pizza. Matt Conner wrote the clever and tuneful musical score and Helen Hayes Award-winning actor, Sam Ludwig, played Martin. We had no seating platforms, no lights on the grid, and our set was a castle wall made from the colored locking mats that we put on the floor for our summer camp (thanks to the ingenuity of our new artistic partner and scene designer, Margie Jervis). The musical was inspired by the improvisational drama workshop that Matt and I were doing with a diverse community of students at Bailey’s elementary school. In looking back at this first foray into producing original musicals, I think we created the essential framework that would carry us through the next 10 years of invention and creativity. I think we should revisit this little gem sometime in the future.
Christmas Cabin of Carnaween, our second professional show premiered in December. I adapted the script from an Irish folktale and enlisted two accomplished Irish musicians to underscore the tale with Irish music. Margie created an astonishing set design that included brush that she collected from Greenspring Gardens, and a stone farm wall reminiscent of the Irish countryside. We solicited our neighbor Sisler’s Stone and asked if we could “borrow” these stones from their stock. Sisler’s delivered a palette (2,000 pounds of stone!!) to our doorstep and Margie and I, and a few volunteers brought them in to the theater one stone at a time. Our new LED lights funded by a grant from Dominion Power were in the grid and the production, a poignant tale set in the time of the Great Potato Famine, delighted and moved our audiences. We revived this production for the next four years, but Margie and I wisely decided that a half palette of stones would do nicely for the set. That’s still 1,000 pounds of stone!
That spring, we launched our first Learning Theater program with a production of Many Moons. It was adapted from the children’s book by James Thurber. My concept for the Learning Theater program was to give young students an opportunity to work with and be mentored by adult professionals in a professional production. There were only 3 children involved in this first production that featured Stephen Gregory Smith as the King and Anna Brotman-Krass as his daughter. Our Learning Theater is now one of our most sought after programs and the current ensemble for our fall production of Peter Pan and Wendy has 31 students participating. We certainly have come a long way!
One of the biggest highlights of that first season was our production of Tinner Hill: Portraits in Black and White. This world premiere funded through grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Arts Council of Fairfax County (now Arts Fairfax) explored the stories of African American Civil Rights pioneers of Falls Church. Working with Nikki and Ed Henderson of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, our creative team spent a year researching and learning the amazing stories of resistance and resilience of E.B. and Mary Ellen Henderson, Joseph Tinner and so many others. Oran Sandel (who is sadly no longer with us) led the project, bringing his passion, and insight. I had known Oran from my days at Arena Stage when he was the Artistic Director of Arena’s social outreach arm, Living Stage. With the help of writers Jennifer Goldsmith and Lisa Hill-Corley, two recent graduates of the Creative Writing program at George Mason University. Their final script was fresh, inventive and thought provoking, asking us to acknowledge some of the difficult history of Falls Church, but also inspiring us to celebrate the power of the human spirit. When I watch the video of the performance I am still amazed at how we pulled off such an ambitious and important project that first season.
Laura Connors Hull
Creative Cauldron Founder and Producing Director
Were you with us that first year? What are your favorite memories or stories?
2009-10 Season
After seven years as vagabonds, renting various community facilities and outdoor amphitheaters, we finally took occupancy in ArtSpace in June of 2009, a herculean accomplishment. We began with our popular Arts Adventure Camp summer program. Then in September, we presented our first professional production Martin: The King of Pizza—a pourquoi tale about the origins of pizza. Matt Conner wrote the clever and tuneful musical score and Helen Hayes Award-winning actor, Sam Ludwig, played Martin. We had no seating platforms, no lights on the grid, and our set was a castle wall made from the colored locking mats that we put on the floor for our summer camp (thanks to the ingenuity of our new artistic partner and scene designer, Margie Jervis). The musical was inspired by the improvisational drama workshop that Matt and I were doing with a diverse community of students at Bailey’s elementary school. In looking back at this first foray into producing original musicals, I think we created the essential framework that would carry us through the next 10 years of invention and creativity. I think we should revisit this little gem sometime in the future.
Christmas Cabin of Carnaween, our second professional show premiered in December. I adapted the script from an Irish folktale and enlisted two accomplished Irish musicians to underscore the tale with Irish music. Margie created an astonishing set design that included brush that she collected from Greenspring Gardens, and a stone farm wall reminiscent of the Irish countryside. We solicited our neighbor Sisler’s Stone and asked if we could “borrow” these stones from their stock. Sisler’s delivered a palette (2,000 pounds of stone!!) to our doorstep and Margie and I, and a few volunteers brought them in to the theater one stone at a time. Our new LED lights funded by a grant from Dominion Power were in the grid and the production, a poignant tale set in the time of the Great Potato Famine, delighted and moved our audiences. We revived this production for the next four years, but Margie and I wisely decided that a half palette of stones would do nicely for the set. That’s still 1,000 pounds of stone!
That spring, we launched our first Learning Theater program with a production of Many Moons. It was adapted from the children’s book by James Thurber. My concept for the Learning Theater program was to give young students an opportunity to work with and be mentored by adult professionals in a professional production. There were only 3 children involved in this first production that featured Stephen Gregory Smith as the King and Anna Brotman-Krass as his daughter. Our Learning Theater is now one of our most sought after programs and the current ensemble for our fall production of Peter Pan and Wendy has 31 students participating. We certainly have come a long way!
One of the biggest highlights of that first season was our production of Tinner Hill: Portraits in Black and White. This world premiere funded through grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the Arts Council of Fairfax County (now Arts Fairfax) explored the stories of African American Civil Rights pioneers of Falls Church. Working with Nikki and Ed Henderson of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, our creative team spent a year researching and learning the amazing stories of resistance and resilience of E.B. and Mary Ellen Henderson, Joseph Tinner and so many others. Oran Sandel (who is sadly no longer with us) led the project, bringing his passion, and insight. I had known Oran from my days at Arena Stage when he was the Artistic Director of Arena’s social outreach arm, Living Stage. With the help of writers Jennifer Goldsmith and Lisa Hill-Corley, two recent graduates of the Creative Writing program at George Mason University. Their final script was fresh, inventive and thought provoking, asking us to acknowledge some of the difficult history of Falls Church, but also inspiring us to celebrate the power of the human spirit. When I watch the video of the performance I am still amazed at how we pulled off such an ambitious and important project that first season.
Laura Connors Hull
Creative Cauldron Founder and Producing Director
Were you with us that first year? What are your favorite memories or stories?
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