Seed Art Share brings innovative theater to Raleigh's streets, museums and just about anywhere

Seed Art Share is taking theater to Raleigh's streets - literally. For several years, the Raleigh group has been staging performances outside of the usual performance hall, bringing them to downtown Raleigh sidewalks, office spaces and even a fast food drive through.

Renee Wimberley is the group's creative director. She lives in Garner with her husband and three children, who she homeschools. Wimberley is an actor, director, playwright, and teaching-artist with a bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts Education from UNC-Greensboro. Since 1977, she's been active in various N.C. theater organizations as a student, teacher or practitioner.

Seed Art Share will be at First Night on Dec. 31 in downtown Raleigh. Performances are scheduled at 4:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m., just after the early countdown. Both will start right next to the acorn on City Plaza on Fayetteville Street. They are free with the purchase of your First Night button, which is $11 in advance (and also includes all of the many other activities that are part of First Night).

I checked in with Wimberley to learn more about Seed Art Share and its shared art experiences. Here's a Q&A:

Go Ask Mom: What is Seed Art Share, when did it get started and why?

Renee Wimberley: My husband and I were both artists - he's a musician. After taking some time away to focus on our family and ministry, we really felt led to begin auditioning and performing again - only this time we weren't 25. We were married with three kids and realized it was a very challenging experience!

Rehearsals and bookings require a lot of time and are usually at night. This meant we certainly couldn't work together because someone had to stay home with the kids. We've done shows simultaneously where we didn't even get to see each other's work.

We also realized that we weren't alone, so, with some like-minded friends, we set out with the goal of creating opportunities to support parents working in local the arts community. We partnered with companies like The Justice Theatre Project and Bare Theatre to develop on-site show-themed curriculum and rehearsal-care programs for actors and patrons. We loved sharing spaces with other companies and building relationships with other families. With a background in arts integration and education, I also began teaching workshops that connected theater technique with the literature and STEM content of plays.

RW: Originally, it was not our plan to ever produce our own shows. However, in fall 2013, we were approached by a director who had an idea for a "moving play" that would allow audiences to follow a story and characters throughout the warehouse district of Raleigh. The audience was also connected to the characters by smartphones, reading the texts sent back and forth while we walked.

Eventually, unprompted by us, the audience began texting back - commenting amongst themselves as the story unfolded. It was an amazing shared experience, far beyond our expectations and the concept stuck. We were able to build relationships with local businesses, non-arts organizations, neighborhood groups and educational programs to tell stories "on location."

We have since made plays in non-traditional venues such as offices, homes, apartments, historic sites, restaurants, museums, gardens, cars, on the R-Line bus, and my personal favorite - the Krispy Kreme drive thru. We still honor our mission to promote shared arts experiences by providing rehearsal care and flexible schedules for creative teams.

GAM: What do kids really like about it?

RW: We call our kids' shows "scavenger-plays." There is always a goal, and the kids are necessary helpers to solve whatever problem is presented. Whether in one of our museum shows or at First Night Raleigh, they meet characters who take them on a mission (sometimes by flashlight in the dark!) to places they wouldn't normally get to see, and they are joined by other kids on the journey. The individual scenes are usually short and interactive, and they are always part of the action, collecting clues, artifacts or objects they create along the way.

GAM: What are your plans during First Night?

RW: Seed is very blessed to have some of the Triangle's most gifted actors and writers on our team, and this script by Ian Finley is truly one of our favorites yet. This is our fourth year developing an original piece for First Night. The exciting challenge is not only to tell a great story for all ages that fits the theme of the event, but to mix up the concept a little each year so folks don't automatically know what to expect.

This year is a little different in that we will begin the play on the City Plaza stage following the afternoon children's events and the first Acorn Drop. There is still a problem to solve and audiences will get to choose one of the characters to follow to three more locations around the block before reconnecting at the end of the show to see if their mission was accomplished!

GAM: What do you have planned in the future?

RW: Again, we love to share stories, spaces and relationships. We also love the fine folks over at the City of Raleigh Museum.

So this April, we will debut a new moving-play by Allan Maule, "Tales of Fermentation" which features stories from local Raleigh breweries told throughout the museum. (That one is obviously just for the grown-ups!) In June, we will bring the kids back for a Night at the City of Raleigh Museum IV - and celebrate the 200th anniversary of local museums. That show will be devised by high school students under the guidance of some of our company playwrights.

And this January as part of their study on NC Outdoor Drama, our fourth through 12th grade Seed History Seekers drama class will develop their very own outdoor moving-play for the N.C. Museum of History's Tarheel Junior Historian program.

Seed Art Share's website has more information.

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