REFLECTION ON COLLEGIALITY
Growing up, we moved a lot due to my father’s corporate work. You have two options as a nine- year-old kid…you learn how to make friends fast or you die a slow, lonely death. I opted for the out-going route. I am honestly not sure I would have become as extraverted if it wasn’t for a move from Boise to the Bay Area and from there to the Jersey Shore. They were monumental moves, new culture, dialect, and aesthetic. Everything felt different and unsure especially when we moved to the East Coast. I remember telling my parents that I hated New Jersey. The kids felt mean, I felt unsure and the first few weeks were tough. The kids didn’t know what to make of a California Girl with a Church of Christ background. They kept asking me if I was Mormon. Our family moved to a predominately affluent Jewish neighborhood and I stood out like the awkward duck. Thankfully God was shaping me as I had made the transition from Idaho to California so surely, I could be brave again.
That move not only exposed me to new peoples and cultures, but it was also the very avenue that connected me to theatre. My dance teacher invited me to audition for Camelot and I was hooked. I loved the community connection. I loved the magic of taking a blank stage and through hard work and collaboration watching a new world rise up on that stage. Barton’s History of Theatre text speaks to the idea of theatre as a way of seeing, a reflection of audience and of culture and tradition. I am passionate about working with my creative colleagues. We are best when we gather on a Friday brainstorm meeting or production design meeting to spit ball and bounce ideas based on research from the archives or Lincoln Center stacks. I am inspired by my colleagues. They are generous and we function like a family. You have to be willing to be vulnerable and honest with each other in this business of art. It is late nights, a lot of sweat (real sweat) and a willingness to be brave.
We lost our beloved Jeannette Lipford this past Fall. She was such a champion for continued education and collegiality. She knew everyone and everyone knew her. I loved her stories of campus building and people connections from Childers Classical Institute to ACC. She had stories of folks living in old barracks on ACU’s campus and along Judge Ely. She understood the need to love people fully and wherever they were. She made us all better. I will never forget her performance at age 88 as she sang “Feed the Birds” in Mary Poppins. There was not a dry eye. She knew how to reach people; she knew how to uplift and serve. I want to be Jeannette. Who doesn’t? My husband and I have her baby grand piano in our living room now. Jeremy has been determined to refine his playing in her memory. He plays old hymns and new songs about people, places and passions. I feel her presence when he pounds a tune. That inspires me to be my best self with others even when we are 10 weeks into Homecoming Rehearsal and exhausted.
After 16 years at ACU, it feels like home and has for a very long time. I am privileged to live in this safe space. It is a sacred feeling when we feel part of something bigger than us. No place is perfect as we are imperfect people, but I believe in the mission and community at ACU. I believe in the ACU Difference as flowery as that may sound. I left ACU and returned when I walked through an unexpected divorce (not by my choice) 13 years ago. I found bravery through faith. I found hope through God’s intention connection to others. I try to be mindful of that as I greet new faculty each year and as I watch our new freshmen interact with upper classmen as they walk through foreign walkways.
This past year as the world found its way through Covid-19, it was overwhelming and lonely at times. Zoom became a lifeline and humanity experienced a disconnect even though we are more connected digitally than ever before. Chairing a program that relies on people connection, live emotion and storytelling was difficult with mask protocols and screen divisions. It was important to be Covid safe but challenging. It was so profoundly obvious how much we needed each other. My colleagues were incredible. We turned a Cinderella Musical into a Covid friendly film in six weeks, moved an intimate Racial Justice four-person play into a 2100 seat house and reworked our season literally five times. I could not have done this without my colleagues. Simply the process of coordinating voice lesson space and air handers could not have been done without my colleague, Rick, the Chair in music and our amazing coordinators. I cannot count the number of times we pounded our fists and laughed so we would not cry as we found our way through Covid.
My incredible Dean walked the journey with me, with all of us. We spent hours creatively finding new ways to produce theatre in the midst of “such a time as this." Adam and Donna Hester are family to me and I am indebted to their example of faith and excellence. I am still wrapping my head around their retirement. We have offered a hand, a shoulder and an encouraging word so many times over of the years but especially this past year. Our chapel theme this past year was the Courage to Create, stealing that title appropriately from Rollo May’s text. The premise of that book is thinking out of the box. Using boundaries to inspire creativity and faith I am so thankful for my people. God has provided a new appreciation for humanity. The beautiful, messy and hilarious. We are an imperfect people. We have much to change, apologize for and do better. I want to believe that because of George Floyd, the change is coming, slowly, but coming. I have been thankful for invitations to support justice with collaborative prayer and conversation with smarter, wiser folks like Dr. Jerry Taylor, Dr. Stephanie Hamm and Dr. Moore. ODEI and the Allyship group taught me how to love better, to use more thoughtful words as I engage with students or colleagues and to be a more authentic listener. I am thankful for writers like Tisby and Kendi that speak truth.
I have so much to learn as a white person of privilege. I learn everyday through friends like Dr. Moore who has been generous nd patient enough to invite me into conversation and collaboration. I have loved working on Theodore Thumbs staging with Dr. Moore and dreaming of justice and change with Dr. Taylor on projects like the Mountain Top and American Son. I have learned much through Dr. Hamm’s brave leading for change on campus.
One of my favorite Chapel Series for Theatre, has been People Portraits. This was exactly as it sounds. It was intended to be a space for people to share their personal stories. I loved watching the faces of our students as they listened. The arms would uncross, the teeth unclench and they would be move into open listening. They usually arrived with an expectation of what the speaker would say and would leave with a changed view. It was inspiring. I loved hearing these vulnerable stories. This series literally began the process of healing for our department. Healing a department that was fracturing when I stepped into it in 2015. I had never hosted a racial reconciliation circle before but that is precisely what I did as I stepped into the Chairs position. Apologies needed to be made and voices needed to be heard. This was only the start of this vital work and I pray God is healing our spaces. I pray for change. I pray for connection through mutual patience and kindness.
I think one of my talents is being a “People Connector." I can do better. We can all do better. How can I better build authentic bridges and spaces for colleagues and students? For community, audience and outreach? How can I more deeply listen? That is what it means to be collegial I believe…. showing up and listening. I am praying for change; I am striving to act for change. I am declaring change. I am extending my hand.
