Tallahassee Democrat - 03/27/2016 Page : D01

Copyright © 2016 Tallahassee Democrat. All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights , updated March2007. 03/27/2016March 28, 2016 9:20 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

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Enveloped in New York City’smetropolis, the arts providetheir fair share of opportunitiesand hardships. Demanding audi-tions, enriching travels, and

educational innovations are embedded inactress and student Whitney Snow’s ev-eryday explorations. Situated in downtownBrooklyn, she sees unlimited potential inbringing theater into the community, andhas preserved her sense of childlike won-der for the art form that is at the core ofher daily orbiting.

Jet setting from Tallahassee to Boston tothe Big Apple, Snow felt disillusioned atfirst by the city’s rough edges, but reflect-ing on her early reasons for loving theater,decided to pursue a master’s in AppliedTheatre from the CUNY School of Profes-sional Studies. She’s focused on findingentry points into accessibility in the arts,and aims to work with underserved pop-ulations to create a better sense of commu-nity and encouraging the threading of cul-tural diversity.

“It’s using theater to change the world,”says Snow. “Which I think when you’re akid and you’re doing theater, that’s the cruxof it all. You feel like you’re doing some-thing that makes the world a better place,and I never lost that childhood dream.”

Snow jokes that she came out of thewomb singing and dancing, though shestarted her formal training at 4 years old.In third grade, she joined the Young ActorsTheatre and starred as Annie in her debut

show. She confesses that she practicallylived at the theater, attending acting anddance classes every weekday and cultivat-ing lifelong friendships.

Summer shows were especially magical,with rehearsals all day and slumber partiesat night. After taking on roles in “Foot-loose” and “42nd Street,” she graduated in2004 from YAT and the Maclay School.Snow went on to earn her BFA in Theatrefrom the Boston Conservatory before con-tinuing her education in NYC.

YAT alumna WhitneySnow comes home for‘Into the Woods’AMANDA SIERADZKICOUNCIL ON CULTURE & ARTS

PROVIDED BY WHITNEY SNOW

See Snow, Page 4D

TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT » SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 2016 » 1DS

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Words. Words. Words.When Polonius asks Hamlet what

he’s reading in a seeming fit of bewil-dered distracted madness, Hamletresponse is simple:

“Words. Words. Words.” When reading Shakespeare’s words,

some feel as if they’re reading Greek.Some feel Shakespeare’s poems are acomplex, undecipherable code. Butthat’s all they are – words!

Shakespeare was a master crafts-man of words. A wordsmith. His son-nets are some of the most beautiful andprofound collections of words in theEnglish language. We all use wordsevery day, but the beauty and brillianceof William Shakespeare, the reasonwhy so many people read and quote hissonnets so long after his death, is tosavor and study his use of words. In hisown lifetime, Shakespeare’s mastery of

the sonnet form elevated him from alowly man of theater to the more re-spectable status of “poet.”

Shakespeare’s sonnets, 154 in all,demonstrate his mastery of the Englishlanguage in a way that some of us

might appreciate, if not fully under-stand, and perhaps even want to im-itate. Reading Shakespeare is likewatching a finely tuned athlete at thetop of his game.

Take Carney Lansford’s perfectly-

timed, graceful, diving catches as thethird baseman for the Boston Red Soxand Oakland A’s. Now imagine yourbuddy throwing a ball your way so youcould practice and imitate one of Car-ney Lansford’s diving catches. In thesame way, when we read Shakespeare’selegant use of meter, imagery, rhythmand rhyme, many of us wish we couldtry it ourselves.

With this in mind, the SouthernShakespeare Company, in partnershipwith the Tallahassee Democrat, isproud to announce the second annualSonnet Contest. This is your opportuni-ty to try your hand at writing like theBard!

We will have three separate cate-gories for contest entries: adult, highschool and middle school. There will besome very cool prizes for the winners.First prize in each category will win a aFitbit; second prize a Bluetooth head-set; and third prize winners will receivetheir very own selfie-stick!

All finalists will have their poempublished in the Tallahassee Democrat,

POETRY CONTEST

Try your hand at a Shakespeare sonnetKevin CarrGUEST COLUMNIST

DAVE SCHWARZ/ST. CLOUD TIMES

Here a teacher copies one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, but you can write your own.

See Sonnet, Page 3D

Tallahassee Democrat - 03/27/2016 Page : D04

Copyright © 2016 Tallahassee Democrat. All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights , updated March2007. 03/27/2016March 28, 2016 9:20 am (GMT +4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

Copy Reduced to 79% from original to fit letter page

“I feel like Young Ac-tors was the reason I havenow rounded back toApplied Theatre,” ex-plains Snow. “I’m learn-ing how to use theater forcommunity and culturaldevelopment becausethat’s what that programwas for me. It created acommunity and a family.”

She feels her firstbreakthrough moment intheater occurred as shepassed the thresholdfrom middle into highschool. At YAT, thismeant opening the door toaudition for summershows, which providedmore challenging contentand stimulating roles. Asa high school freshman,she was cast as leadinglady, Maria, in “West SideStory.”

Recalling the tensemoment after a heatedfight between the Jetsand the Sharks, Snowprepared to deliver herdifficult lines for the firsttime. She remembersdirector Tina Williams’reassuring support thatshe didn’t have to getthem perfect right out ofthe gate. Snow conqueredthe tough scene, and tear-ful cast members wereswept up in the impas-sioned speech.

“That was a huge mo-ment because usually thelead characters went toolder students, and theygave me a chance as afreshman to step into thisbig role,” explains Snow.“I always felt really be-lieved in by the educatorsthere. They gave me a lotof my confidence.”

While she enjoys play-ing big brassy roles,Snow is currently explor-ing numerous educationalpaths. Her thesis projectcenters on teaching thea-ter to teenage boys ages12-17 years old in a non-secure detention facility.Additionally, she volun-teers with three organiza-tions that mount original

student-driven works —the Possibility Projectand the Creative ArtsTeam Youth Theatre, aswell as a mixed abilitygroup Co/Lab — andstrives to provide thesame nurturing environ-ment YAT gave her.

Thanks to CUNY, Snowwas even given the oppor-tunity to travel to Rwan-da this past summer for a

two-week intensive work-shop. Partnering withstudents at the Universityof Rwanda, she sharedlesson plans and teachertraining with future edu-cators, finding ways fordrama to be incorporatedin the classroom as perthe Rwandan govern-ment’s mandate.

“We gave them manytools to add to their teach-

ing toolkit,” explainsSnow. She’s still in touchwith many of the studentsand continues a knowl-edge exchange. “Thereare so many fun gameswhere folks don’t evenrealize they’re playing atheater game. The ses-sion I led takes a poem,and using different activ-ities, creates a character,external and internalawareness, and connectskids to the words by relat-ing it to their life andexperiences.”

An emphasis on thiskind of empathy is in-tegral to Snow’s relation-ship with theater. Even inpreparing for roles, sheseeks to understand acharacter’s qualities inorder to better conveythem to an audience. Sheadmires actresses PattiLuPone and ChristineEbersole for their abilityto create layered levels ofnuance, and hopes toachieve the same in herperformances.

After serendipitouslyrunning into YAT ArtisticDirector Valerie Smith ata local restaurant overthe holidays, she’s excitedto exercise her actingchops once more for herhometown theater. Snowwill fulfill her dream role,the Witch, as proud alum-ni for YAT’s upcoming“Into the Woods” produc-tion. The process hasbeen a unique as one she’slearned the role long-distance from DVDs withthe help of a stand-in

before arriving in Talla-hassee two weeks beforeopening.

“I think that ‘Into theWoods’ is one of thoseshows where everyonecan find something forthem in it,” says Snow.“There are just so manybeautiful lessons andnuggets of wisdom. It’s ajourney that’s silly, sad,and intense — it looks atfairy tales and asks, ‘isthis really all there is?’”

Regardless of thestage or place, Snow con-tinually finds inspirationin the stories and lessonsher program’s professorsand cohort provide. Thestudents she teachesencourage her to be abetter citizen of theworld, as Snow witnessesformer at-risk youth findtheir values and princi-ples.

Within the organiza-tions and facilities sheworks in, she is often left

in awe of how smart andattuned young people areto the issues facing soci-ety. She emphasizes thatpractice doesn’t have tomake perfect, but insteadto relish in imperfections,and not to allow anyone totake away your genuinevoice. In turn, they chal-lenge her to come at herwork from a place ofauthenticity, and findinterconnectedness inart.

“There’s nothing bet-ter than the feeling at theend of a performance,either watching some-thing that you’ve been apart of or somethingyou’ve had no prior ac-cess to and are seeing forthe first time,” said Snow.“Whenever you walk outof any sort of arts perfor-mance whether it bedance, theater, or music,you’re not the same per-son when you leave.We’re always changingand evolving because ofart, and it’s in us all, sowhy not do it as much aspossible?”

Amanda Sieradzki isthe feature writer for theCouncil on Culture &Arts. COCA is the capitalarea’s umbrella agencyfor arts and culture(www.tallahas-seearts.org).

SnowContinued from Page 1D

ROBERT STUARTTOP: With the beloved cow, Milky White, Whitney Snow (TheWitch), Cooper Smith (The Baker) and Haley Holcomb (TheBaker's Wife) rehearse a scene from Act One .BOTTOM: The Witch (Whitney Snow) implores Rapunzel (AliNewport) to stay with her during a scene from "Into theWoods."

If you goWhat: “Into the Woods”When: April 1-10 (times vary, please check online)Where: 609 Glenview Drive, Young Actor’s Theatre andSchool for the Performing ArtsCost: Adults $20, Seniors $18, Students $16, Children (12and under) $14Contact: For more information please call 850-386-6602 orvisit www.youngactorstheatre.com.

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T L H LO C A L

Headlines of poisoned water andunexplained earthquakes fill the newstoday. In “Fraccidental Death,” byDonna Meredith, a member of theTallahassee Writers Association, Mer-edith drops her intrepid graduate stu-dent investigator, Summer Cassidy,into this dangerous new world of shadybusiness, environmental contamina-tion, and murder in this second in-stallment of Meredith’s Water Warriorsseries.

Fresh off the heels from her firstinvestigation in Meredith’s earliernovel, “Wet Work,” Summer takes on anew research project for her graduatedegree in hydrogeology at Penn StateUniversity. This work takes her toWest Virginia to test for well watercontamination from nearby hydraulicfracturing, better known to most peo-ple as fracking. She begins by inter-viewing the townspeople about theirwater supply, but her work starts tounravel – her professor succumbs topolitical pressure to drop the research,people start getting sick, a dead bodypops up, and the danger seems to stalkher around every turn.

Besides the suspense that comes inany good detective story, the book isnot that simple, and weaves in ele-

ments of family drama and an ongoingromance with an environmentalistfrom the first book in the series thatconnect the reader to the human sideof Summer and draws you into Sum-

mer’s worldand motiva-tions. Also herbest friendfrom college,Dayita, in Flori-da is a comput-er pro, andhelps Summerget out of com-plex situationsin West Vir-ginia.

Set in themysterious and somewhat alien moun-tains of West Virginia, Meredithweaves a taut thriller, in part by usingthe setting to contrast the region’snatural beauty with what is lurkingbelow the surface, both literally andmetaphorically. Meredith went to col-lege in West Virginia, so the economicand environmental tensions Meredithincludes add significant layers to thestory.

Science as well figures heavily intothe book, and Meredith spent twoyears researching the science behindfracking. Through her expansiveknowledge, she offers the readerswell-researched scientific explanationsthat provide a depth of knowledgeneeded to understand the context ofthe situation without dragging downthe pace of the action.

It would be easy to allow such anovel to sink into cliches about somenew emerging technology that allowsevil corporations to creative massive

environmental damage, all in the nameof greed. But Meredith doesn’t andunderlying her suspenseful prose, sheoffers scientific insights on the proc-ess, nuanced views on the businessside, and critiques implicit on bothsides of the debate over how much touse our environment or protect it, con-sidering the world’s growing energyneeds. As Summer discovers over thecourse of the novel, environmentaldamage is not avoidable, but how muchdamage we allow and how we mitigatethat damage should be our real con-cerns.

“Fraccidental Death” is a fast-mov-ing corporate mystery that pulls thereader through tense twists and turns,intricate but never boring scientificanalyses, and nuanced descriptions ofhow emerging technologies clash withpublic safety and environmental con-cerns.

So, if you’re a reader who’s tunedinto the political debate over the envi-ronment, a younger adult fascinated bythe power of science to expose truthshidden in the world, or just looking fora rollickingly good thriller, pull up acomfortable chair and grab a cup ofyour favorite drink and dig into thisfun, fast 280-page whodunit.

The launch for “Fraccidental Death”is Tuesday, March 29 at Little Italyfrom 5:30-7:30 p.m. All are welcome.

Dr. Penny J. Gilmer is the NancyMarcus Professor Emerita of Chemistryand Biochemistry at Florida State Uni-versity and lives in Tallahassee.

Donna Meredith spins skillful eco-thriller Penny GilmerTALLAHASSEE WRITERS ASSOCIATION

Meredith

Book partyThe launch for “Fraccidental Death,” byDonna Meredith, is Tuesday, March 29 atLittle Italy from 5:30-7:30 p.m. All are wel-come.