Chris Hamby, Paul Pedersen and Tonya Dawn Recla on Staging Creative Courage

Tonya Dawn Recla:

Chris, Paul, thank you so much for really embodying what we represent here with our co-creative Initiative and the tremendous power of having the courage to say, hey, I want to creatively express in this way, right, regardless of what ripples that effect. So let’s jump in. Paul, we’re going to start with you on what are your superpowers and how are you using them for good.

Paul Pedersen:

Yeah, thanks, Tonya, I think probably my biggest superpower is adaptability. As you know, I’m involved with TheatreWorks in many different ways. eight to five, I am very business mindset oriented. I’m looking at TheatreWorks. From a business mindset, I am in charge of sales and marketing, and patient services here within the organization. And so I wear that set of glasses during the day. And then at night, I get to kind of change out, change who I am to the organization. And I get to come to the organization as an artist, I get to put on my sweatpants, my dance shoes, and my T-shirt. And I get to go into a rehearsal studio with amazing artists from around the valley. And I get to choreograph and create beautiful art with those artists. And then also, I’m involved with theater works in a way, which is a little unique because I am in a romantic relationship with Chris, who is the Executive Director of theater works. So you know, I’m also involved with the organization in that way. And so kind of that adaptability, I think, would be my biggest superpower when we’re talking about you know, my creative lifestyle.

Chris Hamby:

And I think connectivity and trying to, you know, formulate pockets of people and teams of people and cohorts of people to do the best that they can do with the time that they’re together. And so, and most of that is centric around arts and theater, but not always, you know, I am someone who feels very responsible for my community. And so even outside of the theater, I think I’m also trying to make sure the right people are talking to the right people to make the biggest impact.

Tonya Dawn Recla:

Beautiful, and that, you know, that tugs at our heartstrings, because we really are built for social impact here Super Power Experts, you know, our awareness of humanity, especially at these nuanced levels. I love that you talked about that thread like in our work, you know, we really consider those kinds of the subtle arts the creative arts in the sense of those are those creative threads and they teach us how to work with creative principles, right how to how to put things together in nuanced ways how to recognize balance and imbalance at super nuanced levels that I believe is humanity we’re being sensitized to now in ways that are unprecedented right at all different levels, the material vibrational and, and the virtual levels, and they’re different. And so creating on stage at TheatreWorks is live production, right so so you’re working with the whole human messiness of humanity at its most vulnerable, right? Because it’s like expose, and it’s like you’re supposed to be pretending to be somebody else you’re supposed to be have everything perfect. And all these people are supposed to do exactly what they’re supposed to do at the same time, they’re supposed to be doing it for the whole thing to work, right? And the fact that it does ever is kind of miraculous. And it does like and I really think it speaks to exactly the power that we see this exponential power of the co-creative element where, where two or more of us gather this light and love and creative energy, there is this exponential creative kind of element that participates in some way. Right? And maybe we can’t explain it, maybe we will, I’ll call it different names. But it’s like, it does work, right? Because we see it in action.

Otherwise, how do you explain what you do? Right? I just saw you all get a group of kids together, right for Lion King, Jr, which is beautiful and pulled off. So even even in the messiness, it was perfect, in its commitment to being co-creative. And then that is an art, right? And so when we’re talking about staging creative courage, where we’re talking about not just the ability to put on a play, right, it’s the ability to hold a container that allows people to have an experience that reminds us of the true power within our creative expression. Right, that as we watch these characters, or play these characters, we have the opportunity to program ourselves in those ways or to see how they could play out or to, or to see, or those attributes I’d want to play out. Right, it has a lot more to speak to humanity than I think we realize and we’re starting to see the subtle ways that it impacts us and so So Chris, from your vantage point, because it’s a sort of an eat breathe-sleep, kind of love affair that you will have, with your work at this all-encompassing kind of you. It’s all you know, it’s the it’s part of your expression.

How did you come to realize that, that this is sort of how your walk was going to be in life that you would commit to a creatively courageous walk, in a sense in many ways, both how you love how you live, right? Because, because it is a choice to choose to be open about that. And it’d be vulnerable about that and just say, hey, world, I don’t fit into these boxes. And I want a different for my life, right? The fact that you will get to go play together and create art together, like some couples like, oh, like, we don’t even color right, like, like, so this is part of your whole whole whole whole deal. Hey, Chris, how did you come to the awareness that this is, this is how you were going to be this, this is the walk?

Chris Hamby:

God, I think, I think probably in high school, I realized I really had an authority problem. So I really needed to forge a path that was like, not going to be a nine to five sitting in a cubicle kind of person that my goodness, I could not do that. And then once or twice, I’ve even tried to dip my toe into that sort of, I just do not thrive any longer. And so So I think I realized that you know, in my teen years, and I did lots of exploring off of what art meant to me, and, now landing in the community theater arena. It’s, I’m doing all of the things that I want to do here. And I think it’s actually maybe the only place where I can do what I want to do that, you know, theater, I think on a very surface level, we think, Oh, it’s an entertainment thing. And I think that professional companies, that’s what they’re doing, they’re trying to create the most professional entertainment experience. And I think when, whether it’s my community theater, our community theater, or any community theater to any listeners out there it is the place where you actually are trying to make social change in your community through the arts. And so, we are all constantly talking about like the good we’re doing and the impact we’re doing. And and because it is a place where you get to bring all kinds of people together. And I think it’s the only place where this happens. You know, if I look at my peers who work in the professional industry, they’re working with trained performers, trained, folks. And that’s, that’s the thing that they do. Here. We are working with folks that are Moonlighting, you know, their, their lawyers, their teachers, their police officers, their military, and this is the place where they get to come together and we get to make their lives better. You know, we get to make the place where we live better through our hours. And in that professional setting, you know, I think you’re making your art better, you know, for, for people have access to it. And so the community theater is where I get to, can be a Hellraiser and still make us I can, I can work with kids and give them a safe space to, to thrive and like think that’s my favorite word right now is like we’re trying to keep create spaces where creative people can thrive where young people can thrive where people who don’t think they have a place can still thrive and, and it’s more than just putting on entertainment. And so this, this is the space that works for me where I am now that I can do all of that in one-stop shopping in this community theater environment.

Tonya Dawn Recla:

Brilliant, brilliant, we came to the realization recently as well, and it changed everything. When you take that social impact lens and put creative courage forward. It’s like the miraculous truly occurred. And it’s like, Wait, holds on a second, like, we truly can’t take any of this with us. Like all we really can do is develop ourselves, develop our relationships, you know, serve others be good to each other, right? Right, creatively express and hope that, that we do it in some way that outlasts us, right? However, that is for us, whatever drives us. And that awareness is so incredibly powerful, you know, to be able to sit in kind of that, that that space of it matters that, not that it’s not just assisting us. And it’s not just assisting our clients or our clientele. But it’s also assisting the community in which we’re being assisted by right and so sort of closes the loop on how we community together and make sure that that that circle is whole and round. And I love the work that you all do in the communities and you manage to bring this Broadway feel this special feel to life while working with people who truly are there to learn how to creatively express and that’s magic. Right? And it proves it’s possible and it proves that we want that right we want to participate. We want to know ourselves as creators, I think most of us aren’t content to sit on the sidelines anymore. And we’re seeing that depicted and how art is being used by our younger generations in really creative ways. And so and so the immersive interactiveness of this, I think lends itself to the impact because now we have the experience. We’re embodying it. We’re not just thinking somebody else can do it. We’re remembering we can do this. And it puts us back in that creative element, that creator aspect. And we see each other differently, I think from that lens.

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