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Bryn Magnus
Bryn Magnus is a playwright who began working at Free Street in 1995 teaching writing with the ensemble. He collaborated with Ron Bieganski to create raw writing coming from the artist's Big Mind and Deep Well. The raw writing was arranged into scripts and performed to acclaim in Chicago and internationally. In 2002, Bryn joined the staff leading PANG (Producing Arts for a New Generation) in which he mentored teens as they produced seasons of profession work. In 2005, Bryn became Managing Director and brought Free Street back to health after it suffered from calamitous felony embezzlement committed by the previous Managing Director. Bryn moved to New York City in 2008 when his wife, Amy Warren, was cast on the Broadway in August Osage County. He currently works at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
I knew Ron from Madison WI dance, theater and performance scene and we’d cross paths at Links Hall or other venues and one day around 1995 he approached me and asked if I wanted to explore my writing process with Free Street youth. I was taken by the way he asked because it really set the tone for the spirit of collaboration and experimentation that was at the core of the Free Street experience.
So I began joining the Saturday Teen Street workshops as a guest artist. Pretty quickly I fell in love with Ron’s process of release because it opened a very creative space for exploration. And perhaps for the first time in my writing life, I was thinking critically about my process and how to create exercises based on release and authentic voice.
It is hard to describe the deep satisfaction and joy of working with youth who are fearless and open. The room breathes deep and wide when an ensemble of twenty youth are completely focused and writing. It is a fine and sacred space.
On and off for five years I was a guest artist and was becoming more and more comfortable with the work and creating exercises for openings to the authentic voice.
So I began joining the Saturday Teen Street workshops as a guest artist. Pretty quickly I fell in love with Ron’s process of release because it opened a very creative space for exploration. And perhaps for the first time in my writing life, I was thinking critically about my process and how to create exercises based on release and authentic voice.
It is hard to describe the deep satisfaction and joy of working with youth who are fearless and open. The room breathes deep and wide when an ensemble of twenty youth are completely focused and writing. It is a fine and sacred space.
On and off for five years I was a guest artist and was becoming more and more comfortable with the work and creating exercises for openings to the authentic voice.
I don’t remember exactly when in 2000 or 2001 that I was speaking with David Schein at Lunar Cabaret. He was asking me about Beau O’Reilly because Free Street had just been awarded a three year audience development grant from Theater Communications Group. David thought Beau might be a great fit to run that program at Free Street. At some point in the conversation I may have said, ‘What about me?” Or it’s possible that David asked outright if I would be interested. And I was and so I assumed the role of program director of what would become PANG—Producing Arts for a New Generation.
The idea was to form an ensemble of youth artists who were also interested in learning how to produce a season of performances. In parallel with the general Free Street call for teen participants, we put out a call for teens interested in producing. The first PANG ensemble was Leo Asuncion, Mariana Barajas, Denise Hernandez, LaMya Holley, Dinorah Jimenez, Jojo Klonsky, Kelley Minneci, and Terri Montes.
One of our first tasks was to name the ensemble. We brainstormed and did writing exercises to try and describe the idea behind the ensemble—to create new audiences for interesting and relevant performance work. My memory, which could be totally wrong, is that Leo came up with PANG—producing arts for a new generation. Everyone loved it and that is what we became.
We developed a framework for what we were looking for when looking for ‘interesting and relevant’ work. Then we searched for artists through word of mouth and online. And as we found artists we reached out to them with invitations to be part of our season. When artists agreed, we created contracts and got them signed. Once we had the commitments in place we worked with Anita to design a brochure and press releases. All decisions were made collaboratively by the ensemble. And on performance nights, we worked together on load in, set up, lights and sound. The whole stage management package.
The TCG award was for three years 2001, 2002, 2003, and PANG’s final season 2004 was supported by other funders. With each season, and each new ensemble, we learned more and got better at producing. We partnered with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and PAC/ Edge Fest to give the ensemble a sense of where the skills they were learning might take them.
Toward the end of the PANG program, the ensemble began to morph into creating original work. That’s how Angel in Moloch came about. Within the 2004 ensemble, we began discussions about spiritual exploration, states of ecstasy, and the dangers those things pose to young people in rough and tumble Chicago neighborhoods. We read Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and discussed drugs and those kinds of altered states. Playwright Idris Goodwin was a guest artist in that ensemble and the discussions became creative explorations of ideas around states of ecstasy and how to navigate spiritual growth in a highly material realm.
PANG had been exposed to many different types of performance by that time and there was a keen interest in combining hip-hop with butoh. On a language level as well as physically. We discussed how butoh was a creative child that grew out of the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And we thought hip-hop was a creative child that grew out of the horror of urban decay in the Bronx and elsewhere. There was a parallel there that the teens inherently grasped. The ensemble was also participating in the regular Saturday workshops so they had grounding in Ron’s release approach.
One of my strongest memories of that show was Corey Keiloloe—his profound stillness upstage center. It was a powerful counterpoint to the choreography and dialog going on around him. I think he stood still and silent for as long as 40 minutes before moving downstage. Many people in the audience remarked on the power of that stillness.
The final performance for PANG was a collaboration with Columbia College. Brian Shaw and I co-directed an ensemble of 10 Columbia College theater students and 10 Free Street teens. We worked over the summer of 2004 and to develop Recyclone. Brian Shaw had become very alarmed at the waste of bigger theater companies that threw away enormous amounts of wood and set materials after their shows closed. There was no recycling. So we reached out to the Goodman and Steppenwolf and Columbia College even to be alerted when they stuck their sets so we could gather the material.
With the materials we gathered we created these great catapults and other contraptions that were very popular with the public park kids.
The idea was to form an ensemble of youth artists who were also interested in learning how to produce a season of performances. In parallel with the general Free Street call for teen participants, we put out a call for teens interested in producing. The first PANG ensemble was Leo Asuncion, Mariana Barajas, Denise Hernandez, LaMya Holley, Dinorah Jimenez, Jojo Klonsky, Kelley Minneci, and Terri Montes.
One of our first tasks was to name the ensemble. We brainstormed and did writing exercises to try and describe the idea behind the ensemble—to create new audiences for interesting and relevant performance work. My memory, which could be totally wrong, is that Leo came up with PANG—producing arts for a new generation. Everyone loved it and that is what we became.
We developed a framework for what we were looking for when looking for ‘interesting and relevant’ work. Then we searched for artists through word of mouth and online. And as we found artists we reached out to them with invitations to be part of our season. When artists agreed, we created contracts and got them signed. Once we had the commitments in place we worked with Anita to design a brochure and press releases. All decisions were made collaboratively by the ensemble. And on performance nights, we worked together on load in, set up, lights and sound. The whole stage management package.
The TCG award was for three years 2001, 2002, 2003, and PANG’s final season 2004 was supported by other funders. With each season, and each new ensemble, we learned more and got better at producing. We partnered with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and PAC/ Edge Fest to give the ensemble a sense of where the skills they were learning might take them.
Toward the end of the PANG program, the ensemble began to morph into creating original work. That’s how Angel in Moloch came about. Within the 2004 ensemble, we began discussions about spiritual exploration, states of ecstasy, and the dangers those things pose to young people in rough and tumble Chicago neighborhoods. We read Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and discussed drugs and those kinds of altered states. Playwright Idris Goodwin was a guest artist in that ensemble and the discussions became creative explorations of ideas around states of ecstasy and how to navigate spiritual growth in a highly material realm.
PANG had been exposed to many different types of performance by that time and there was a keen interest in combining hip-hop with butoh. On a language level as well as physically. We discussed how butoh was a creative child that grew out of the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And we thought hip-hop was a creative child that grew out of the horror of urban decay in the Bronx and elsewhere. There was a parallel there that the teens inherently grasped. The ensemble was also participating in the regular Saturday workshops so they had grounding in Ron’s release approach.
One of my strongest memories of that show was Corey Keiloloe—his profound stillness upstage center. It was a powerful counterpoint to the choreography and dialog going on around him. I think he stood still and silent for as long as 40 minutes before moving downstage. Many people in the audience remarked on the power of that stillness.
The final performance for PANG was a collaboration with Columbia College. Brian Shaw and I co-directed an ensemble of 10 Columbia College theater students and 10 Free Street teens. We worked over the summer of 2004 and to develop Recyclone. Brian Shaw had become very alarmed at the waste of bigger theater companies that threw away enormous amounts of wood and set materials after their shows closed. There was no recycling. So we reached out to the Goodman and Steppenwolf and Columbia College even to be alerted when they stuck their sets so we could gather the material.
With the materials we gathered we created these great catapults and other contraptions that were very popular with the public park kids.
This next phase of thinking back gets even more muddy. I am completely unaware of dates, but it seems like not long after the 2004 PANG season, David announced that he was leaving his position as Executive Director. I remember feeling punched by that announcement. I really looked up to David and valued him as a mentor in the community arts life that I was living and felt like I’d be lost without him. But he was very proactive and gave us I think 4 months maybe 6 months notice. We discussed the idea that I might take over but I didn’t think I could do it and demurred.
Free Street’s staff and board had meetings about leadership succession which was a topic on everyone’s radar because at that time there were more than a few major regional arts organizations that were losing their founders. TCG was writing about it and succession planning was being undertaken by lots of nonprofits. It felt a little less scary for that reason. Unfortunately, we hired Rodney Terwilliger. (see Preventing Nonprofit Theft)
After Anita’s truly remarkable work on the forensic audit that proved his guilt, it was time to rebuild. Ron’s insistence on openness and seeking help of an Advisory Board lead us from Martha Lavey to David Hawkinson and this crucial question, “Should Free Street survive?” His question was kind of shocking but his point was well taken. For many organizations, embezzlement of the magnitude suffered by Free Street would have to mean the end. Funders would be leery and think the company wasn’t capable of good management. Why did no one see this happening?
I think Peter Handler, then program officer at the Driehaus Foundation, shared a strategy that another small nonprofit had used to when facing a crisis. He suggested convening a meeting of all our funders and our incredible Advisory Board helped organize and prepare us for this meeting.. At this meeting we would present our case and ask for help. It seemed simple enough, but of course as Ron always said, it is simple but not easy.
I remember that the meeting was at the end of January 2006. We had made our predicament public and had invited representatives of all of our big local funders. among them Polk Foundation, Lloyd Fry Foundation, Driehaus Foundation, Alphawood Foundation. We met, I think at Driehaus in their conference room.
Ron and Anita and I had determined that I would present the case. I had accepted the position of Managing Director by then, even though we weren’t getting paid. So by the time we got the meeting, Free Street was Ron Bieganski, Artistic Director, Anita Evans Creative Director, and Bryn Magnus, Managing Director.
We had prepped for at least two months for the meeting. Going over and over the power of the program and why it should continue. We articulated the damage and how it came about. To paraphrase Sargent Lucky, the officer on our case, crimes like these are very hard to stop if the criminal is committed to robbing you. We presented a survival plan. That’s not what it was called but it was something like that. The plan articulated the exact steps we would take to rebuild. The steps included getting smaller, developing better fiscal oversight that would come about through the mentoring of David Schmitz, Steppenwolf’s General Manager, strengthening our Board of Directors, and changing the firm that did our audits.
I developed a script for the whole plan and then we all got dressed up for the day of the meeting. I was very nervous, but among friends and supporters so it wasn’t hard to lay out the story and ask for what we wanted. We asked for additional funding and for additional years of funding.
James Mitchell of the Abbey Woods Fund spoke first. He said he would write a check for the entire amount of our tax liability—which was like $50,000 or something—then he said to the other gathered funders—“and I challenge you to write checks as well.”
It was incredible. I think the room gasped. But in fact all of our long time funders did pony up extra to keep Free Street alive. I remember that feeling of release—the grinding stress of the preceding months was lifted and we carried on.
The years that followed from that emergency meeting, were enormously satisfying. I learned nonprofit management in a test by fire which paved the way for those years to be highly productive for Free Street.
- Bryn Magnus
(written December 2018)