The Link

By Brooke Cousins

Vision

When originally approached to direct The Link, I highly doubted that I was the right person for the position. I have always disliked activities akin to camping and hiking, thus, I felt that a show celebrating conservation, and particularly the wetland conservation efforts of the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center, was a valiant and necessary effort, but one I would be ill equipped to take on.

Yet this was not a standard theatre show, but a research project exploring the way in which the arts and sciences can interact on equal footing, and alternative methods of bringing large scale scientific concepts to the general public. As such, with our scenographer, Thalia Hollinger, having been a lover of nature throughout her life, and our playwright, Brooke Cousins, being a happy medium between the extremes of Thalia and I, it made sense for the third artist on the project, me, to have little to no personal investment in nature.

Thus began a four month dialogue between us three artists and a host of over thirty scientists, researchers, and agents specializing in everything from Michigan game law to vernal pools. By the end of this period, three key concepts had arisen: environmental fragility, shared usage of the environment, and collaboration between all walks of life; between artists and researchers just as much as humans, animals, and plants.

In three weeks, we constructed The Link, emphasizing character work and the concepts within during rehearsals, before performing this work of site specific theatre in the barn at Corey Marsh. 200 audience members made the 30 minute drive to see The Link, and with that, I walked away from the project with a greater understanding of and newfound respect for conservation.

At least, I thought I had walked away until I was asked to speak at the annual Corey Marsh Research Symposium, highlighting how art can be used as the natural bridge from high academia to commonplace thought.

The project dragged me in once more at Michigan State University’s Undergraduate Research and Art’s Forum, to which co-presenters I and Ben Eiler, the research head, received first in the category of Interdisciplinary Research.

Testimonial

“Anthony has been truly wonderful to work with. Creative, funny, and thoughtful, he is always willing to learn something new and explore those ideas through a fresh theatrical lens.”

– Ben Eiler; Interdisciplinary Conservationist