Passion, Creativity and the Arts:
A Mirror on Society

Student Handout

Creativity. What is it? Is it a blessing or a curse? Does our culture foster the creative impulse, or stifle it? Studies have shown that 98 percent of children aged 4 to 5 are highly creative, but that percentage plummets to 4 or 5 percent by the age of 15. How is it possible for the creative individual to flourish in a society given to glorification of mass media, which tends to appeal to the least common denominator?

Our guests for this program, Judith Jamison, Michael Crichton, Suzanne Farrell, Richard Branson, Lloyd Richards and Tom Selleck, embody the full spectrum of successful creative accomplishment in the contemporary arts. Each stands as a model of passion, creativity and the arts.

In this program we will seek to learn how these artists preserve and foster their creativity to ensure that they are -- and continue to be -- among that tiny number of people in our society who lead passionate, creative lives in the arts.

PRE-PROGRAM INVESTIGATIONS

1. Before the program define the following terms:

-Censorship
-Creativity
-Fine Arts
-Offensive
-Propaganda


2. Who do you think are the five most creative people who ever lived? Why? Ask this same question of your family and compare the results. Do any members of your family agree in their selections? In their reasons?

3. To what extent have society and technology impacted art in the cases of the program guests? Make a three-column chart. In column one, list the program guests. In column two, note technological impact upon the art of these guests. After the program, fill in the third column with any additional information regarding technological influences you learned about in the program.

4. Read one or more books by or about the program guests. As an author by profession, Michael Crichton has written a number of books, beginning with The Andromeda Strain. Suzanne Farrell has written Holding onto the Air: An Autobiography.

PROGRAM GUESTS (Cont'd) MICHAEL CRICHTON, M.D. Michael Crichton is "The King of the Serious Thriller." He wrote scripts when he was in the third grade, short stories in the sixth grade, and was 14 when he sold his first article to The New York Times. Michael graduated from Harvard University with highest honors and became a visiting lecturer in Anthropology at Cambridge. He returned to Harvard for a medical degree and supported himself through medical school by writing pulp novels. Dr. Crichton earned the Edgar Allan Poe Award for the year's best mystery book, authored the instantaneous best-seller The Andromeda Strain (a tale of virulent microbes from outer space and the world's first biological crisis), and became a post-doctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Dr. Crichton answered his "true calling" and switched from medicine to writing. He has authored Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, The Terminal Man, Rising Sun and Jurassic Park (which is being adapted into a soon-to-be-released motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg). SUZANNE FARRELL Suzanne Farrell is heralded as the greatest ballerina of the twentieth century. As a young student of 15 from Cincinnati, Suzanne auditioned for the legendary choreographer George Balanchine. From the moment she joined the New York City Ballet, Suzanne Farrell's talent shone. She became Balanchine's "inspiring angel" and partner in the development of the most glorious ballets of our time. Over the next 25 years, Suzanne proved that any movement could be unimaginably beautiful and mysterious. Suzanne Farrell is saluted as "simply the greatest dancer of our century, a choreographer's ideal, critic's dream and public star." JUDITH JAMISON Judith Jamison is the Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the best-known and most popular modern dance company in the United States. Miss Jamison grew up in New York City, the daughter of a sheet metal worker and teacher. As a young girl, Judith was sent to classical dance classes and later attended the Philadelphia Dance Academy where she was recruited by Agnes de Mille for the American Ballet Theatre. In 1964, Miss Jamison was invited by Alvin Ailey to join his company as principal dancer and, for the next 15 years, thrilled and captivated audiences around the world as "modern dances' first box-office star." In 1988, Miss Jamison starred in the Broadway musical "Sophisticated Ladies." She returned to the Ailey troupe and has carried on the legacy of its founder, rejuvenating the company and extending the heritage of black expression. This majestic dancer-choreographer-teacher is acclaimed as one of the most influential forces in American culture. LLOYD RICHARDS Lloyd Richards is the Dean and Artistic Director of the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theater. As a former pre-law student from Detroit, he became deeply involved in theatre activities at school and after World War II was inspired to pursue an acting career. He moved into the New York City YMCA and "pounded the pavement" looking for work and got his first job at Paramount Pictures - as a dining room waiter. Mr. Richards gradually built himself a reputation as an Off-Broadway actor, began teaching an acting class and encouraged a friend, Sidney Poitier, to join the workshop. He soon became involved with "A Raisin in the Sun" as the first Black director of a serious Black play on Broadway, which launched a directing career of many notable Broadway plays. He later moved to Yale where he has affected a generation of American actors from James Earl Jones to Meryl Street. This legendary guiding force has been applauded as perhaps the most influential man in American theatre. TOM SELLECK Tom Selleck is one of the most popular television and motion picture actors in the world. He attended USC on a basketball scholarship and later began his career at 20th Century-Fox studios where he spent ten years learning his craft in small roles. Then, after seven previous pilots had not sold, he switched to Universal Studios, and played a charming private investigator, Thomas Magnum in "Magnum, P.I." The show took off the moment it aired in 1980, catapulting him into international stardom. He later became the first performer to successfully appear in films while still in a TV series, starring in five films, including the blockbuster "Three Men and a Baby." He has earned an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and the selection as America's Favorite Male Television Performer.