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Resident Artist Marilynn Fowler Lives a Creatively Colorful Life or most people theater involves sitting in a darkened audience watching the actors perform on stage. Theatergoers attend a play and find the actors either remarkably brilliant or somewhat dull. They remark on the amazing or not so amazing plot and the characterization. They excitedly relive or cautiously criticize the action. And more often than not, they forget about the world of theater that takes place behind the scenes. Spectators are often unaware of the technical craft going on before, during, and after a performance. Granted, when Dracula flies out over the audience and flips upside down with his billowing cape before heading off for his next victim; or when Oz’s wicked witch points her glowing green face and broom at spectators while rising into the sky with her black dress filling the whole stage, they tend to admire what the technicians were able to accomplish. But typically, the behind-the-scene technicians are unremarkable, and perhaps that’s a good thing. It means that those technicians are doing
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Shell Point Life
their job well, creating a seamless, plausible atmosphere, appropriate and believable for the action taking place and for the viewing audience.
Discovering Talents One Shell Point resident knows the interesting, creative behind-the-scenes of it all. Marilynn Fowler (Turban) was active in performing arts as a teen. Participating in musicals, playing piano, and being an active member of the debate team, Marilynn knew what it was like to be on stage in front of an audience. It wasn’t until later in life that Marilynn experienced a hands-on discovery of the world behind the scenes. In college she pursued interior architecture. In preparing for that degree, candidates were trained in building scale models, producing watercolor renderings, drafting and producing blueprints, and giving an overall impression of a building’s interior. As Marilynn remembers, “Those were the talents in my tool kit, and those prepared me for becoming an assistant to set and scenic design-