I was in Flagstaff, AZ in late March for the premiere of my new play. The Soroptimists’ International of Flagstaff AZ, a women’s group whose mission is to be “an organization of women at their best helping other women to be their best,” sponsored an event on March 26 to launch their new youth empowerment program aimed at educating youth about the risks of violence against women. The event was held on the beautiful campus of Coconino Community College (CCC) in Flagstaff. And my new play, Origin of the Seasons was part of the program.

Given the community educational program, I couldn’t have asked for a better setting for the play’s first public viewing. And, adding to the excitement, Myra Ferell-Womochil, Executive Director of the Victim Witness Services of Flagstaff, and a women’s studies professor at NAU, was being honored as a Woman of Excellence at the event for her work on domestic violence prevention.

But how did it all happen? Serendipity!

It turns out that Leah Norris, who is interning with the Soroptimists and working on their new Empowerment project while she finishes her studies at CCC, has a daughter in FALA’s acting program. Coming from a family of theater fanatics, when she learned about my play and FALA’s collaboration with Northland Family Protection Services, she immediately contacted FALA teacher Mike Levin, who is directing the production, and asked to read the play. Then she circulated it among the Soroptimists, who decided it would make the perfect complement to their March program.

This first studio performance of the play was a sort of penultimate dress rehearsal before the premiere at Coconino Center for the Arts March 28-29. (By the way, Flagstaff’s Arizona Daily Sun featured the upcoming performances at CCA as a “hot pick” of the week in the arts!) The CCC venue presented challenges: the space was a large, open plan “Commons” with very high ceilings and difficult acoustics. But the CCC sound engineer set up a boom mic and the performers gave it their all. The result: astonishing!

The performances that followed this “dress rehearsal” were held at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff. The actors gave it their all and the result was a spectacular premiere.

Here is a collage of photos taken by the magnificent Rick Johnson, who photographed the show.

I cannot believe what these young artists achieved. Actually, I can believe it, given their dedication and the artistic creativity and dedication of their incredible teacher, Mike Levin.

Mike’s been nominated for a Tony’s Excellence in Theater Education Award, the first of its kind to be awarded this spring. We are all pulling for the Tony Committee and Carnegie Mellon, who are sponsoring the award, to recognize this amazing teacher’s contributions to the arts.

If ever you despair about the difference education makes in the lives of youth, just think about this collaborative project Mike helped bring into the world. Life-changing, all around. Here’s the video his students made for the nomination application packet:

Levin Nomination Video from Kathleen Jones on Vimeo.