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February 2008
1. What is your personal slogan?
“I am. I will. I choose. I love. I thrive. I create.”
2. What are your spirit animals?
Song birds and koi fish.
3. If you could have a super-power, what would it be?
To breathe underwater.
4. What would be the title of your first book?
The Mud Dauber Archives. (It’s my autobiography about all the memories storied in my parents’ attic: Rolling Stones ticket stubs, high school poetry, old marriage licenses, et cetera… all covered in dust and mud dauber nests.)
5. What is your power food?
Hot or iced herbal tea.
6. Are you a ninja, a pirate, or a cowboy?
Cowboy!
7. What are some of your favorite quotes?
“What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible."
- Vincent Van Gogh.
"There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost."
-Martha Graham.
8. What is your theme song?
Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now or End Of The Line by the Travelling Wilburys.
9. What is the first thing you'd buy with a million dollar inheritance from a long-lost relative?
204 Parklane Drive, my Grandparents’ old house. I would buy it, fix it back to the way it used to be, and host a huge Thompson Thanksgiving… just like we used to.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
In the midst of rehearsing for Just Say DA!: Direct Object, Robin talks about her relationship with objects over the years…
It's been said that individuals born under the Taurus sign are thought to be stable, solid, practical, loyal, romantic, sentimental, sexual, loving, dedicated, faithful, fruitful, generous, protective, caring, doting, humorous, loners, stubborn, worldly, overly protective, jealous, vengeful if crossed, and a little MATERIALISTIC. Ok. I'll admit that at times I fit the Taurus description (being born on Earth Day!), but I NEVER understood or got behind the whole Taurus 'materialistic' thing. I don't spend a lot of money… I don't own expensive toys or brag about my possessions. I'm NOT a materialistic person.
Then I started “dating” objects with DA, and … oh!?!… maybe my sign is right. I attach huge sentimental vale to THINGS! Those Doc Martens I've had since 8th grade? I'll never give them up; I'm a loyal Taurus! My mom's high school year books? Forget it, I'm a sentimental mess. I have stacks and stacks of photo albums. My teddy bear Laura and I, we still share a bed, what can I say? Faithful Taurus. I even have a pair of scissors
I used in High School that I keep because I think they’re good luck!!! As a child I would never play with my toys or sit quietly in front of a movie… I wanted to look at photograph albums and flip through their big bound pages. I wanted to play with all the pots and pans, to drag them across a room and explore their sounds and shapes. I wanted to spread white paper across a wall and draw big pictures with my fat crayons, tracing my hand, my shoe, a leaf, little boxes, lids, all the shapes of all the objects around me.
I truly am a materialistic person. I love sentiment. I love remembering. I love my old copy of Little Women. I love being a Taurus! And these days, it's nothing but newspapers! If you want to find me, look in the funny papers… they’re my new object joy, my latest materialistic obsession.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Robin shares some of her thoughts about theatre.
My role in the theatre is as varied as the art itself. I try not to label myself as an actress but as an artist.
In college, I learned more about the process than the product; I continue to live this way. I threw myself into learning how to stitch on a button and hem a pair of pants, or how to hang and focus lighting instruments; I spent my afternoons working in the box office and absorbing how the administrative side worked. I stage-managed main-stage musicals and 10-minute plays. I took a costume design class and fell in love with color pallets and draping. In directing class, I devoured the text and went right on to my prompt book with new found passion. This art has so much, for so many. Every time I started a new semester, there was another area to dive into. Another skill to master. By the end, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be involved with the theatre for the rest of my life... but how? Where did I fit best as an “artist”?
For my heart, it's acting: performing on stage and telling a story.
For my soul and spirit, it's simply being involved: with a company, an ensemble, in any capacity.
For my brain, it's stage managing: thinking forward, multi tasking, problem solving, and being part of the pre-production planning process.
For my body, it's movement: creating movement in space and feeling my body as a strong, graceful force. I rejoice in creating, or in being a part of, magical stage pictures based on spatial relationships, floor patterns, and kinetic response.
For my future, it's passing all this passion on. I love sharing my joy, expressing it through teaching or working with a group of artists, giving them insight into my process, sharing skills and teaching methods.
For me, I need all of these things to feel fulfilled as an artist.
Away from production and collaboration, I find joy in individual artistic expression. I'm a painter (watercolors). And a beginning gardener. And a beginning chief. I'm a knitter of wools and cottons. I'm a teacher of movement: composition work and ensemble building. I'm a volunteer, for staged readings and script workshops and backstage crew.
I like working with young artists in a professional setting. I like to help them instill pride in their work, to see it as their craft and not just a hobby, to pass on my skill set and dedication to the theatre.
I especially enjoy working with new companies and new works. I like having a voice in a rehearsal process. And since being back in Austin, I've had the privilege of working with several artistic companies in town on new projects.
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BIOGRAPHY
Robin Grace Thompson
graduated from St. Edward's University in the winter of 2004 with a BA in
theatre. During Robin's time at St. Edward's, she explored the wonder and joy that is artistic process! Working with members of the SITI Company and other inspiring faculty and staff, Robin cultivated a passion for Suzuki, Viewpoints, new play development, movement, composition work, and ensemble-building. ...read more
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PROJECTS
She's Ba-ack!
Robin was vital as a founding member of DA!; she was our first Director of Education and was a constant font of great ideas and encouragement. Library Loon was a major highlight of Just Say DA!: Direct Object, leading to its placement as the show's opening etude. Robin relocated to Denver in September of 2008, and while her legacy remained very much at the heart of what we did as a Collective, we were pretty sad. But now, like a special magic gift, she's returned to us! And we just couldn't be happier! She's already doing so much, both for us and others!
Birds and Brooms
Time to start hoarding those back issues of The Austin Chronicle... The Bird Lady in "Library Loon" is taking flight once more! Along with the rest of DA!'s active company members (and some special guests), Robin is gearing up for the latest edition of Direct Object! Not only are the newspapers returning, but Robin has been seen flying around the studio on her new object, GIBBY THE BROOM! ("...What?"...) You'll have to see to believe...
RGT does Chekhov!
This fall, Robin is excited to be working with The Breaking String Theatre Company on their production of The Cherry Orchard, in which she'll be playing Anya. More details about performance dates and times coming soon!
Bunnies in the Spring!
Robin is thrilled beyond measure to be performing in A Brief Narrative of an Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits, written by Austin's one and only C. Denby Swanson and directed by the extremely talented Jenny Larson! The show opens on February 11th and runs through March 6th at SVT!
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TEACHING
DA-veloping an Ensemble
"We have learned that we cannot live alone… we have to be citizens of the world, members of the human community." (FDR)
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DA is a not-for-profit collective under the sponsorship of HPT
DA! Theatre Collective 511 W 43rd St Austin TX 78751
512 479-7530 x 5
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