Kevin Kling
Kevin Kling graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a BA in Theater in 1979. He has written many plays for children and family audiences including Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, by Bernard Waber, (premiered at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis), Busytown, by Richard Scarry, (premiered at Seattle Children's Theatre) and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes, (premiered at SCT).
He has also written original works including Mississippi Panorama, (CTC), Perfectly Persephone, (Imagination Stage) and Best Summer Ever, (CTC).
His one person shows Home and Away, 21A, and How How, Why, Why, Why and his full cast plays Lloyd's Prayer and The Ice Fishing Play have been produced in regional theaters, including The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, the Goodman, Kennedy Center, Denver Center and off Broadway at Westside Arts and Second Stage Theater.
Orchestral commissions include the Minnesota Orchestra's Home for the Holidays and Joyful Echoes. Collaborating with composer Victor Zupanc: For the Birds for the Zeitgeist ensemble and The Burning Wisdom of Finn McCool and The Twelve Dancing Princesses for the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Awards include the Whiting Award, NEA, McKnight, Bush Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board the A.P. Anderson Award, the VSA Jeahny, and the Eric Peterson Award.
Kevin is a frequent performer at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. He has written five books and appears often on PBS and Minnesota Public Radio. His PBS autobiographical documentary Kevin Kling: Lost and Found won a Regional Emmy as a teacher, playwright, performer. He was named the Minneapolis Storyteller Laureate by Mayor RT Rybak in 2014.
Kevin is most proud of his work as a teacher, playwright and performer with Interact Center, a company that creates art in the spirit of radical inclusion. His website is: www.kevinkling.com.
Interview Transcription:
SPEAKERS
Molly Joyce, Kevin Kling
Molly Joyce 00:00
So the first question is, what is resilience for you?
Kevin Kling 00:44
Resilience? That's one of my favorite words, actually, because I looked it up once actually in the dictionary, and it means maintaining one's shape. And how do you maintain your shape when it's been compromised? And you do it through family through faith through community, they're the ones that hold you together until you can grow into your new self.
Molly Joyce 01:12
And the second question is, what is isolation for you?
Kevin Kling 01:18
Um, for me, yeah, there's a difference between, I guess, isolation and being alone. I like being alone. But I don't like being isolated, isolated, seems to reflect a sense of exile, and where you're ostracized somehow. And I love being alone. Because even when you're alone, you can be surrounded by things that are familiar. You can feel like you belong when you're alone. That's why I never had trouble with hermits. Hermits aren't alone. They're surrounded by the things and creatures and the people in the country that they love. But isolation feels almost personal, almost.
Molly Joyce 02:13
And kind of the opposite of that, what is connection for you?
Kevin Kling 02:18
Connection is why I'm a storyteller. Connection is the bridge that connects ourselves to each other, to our own selves, to the world to everything, it's it especially, I always wondered if storytelling was actually healing, you know, I wondered that. And then I, I was in a motorcycle accident, and I had post-traumatic stress. And because of that, a therapist walked me through where I actually missed the the car and kept going. And through that exercise, my anger issues dissipated, I slept better that night. And I realized that a bridge had been created, that my internal myth had been rewritten for my external myth, I still wake up in the morning, and I can't use my right arm. So the world is still real. But my internal myth has been changed so that I can sleep at night. But what connects those two worlds are the bridges. Mostly it has to do with art, but mostly it has to do with connection. I find that with people, once we connect with somebody, we recognize each other and when you recognize each other, by helping someone you're really helping yourself. I find that a lot of words have shelf lives, like compassion, or truth or beauty. But recognition and empathy, I think are there to stay.
Molly Joyce 04:28
And then the last question is, what is darkness for you?
Kevin Kling 04:39
Ah darkness for me, I think is has gone more into an emotional state than a physical state. Because there's you can in darkness, you can either follow a light or find solace in the mystery. And I've found that throughout time I've changed to someone who needs to find solace in the mystery, because you can't figure out or control this world. So the more that you find peace with the changes with the things that you know, you interact with that interact with you, the more peaceful your life will be. So darkness now is a feeling that that resides within me when it comes. I tried to feel the solace by listening.