Facilitator Spotlight: James Cornolo

by Anita Dacanay

It’s hard to imagine any way in which Still Point artist/facilitator James Cornolo could not be seen as one of the most likeable human beings to grace the planet.  From the warm, shy smile, to the understated-but- sharp-as-New-York-cheddar wit, to the compassionate heart, to the brilliant musicianship he shares joyfully and freely - James is a gem of a person.

Still Point Founder Lisa Wagner-Carollo and I both met James through a fascinating albeit short-lived artistic ensemble called The Bottom of Your Shoe Theatre Collective.  James had been brought into the group to provide musical accompaniment, but he took on a more multi-faceted role as an actor as well in the collective’s play Querencia.

James has a strong background in both jazz and classical guitar. He graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance and Pedagogy. He also attended the American Conservatory of Music.  James has been involved with various projects as an accompanist and composer for modern dance. Currently, he is busy playing traditional and contemporary Cuban music, most regularly with Angel d’Cuba.

In recalling his many professional associations, James told me that he feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to work as a musician in a wide variety of settings. This is true even within his work with Still Point. Before Still Point was officially an entity of its own, Lisa had already begun teaching regular theatre classes at Esperanza Community Services, and invited James in to provide music for the Imagination Workshop’s first performance. Over the years, James became involved in many Still Point programs, including becoming a regular facilitator of the Imagination Workshop. James has provided music at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and Dwight Correctional Center as part of Still Point’s Persephone Project; and has also accompanied performances by both Sisters Rising and Strong Connections.

When I asked James what drew him to work with Still Point, he first expressed his profound admiration for Lisa and the clear intention with which she created the company. “A spirit of compassion is at the heart of all of Still Point’s work,” he remarked. With characteristic humility, he also acknowledged his gratitude to Lisa and the other Still Point facilitators for all that he has learned from them over the years.

James has been working full-time at Esperanza since 2010 as their Music Teacher. He recalls that several of the original Imagination Workshop members that he first met in 1992 are still in his life as students, artistic associates, and friends. ”I think that’s pretty cool,” he concluded. I would concur, and add that James Cornolo is also pretty cool, and a deeply valued member of the Still Point family.

Celebrating Spring (and Creativity) with the Ravenswood Players

The Ravenswood Players are a delightful performance ensemble of adults with developmental disabilities.  Their  three month process culminates in an original public performance at the Ravenswood Presbyterian Church.  The workshop is led by Still Point facilitator Laura Callahan-Hazard.  She approaches each session with the intention of helping participants to develop new theatre skills, while creating engaging scenes and skits along the way. 

Laura recalls that the current group started meeting in January, when Chicago was in the throes of the Polar vortex, and a truly challenging winter.  The group knew that their performance would take place in the spring, and the participants agreed that spring-time itself seemed like a wonderful subject to focus on in their sessions.  Laura focused on the concept of using words as tools of the theatre, and began working with poems that were eventually acted out in various ways. Then the group moved on to writing their own poems, some of which are used in the performance.  Sunshine, the life cycle of flower bulbs, and April Fool’s Day are just some of the springy subjects explored in the piece!

Laura has enjoyed watching the participants “blossom” during the process of creating the performance.  She recalls how a new member, Jennifer, has overcome shyness to learn how to connect with other actors, and developed the skills to listen and respond to them in new ways. She also applauds the work of Jimmy, who has stepped into the role of peer leader in the group, inspiring and encouraging others with his own enthusiasm for being on stage.

CELEBRATE SPRING is happening Wednesday, April 23rd at 7:00 p.m.! It’s free and open to the public at Ravenswood Presbyterian Church,  4300 N. Hermitage.  After the show, audience members will be able to purchase hand-painted flower pots to benefit Still Point Theatre Collective. Chicago area friends are encouraged to attend and join the fun – after the past winter, I think we are ALL ready to celebrate spring!

Persephone Unbound: Still Point Nurtures the Spirits of Women in Prison

Since 1993, Still Point Theatre Collective has been cultivating the expression of voices we seldom hear in mainstream society.  The Persephone Project, named for the Greek mythological goddess who was bound to spend half of her life in the Underworld, creates unique creative opportunities for women incarcerated at Chicago area detention centers. 

Previous participant Roberta Ashley recalls, “I cannot begin to tell you how important these workshops were to me and to the rest of the group… I saw my fellow inmates in an entirely new light, as creative, intelligent women.  The classes were both freeing and empowering.”

The Persephone Project provides a welcome “safe space” in which the women can tell their stories, build community, explore new perspectives, process their pasts, and dare to envision their futures.  Through learning the practical skills of theater-making, including writing, public speaking, and body awareness, the women develop new ways to express themselves.  At the end of a three to four month process, the participants perform their play for guests, prison volunteers, and fellow inmates.  This provides affirmation for the culmination of their work: to experience the smiles, tears, and applause from an engaged audience tells them that not only can they speak out, but that they can actually be heard and appreciated.

As an extension of these workshops, Sisters Rising was started in 2007.  This powerful performance troupe is composed of formerly incarcerated women. Sisters Rising ensemble members create original work which is then performed publicly all around the Chicago area. The women of the troupe are compensated for their work, which helps to instill a sense of respect and responsibility in women who often have difficulty finding employment.

The play Strong Women, performed by Still Point actors, allows the work of Persephone Project participants to travel outside prison walls. The performance was created from the writings of women incarcerated at Cook County Jail, and addresses issues such as violence, redemption, and inner strength. The play is currently available for booking through Still Point.

While it is important to acknowledge the degree to which these innovative programs affect the lives of the participants, it is also important to remember that everyone wins when typically marginalized communities are given a chance to speak. Invited guests and jail staff who have attended Persephone Project performances often speak of being profoundly moved by the experience. The public performances of Sisters Rising and Strong Women help to smash stereotypes about people in prison, and foster a hope for universal healing.  After all, it is when Persephone returns from the Underworld that we can all experience the blessed renewal of spring.

SPTC actresses Jyreika Guest, Lisa Wagner-Carollo, and Gail Gallagher perform Strong Women. 

(photo by Susan Ericsson)

Living Water presented at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope

On March 16, Still Point presented Living Water: the Story of St. Gabriel the Archangel Church at the Saint Martin de Porres House of Hope on the south side of Chicago.  The House of Hope is a private, non‐profit, faith based recovery shelter for homeless women who are affected by substance abuse. 

Still Point Founder Lisa Wagner-Carollo remarked that some of the women at the shelter made a connection between the destruction and rebuilding of St. Gabriel Church - and the destruction and rebuilding of their own lives. In hearing the Living Water characters talk about everything they owned being swept away by the post-Katrina floods of 2005, the women thought of their own lives being swept away by the destruction of addiction. The rebuilding of the church and the parishioner’s homes served as a powerful metaphor for their own healing, and a couple of them remarked that seeing the play gave them hope for their own recovery process.

Still Point artists have always been conscious of making theatre available to those who would otherwise not be able to afford to go out to see a professional play.  The audience at St. Martin de Porres House of Hope illustrates why we believe it is important to do just that. People deserve access to the inspiration, reflection, and stimulation that art provides, regardless of economic status.

Living Water: The Story of St. Gabriel the Archangel Church was also recently presented at St. Peter Parish in Chesaning, Michigan, and continues to be available for national bookings.

Theatre Workshop with Yad B’ Yad

On Wednesday evening, February 12^th, Still Point Founder Lisa Wagner-Carollo led a special theatre workshop for members of Yad B’ Yad of the Northwestern Fiedler Hillel Center. The group brings together Jewish young adults with developmental disabilities and young Jewish volunteers for social, cultural and religious activities. About 25 participants and volunteers attended the event. Many of the members of the group are adults with developmental disabilities who live independently. The events that Yad B’ Yad organizes provide a regular opportunity for socializing.

The evening started with dinner, and then moved into a lively drama/improv class. The session culminated in a talk show which featured special guests such as Harry Potter, various Lords and Ladies from England, Indiana Jones, and an archaeologist who expressed his admiration for Mr. Jones’ “work.”  Creativity, play, and fellowship were enjoyed by all. If that wasn’t enough fun, the group shared cookies before parting.

Photo features Lisa Wagner-Carollo (center) with volunteers Cristina Perez (left) and Emily Tegenkamp (right)

Still Point artists strive to connect with groups like Yad B’ Yad to build community and a spirit of celebration through the arts.

Coming Full Circle: Presenting Living Water at St. Gabriel Church

by Anita Dacanay

Writing Living Water: the Story of St. Gabriel the Archangel Church with my dear friend Lisa Wagner-Carollo was definitely one of the highlights of 2013 for me. In listening to the interviews with the pastoral team and parishioners, I fell in love with the subjects of our play. While I have enjoyed staying connected to Still Point over the years by working in many administrative capacities, stepping back into a creative role with the company felt like a homecoming.

As I live in Cleveland, and Still Point is based in Chicago, most of the writing collaboration occurred long-distance via internet and phone. I was not able to be physically present during the rehearsal process and initial performances of the play, which debuted in Chicago in late October. I was kept abreast of developments by Lisa every step of the way, but I could not attend any rehearsals, meet the cast, or see the play. I had released control of the play once rehearsals were set in motion, as I had utmost faith in the abilities of our director, Virginia Smith. Yet, it would have been nice to have witnessed the play’s birthing.

On January 18, 2014, I had a payoff more bountiful than I could have imagined upon traveling to New Orleans to see Living Water presented at St. Gabriel Church. (As late as a week and a half prior to the event, I had no hope of getting there. Lisa, as is her custom, was not inclined to accept defeat so easily, and she employed both her faith and her iron will to finally find a plane ticket for me.)

Saturday afternoon I waited in the blessed Louisiana sunshine for Sr. Kathleen Pittman to pick me up from the airport.  Upon her arrival in a dusty gray Toyota Corolla, she greeted me with a grin and a hug. We had a lively chat on the way back to her home where I would be staying, and then she took me over to the rectory so that I could unite with the rest of the Still Point contingent. She had given me her complete attention, but I could tell that Sr. Kathleen had a long to-do list to address before the evening, and I assured her that she could leave me and attend to it all.

I peeked through the dining room door in the St. Gabe rectory, as the cast had just finished a line-through. I caught Lisa’s eye as she sat ironing costumes. She grinned as I came in and we shared a hug. (There was a lot of grinning and hugging that happened over the course of the weekend.) I met the rest of the cast: Andy, Jove, and Nicole, a delightful group of sincere actors. Andy Clifton plays Fr. Doug Doussan in the production; Lisa performs the role of Sr. Kathleen; and we were blessed to find two talented young actors, Nicole Michelle Haskins and Jove, to play multiple roles representing various members of the church.  After meeting me, those three went off to rest before the show.

As Lisa and I sat chatting and going over ideas for our pre-show presentation, Fr. Doug Doussan walked in. He beamed at me from the kitchen, arms extended to embrace as he said, with his warm southern drawl, “Anita! Come on over here and give me a hug, you sweetheart!” At 79 years old, Fr. Doug exudes light, warmth, and vitality wherever he goes. I had spoken with him several times on the phone, and listened to his interviews repeatedly. I knew of his glowing reputation in Catholic circles. But nothing could have prepared me for meeting this man in person, as his character and personality are truly larger than life.

We wandered over to the church at around 5:00 p.m., the actors engaging in playful banter that did not convey the anxiety they later confessed that they felt prior to this performance. It is asking a lot of an actor to try and portray a living person – and it is asking a whole lot more to propose that they play that role in front of said living person. In the case of our young actors Nicole and Jove, they were being asked to play numerous such roles. It was a great deal of pressure, which they handled with utmost grace. As the audience filed in, I had the pleasure of meeting in person the people whose interviews I had heard over and over, taking in the nuances of their spirits. It was odd because I felt like I was greeting old friends, while they knew nothing about me except that I had helped to write the play.

Prior to the performance, Lisa and I were introduced by Fr. Doug, and we spent some time explaining our creative process. Lisa named each person who was interviewed and asked them to stand. I noted that I was sitting next to Ms. Marigold Hardesty, an 86-year-old woman whose story is featured in the play. Marigold is a spit-fire. Her appearance and demeanor absolutely defy her chronological age, and her faith and passion are palpable. When she saw Nicole speaking her words, I could tell she was delighted. As the more tragic parts of the story unfolded, I saw her wiping the tears from her eyes. The experience was tremendously moving.

I found watching Living Water to be very gratifying. I was pleased from a professional and creative standpoint in that I felt that the story was told simply yet eloquently, and that the play moved and flowed with grace on the stage. The actors, the music, the backdrops – all worked together to pay homage to this modern resurrection story. Again, Virginia Smith and her assistant Steve Grossman, as well as designer Holly Windingstad, had insured that the piece was not just a “talking heads” historical narrative, but an artistic expression of that narrative.

During our post-show discussion, a woman from the audience stood and thanked us for thinking that their story was “worth the effort” to feature as the subject of our play. I think that each of us from Still Point who were present at that moment was overcome with emotion.  We have felt grateful and humbled from the beginning of this project: that these people would invite us into their personal and collective stories of struggle, reliving many painful memories along the way.  It was a great honor for all of us. Yet Father Doug expounded on the woman’s comments by pointing out that part of the pain of the Katrina tragedy was that the people of New Orleans felt so abandoned in that disaster. To them, it seemed as if the rest of the country did not know or did not care about the horrors that they were going through. In witnessing our play, there was a bit of healing knowing that there were those who did care.

Speaking of healing, I should be frank in that my own spiritual path took me away from the Catholic Church many years ago. I had my share of bitterness and anger connected to the church that I carried with me for many years like a yoke around my own neck. Being so warmly embraced and accepted by Father Doug, Sister Kathleen, and the parishioners of St. Gabriel, I was able to attend mass on the Sunday morning after the play, and enjoy every minute. 

There is a line in the play delivered by Nicole as 22-year-old Patty Bergeron, who was just 14 when Katrina struck. She says, “We have a song that we sing, called ‘They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.’ And I always think about that – that if there’s a visitor in the parish, that they’ll know that we, in this church, are Christians.” This visitor got that message loud and clear. It is Love that makes a space holy, and Love that makes a gathering sacred. Love is the fuel that drives the people of St. Gabriel Church, and Love is the balm that can help us all to heal, individually and collectively – even from the most horrific of tragedies. In witnessing Living Water come full circle, I could feel little else but Love.

My Friend.

I needed to get out of Chicago for a bit. I was feeling lost and claustrophobic. Feeling accosted by opportunities rather than excited. The ambition was there, but every time I acknowledged it, I was mowed down by overwhelming anxiety. Here I am right now, just outside of Philadelphia, looking back at that and wondering if those feelings ever really did exist.

It's nice to escape. I'm lucky to have the chance to just... go away for a bit, I guess.

There was always one thing though, that made me feel as though I was holding on tight to the reins. The theatre workshop I facilitated for adults with developmental disabilities through Still Point Theatre Collective. It's been just over two years since the first time I walked nervously into the gymnasium at Esperanza Community Services and landed on an entirely different planet. On this planet, Big Foot eats dinner with the president, you can buy laughter at the store,  and the aliens just dance, and dance, and dance. A planet where dying is sometimes referred to as graduation. And it can be viewed as a gift.

On my first day at Esperanza as I was getting to know everyone somebody said "let's do the scarf dance." I followed the clients back to a circle of folding chairs and took a seat as Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" began to play, and a woman with a golden scarf took her place in the middle of the circle. She draped the scarf around her shoulders, and over her face. Swept it on the ground, and waved it through the air. A woman with a beautiful body perched atop stiff, avian legs. Her face frozen in a look of stunned concentration- eyes wide and unfocused, lips puckered. Later she would smile at me and I would notice she was missing one front tooth. At first her movements seemed ossified and slow, but as the music picked up, she began to spin. A cyclone of petrified gracefulness. The scarf rippled through the air. And as she really got moving, she laughed, delighted, eventually moving her way out of the circle of chairs, spiraling through the gym.

Her name was Sherice. And it was possible that on the days she didn't get to do the scarf dance, she would bang her head on the wall over and over and over. Some days she would scream and curse. Throw out the middle finger. And weep. Sometimes I would take her out into the hallway and sit with her while she cried. The few soft tufts of hair she had tickled my face as she lay her head on my shoulder. Her hair was the only soft part of her body. Her hands were like hard blocks of black wood. Dry and cracked, and pinched in at the joints so much that it seemed possible you could squeeze them too hard and pieces of her fingers would fall to the ground.

Word on the street was it was a bad case of frostbite. Word on the street was that someone found her in a dumpster when she was a baby. I don't know the real diagnosis, I just teach theatre.

Sometimes, when she would bang her head on the wall, or throw her body into it until someone pulled her away, I wanted so badly to know what she was thinking about. Because to me, it seemed as if she was just trying to find a way to escape. We'd never know what she thought, because she couldn't really speak. Except for at the end of class, when she would sit back in the circle, and point at every single person and say, "my friend." One day she got a hold of my phone and managed to record herself walking around class for about 10 minutes. It's possibly the only time I'll ever really get to see the world through her eyes. It's actually a fascinating video.

I wanted to sit down and write about how things are going here, in the present. But today I found out that Sherice has passed away, and it's been on my mind. The idea of escape. If I had to guess, I'd say she lived a lot of her life in pain. However, in order to touch on all the joy and pure happiness she exuded, I'd have to write another 715 words, at least.

It's just that I can still hear her saying "my friend," and it's a nice voice to have inside my head.

tory.