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Summer 2002: INTO THE WOODS
Donner Park Shelter House
19th and Lafayette, Columbus
The Site
Our second site for the summer was at the Donner Park Shelter
House. Using the surrounding influences of nature, we created
Into the Woods, a forest of trees against a rolling sky painted
on the theatre stage doors and wings.
The week started on August 5 with a talk
by Chuck Wilt, Director of Parks and Recreation, on the 75-year
history of the vaudeville shows at the Shelter House and the
fact that Donner Park, the oldest park in the city, is the
"crown jewel" in the park system.
Using group sketches and brainstorming,
Ventresca arrived at a design solution sympathetic to the
space, respectful of the history, and evocative of the surrounding
park. Starting with a morning lesson on tree identification,
we moved rapidly through design-work and writing exercises,
to impromptu monologues on stage, to focusing exercises called
mirroring. Whenever we sensed momentum and focus waning and
the painting slowing down, we would utilize one of the above
techniques to refresh and center the group.
Into the Woods completes the Shelter House.
It looks as if it were meant to be there all along, neither
detracting from nor denying the function of the space. It
is an altogether pleasing, natural work; a calming piece created
with assistance from thirteen young people who had to dig
deep inside themselves to recall and reestablish calm in their
own lives.
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