Finding the Present

Lately, I've been fortunate enough to really live in the present while exploring the past and looking to the future. That sounds convoluted to me, too.

I have had the pleasure of travelling a bit this summer. I've not done anything as impressive as a coast-to-coast trip or travelling abroad. I have taken numerous day trips and explored the state in which I live.

I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm preparing to direct one of my "bucket list" shows, Defying Gravity. All the travelling I've done has been influenced in some way or another by this upcoming production. I've written a review of one museum I recently visited, and I fulfilled  a childhood dream in visiting another, Space Center Houston. While I have spent a lot of time delving into the past and future of space travel and exploration, I've also spent time outdoors at nature preserves and wildlife refuges. In some way, I suppose I've been exploring where we come from and where we are.

That's been an amazing aspect of this bit of travelling around I've done. By exploring the past and imagining the future, I've really been enjoying and living in the present. There's something magical about standing on a marsh and watching herons take flight. While looking into a bayou at an alligator with an ancient lineage, it's easy to become hyper aware of one's surroundings and perhaps even mortality in that moment. How fortunate I felt to "touch the moon" at Space Center Houston. My childhood and my present collided  touching an artifact that had traveled 238,900 mi. to be there in that moment with me. I've come to truly appreciate the beauty that exists all around me, only a drive away.

I've been finding myself in the present, appreciating moments.

Bldg 9 (Vehicle Mock-Up Facility), Johnson Space Center 

The best of the places I've been this summer include Space Center Houston,










The Armand Bayou Nature Center,

Small Alligator in the murky water of the ABNC

and The Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge.

Heron at HNWR

I tend to get caught up in what's coming up- work, meetings, etc- or what's in the past, that I often find it difficult to really live in the present. I have a feeling most of us do that, as it's a topic often discussed and written about (just do a basic internet search to see). The places I've visited recently have forced me to be aware of the here and now.

I plan to take enjoying moments into every day (in my classroom, in the rehearsal hall, when I am spending time with family and friends).  And, when I need visit a place to help pull me back into the present, I am glad to know that so many are relatively near by, and I hope to explore and find more. I highly recommend exploring what's around you. It just might change your perspective.

Until next time...
Ro Huizinga

The Stafford Air and Space Museum

In a museum, I'm like a kid in a candy store.

I could have spent a full day inside the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK last weekend.

We got there rather late in the afternoon on August 8th, but the time we spent there was wonderful. The museum has one hall dedicated to the history of flight, and several dedicated to hometown hero General Tom Stafford.

If you have any interest in space exploration, flight, or 20th Century American history, I highly recommend taking the time to visit the museum.

Top 5 Highlights:

5. Learning more about one of NASA's first and eventually most experienced astronauts and administrators. Stafford grew from a rather average child in a small Oklahoma town to an accomplished military officer- in the Navy and in the newly established US Air Force- to an astronaut involved in the Gemini missions and so much more. His story is inspiring.

4. "Flown in space artifacts." From Lunar Module checklists, to flags, to space suits, to pieces of rockets and shuttles flown into space, there are many artifacts large and small to see, interact with, and read about. (And of course there's a moon rock!)

3. Space flight history that wasn't in my sixth-grade science book and missions I'd not seen documentaries of or read about elsewhere. I grew up during the decline of the Cold War, and since the shuttle program has ended, we send up astronauts in Soyuz rockets these days. However, the exibits dedicated to the mission in which the Apollo and Soyuz docked together were news to me. It marked endings and beginnings, and I highly recommend reading more about the mission- or better yet, visiting the Stafford Museum- whether or not you are already familiar with this mission.

2. Monument Guys. If you enjoy this member of The History Channel lineup, then see one of their creations at the Stafford Museum. The care that went into the statue is evident. Although the piece is relatively small, it's lovely and packed with details. Catching the episode by chance is how I heard about the museum.

1. Finding your inner child. I like to feel like a kid. I was so happy standing inside a segment of solid rocket booster that I could have stayed there for hours. I felt so small standing by a full scale Titan II rocket. It's good to be reminded we're small. We're standing on a sphere hurtling around a sun in this miracle of a universe. If you can't find that kid inside of you who longs to fly to the stars here, then maybe s/he is lost. Go find that kid!

There really are a myriad reasons to visit this small but impressive Smithsonian Associated Museum. Mine was the need to defy gravity that I recently wrote about.

What will yours be?

Until Next Time...
Ro Huizinga

Defy Gravity

Did anyone else out there want to be an astronaut when she grew up?

I did.

Perhaps I had that dream because I grew up with NASA's Space Shuttle Program. When I was little, NASA began recruiting more women into the program. There was an astronaut Barbie doll flying off store shelves in 1985. The media and public became fascinated with a wonderful new idea: a teacher in space.

I remember the Challenger.

When I was in the 3rd grade, there was a national contest to name the newest addition to the shuttle fleet. I can't remember what I submitted, but the winner was "Endeavor." What a marvelous name.

In college, I became a theatre major. At a college play festival, I saw a beautiful production of a play that perfectly blended my childhood longing to explore and the reality of the Challenger disaster. The play was Defying Gravity , by Jane Anderson. 

A year or so later, I was at a forensics  (speech, not science) competition not far from the Johnson Space Center (aka Mission Control), when news of a shuttle reentry disaster broke. A student at the contest had brought a dramatic interpretation of Defying Gravity. Understandably, this student wasn't sure if presenting the piece was still appropriate. I can't remember a person there who didn't say performing that piece was more important now than ever.

I remember the Columbia.

My interest in all things NASA, the space program, shuttle missions, etc. collided with my passion for the arts the first time I saw Defying Gravity. After the Columbia disaster, my interest in the play became a sort of need to someday work on a production. I even attended graduate school in the hometown of Columbia's final pilot, William "Willie" McCool. Reminders of the shuttle program, my love of space, my need to explore through art, my childhood wish to fly above the earth seem to follow me.

I feel blessed to have the tremendous opportunity to direct a production of Defying Gravity  that will open in January: 30 years after the Challenger disaster. I have had the good fortune to have time to do a bit of traveling this summer. I have taken in any museum within driving distance that has a scientific or air & space emphasis. I can't seem to see or read enough about the space programs, and what drives us all in our own crazy ways to explore, to see beyond the everyday, to do what the play's title states: to defy gravity.

My next several posts will likely focus on the beginnings of my journey with this play. I had to begin by musing about my own love and memories of the space program.

When I was five years old, I wanted to be an astronaut.

Did you?

A part of me never outgrew that dream, and it's taking me on a wonderful artistic journey as an adult. I hope my readers still have childhood dreams driving a part of them to defy gravity in their own ways as well.

Until next time...
Ro Huizinga

Down the Rabbit Hole

Much like the beloved heroine in Lewis Carroll's Children's books, I have had adventures travelling down the rabbit hole recently. And they've been wonderful!

In October, I had the opportunity to play one of my "bucket list" roles. I was cast as Becca in the Paris Community Theatre Off-Plaza production of David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole. It is the toughest role I've ever had the chance to play.

The character is trying to work her way through the terrible grief following the loss of her 4-year-old son in a tragic car accident. I am not a parent, nor do I wish to have children, so honoring the spirit of the character as a parent was extremely important to me. I can only hope I was able to do so.

More importantly to me as an actor was "living truthfully under the imaginary circumstances" of the play. I feel the entire cast was able to reach this goal. Each night the emotions were real, and we worked to connect at a human level as a cast.

I've never worked on a show that could drag such real, honest emotions out of me. It also seemed to drag out all of my insecurities. I know I gave my director a hard time, and I regret that I was often so negative throughout the process. However, in spite of all the ups and downs of the rehearsal process, I am proud of the finished product we presented each night.

Just a few short weeks after Rabbit Hole closed, I began directing an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland as a part of the Paris Community Theatre regular season.

I have a confession to make here: I have never really liked the story. 

So often, the characters are portrayed as grotesque or even frightening. In the take on the story that my amazing company chose, we discovered the characters again for the first time. I was so proud of them for finding lightness and humor. And beauty. Our Duchess, Cook, and Queen of Hearts were all beautiful, funny, and silly!

We also decided that we would approach the play as a kind of  reverse Wizard of OZ. We incorporated many "Steampunk-inspired" elements into the design. We wanted Wonderland itself to be more Earth-toned and mechanized. We reserved the soft, Technicolor-inspired moments for the beginning and ending of the play, which we set at Christmas in Alice's home, since the play closed just before that holiday.

I have never been so happy and relaxed working on a show before and was incredibly proud of the finished product. I can't really say "I" directed or "I" created,  because it was the most collaborative process in which I've ever participated.

Now, I'm preparing to enter the world of Rabbit Hole one more time. We will travel the show to TNT (Texas Nonprofit Theatres) Quad II AACTFest on January 31st.

 
I learned many lessons about myself and the power of performing art working on these two productions.  I am looking forward to learning more as we rehearse Rabbit Hole one more time.  After having been so content working on Alice in Wonderland, and so emotional working on Rabbit Hole the first time,  I hope that I can now approach the process with  an open mind and heart,  and move past my insecurities to do great work.

I plan to write more on the subject as the festival approaches,  but for now,  this marks and celebrates two amazing adventures down the rabbit hole as I look forward to a third!

Until Next Time...
Ro Huizinga