The Women of Woodford

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The four women who run Woodford Theatre brace for a month of full-blown girl power

At the center of “Calendar Girls,” this month’s production by Woodford Theatre, is a dynamic group of Women’s Institute members who pose nude for a calendar, hoping to raise money for cancer research.

It’s a relevant theme for the women behind Woodford Theatre, who, while not baring it all in quite the same way, are no strangers to the topics of female friendship, empowerment and activism. This month, in the midst of a busy three-week run of “Calendar Girls,” the community theater organization will also present a weekend of events celebrating and promoting The Girl Project, an annual arts-meets-activism initiative that combines education and performance to empower middle and high school girls to reach their full potential.

While it’s relatively unusual for a theater group to be run by a woman – let alone four of them – Woodford Theatre has flourished in recent years under the strong leadership of executive director Trish Clark and her team, which includes managing director Dara Tiller, education director Vanessa Becker Weig and technical director Dawn Connerly.

“The brilliance of anybody in a position of power is to hire people who know what they are doing,” said Clark, who came on board as the organization’s director in 2012. She attributes much of the theater’s current success to the unassailable spirit of the women in charge – but she admits that she didn’t always have the confidence she exudes today.

“When I started out as a young artist, I was a rose-colored-glasses child,” she said. “I was not aware of strength and perseverance. I walked in an audition, left and was quiet.”

After 10 years of being a stay-at-home mother, Clark started teaching at Tates Creek High School in 1985, finding herself suddenly in charge of not only a classroom but also the speech team and all of the school plays. In 1989, she became a teacher for the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) during the program’s initial stages.

“Being at SCAPA in its early stages and being a part of its early growth was a huge learning experience,” said Clark. “There was so little knowledge of how to manage a program like this, a magnet program, that it was frightening how little we all knew, teachers and parents, about launching such a program.”

Clark soon moved to Dunbar High School during that school’s first year, 1990, to manage its theater program. She said that her newfound responsibilities during that time in her life turned her into a different person by necessity – a “cowgirl,” as she says. In many ways, the tough, grab-life-by-the-bullhorns persona that she exudes today was born during this period, she added.

“I realized I have the perseverance of a bull, and I don’t know how to give up,” she said.

At various points over the course of her career, Clark met the other members of her current team, bringing them on board one by one. Each of the women brings a different set of strengths and skills to help usher the organization, which started in 1987, into a new chapter.

Originally from Hazard, Kentucky, Tiller describes her younger self as a “pragmatic, academic child” who wanted to be an actor. After getting her bachelor’s degree in theater at the University of Kentucky, she worked as an actor in New York and Chicago while taking on accounting jobs on the side – both to supplement her income and satisfy those pragmatic cravings.

“This position is the perfect combo of being able to check off lists but still work in an artistic environment,” said Tiller of her current managing director position. She originally started working with Woodford Theatre in 2010 but left the organization for a short stint. She returned in 2014, after getting a phone call from Clark, whom she had initially met on the set of the Lexington Shakespeare Festival while she was in college.

Clark also pushed for Connerly to join the group, despite some initial concerns from board members that the organization might be putting itself at risk by hiring a small female to build its sets. Clark gingerly suggested that the hire might help the organization overcome some recent trouble in attracting set-building volunteers – after seeing how hard a petite woman like Connerly was working, others would feel sheepish if they didn’t pitch in.

“After a while, everyone decided she could do this thing,” Clark said. “There’s nothing she can’t do herself.”

When Weig moved to Kentucky from Ohio six years ago, friends told her the first person she needed to meet was Trish Clark, who was working with both the UK Opera Theatre and Kentucky Conservatory Theatre at the time. Weig, a director, actor and theater educator, marched into Clark’s office to introduce herself, and the two became fast friends.

“I’ve never felt quite so at home,” Weig said of her current job with the organization. “It feels like home because it’s run by all women, and the passion is all here from everyone.”

Just over four years ago, Weig found a new outlet for her own passion when she met Trish Clark’s daughter, Ellie Clark, who was interested in using art to make a difference with young women. It was a passion that Weig shared, and together, the women co-founded The Girl Project, which started as a series of workshops featuring guest artists, geared to equip middle and high school girls with the knowledge and tools to speak out about the way the media portrays and misrepresents women.

The Girl Project has traditionally culminated in an annual original performance piece incorporating spoken word, poetry and movement along with multi-media elements; this year’s Girl Project will feature a six-week intensive summer program during which participants create and workshop an original script. Organizers are also planning to incorporate more community engagement elements with this year’s program, starting this month with a weekend of events that includes workshops, film screenings and an art gala in conjunction with the project.

Now in grad school, Ellie Clark is working on a curriculum where other communities can institute the same kind of program. Three local middle schools – Woodford County Middle School, SCAPA and Leestown Middle – now host a mentor program called The Girl Project: Next Generation, where high school girls and guest artists work with middle school girls to raise community awareness about the issues addressed in the workshops, from body image and self-esteem to current events and American media culture.

Having engaged nearly 100 middle and high school girls since its inception in 2013, The Girl Project has become an essential component of Woodford Theatre’s educational mission.

“The change in the girls is amazing,” said Becker. “They grow so much through this program. Some of them come in barely able to speak about what is going on in their lives. By the end, the honesty you hear in their words is powerful.”

“We have women in their 70s and 80s who come up and say ‘thank you’ at the end of the performance,” she added. But as Clark points out, the performances are not just geared toward women – the males in the audience are just as important as recipients of its powerful message.

“One of the most wonderful moments is after a performance, seeing the fathers and brothers of these girls come up and say, ‘We just didn’t know,’” said Clark. “For these men to look at their beloved daughters and finally understand how their daughters feel — that’s the reward.” ss

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