Kim Clark (candidate)
Encyclopedia
Kim Clark is creative professional active in film, television, and live performance. He is a businessman and community leader in Three Oaks, Michigan
and Chicago, Illinois where he has lived for the past 15 years with his partner David Fink. Their lives were profiled in a New York Times Article entitled "Our town for the Creative Set." http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/greathomesanddestinations/09havens.html?pagewanted=1 Clark is an ethicist who specializes in poverty and documentary filmmaking, an expert pipe organ builder, and fulltime teacher at DePaul University
.
from Loyola University Chicago
and a diploma in Christian education from the Moody Bible Institute
, Clark began his professional career in banking and marketing
. Over the course of several years, Clark served as Assistant Vice President at Chicago Cosmopolitan Bank, Executive Vice President of the consulting firm TeleStudies, Associate Creative Director at Young & Rubicam
and as a partner in Lakeside Management, Inc.
Clark has held simultaneous offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. His longtime writing partner Steve Zacharias http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0951599/ wrote definitive comedy The Revenge of the Nerds. Together, he and Clark have written and produced new works while fostering young writers in screenwriting careers.
Training Center. Students and educating colleagues include well-known SNL/EMMY writer Joe Kelly http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1918708/, Conan O'Brien staff writer Brian Stack
, Daily Show writer Allison Sliverman http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798881/, Kevin Dorff http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1016317/ (30 Rock, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), Seth Meyers
, Horatio Sanz
, Amy Poehler
and many others.
While teaching and developing the program, Clark’s collaborative and writing partner was Second City improv guru Martin de Maat
. Their work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago redefined teaching, comedic ethical value, tone and manner for a generation of students. Among de Maat's most notable quotes were "no one will follow you down the road if you are holding a banner that reads 'onward toward mediocrity'" and "You are pure potential." Some of Martin de Maat's students over the years include: Mick Napier, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Rachel Dratch, Sean Hayes, Tina Fey, and a young David Mamet.
Clark was a featured speaker at the Chicago Tribune's Printer's Row Book Fair (2001) along with Sheldon Patinkin
and Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Kazurinsky
. The trio were described by the Chicago Sun Times columnist Bill Zwecker as “Second City Improv Comedy Legends.”
From 2001-2003, Clark served as Artistic Director and Educational Director at the Chicago Center for Performing Arts. While there, he contributed to the Players Workshop masters classes, teaching Writing, Directing, On-Camera Technique and other classes.
An avid traveller for much of his life, Clark held a longtime interest in the Galapagos Islands
, culminating in a residency on San Cristobal Island beginning in the summer of 2005. Invited by the Galapagos Marine Ecology team at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Clark, along with a group of 12 secondary and post-secondary teachers, worked with residents of several island communities to teach English to local school children. Clark and Karen Ford-Manza Tompson, former Executive Director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Kansas and current Executive Director at Arizona Family Planning Council, co-authored a work regarding tectonic plate movement which was later reviewed by Rice University Staff (Linked below) The paper was entitled "The Geology and Vulcanology of the Galapagos Islands".
In 2010, Clark partnered with Patricia Werhane, formerly the Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics at Darden, to plan a new venture. She now holds a joint appointment at Darden and at DePaul University, where she is Wicklander Chair in Business Ethics and Director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. Her latest book is Alleviating Poverty Through Profitable Partnerships with Routledge
. This team is creating global poverty awareness and preparing to send a team to produce and direct documentary film projects to raise public awareness of micro-lending in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh segment of the project begins with IIRD (Institute of Integrated Rural Development), an NGO with a stated mission to create a model of rural development that can be replicated in any area of the Bangladesh - one that will facilitate the creation of the strong society.
The project's success thus far has led to an expansion of the project into other topics and locations, such as wage theft, the effects on families for incarcerating parents for non-violent crimes, and examinations of other international models of poverty solution in Tanzania
and Haiti
.
, arguably the most in demand male singer in the world (Newsweek) sang under the Harbor Arts organization in 2008. In Spring 2009 they featured New York Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Isola Jones, who has often been paired with Luciano Pavarotti
and Plácido Domingo
.
Clark serves on the Board of Writers in the Heartland— a residency program in Central Illinois founded to nurture emerging and established writers. Their mission is to provide a tranquil environment conductive to artistic production and intellectual exchange. Using retreats, sabbaticals and paid stays, candidates may be selected to complete work of merit at little or no cost to themselves. Writers in the Heartland is currently funding scholarships to develop the work of talented writers on an annual basis.
Clark is also a member of the Advisory Board for Southwest Michigan College, which is active in the development of a new degree program in contemporary Theater and Performing Arts Technology. As planned, the school has announced that the degree will begin in 2011.
In 2010, Clark was awarded the Wicklander Fellowship, which is given to full-time DePaul faculty for the application of professional ethics as the topics relate a particular field of research.
. The premiere fell in the same week Sedaris' book “Naked” hit the New York Times best seller list for the first time.
He has created numerous comedic shorts with the Second City team, co-writing and directing with many contributors including director Gail Mancuso
whose recent webisodes featuring "30 Rock" star Jane Krakowski feature a modern take on two of Hollywood's most iconic romance
films — Gone with the Wind and King Kong. Gail's direction includes on-camera comment as a part of the comedic fun.
In 2004–05 Clark directed a successful, significant and extremely ambitions presentation of Washington Irving's classic American Folk Tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
, the story of a restless ghost, a scheming schoolmaster, an apprehensive heiress and a teenage girl who thinks demons are delightful.
This musical comedy was written by Judy Freed, music by Elizabeth Doyle and lyrics by Owen Kalt. This production included two full casts performing the same show at the same time (one visually on stage with puppetry, and one as a Greek chorus orally interpreting the script, with full orchestra.) The production used a novel combination of puppetry traditions- Clark used bunraku, a Japanese form of puppetry, elements of Balinesian shadow puppetry, traditional stick puppets, and live actors to tell Washington Irving’s classic tale of the scheming schoolmaster and the restless ghost.
nominated television series Oh, Grow Up
(1999)], and executive producer of the film All Good Things (2002).
In 2003 Clark produced and developed The Grouch (based on Menander
's The Dyskolos) with the creators of Urinetown
, winner 2002 Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Director, and nominee for Best Musical. Later renamed Wild Goat, composer Mark Hollmann
and Chicago playwright Jack Helbig (both alumni of Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop at the Theatre Building Chicago) collaborated on the new musical set on the outskirts of ancient Athens, Greece. In Wild Goat, sparks fly when romance inflames two of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Oedipus clan. Composer Mark Hollman had previously won the 2002 Tony Award, the 2001 Obie Award and received two Drama Desk nominations for his music and lyrics to Urinetown and has helped to create some of Chicago’s favorite musical theatre, such as Jack the Chipper, I Think I Can and KABOOOOOM!
For more than ten years, Clark and his partner David Fink have executive produced the Chicago Improv Festival http://www.chicagoimprovfestival.org/web/ only revealing their financial support in 2007 at the annual CIF Masters Award Ceremony. The Chicago Improv Festival was co-founded by Frances Callier and Jonathan Pitts in 1998 as an educational forum. Over the years it has given voice to performers around the world, including writer/performers Tina Fey
and Rachel Dratch
(performing Dratch and Fey), Seth Meyers
, Frances Callier
and scores of other new creative comedy voices. The festival continues and grows annually.
In 2000, Clark and his partner David Fink purchased the old Featherbone factory http://www.featherbone.com/ in Three Oaks, Michigan, which once produced corset
stays, and renovated it to house the Acorn Theatre. The name Featherbone stems from the Warren Featherbone Company—a turn of the century American family owned corporation that has far reaching effect on American culture, nature and arts. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/nov/02/magazine/chi-mxa1102magazinesidelooppg7nov02
The theater is a 300-set multi-disciplinary performing space that features approximately 50 show per year, as well as regular weekly featured events. The theater contains a full Barton theater organ, bar, wine shop, and guest rooms for performers.
Since that time, Clark has acted as artistic director, and has worked to revitalize downtown Three Oaks. In addition to the talent on stage, the Acorn Theater has been a proving ground for writers, dancers and directors including the prolific and well-known American stage director David Cromer
http://broadwayworld.com/people/David_Cromer/. Mr. Cromer is now one of the country's top Broadway theater directors and was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
These efforts have helped Three Oaks to be designated part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm
's Cool Cities Initiative
in Michigan. What began as a summer arts project, http://www.vickerstheatre.com/THEATRE%20WEB%20R_files/page0009.htm evolved into a Theater District with local Art House Cinema the Vicker's Theatre, http://www.vickerstheatre.com/THEATRE%20WEB%20R.htm a converted turn of the century livery building that now boasts a balcony, hardwood flooring and hand crafted practical arts to rival any venue in the hemisphere. First run programming brings foreign and independent cinema to the small-town of Three Oaks Michigan. Clark and Vickers teamed up to create the Sounds of Silents Film Festival, a silent film series intended to reinvigorate the history and relevance of early 16-fps frame rate films. These screenings featured original contemporary scores and were performed both in- and out-doors. Early in the series, a screening of The Battleship Potemkin
was very favorably reviewed by Roger Ebert
, who wrote, "It was the music, I think, along with the unusual setting, that was able to break through my long familiarity with Battleship Potemkin and make me understand, better than ever before, why this movie was long considered dangerous."
http://www.nathangunn.com/about.php (Preeminent Baritone/ Barahunk - latest CD "Just Before Sunrise"), Jefferson Airplane
(beginning their “Woodstock Reunion Tour”), Peter Yarrow
, Dan Tyminski
(Grammy winner, of Alison Krauss, Union Station, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Judith Owen (Comedic Songstress - latest CD - Mopping Up Karma), Cowboy Junkies
(Alternative – Double Platinum Albums include The Trinity Session – Natural Born Killers), Todd Snider
http://www.toddsnider.net/?mpf=frame& (“Todd Snider's compressed story-songs are so vivid and knowing that they seem completely plausible" - Rolling Stone), Anne Harris http://www.anneharris.com/, Steve Evans http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/Ent/482547430/1038/Ent, Bela Fleck http://www.belafleck.com/, The BoDeans, Autumn Defense, Richie Havens
, Poi Dog Pondering
, The Guitars of Spain, Pacifica Quartet
, Tom Wopat
, Howard Levy
, Tom Dreesen
, and many others.
authored a full-page profile of Clark and his longtime partner David Fink in a story entitled "A Getaway That Happens to Include a Theater" (Published: December 21, 2007). When asked about creating a small, influential theater project that has now set world class innovation standards, Clark said "It’s like the first time you fall in love. You flip, through fear that you’re doing it wrong, and confidence that no one else has had this feeling before in real life." Once in a lifetime lightning does strike twice in the same place, as they were profiled again in a second article entitled “Our Town Stage for the Creative Set" also written by the New York Times. (Article referenced below.) “We’re living our dream life,” he said. "It is just impossible anywhere else."
The Chicago Tribune featured Clark and Fink in a story entitled "From the ground up at The Acorn Theater, big-city acts thrive in small-town Michigan" on November 2, 2008. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/nov/02/magazine/chi-mxa1102magazinesidelooppg7nov02. The pair have been featured in Rick Kogan's popular weekly column in the Chicago Tribune Sidewalks, which has since been collected in two hardcover books. Clark and Fink are also frequent guests on Kogan's Sunday morning WGN-AM radio show, The Sunday Papers.
The Acorn Theater itself was also profiled on HGTV
show Building Character, as well as two of the network's other programs, Rezoned and Offbeat America.
, running as the Democratic
challenger to Republican
Congressman Fred Upton
of St. Joseph, Michigan
. Clark focused his campaign on improving education and jobs in southwest Michigan, as well as calling for a responsible withdrawal of troops from Iraq
. In the general election, Clark lost to Upton, earning 39 percent of the vote.
Three Oaks, Michigan
Three Oaks is a village in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,829 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Three Oaks Township.-Geography:...
and Chicago, Illinois where he has lived for the past 15 years with his partner David Fink. Their lives were profiled in a New York Times Article entitled "Our town for the Creative Set." http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/greathomesanddestinations/09havens.html?pagewanted=1 Clark is an ethicist who specializes in poverty and documentary filmmaking, an expert pipe organ builder, and fulltime teacher at DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
.
Early Career
After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in applied psychologyApplied psychology
The basic premise of applied psychology is the use of psychological principles and theories to overcome problems in other areas, such as mental health, business management, education, health, product design, ergonomics, and law...
from Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
and a diploma in Christian education from the Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute is a Christian institution of higher education and related ministries that was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Since its founding, MBI's main campus has been located in the Near North Side of Chicago. MBI's primary ministries are education,...
, Clark began his professional career in banking and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
. Over the course of several years, Clark served as Assistant Vice President at Chicago Cosmopolitan Bank, Executive Vice President of the consulting firm TeleStudies, Associate Creative Director at Young & Rubicam
Young & Rubicam
Y&R is a marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting.-History:...
and as a partner in Lakeside Management, Inc.
Clark has held simultaneous offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. His longtime writing partner Steve Zacharias http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0951599/ wrote definitive comedy The Revenge of the Nerds. Together, he and Clark have written and produced new works while fostering young writers in screenwriting careers.
As Educator
For several years, Clark crafted, and later headed, the writing program for The Second CityThe Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
Training Center. Students and educating colleagues include well-known SNL/EMMY writer Joe Kelly http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1918708/, Conan O'Brien staff writer Brian Stack
Brian Stack
Brian Stack is an American actor, writer and comedian best known for his sketch comedy work on all three Conan O'Brien late-night talk shows, previously working on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, and currently on O'Brien's newest show, Conan on TBS.-Early...
, Daily Show writer Allison Sliverman http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798881/, Kevin Dorff http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1016317/ (30 Rock, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno), Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers is an American actor and comedian. He currently serves as head writer for Saturday Night Live and hosts its news parody segment Weekend Update.-Early life:...
, Horatio Sanz
Horatio Sanz
Horatio Sanz is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998-2006. Sanz most recently starred alongside his former SNL castmate Chris Parnell in the Comedy Central series Big Lake.-Early life:Sanz, the youngest of three sons, was born in...
, Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
and many others.
While teaching and developing the program, Clark’s collaborative and writing partner was Second City improv guru Martin de Maat
Martin de Maat
Martin de Maat was a teacher and artistic director at The Second City in Chicago. He also taught at Columbia College and Players Workshop. He studied under Viola Spolin...
. Their work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago redefined teaching, comedic ethical value, tone and manner for a generation of students. Among de Maat's most notable quotes were "no one will follow you down the road if you are holding a banner that reads 'onward toward mediocrity'" and "You are pure potential." Some of Martin de Maat's students over the years include: Mick Napier, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Rachel Dratch, Sean Hayes, Tina Fey, and a young David Mamet.
Clark was a featured speaker at the Chicago Tribune's Printer's Row Book Fair (2001) along with Sheldon Patinkin
Sheldon Patinkin
Sheldon Patinkin is the chair of the Theater Department of Columbia College Chicago, Artistic Director of the Getz Theater of Columbia College, Artistic Consultant of The Second City and of Steppenwolf Theatre and Co-Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre Summer Ensemble Workshops...
and Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Kazurinsky
Tim Kazurinsky
Timothy J. Kazurinsky is an American actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the Police Academy films...
. The trio were described by the Chicago Sun Times columnist Bill Zwecker as “Second City Improv Comedy Legends.”
From 2001-2003, Clark served as Artistic Director and Educational Director at the Chicago Center for Performing Arts. While there, he contributed to the Players Workshop masters classes, teaching Writing, Directing, On-Camera Technique and other classes.
An avid traveller for much of his life, Clark held a longtime interest in the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
, culminating in a residency on San Cristobal Island beginning in the summer of 2005. Invited by the Galapagos Marine Ecology team at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Clark, along with a group of 12 secondary and post-secondary teachers, worked with residents of several island communities to teach English to local school children. Clark and Karen Ford-Manza Tompson, former Executive Director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Kansas and current Executive Director at Arizona Family Planning Council, co-authored a work regarding tectonic plate movement which was later reviewed by Rice University Staff (Linked below) The paper was entitled "The Geology and Vulcanology of the Galapagos Islands".
Professorship at DePaul University
For several years, Clark taught screenwriting and ethics part-time at DePaul University's School of Cinema and Digital Media before accepting a full-time position with the university's College of Communications. There, he teaches Documentary Production, Ethics in Cinema and Gaming, and Media Ethics. As a faculty member, he created and sponsored an extra-curricular creative writing workshop for students called Acting Out. The workshop's goal was to create and polish scripts that could then be optioned for free by the school's production-focused students.In 2010, Clark partnered with Patricia Werhane, formerly the Ruffin Professor of Business Ethics at Darden, to plan a new venture. She now holds a joint appointment at Darden and at DePaul University, where she is Wicklander Chair in Business Ethics and Director of the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. Her latest book is Alleviating Poverty Through Profitable Partnerships with Routledge
Routledge
Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
. This team is creating global poverty awareness and preparing to send a team to produce and direct documentary film projects to raise public awareness of micro-lending in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh segment of the project begins with IIRD (Institute of Integrated Rural Development), an NGO with a stated mission to create a model of rural development that can be replicated in any area of the Bangladesh - one that will facilitate the creation of the strong society.
The project's success thus far has led to an expansion of the project into other topics and locations, such as wage theft, the effects on families for incarcerating parents for non-violent crimes, and examinations of other international models of poverty solution in Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
.
Fellowships and Chairs
Clark is the president of Harbor Arts, a Michigan Not-for-profit which has been responsible for dozens of public performances every year, and has featured new artists as well as some of the most popular performers in the world. Baritone Nathan GunnNathan Gunn
Nathan Gunn is an operatic baritone from the United States.He has appeared in many of world's well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera,...
, arguably the most in demand male singer in the world (Newsweek) sang under the Harbor Arts organization in 2008. In Spring 2009 they featured New York Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Isola Jones, who has often been paired with Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
and Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
.
Clark serves on the Board of Writers in the Heartland— a residency program in Central Illinois founded to nurture emerging and established writers. Their mission is to provide a tranquil environment conductive to artistic production and intellectual exchange. Using retreats, sabbaticals and paid stays, candidates may be selected to complete work of merit at little or no cost to themselves. Writers in the Heartland is currently funding scholarships to develop the work of talented writers on an annual basis.
Clark is also a member of the Advisory Board for Southwest Michigan College, which is active in the development of a new degree program in contemporary Theater and Performing Arts Technology. As planned, the school has announced that the degree will begin in 2011.
In 2010, Clark was awarded the Wicklander Fellowship, which is given to full-time DePaul faculty for the application of professional ethics as the topics relate a particular field of research.
Screenwriting
Clark has written two plays, Binding Arbitration and Girl Talk, both of which have been produced. In 2000, Clark premiered the original stage play “Girl Talk” at the Other Side Stage Festival on a co-bill with young monologist David SedarisDavid Sedaris
David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author, and radio contributor....
. The premiere fell in the same week Sedaris' book “Naked” hit the New York Times best seller list for the first time.
He has created numerous comedic shorts with the Second City team, co-writing and directing with many contributors including director Gail Mancuso
Gail Mancuso
Gail Mancuso is an American television director.- Select TV work :* Modern Family * $h*! My Dad Says * 30 Rock * Scrubs...
whose recent webisodes featuring "30 Rock" star Jane Krakowski feature a modern take on two of Hollywood's most iconic romance
films — Gone with the Wind and King Kong. Gail's direction includes on-camera comment as a part of the comedic fun.
Stage Directing
In 2005 Clark directed Tops or Bottoms, a play by Todd Logan featuring Judy Blue and Richard Shavzin. This new work went on the explore the interchanges of marriage and love over years if tune.
Conceptually the play examined certain experiences "we all go through ... Logan does what good artists do best: he doesn't tell us about these experiences or why they're important, he dramatizes them."- Windy City Times
"Logan has filled his script with a wealth of great lines ... Clark. . . allows us to hear them well." -Skyline/Lerner News
"I loved the show .... Tops or Bottoms is alive with humanity - ChicagoCritic.com
Todd Logan’s piece brought us in the character's world with powerful and endearing humor.
His words speak in such a familiar way that all generations can identify."
-ChicagoCritic.com
"Clark/Logan have an abundance of wry wit . . . interesting and thought provoking"
-Chicago Reader
In 2004–05 Clark directed a successful, significant and extremely ambitions presentation of Washington Irving's classic American Folk Tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
, the story of a restless ghost, a scheming schoolmaster, an apprehensive heiress and a teenage girl who thinks demons are delightful.
This musical comedy was written by Judy Freed, music by Elizabeth Doyle and lyrics by Owen Kalt. This production included two full casts performing the same show at the same time (one visually on stage with puppetry, and one as a Greek chorus orally interpreting the script, with full orchestra.) The production used a novel combination of puppetry traditions- Clark used bunraku, a Japanese form of puppetry, elements of Balinesian shadow puppetry, traditional stick puppets, and live actors to tell Washington Irving’s classic tale of the scheming schoolmaster and the restless ghost.
"Once you get a chest full
of our air, so sweet and restful,
You'll hardly even mind the walking dead!"
-- Lyrics sung by the Residents of the Village of Sleepy Hollow
Producing
Clark was producer of the Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominated television series Oh, Grow Up
Oh, Grow Up
Oh, Grow Up was a sitcom that aired on ABC from September to December 1999. It was created by Alan Ball, who would later go on to win an Academy Award for writing American Beauty and also create the hit HBO series Six Feet Under...
(1999)], and executive producer of the film All Good Things (2002).
In 2003 Clark produced and developed The Grouch (based on Menander
Menander
Menander , Greek dramatist, the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy, was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Thracian Chersonese known from the speech of Demosthenes De Chersoneso...
's The Dyskolos) with the creators of Urinetown
Urinetown
Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics...
, winner 2002 Tony Award for Best Original Score and Best Director, and nominee for Best Musical. Later renamed Wild Goat, composer Mark Hollmann
Mark Hollmann
Mark Hollmann is an American composer and lyricist.Hollmann grew up in Fairview Heights Illinois, where he graduated from Belleville Township High School East in 1981. He won a 2002 Tony Award and a 2001 Obie Award for his music and lyrics to Urinetown. He is a former ensemble member of the...
and Chicago playwright Jack Helbig (both alumni of Musical Theatre Writers' Workshop at the Theatre Building Chicago) collaborated on the new musical set on the outskirts of ancient Athens, Greece. In Wild Goat, sparks fly when romance inflames two of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Oedipus clan. Composer Mark Hollman had previously won the 2002 Tony Award, the 2001 Obie Award and received two Drama Desk nominations for his music and lyrics to Urinetown and has helped to create some of Chicago’s favorite musical theatre, such as Jack the Chipper, I Think I Can and KABOOOOOM!
For more than ten years, Clark and his partner David Fink have executive produced the Chicago Improv Festival http://www.chicagoimprovfestival.org/web/ only revealing their financial support in 2007 at the annual CIF Masters Award Ceremony. The Chicago Improv Festival was co-founded by Frances Callier and Jonathan Pitts in 1998 as an educational forum. Over the years it has given voice to performers around the world, including writer/performers Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
and Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch is an American comic actress best known for her roles as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...
(performing Dratch and Fey), Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers is an American actor and comedian. He currently serves as head writer for Saturday Night Live and hosts its news parody segment Weekend Update.-Early life:...
, Frances Callier
Frances Callier
Eleanor Frances Callier , better known as Frances Callier, is an American actress and comedian. Her television credits include According to Jim, My Name Is Earl, Frasier, and Curb Your Enthusiasm...
and scores of other new creative comedy voices. The festival continues and grows annually.
Acorn Theater
"I simply love the Acorn Theater . . . the spirit there, the setting, the graciousness yet unpretentiousness, harkens back to the time when music (particularly Folk Music) was shared so intimately that by the time an evening of song ended you not only had hope for the future, but you felt that all the people who were there to experience the music with you were folks you could trust, and who you could call friends.
The kind of magic provided much of the spirit that evolved during the decades of the 60’s and 70’s. How fortunate we are to have a performance space, the Acorn Theater, which brings us together as if we were family and can quite naturally find a place of commonality. A place that fairly vibrates with the sincerity, exquisite taste and generosity of its creators. My newest favorite place to play." – Peter YarrowPeter YarrowPeter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
In 2000, Clark and his partner David Fink purchased the old Featherbone factory http://www.featherbone.com/ in Three Oaks, Michigan, which once produced corset
Corset
A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...
stays, and renovated it to house the Acorn Theatre. The name Featherbone stems from the Warren Featherbone Company—a turn of the century American family owned corporation that has far reaching effect on American culture, nature and arts. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/nov/02/magazine/chi-mxa1102magazinesidelooppg7nov02
The theater is a 300-set multi-disciplinary performing space that features approximately 50 show per year, as well as regular weekly featured events. The theater contains a full Barton theater organ, bar, wine shop, and guest rooms for performers.
Since that time, Clark has acted as artistic director, and has worked to revitalize downtown Three Oaks. In addition to the talent on stage, the Acorn Theater has been a proving ground for writers, dancers and directors including the prolific and well-known American stage director David Cromer
David Cromer
David Cromer is an American theatre director and stage actor. He has received recognition for his work Off-Broadway and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for his direction of Our Town...
http://broadwayworld.com/people/David_Cromer/. Mr. Cromer is now one of the country's top Broadway theater directors and was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
These efforts have helped Three Oaks to be designated part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer Granholm
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-born American politician, educator, and author who served as Attorney General and 47th Governor of the U.S. state of Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, Granholm became Michigan's first female governor on January 1, 2003, when she succeeded Governor...
's Cool Cities Initiative
Cool Cities Initiative
Cool Cities Initiative is an initiative started by Governor Jennifer Granholm to spur growth and investment in Michigan during a period of economic decline. The Initiative was proposed in 2003 in response to students attending college in Michigan and then seeking employment out of state...
in Michigan. What began as a summer arts project, http://www.vickerstheatre.com/THEATRE%20WEB%20R_files/page0009.htm evolved into a Theater District with local Art House Cinema the Vicker's Theatre, http://www.vickerstheatre.com/THEATRE%20WEB%20R.htm a converted turn of the century livery building that now boasts a balcony, hardwood flooring and hand crafted practical arts to rival any venue in the hemisphere. First run programming brings foreign and independent cinema to the small-town of Three Oaks Michigan. Clark and Vickers teamed up to create the Sounds of Silents Film Festival, a silent film series intended to reinvigorate the history and relevance of early 16-fps frame rate films. These screenings featured original contemporary scores and were performed both in- and out-doors. Early in the series, a screening of The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin
The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
was very favorably reviewed by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who wrote, "It was the music, I think, along with the unusual setting, that was able to break through my long familiarity with Battleship Potemkin and make me understand, better than ever before, why this movie was long considered dangerous."
Notable Performers
Over the past few years, the Acorn has presented many musicians, acts and troupes, including: Nathan GunnNathan Gunn
Nathan Gunn is an operatic baritone from the United States.He has appeared in many of world's well-known opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera,...
http://www.nathangunn.com/about.php (Preeminent Baritone/ Barahunk - latest CD "Just Before Sunrise"), Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
(beginning their “Woodstock Reunion Tour”), Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow is an American singer who found fame with the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote one of the group's most famous songs, "Puff, the Magic Dragon"...
, Dan Tyminski
Dan Tyminski
Daniel John "Dan" Tyminski is a bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of the band Alison Krauss and Union Station and has released two solo albums, Carry Me Across the Mountain , on the Doobie Shea Records label, and Wheels , on the Rounder Records label.He is best...
(Grammy winner, of Alison Krauss, Union Station, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Judith Owen (Comedic Songstress - latest CD - Mopping Up Karma), Cowboy Junkies
Cowboy Junkies
Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band. The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by Margo Timmins , Michael Timmins , Peter Timmins and Alan Anton ....
(Alternative – Double Platinum Albums include The Trinity Session – Natural Born Killers), Todd Snider
Todd Snider
Todd Daniel Snider is an American singer-songwriter with a musical style that combines Americana, alt-country, and folk.-Biography:...
http://www.toddsnider.net/?mpf=frame& (“Todd Snider's compressed story-songs are so vivid and knowing that they seem completely plausible" - Rolling Stone), Anne Harris http://www.anneharris.com/, Steve Evans http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080712/Ent/482547430/1038/Ent, Bela Fleck http://www.belafleck.com/, The BoDeans, Autumn Defense, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group, noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic folk music, and electronic music. Founded in Hawaii in 1985, the band moved to Austin, Texas in 1987, where they recorded their first three albums...
, The Guitars of Spain, Pacifica Quartet
Pacifica Quartet
The Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where they are faculty members at the University of Illinois. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos,...
, Tom Wopat
Tom Wopat
Tom Wopat is an American actor and singer. He first achieved fame as Luke Duke in the long-running 1979 television series The Dukes of Hazzard, along with John Schneider. He also played Jeff, one of Cybill Shepherd's ex-husbands in the TV series Cybill.-Life and career:Wopat was born in Lodi,...
, Howard Levy
Howard Levy
Howard Levy is a Grammy Award–winning, American harmonicist, pianist, composer, and producer....
, Tom Dreesen
Tom Dreesen
Tom Dreesen is an American stand-up comedian.Dreesen grew up in Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago. His family was one of the few white families in a largely African American community...
, and many others.
Profile in The New York Times and Other Press
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
authored a full-page profile of Clark and his longtime partner David Fink in a story entitled "A Getaway That Happens to Include a Theater" (Published: December 21, 2007). When asked about creating a small, influential theater project that has now set world class innovation standards, Clark said "It’s like the first time you fall in love. You flip, through fear that you’re doing it wrong, and confidence that no one else has had this feeling before in real life." Once in a lifetime lightning does strike twice in the same place, as they were profiled again in a second article entitled “Our Town Stage for the Creative Set" also written by the New York Times. (Article referenced below.) “We’re living our dream life,” he said. "It is just impossible anywhere else."
The Chicago Tribune featured Clark and Fink in a story entitled "From the ground up at The Acorn Theater, big-city acts thrive in small-town Michigan" on November 2, 2008. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/nov/02/magazine/chi-mxa1102magazinesidelooppg7nov02. The pair have been featured in Rick Kogan's popular weekly column in the Chicago Tribune Sidewalks, which has since been collected in two hardcover books. Clark and Fink are also frequent guests on Kogan's Sunday morning WGN-AM radio show, The Sunday Papers.
The Acorn Theater itself was also profiled on HGTV
HGTV
HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...
show Building Character, as well as two of the network's other programs, Rezoned and Offbeat America.
2006 candidate for United States Congressional Election
On April 5, 2006, Clark announced his candidacy for Michigan's 6th congressional districtMichigan's 6th congressional district
Michigan's 6th congressional district is a United States congressional district in southwest Michigan. It consists of all of Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Van Buren, counties, and includes most of southern and eastern Allegan and a portion of western Calhoun counties.-Major...
, running as the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
challenger to Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Congressman Fred Upton
Fred Upton
Frederick Stephen Upton is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Republican Party and Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The district, based in Kalamazoo, stretches along the Michigan-Indiana border in the southwestern part of the state.-Early life,...
of St. Joseph, Michigan
St. Joseph, Michigan
St. Joseph is a city in the US state of Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,789. It lies on the shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, about east-northeast of Chicago. It is the county...
. Clark focused his campaign on improving education and jobs in southwest Michigan, as well as calling for a responsible withdrawal of troops from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. In the general election, Clark lost to Upton, earning 39 percent of the vote.
External links
- New York Times Article - Getaway that Happens to Include a Theater
- New York Times Article - Our Town For the Creative Set
- Chicago Tribune Article
- CQPolitics.com article "MI 6: Formula for Upsetting Upton Remains Elusive"
- Rate Your Music Website
- Acorn Theater website
- Harbor Arts Website
- Vicker's Theatre Website
- The Geology and Vulcanology of the Galapagos Islands Scholarly Article