Willow Creek Theatre A Venue For Iowa City Performances

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Willow Creek Theater Company's first year saw a "fully run" show of "Hedwig and The Angry Inch," opening in a building with chairs and pullout couches, improv nights, and microphones. Small displays of food and snacks and one wall with pre-existing wooden walls.

Co-founder Luke Brooks sat on that couch with Iowa City Press-Citizens in early November. He arrived with his newborn son before a management meeting scheduled for that evening.

Brooks was on stage as a rehearsal using the space Lindsey Brooks and Kaya Shafer created in January 2020 after planning the year before. It will be necessary to wait until the end of 2021 to start the actual theater, which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Theater crews have become more progressive and exciting in the past year, says Brooks, thanks to people coming up with bold ideas and their desire to put something together.

Brooks believes that by the end of next year, the Willow Creek Theater will stand firmly as a place where audiences can experience the extraordinary in society.

So instead of going over the details for 2023, Brooks is just trying to do what he advocates.

"If I get involved in my community, realize what they want to do, what they need to do, what they need help with, something will always come up," he said.

Brooks has created a space for his and his artists in Iowa City.

But he did not enjoy this freedom because he was raised in what he describes as a family that loved sports and business.

He doesn't get along well with people in sports, and doesn't understand the anger and competitiveness of his peers in the environment.

Dealing with these social expectations was difficult for Brooks as a child with undiagnosed autism.

Instead, he immersed himself in TV shows, films, and books, consuming material that explored characters who were misunderstood and found their place in society.

This personality is often reflected in Brooks' actions.

In eighth grade, Brooks decided to pursue acting.

"I found this place where everyone around me was like, 'I get it.'"

Brooks then realized that the performing arts would have a level of competition that he did not understand in sports. But it makes her feel like she belongs, and it's a place that requires everyone to be there to put on a show.

After graduating, Brooks noticed a common denominator among some of his talented peers.

They left art not because they were more interested in it, but because they saw no path to success, especially when they were young in Iowa.

Geography is an obstacle. Finances are an obstacle. The lack of diverse programs and local opportunities is a barrier.

He couldn't argue with his reasons.

"From there, I knew what I wanted to do with my artistic career was create systems that created opportunities for other people," says Brooks.

Although acting has always been Brooks' main focus, he says it was difficult to escape it.

He didn't want to sacrifice his life outside of his career, but he knew that he could never give up art either.

In Brooks' experience, there are theaters that are willing to pay thousands of dollars for equipment to build a set, but the people actually building the building are overworked and underpaid.

Finding himself in a leadership position, Brooks saw how much art would suffer if the community of working artists was exploited.

Added to this is a long period of reliance on moral failure from theater companies to national level.

"I remember sitting down with other founders and just saying, 'I don't understand why it's so hard to prioritize the human component because we're human,'" she says. We are also afraid of dinner tonight.

If other theaters struggle to value their human performers, the Willow Creek Theater will be "the one place" where "culture is about doing everything we do," even if it doesn't provide performers with everything they need.

In early 2022, Brigid Martin became Program Director at the Willow Creek Theatre, unfamiliar with a theater with such a mission and impressed by Brooks' passion for the business.

The artist-first salary model hasn't been perfected, Martin says, as evidenced by the fact that the board of directors is mostly made up of volunteers.

But the job is still important.

The Willow Creek Theater Company from Martin's Perspective. This is an open space for all.

The team is always looking for as many artists and audiences as possible. This is a place where artists can develop and present their work.

"I want more people to join our business and mission. Most are owned by two or three people who run the company themselves." orally, enough if they give us a place in culture. Iowa City's largest artist community".

In this theater, Brooks is not the star. It's a person taking on a different role that others can refer to.

It keeps him away from acting, but if that's what it takes to achieve the goals of Willow Creek Theater Company, it's well worth it.

"These projects brought people and ideas into my life and made me a better person," he says. "I really appreciate the people who stepped into their roles and got on stage and the people who built the sets and designed the lights on there. They brought so much to my life that I don't know if they fully understood it."