Arts education is local man's new "buzz"
Published on Thu, May 7, 2009 by Jo MartinRead More Communities
Since high school, Scott Randall has been involved in the performing arts. First as a musician and later as an actor, Randall's school experience and his subsequent goals were largely shaped by his artistic interests. Twenty years later, the Marysville man is dedicating his efforts to an ambitious arts education program that, even in its initial months, is poised to fill a need in the community.
His renewed energy got its start with a pink slip. After years of steadily advancing management work with a local retail coffee giant, Randall was one of 870 assistant managers who received a layoff notice in February.
"It was a moment of clarity for me, a realization that I needed to focus on the dream that has driven me for years," he said.
Along with six other committed volunteers, Randall has formed the Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts and its operational entity, Red Curtain Productions. The non-profit foundation is the basis for an arts education program that, according to the group's timeline, will operate a unique post-secondary campus in north Snohomish County within 15 years.
Like other innovators, Randall is not necessarily deterred by the harsh realities of the economy.
"In times of economic crisis, people need something to keep their spirits up, to unite them," he said. "The arts seem to thrive in times like this. For a relatively small cost, art offers huge rewards to individuals and to the communities in which they live."
Randall's passion has fueled other successful local arts projects. Just out of high school in the early 1990s, he became a leader in the community efforts to purchase, renovate and operate the Historic Everett Theatre in downtown Everett. As an active member of the Everett Theatre Society, he helped resurrect the landmark building, which had been boarded up and empty for years prior to his involvement.
"The work on the Historic Everett Theatre was a labor of love for many, many people," said Randall. "There were hundreds of volunteers who made sure the theatre regained its status as a city treasure."
Along the way, he helped found and manage the Everett Theatre Players, a community theatre troupe that presented six plays each season, and Summer Stars, a program for kids ages 10 to 14. In addition to spending time onstage as an actor, he also produced, stage managed and directed a number of successful productions and workshops. And over the years, Randall discovered that he had a unique talent for makeup design.
Working with his "home" theatre as well as the Northwest Savoyards, Off the Wall Theatre in Monroe, Mukilteo's Rosehill Players, NorthSound Rep in Everett and Stanwood's Camano Players, Randall became the "go-to" guy for special makeup effects, helping actors age, become monsters or fairies, or transform into barnyard animals.
He also found time to work with local schools and other community organizations to teach classes in acting and stage makeup, including special Halloween makeup seminars sponsored by the Everett Rotary and the Children's Museum.
In 2002 he decided to pack up his makeup kits and move to Los Angeles, hopefully to find work in Hollywood.
"On my 30th birthday, I decided that I didn't want to look back on my life and wonder what might have happened," he said. "It was time to take a chance."
Over the next six years he worked on dozens of films, TV shows, music videos and photo shoots, and had the opportunity to work with stars including Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Shanna Moakler, as well as legends Ed Asner, Robert Picardo and even Bill Nye (the Science Guy).
While working in Hollywood, he taught special effects makeup classes to at-risk teens at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum while working with students from the USC Film Department and attending acting and directing classes at UCLA.
He supported himself mostly through his steady job at Starbucks and, although he liked the customer interaction and the opportunity to mentor other employees, he maintained his focus on a more creative vocation.
Tiring of the lifestyle in La-La Land, Randall moved back to Snohomish County in 2008. Taking an assistant manager job at a Burlington location, he resigned himself to climbing the corporate ladder at Starbucks. Then the layoffs began.
"At first I was shocked, and a little scared," Randall admitted. "But then I began to realize that the layoff was actually an opportunity to change the course of my life."
He began offering adult acting classes in Marysville this spring and will be teaching teen actors at Pacific West Performing Arts in Snohomish over the summer. He's also reconnecting with community theatre troupes, co-directing and acting in Camwood Players' current show, "Run For Your Wife," and developing a production for summer performances at the Everett Theatre.
One of Randall's current students is Matthew Glazener, a sophomore at Lake Stevens High School who envisions a career in the theatre.
"Scott has helped me learn how to get to know a character," said Matt, "to understand the motivations behind what's going on in that person's life."
"It's the difference between putting on a cloak and actually getting into a person's skin," he continued.
Matt's goal in the individualized acting class offered by Randall has been to find and perfect an audition piece for Village Theatre's KidSTAGE productions and the general auditions held by Puget Sound Theatre coalition in Seattle. He's settled on a serio-comic monologue from "I Hate Hamlet" by Paul Rudnick.
Courtney Calkins, a mid-30s mother and veteran stage "techie," has other reasons for enrolling in Randall's acting classes.
"I've always worked backstage, and I have terrible stage fright," said Calkins. "I've auditioned and even been cast in shows, but then I'd back out because I'm so afraid of being onstage. Scott doesn't let me focus on those fears, so I'm learning how to quiet the little negative voices."
He is also working with veteran actress L. "Sam" Samano, an accomplished regular on local stages who is focused on broadening her skills and learning new techniques. In addition to class attendance, Samano stars in a one-woman show about Ann Landers that Randall is directing entitled "The Lady With All the Answers."
Even with all his other projects, the Red Curtain Foundation is Randall's primary focus these days. He paints an enthusiastic mental picture of a campus inspired by medieval town squares, with theatrical performance and support spaces surrounded by modular buildings that house classes in industrial arts-metal working, glassblowing, pottery and woodworking-and the visual arts of drawing, painting, sculpture and photography.
"I envision a kind of Hogwart's School of the Arts," he said with a smile, referring to the visually interesting school in the Harry Potter books and movies, "a place where the buildings, grounds and instructors all work to kindle the creative fires."
The foundation's Board of Directors is finalizing the organization's non-profit structure, along with its mission and goals, in support of Randall's vision. The production company is seeking partnerships with local venues in order to begin an active schedule of community theatre performances in the fall, and the class schedule is expected to expand to include voice lessons for adults as well as workshops for younger students.
"When public schools are having to choose between funding for academic programs and arts offerings, there's a need today for a school that's dedicated to arts education," Randall said. "It will be years before the full vision is realized, but we're taking small yet critical steps to close that gap now."
To find out more about Randall or the Red Curtain Foundation, e-mail redcurtainfoundation@gmail.com, or visit www.sbentonrandall.com.
His renewed energy got its start with a pink slip. After years of steadily advancing management work with a local retail coffee giant, Randall was one of 870 assistant managers who received a layoff notice in February.
"It was a moment of clarity for me, a realization that I needed to focus on the dream that has driven me for years," he said.
Along with six other committed volunteers, Randall has formed the Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts and its operational entity, Red Curtain Productions. The non-profit foundation is the basis for an arts education program that, according to the group's timeline, will operate a unique post-secondary campus in north Snohomish County within 15 years.
Like other innovators, Randall is not necessarily deterred by the harsh realities of the economy.
"In times of economic crisis, people need something to keep their spirits up, to unite them," he said. "The arts seem to thrive in times like this. For a relatively small cost, art offers huge rewards to individuals and to the communities in which they live."
Randall's passion has fueled other successful local arts projects. Just out of high school in the early 1990s, he became a leader in the community efforts to purchase, renovate and operate the Historic Everett Theatre in downtown Everett. As an active member of the Everett Theatre Society, he helped resurrect the landmark building, which had been boarded up and empty for years prior to his involvement.
"The work on the Historic Everett Theatre was a labor of love for many, many people," said Randall. "There were hundreds of volunteers who made sure the theatre regained its status as a city treasure."
Along the way, he helped found and manage the Everett Theatre Players, a community theatre troupe that presented six plays each season, and Summer Stars, a program for kids ages 10 to 14. In addition to spending time onstage as an actor, he also produced, stage managed and directed a number of successful productions and workshops. And over the years, Randall discovered that he had a unique talent for makeup design.
Working with his "home" theatre as well as the Northwest Savoyards, Off the Wall Theatre in Monroe, Mukilteo's Rosehill Players, NorthSound Rep in Everett and Stanwood's Camano Players, Randall became the "go-to" guy for special makeup effects, helping actors age, become monsters or fairies, or transform into barnyard animals.
He also found time to work with local schools and other community organizations to teach classes in acting and stage makeup, including special Halloween makeup seminars sponsored by the Everett Rotary and the Children's Museum.
In 2002 he decided to pack up his makeup kits and move to Los Angeles, hopefully to find work in Hollywood.
"On my 30th birthday, I decided that I didn't want to look back on my life and wonder what might have happened," he said. "It was time to take a chance."
Over the next six years he worked on dozens of films, TV shows, music videos and photo shoots, and had the opportunity to work with stars including Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and Shanna Moakler, as well as legends Ed Asner, Robert Picardo and even Bill Nye (the Science Guy).
While working in Hollywood, he taught special effects makeup classes to at-risk teens at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum while working with students from the USC Film Department and attending acting and directing classes at UCLA.
He supported himself mostly through his steady job at Starbucks and, although he liked the customer interaction and the opportunity to mentor other employees, he maintained his focus on a more creative vocation.
Tiring of the lifestyle in La-La Land, Randall moved back to Snohomish County in 2008. Taking an assistant manager job at a Burlington location, he resigned himself to climbing the corporate ladder at Starbucks. Then the layoffs began.
"At first I was shocked, and a little scared," Randall admitted. "But then I began to realize that the layoff was actually an opportunity to change the course of my life."
He began offering adult acting classes in Marysville this spring and will be teaching teen actors at Pacific West Performing Arts in Snohomish over the summer. He's also reconnecting with community theatre troupes, co-directing and acting in Camwood Players' current show, "Run For Your Wife," and developing a production for summer performances at the Everett Theatre.
One of Randall's current students is Matthew Glazener, a sophomore at Lake Stevens High School who envisions a career in the theatre.
"Scott has helped me learn how to get to know a character," said Matt, "to understand the motivations behind what's going on in that person's life."
"It's the difference between putting on a cloak and actually getting into a person's skin," he continued.
Matt's goal in the individualized acting class offered by Randall has been to find and perfect an audition piece for Village Theatre's KidSTAGE productions and the general auditions held by Puget Sound Theatre coalition in Seattle. He's settled on a serio-comic monologue from "I Hate Hamlet" by Paul Rudnick.
Courtney Calkins, a mid-30s mother and veteran stage "techie," has other reasons for enrolling in Randall's acting classes.
"I've always worked backstage, and I have terrible stage fright," said Calkins. "I've auditioned and even been cast in shows, but then I'd back out because I'm so afraid of being onstage. Scott doesn't let me focus on those fears, so I'm learning how to quiet the little negative voices."
He is also working with veteran actress L. "Sam" Samano, an accomplished regular on local stages who is focused on broadening her skills and learning new techniques. In addition to class attendance, Samano stars in a one-woman show about Ann Landers that Randall is directing entitled "The Lady With All the Answers."
Even with all his other projects, the Red Curtain Foundation is Randall's primary focus these days. He paints an enthusiastic mental picture of a campus inspired by medieval town squares, with theatrical performance and support spaces surrounded by modular buildings that house classes in industrial arts-metal working, glassblowing, pottery and woodworking-and the visual arts of drawing, painting, sculpture and photography.
"I envision a kind of Hogwart's School of the Arts," he said with a smile, referring to the visually interesting school in the Harry Potter books and movies, "a place where the buildings, grounds and instructors all work to kindle the creative fires."
The foundation's Board of Directors is finalizing the organization's non-profit structure, along with its mission and goals, in support of Randall's vision. The production company is seeking partnerships with local venues in order to begin an active schedule of community theatre performances in the fall, and the class schedule is expected to expand to include voice lessons for adults as well as workshops for younger students.
"When public schools are having to choose between funding for academic programs and arts offerings, there's a need today for a school that's dedicated to arts education," Randall said. "It will be years before the full vision is realized, but we're taking small yet critical steps to close that gap now."
To find out more about Randall or the Red Curtain Foundation, e-mail redcurtainfoundation@gmail.com, or visit www.sbentonrandall.com.
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