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Behind the Scenes of Open Window Theatre
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January 6, 2021Meet Jeremy and Sarah Stanbary, founders of Open Window Theatre. A professional and redemptive theater bringing hope and beauty into the world.MSP Catholic: Where did the inspiration come from for Open Window Theatre?Jeremy: Our parent company, Epiphany Studios, had been touring for eight years, and by 2011, we were doing most of our shows outside of the Cities. Sarah and I were married in 2009, and our eldest son, Augustine, was touring with us through the first year of his life. I really had a vision for starting a local theater and the whole mission statement for it came to me through a prayer walk. Not long after that we were launching Open Window Theatre in May of 2011 and phasing out our touring dramas. The Theatre was really an effort to bring a redemptive vision, professional theater, and the arts to a broader audience in the Twin Cities.MSP Catholic: What does it mean to bring a redemptive vision to the performing arts?Jeremy: We pride ourselves on bringing plays with a serious faith-based Christian message to the stage like nobody else is doing. This redemptive vision in the arts that we have is really about telling stories about faith, hope, and redemption or reconciliation. Art that explores the darkness of the human condition but doesn’t just leave us mired in that darkness. I think that too often that is what the secular arts do. It explores the darkness of the human condition, but doesn't provide answers or solutions to that darkness and leaves people with nowhere to go.Sarah: There is nothing wrong with exploring the darkness of the human condition, but if you just leave it there it glorifies evil and leaves the audience feeling as stuck as they were when they came. Our hope is to bring the audience to a lighter and brighter place that brings hope. Yes, aware of the dark and aware of the difficulty, but with the knowledge that the darkness brings about great light.Jeremy: Yes, we want our art to be a window. A window to the very real hope and the possibility of positive change for individuals and society. Ultimately, we know where the source of that is found. The challenge in creating a window to the divine is doing it in a way that is inviting and thought-provoking to people of all backgrounds. This is what I think makes good Christian art good art. It gets people thinking about things that are on all of our minds and gets them to think of it through a Christian worldview. Something they may not normally do. By telling stories of faith, hope, and reconciliation, we can be that window to the divine.
Jeremy and Sarah Stanbary
MSP Catholic: While being a window to the divine, the actors and actresses who are cast are often not Christian. Do you have any stories of witnessing a transformation in the hearts of your cast members?Sarah: From our very first season we did a play on Edith Stein. We had a secular cast, and most of them were not Christian, if any. It’s not uncommon for actors to want to delve into the life of the characters they are acting in order to learn as much as possible about them. The director of Edith Stein also worked for the Guthrie, and he actually scheduled a field trip for the entire cast to go visit the Carmelite convent in Lake Elmo. Many, if not all of them, had never met a nun in real life. What was really cool is that on the way back from the convent, the cast commented on how young, joyful, and delightful the nuns were. It was a revelation to them. They saw how their vocation was beautiful and not oppressive and they were so surprised by this discovery.Not all of our productions are Catholic, but Jeremy and I are Catholic. We are not trying to influence other people to specifically be Catholic, but that is our worldview and shapes who we are. We love to show the world the beauty of the Catholic Church for what it is.Jeremy: Speaking of the Carmelite visit, we didn’t actually see the nuns, but the whole cast was enamored by the experience of hearing their joyful voices. Then after talking with them, we walked into the chapel, and what I was most surprised by was that most of the cast just knelt instinctively. I was really struck by that and wasn’t expecting it at all.As you are memorizing lines they become second nature and you are constantly meditating on them. So when you take a show like The Jeweler’s Shop, Mercy Unrelenting, Lolek, etc. these actors who may never grace the door of a church, or pick up a book on theology are essentially meditating on divine things. It’s really cool to see the impact it can have.
MSP Catholic: How do you decide what performances to feature?Jeremy: I am always trying to read and learn about new shows that might be a fit for Open Window. It starts with shows that have impacted me in some way, but it’s a little bit of a gamble because a show may read really well on a script but not turn out as well on stage.Sarah: He has to try to get it past me, that’s the hardest part. Generally speaking, we try to do something light, funny, or family-friendly and at least one show that has a really strong Christian message. As well as some that have more subtle messages. We try to find a balance in each season.MSP Catholic: Due to COVID, you had to go virtual in November. I watched Lolek virtually with the one-cut video and it was amazing. What was the progression like going from a one-man to three-person show with you, Sarah, and Jeromy Darling?Jeremy: It required me to completely rewrite the show, and in that process, I delved into some new research for it. I wanted to tie-in significant events from his life that shaped the first play, but I knew that this one would be completely different in a conventional stage drama. The one-man show that I toured with was a much more narrative-style drama with me embodying him but also narrating his life and entering into scenes with recorded voice-overs.Sarah: I loved the one-man show! I wanted him to do it again, but I’m so grateful that he did make it a three-person show. With three people it is much easier to connect and especially now in COVID we want to find as much connection as we can and having interactions on stage is really meaningful.Jeremy: If it hadn’t been for COVID, I would have liked to incorporate more actors into the show, but I really love how it turned out. But honestly, if it wasn’t for COVID, we wouldn’t be doing Lolek at all. God had a purpose and wanted this to happen. This play is through and through a COVID play because it could only have a few actors in it. But also being the 100th anniversary of John Paul’s birthday I really wanted to bring this story back.MSP Catholic: You have mentioned how influential JPII has been on the theater. How has he played a role?Jeremy: What I have done for the past seventeen years wouldn’t exist without John Paul and his influence. It really is his 1999 Letter to Artists that really inspired my life’s work and where I got the name for Epiphany Studio Productions, which still is today the parent organization for Open Window Theatre. He calls Christian artists to cooperate with God’s grace in cooperating with the Holy Spirit in creating new epiphanies of beauty in our time. That is where the production studio came from.As I was studying for my degree in theater, it was my mom who first sent me information about Pope John Paul, who was still alive at the time, and sent me information about his life in theater as well as a copy of The Jeweler’s Shop. That really piqued my interest and was so inspired by him that it really was the impetus for everything I’ve done since then. I think that is why Lolek was one of the first plays I wrote and started touring with when I started Epiphany. I still read his Letter to Artists every so often to refresh his inspiration.The Catholic Church has always been a great patron of the arts, and it can be such an incredible vehicle for spreading the gospel in new and creative ways. I feel like we are on the front lines of the new evangelization because we are reaching people through good art that again may never grace the doors of a church or sit through a religious talk, etc. But they will take in a play and if they don’t feel like they are being preached at it can really open their hearts in remarkable ways.MSP Catholic: How can people get involved and support the theater?Jeremy: A great way to support the theater right now is by joining a virtual performance and interacting with us on the live stream. We are also doing Q & A’s after the show and that’s been a really neat thing.People can contact us to get on our volunteer list for when we are doing in-person shows again, but even right now we need a lot of help with marketing and communications, especially as we try to figure out how to get the virtual performance out there to a broader audience. We are obviously working on a shoe-string budget right now, and if anyone has any experience in marketing and communications experience and education and is able and willing to volunteer to donate some time to help us with that, that is a big area we are looking for help in.Sarah: One of the things we are working on is an ambassador program!Jeremy: Yes, we have a page up on our website about it. We are trying to get other like-minded non-profit organizations to sign up as ambassadors and raise money off of our shows. So for every ticket they sell, they can earn $5.00 back to their organization, and the sky's the limit for that.Sarah: It could be a whole parish, a whole Catholic school, smaller Catholic organizations, parish groups, life-care centers, etc.MSP Catholic: What is coming next for Open Window?Jeremy: The response has been so great with Lolek that we want to bring it to in-person shows if and when we can. We also want to bring the Scrutiny Passion back this Lent with the same cast we had with Lolek.
The Stanbary family Jessica Shurts Photography
MSP Catholic: Have any of your six children expressed interest in the performing arts?Sarah: Augustine is already preparing to take the theater over in the next ten years. He is backstage for every show. He always wants to be there to help. He has the performance-bug big time.Jeremy: Yes, he wants to be taking over the theater if his dreams of becoming a movie director or a professional football player fall through. He has been at every show pretty much from the beginning. He gives me notes.
The Twin Cities is no doubt blessed to have the presence of Open Window Theatre. A theater with a mission to bring light to the dark. To invite you to look towards the window. A window to the divine.
Susanna Parent is a freelance writer who begins her mornings brewing French press coffee in the home she shares with her husband and daughter in the Twin Cities. When the sun sets, you’ll find her with friends enjoying a glass of red wine, preferably outside underneath twinkly lights or brainstorming their family’s next new adventure. Her published work can be found at fiatandalily.blogpost.com
