Learning the art of theater
A deep dive with Karen Thibodeau
LEARNING STAGECRAFT is a skill that transcends the stage. For some children who embrace a character and the rhythm of a play, it is life-changing. We often remember a drama teacher forever. Taos thespian, writer, and director of Taos Children’s Theatre ( TCT), Karen Thibodeau, is no exception.
From his COVID-19 dorm room at the University of New Mexico, one of her former students, the actor J. Ryan Cox, said this about Karen: “I’ve been working with Karen Thibodeau since I was 10 years old, starting my first role with her as the Jack of Hearts in her production of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ TCT was an enormous influence in my life, encouraging me to pursue performing arts and education as a freshman in college. The program also helped me develop confidence in myself and gave me skills that I can use in the actual world, such as teamwork building, learning how to interpret, to take direction and improvise. TCT helped prepare me not only as a performance artist, but as a public speaker and as a person. I worked with Ms. Thibodeau for the past eight years. She is one of the most influential and talented children’s directors in New Mexico. I’ve seen much growth with many of the children who have worked in TCT. I’ve seen them grow as actors and performers throughout the years, going from smaller roles to major roles. The acting that I did with Karen was also creative, meaning that she is very open to actors exploring their own creative sides, something everyone needs to learn to use.”
Tempo caught up with Thibodeau and asked a few questions.
How have you been navigating the pandemic?
COVID stopped us mid-production, about to perform “The Dancing Princesses,” a troupe of gifted kids plus talented adult actors after seven weeks of rehearsal. I walked around my house for five days thinking how special the kids were, how we needed a legit venue, somehow, somewhere. I started talking
to [ Taos video editor] Martin Roaque, subscribed to ZOOM, brainstormed with assistant directors, reworked the script for “filming,” made a shooting schedule, did hours of texting, emailing and calling. Then bought 235 yards of lime green 72-inch wide felt. We dived into ZOOM. We were so excited with the premiere on YouTube. It was raw. There was a magic in being let into everyone’s home. Parents joined the ZOOM. Cats and dogs too. Not everyone could get a green screen in time. Ashley Martinez used her bedspread. Jesús Rosales put his chicken on. All created their own costumes, in compliance with COVID.
We’ve continued in ZOOM movie mode with three projects up on YouTube. Cinematic possibilities are infinite. All actors sport green screens now. In “The Shell of Aphrodite,” five parents wore green screen suits and lifted up their mermaid daughters to swim in Atlantean virtual oceans. ( January premiere.) I see our actors auditioning for Netflix studios. PBS will feature this in an upcoming community focus.
The Open Theater came to Santa Fe. I worked with Lee Worley (now at Naropa Institute) in Wit’s End Players. We did Grotowski-based work, sound and body movement. It ejected me out of my head into my power center, way beyond my Theater Arts BA, beyond my Elementary Teaching Credential. Odd synchronicity: I now live on Witt’s End in Taos.
Current inspiration is Bill Roudebush (“Acting by Mistake”). Prior to that, Carol Fox Prescott (breath awareness). With Bill in NYC on ZOOM, I’m building a solo show based on the death of my brother by Guillain-Barré [syndrome].
Before COVID, I’ve worked in New York as a visiting artist for Westside Family Preschool for two months each year, taught for Integral Yoga Institute, went to Broadway and developed projects at Stage Left Studio and Polaris North (beloved theatre company, 29th street.)
I adore Jim Henson, all puppetry. My Christmas shadow puppet videos just went out to preschools here in Taos and New York. They’re available. Text me.
My Berlin mother read Grimms Fairy Tales as I was falling asleep.
Images from Fellini, Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Grimms, Melies (the French filmmaker) populate my dreams.
Here in Taos, I find the most inspiring artists. We’ve worked with the extraordinary: Maye Torres, Bill Treatta, Linda Jaspar Vogel, Amber Vasquez, Katie Martin, Stephen Moser, David Garver and more.
Spectacle shines at the heart, the heart of children’s theatre — to enchant, awe, knock your socks off. We’ve featured14-foot dragons, lasercut willow forests, Norwegian wind masks.
None of this would ever happen without the talented TCT staff. That is the chimerical Christopher Heron (ingenious green screener), Victoria Ortiz (child whisperer, diving-helmet specialist), Michelle Roaque (playful choreographer), Martin Roaque (editor), the most excellent Mike Morris
and Charlotte Keefe of Taos Onstage, and costumer Randy Thorne (everinventive).
Gracious foundations and supportive Taos businesses are invaluable. I discovered fundraising, grant writing, to be inspiring.
Taos Writers Circle (Phaedra Greenwood facilitator) keeps me tapping out new plays, poems and short stories.
And all the time, the light of the Taos Valley pervades, the swirling clouds, the seven skies, ever-changing, like the children themselves.
Where do you want to take the TCT from here?
Because of COVID, it is a time to bound into fresh forms, new hybrids and borrow from everyone. Why not children’s theatre on the radio? Why not dance on talking stars (Melies)? Why not show TCT ZOOM movies in the TCA parking lot or enter film festivals? Why not perform a theatrical science lesson on ZOOM for the schools?
I’ve grown up, raised my daughter in Taos Children’s Theatre, and grown older and younger. Thirty years passed. I hope it doesn’t end. I hope the children continue to find inspiration here in Taos, as they do now.
Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 years?
Taos Children’s Theatre gives me profound joy. Former students are animators, filmmakers, school teachers, newscasters, a scholarship student (Layla Brooks) at AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy, NYC), and another teaches at NYU (Stella Adler studio). J Ryan Cox, enrolled at UNM, continues as performing staff. Dani Loumena, who joined as a tiny tyke, returns as a mermaid, ZOOMING in from Chicago.
I believe in theatre. It changed my life. It carried me through hard times, gave me hard times, tests of faith, but it works. It’s transformational. One minute you think you have nothing but words on a page. The next minute a
whole world manifests around them. It’s Peter Brook: What is theatre? “An actor crossing the stage. Someone watching.”
I believe in children, in their revelatory power, in their joy of being. I hope that portal remains open for me for a long time.
Collaboration is key. COVID time awakened new awarenesses. I envision continuing with the influence of film, working in a hybrid fashion, combining theatre, ZOOM recording, video and animation, with a synthesis of dance, theatre, puppetry and music. Right now we collaborate with Academy for Performing Arts, Roaque Rhapsodies, Taos Onstage, Ryan Allais (Metropolitan Opera). ZOOM allows us to work with artists and actors all over – New York, Texas, Wisconsin, Dulce (NM).
Today, former TCT students bring their children to perform. Six-year-old Araceli Heron swims on as a mermaid with 21 lines!
Anything else you think is important for our readers to know?
Our next project: Off into Norwegian troll country, with “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” auditions during January. Email louiseida42@hotmail. com, (575) 758-0027