Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine Glynn.
Hi Catherine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I founded Audacious Raw Theater (A.R.T.) in 2016. I was experiencing some turbulence in life, and to ground myself, I turned to creativity and founded a theater company that encompassed a form of theater-making I love: devised theater. Devised theatre is about creating new theatrical works from the ground up through conversations, writing, movement exploration, and improvisatory theatre techniques. Thusly, devised theater bears the fingerprints of everyone that contributes. A.R.T. is a group of diverse individuals willing to open their minds and hearts to a fast-paced and fun-filled process.
In the late 1990s, I was a part of the Rude Mechs in Austin, Texas, and we did something called the 7-Day Project. I based A.R.T. on that. We take seven days to create seven new works with seven people. Now in our ninth year, we have made far more than seven pieces in a week and up to 35 new theatrical pieces or vignettes. Some years, we’ve had more than seven performers and in others, we’ve had less. Other than the year of the pandemic, we have always stuck to working within seven days.
Ultimately, I am trying to build a small sanctuary for artists and people in the corporate sector who need a space to contemplate and recreate—or rather, re-create themselves. With my coaching philosophy and doing A.R.T., I have a straightforward process for working with people from both sectors to help them move from one project to the next or one phase in life to the next, using creativity as the catalyst for change.
I am both excited and a little nervous about this. My husband and I have been investing in building a carriage house behind our home, and it should be sometime within the next three to six months to start testing it with friends and clients to see if it’s where I want to take my business, we are currently leaning toward calling it toward The Sanctuary. But I have a few other names rolling around in my mind, so stay tuned for updates!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a very smooth road, and I am grateful for that. I have gotten grants when needed, and the community has supported us in our endeavors. We have tremendous local partnerships with the Lanesboro Arts Center, Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, and the Commonweal Theatre Company. Lanesboro Arts has been with us since the beginning, and we couldn’t do what we do without them. Over the years, the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board have generously funded some of our performances and workshops.
My greatest challenge is having too many ideas and too little time. If I could do this full-time and get full funding, that would be the greatest gift!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Over the years, I have cultivated a career in both the performing arts and leadership presence and communication coaching. To that end, I am the founder and Artistic Director of Audacious Raw Theater (A.R.T.) and the C.E.O. of Voce Veritas, a boutique communication coaching firm. With A.R.T., I focus on performing and producing one or two productions yearly, typically during the summer. Last year, I took a few month’s hiatus from coaching and did some full-time professional acting work opposite my husband. We performed in the show “Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley for nearly three months, and it was an absolute joy to return to the stage full-time like that! My coaching work tends to be very flexible. I work with clients one-on-one and facilitate large group sessions on storytelling and leadership skills at places like Harvard Business School, KPMG, and other top business schools and Fortune 500 companies. I am deeply grateful for the flexibility I have in my work. And I appreciate passing along the crossover between performance skills and the skills of presence in the workplace. I teach people how to use breath, posture, gesture, content, and mindset like great actors do, to own the stage and to step into the spotlight in a way they can embrace and own it. It’s gratifying work. And the fact that I maintain long-lasting relationships, I dare say even friendships with my clients, is what sets me apart. My work isn’t a cookie-cutter approach. It’s carefully cultivated to meet each artist’s and client’s specific needs and goals, and that’s what makes the outcomes and performances so outstanding and memorable.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
One of the things I can see with great clarity as I grow is that the love and support of my parents John and Mary Kaye Uldrich significantly impacted me. My siblings Nan, Tom, and Jack have also given me incredible support over the years. I have also had an extraordinary string of mentors. That list includes Charlene Reece, Bridget Beane, Tim Gallagher, Joe Cavanaugh, Kaarin Johnston, Tom Darnell, Jim Hancock (for teaching me to breathe!), Lee Abraham, Bill Watson, Marian Hampton, Susan Sweeney, Steve Tague, Jewel Walker, Joanne Brown, Leslie Riedell, Sandy Robbins. I must also give a shout to the “Ladies of Lanesboro”—Julia Borgen, Betsy Holbrook, Diane Knight, Renee Bergstrom and my sisters in arms Bebe Keith and Liz Bucheit, to name a few. I also have to give three cheers to my husband, Jeremy van Meter, for being not only my soulmate but a great playmate as well. To be clear, I gather inspiration from everyone and everything around me so if you are reading this and think, hey, “she should have thanked me”, consider yourself thanked!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://voceveritas.com/about
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherineglynn/
- Other: https://rawdacious.art/about-us
Image Credits
Catherine Glynn, Tyler Anderson, Michael Sieler, Thomas White
