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Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Trailblazer : Kimberly Creasman Interviewer : Dawn Fung Kimberly Creasman is a freelance theatre practitioner and dramatist. She is well known as a mentor and leader to Christian artists and pastors. Along with Lucilla Teoh and Paul Seow, they set up Can!, an email network of Christian dramatists and like-minded theatre people. They hang out to watch the occasional theatre show in town. Her resolution for 2003 is to seek God for the next direction of Can! She is married with two children and a dog. "Art communicates powerfully. So, when theatre is done well, the convictions of the artists will not just entertain but will move an audience. CAN!" Beginnings "My first foray into acting was when I was five," says Kimberly gleefully. "It was The Sound of Music and I wanted to play Gretta because I knew all the songs." Kimberly Creasman is no stranger to theatre. She's been bred in LA, actively involved in the performing arts for close to sixteen years, and as a young pastor's wife, can lay claim to being a theatre churchgoer every Sunday. This last feat came about when Kimberly asked herself, "What does it mean for an actress to be a pastor's wife?" Her answer came in the structure of the church which was built like a theatre, along with all the lights and glass and catwalk area - clearly, God already had her role cut out for her. Adapting Having survived in Singapore for the past four years, Kimberly has integrated herself into the system. She smugly points out that she's probably "the most local white lady" that she knows- she has put her boys in local government schools even though both she and her husband hail from California. Her next remarkable feat was to continue to use her gift and knowledge of theatre in the arts scene here in Singapore. Kimberly has been working with people largely from non-theatre backgrounds, and since last year, sourced out more talents through Can! (of which there are many in her email list) through regular updates and networking. I asked Kimberly what she thought of the Singapore church drama scene. " 'Church drama' in Singapore carries a stigma. After living for three years here, I understood why," She mused. In LA, there had been no dearth of actors since most people were actors working day jobs hoping to gain that big break somewhere in the industry. "In LA, you could have a waitress who could potentially nab the Golden Globe Award. It was no problem finding people who could act [trained and professional] to be part of church dramas." In fact, I was told, church dramas in which she was involved in were of high standards - good and well received. This was contrary to the situation in Singapore- the day jobbers were trained in their livelihood but not in acting. The lack of a pool of trained, practising actors led to the lacklustre local church dramas. As a result, Kimberly gingerly terms her work as "community drama" rather than "church drama". She points out also that some churches could be too eager planting productions for their tight schedules, whereby leaving little time to train and nurture the actors and dramatists. She notes, "Some [of the dramatists] have not watched theatre for a long time. I asked them what was the last good play they saw and they cited one from long ago". Working She smiles (often). In light of this, one of her joys of working with people in Singapore was to help them develop their awareness of theatre making. Can!'s previous workshop, Beyond Bathrobes and Sandals, was one example of such a breakthrough- by empowering dramatists with the knowledge of basic acting like character analysis, protagonist/conflict topics, the participants were able to engage in better theatre making under their mentors' guidelines. Through the workshop, the leaders were able to open up potential stars - One participant gained subsequent exposure after the workshop because she had written so "locally and funnily". Kimberly admits that she prefers the attitude of the people here to home because they dare to try. She cited the example of a birthday party in LA of a well-known artiste: many of the good musicians and artists there did not dare sing Karaoke in front of one another because they felt they needed to practice beforehand! However she feels that people still need to be exposed to more theatre and be more perceptive before they can embark on better projects. At a recent play, a member of Can! remarked disagreeably on the Buddhist motivation of the story. For Kimberly, this person needed to readjust to a different way of looking at theatre: the story was tight, the acting was solid and the direction had been amazing. Although the religion clashed with the Christian values of the spectator, important theatre details should not have to be missed. Singapore church dramatists need to learn how to make good theatre. This involves not only a Christian storyline, but a good comprehension of what constitutes the process of the production. Singapore's church dramatists needs an overhaul to rise above its stigma. If you are unable to write a short play well, how are you going to write a long one? Kimberly's mega-watt smile follows her challenge. "Art communicates powerfully. So, when theatre is done well, the convictions of the artists will not just entertain but will move an audience. CAN!" -- First published 280103. Revised and edited 310306.
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