We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rynn Vogel and Adam Jefferis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rynn and Adam, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
As a creative duo, we feel very fortunate to be able to continually spur one another on with ideas. We get to collaborate each summer on a Shakespeare adaptation for families that happens at Media Park in Culver City every weekend in August. The park is right in front of the theater space at The Ivy Substation which has been the home of The Actors’ Gang for many years. We are so fortunate to have an opportunity to create a show like this annually and being a part of The Actors’ Gang makes it possible. Knowing that we have to come up with a new idea every summer gives us a chance to keep our creativity simmering all year long. Thinking up themes, dances, songs, costumes, sets, props, etc is a collection process that never truly ends. Artists are always creating, it is part of our DNA. So, everyday we are imagining, daydreaming and brain storming things, some may never come to fruition. Some ideas are realized through ordinary actions, like rearranging the pictures on our walls or making a homemade birthday card instead of buying one. While others end up becoming fully staged or filmed productions. We embrace creativity as a way of life, not something you tap into only for special projects.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We are artists. We love to create and further, we love to create with people who share our passion for genuine connection and kindness. We are both a part of an LA based theater company called The Actors’ Gang. Being a part of this non-profit theater organization has afforded us both many opportunities, the biggest one is with the Shakespeare in the Park for Families series that we produce each summer. Rynn writes an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s plays that is geared towards a young audience, tying in a theme that kids and families are familiar with in order to make Shakespeare more accessible. She and Adam collaborate on the theme, sets, songs and sound design. Adam directs the production and Rynn designs and creates all the costumes. Often Adam is an actor in the show as well. Being a small theater company means all productions are very do-it-yourself so we are lucky enough to always have a great group of actors willing to help set everything up, then act in the production and tear it all down afterwards, only to come back and do the whole thing over the next day. It is truly a labor of love that we do not take for granted. We’re just two kids from the Midwest who didn’t meet until we were out in LA, fell in love and now get to put on an original production each weekend in August for thousands of people. It’s pretty special.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Being that we are both from the Midwest (Rynn from Illinois and Adam from Kansas and Nebraska), we always see eye-to-eye when it comes to work ethic and integrity–sometimes to our detriment! We work very hard on projects that we are involved in, often times for long hours and after hours. We are working on finding a better balance, especially when we’re both participating in the same project, so that we don’t get too absorbed in the process. It’s important to us to lead by example. As we mentioned, the Shakespeare in the Park for Families show is a labor of love for us, but we do not expect the people we work with to go above and beyond. It is always our goal to make the process as fun as possible. It helps when the project is a play for kids because that always lends itself to lightheartedness. Regardless, we think it is important to make everyone involved feel their time is valued and work appreciated.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Just last year we were able to realize one of Adam’s dreams by taking the Shakespeare ‘summer show’ from the park into schools. The Actors’ Gang was fortunate enough to receive a grant that mad it possible to take our production from 2023 season: Much Ado About Pooh, into a handful of local elementary schools. We would love to be able to bring this season’s production: The Comedy of Arrs, to those same schools and more in the year following our run in park this August. We welcome any parents, teachers, educators or kids’ program organizers who think their school would be willing to partner with us to reach out via email at [email protected] or by phone (310) 838-4264. The show is about 45 minutes in length, and after the performance we like to have a talk back so that students can ask us questions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theactorsgang.com/education, http://www.adamjefferis.com/, https://www.mustardcookies.com/
- Instagram: @voge_djams @theactorsgang
Image Credits
Ashley Randall Photography
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
