Theater of Inclusion

TOI Blog

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Indy Loves You

Dante and I both grew up in Indianapolis. Throughout the 13 years that we have worked together we have often discussed the city: our memories of growing up here, the changes we observe taking place, and the future we want to help shape for Indianapolis. So many of the conversations with our colleagues, particularly since […]

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Indy Loves You: Downtown

If you walk out of the Starbucks on Monument Circle, at the center of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana and cast your gaze to the east toward the City Market what you’ll see the ubiquitous street scene. The details are made up of “pedestrians”, automobiles and trucks looking for parking spaces, a jumble of street lights, store […]

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One and All

Dante and I are honored to be creating an interactive installation titled One and All at the Indianapolis Museum of Art for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 20, 2014. As we were having our initial design conversations I read King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” several times. The following passage struck me deeply […]

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Central Library and the Grand Canyon

Standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon with my father a few years back he commented, “It’s too big.” My dad doesn’t know how to sip a moment. He gulps down places as if he were dying of thirst for experience. And if the experience of a place is too big to fit […]

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My Summer Executive Retreat

I don’t own a motorcycle. “I’m never going to learn how to ride a motorcycle.” This was the sentence that popped into my head while I was working on a set of designs for activating underused public spaces in Indianapolis. Much of the work Rebecca and I do addresses the difficulties inherent in bringing people […]

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River

“Creativity is a river. It has its slow parts and its fast parts. It’s always flowing. (pause) And, I’m beginning to figure out how to stay in my water.” These words were spoken last Friday by an eleven-year-old artist at a Theater of Inclusion week-long day camp. The camp is designed to be an arts […]

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Burning House

Listening is part of a master set of skills. It doesn’t matter whether you are a bicyclist listening to the traffic behind you, a museum visitor taking in the words of your companion, or the leader of a project trying to run a meeting. Listening carefully to your surroundings and the people sharing those surroundings […]

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I Need This

Using a paint splattered rag, the paint now dry, I wipe off a porcelain tray. I left it outside yesterday. Honeysuckle blossoms, redbud twigs, and gooey stuff from unknown sources have accumulated on its surface from an early morning rain. “I need this tray,” I tell myself. As the weather turns warm I take my […]

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Summer Camp

One dream project of mine is to establish an open studio practice wherever people gather – every office, school, mall, factory – every community hub, sports facility, detention center, – every theatre, museum, and business incubator. Over the years Rebecca and I developed a studio starter kit. Everything you need for a studio fits into […]

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This Is Water

In the past week I have watched this beautiful video set to David Foster Wallace’s “This Is Water” commencement speech at Kenyon College no less than  a dozen times. This speech is important to me for many reasons. In addition to being the theme of my recent wedding, I believe it speaks quite clearly to […]