Census: Campaign encouraging participation

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Seeking out individuals and segments of the population that avoid answering the Census has proven to be costly to Census Bureau in time and money. Census.gov has found it makes economic sense to hire advertising agencies and multimedia professionals to create beautiful photographs and videos and targeted advertising campaigns. One such group visited Sequim in October 2019 to collaborate with members of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe on a photo shoot. The crew of photographer Michael Jones of Portland, Ore. followed as the tribe members paddled their canoe out past the Travis Spit in Sequim Bay. They sang as they paddled and made a colorful contrast with the blue of the water and sky. Jones had his camera connected to a laptop so that his assistant could monitor exposure and he shot a series of images of the paddlers against the backdrops of Mount Baker, the Olympics, and the crumbling bluffs of the bay. One of these images can be seen on a billboard when headed east out of Port Angeles.

Improv brings out the playful imagination in adults

By Emily Matthiessen

Curious or passionate about improv? Residents of Clallam and Jefferson County have a number of opportunities to learn about and experience improv in the upcoming months.
“Improv to me is the art of spontaneity. It is quick, uninhibited thinking and doing what comes naturally to children, but becomes suppressed as we mature. So much of what young children do is hilarious to adults. Allowing that freedom of expression in an adult setting is even funnier,” said Nancy Peterson, improv performer and teacher.
Improv is short for improvisation, and is a style of theater in which the performer does not memorize a performance but instead creates one spontaneously, usually as part of a supportive group. “Together you create magic realities. It’s like playwriting on the move, you are writing a play as you go, with other people. You’re accepting other people’s ideas and adding to it,” said Dr Lara Starcevich, a professor of speech and drama at Peninsula college who will give a Studium Generale presentation called “How to Improve Your Life with Improv,” at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27. She will speak about how improv can positively impact a practitioner’s life.
“Supporting the group is the essence of improv,” Starcevich told the Peninsula College acting class she co-teaches with Pete Griffin this winter quarter. Students are practicing their drama skills through improv for the first time in her 11 years teaching at the college. “The main focus of this class is learning the fundamentals of acting, but learning them through improv,” she said.
Starcevich said that during the March performances the audience will be seated on the stage near the players for greater intimacy. “The actors, when they feel the audience’s presence, and see them reacting to them, they perform better,” Starcevich said.
The more people attend a performance the merrier because in improv the audience is also a player, often encouraged to contribute suggestions for characters, plot, setting, or relationships. Improv is known for stimulating laughter. The laughter encourages the performers to relax into the silliness that often comes from spontaneity on stage.

— See Improv, Page 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Emily Matthiessen

The class will give a series of live performances at the Little Theater on March 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m., March 11 at 11 a.m. They are free for students and have a recommended donation of $10 for community