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INTIMAN Managing Director Laura Penn presenting Ruben Van Kempen with an award named in his honor.
Photo by Team Photogenic
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Have you ever noticed how sometimes there are people in your life and you can’t remember how you know them? In talking with Liz [Huddle, former INTIMAN artistic director and founder of the Living History program] about how we might mark this moment, this 20th anniversary of Living History, Ruben came to both our minds. And almost together we thought — where did we meet him? If you are in theatre in Seattle , you know Ruben, know of Ruben. I can’t seems to get any help figuring out where Ruben and I met, but Liz — I’ve done some research and you met at a dinner party. You hit it off and the next thing Dan Renner and Suzanne Bouchard were eagerly following you to Roosevelt High School. Ruben tells a great story of the first day, when you all worked for six periods straight — no break. He said the look in your eyes was something he’ll never forget.
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And so — tonight as we celebrate this anniversary we celebrate a great man — a great teacher.
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How great is Ruben? I know a mom who, 15 years after her daughters left Roosevelt, is still working for Ruben. I called her about tonight and I had to laugh when she returned my call leaving a message saying — “here till 2 then I am off to help Ruben with costumes”
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For INTIMAN the genius of Living History is its creation in collaboration with teachers. We make plays here, theatre. Some of us build sets, light the stage, some sell tickets while others create magical worlds.
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Teachers, teach — they are masters at their craft in the same way we work towards mastery in our profession. We always remember that — and when we bring our craft to bear in the world of the high school we can only be successful by learning ourselves from the teachers. Living History is built on the sacredness of the classroom. Like our stage, it is a world to be cared for, to be nurtured and to be celebrated.
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I bet there isn’t one of us here who wasn’t witnessed by a great teacher — who didn’t have a moment with someone who brought them through. Many of us here tonight were brought to this place by someone with a hint of Ruben, a glimmer. For me, Frank Bellichi did it — although he went on to design costume for Power Rangers so I am not sure he counts. (My son would disagree.)
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It is hard to believe that possibly not everyone understands, all the time, the contribution that a single teacher can make. Hard to believe that not everyone, all the time, understands the significance of art — the imperative of the imagination. (Although I bet you every one of those Seahawks is imagining what a win tomorrow would look like.)
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Before anything can happen it must be imagined, before anything can happen it must be believed, before anything can happen one must have connected, before anything can happen one must understand.
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Who then must be central to our children? Who then must be recognized and celebrated and supported? The arts educator — the teacher as artist.
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If in this complicated modern world we live in it has become difficult if not impossible to leave the world untouched, as we found it, then what other option is there than to make it a better place?
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As so we tonight we charge ourselves, INTIMAN, with not simply keeping Living History alive but with marking its year by recognizing a teacher, an arts educator, who touches so deeply the lives of our young people.
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In doing this we create the Ruben Van Kempen Arts Educator Award.
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Ruben himself was first introduced to theatre while watching a play in the fifth grade. He remembers it as a magical moment as the characters in the play were ready to descend into the earth. The curtain came back up moments later, showing the stage filled with green and blue lights as the leading man slowing lowered himself to the center of the earth.
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Ruben, we present to you the first annual Rueben Van Kempen Arts Educator Award:
For sustained and remarkable contributions to students, educators and the arts ...the world’s a better place. |
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..................................... |
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