(Praire Fire Theme Song) (Praire Fire Theme Song) (Praire Fire Theme Song) Welcome to a special edition of Prairie Fire.

I'm your host.

Sarah Edwards, now the fou short documentaries you're about to see were produced, directe and edited entirely by students at the University of Illinois College of Media.

They're all students in Allison Davis advanced documentary production class.

And as some of you might know, Alison Davis was the former host of prairie fire.

Sh approached us about six months ago about collaborating to give her students some real world documentary experience.

So w split the class into four teams.

They pitched us story ideas, an then they went to work on their stories, and we served as kin of feedback, and we held special sessions and gave them advice a they went forward.

The results, I think you're really going t enjoy.

So without further, ado, Prairie Fire Student Edition.

The idea store was a dream.

I get giddy when I see the wonderful things that peopl have created with raw materials from the idea store.

It jus makes my heart pound and my my soul feel like I've fulfilled my mission on this Earth.

Even stuff that people would normall throw away or put in recycling has such great potential, really wanted to offer something unique to our community that wa beyond and before recycling and so reuse had been in the back of my head.

How do we divert reusable materials away from the waste stream?

The idea store started in a very humble way in our basement and garage at my house in Champaign, the firs thing that that we did to try to figure out, you know, whether people would be interested in this was to go right for th group that we really wanted to serve, which was teachers.

So our teachers have always been shoppers at the idea store, yo know, because their budgets are very limited and they want t give their students ideas beyond just the traditional artwork.

I like dominion.

I think artists, inherently, it seems like want to dig for treasures.

I'm alway digging through the sticker bin.

One of the other art teachers and I came we like filled up two carts of just goodies and, you know, weird wonderful things that the idea store has.

When I heard they were getting stuff from the idea store, I was so excited.

I literally tried to be the firs person to see all the stuff so I could, like, claim divs first.

We would go through and find things and be like, I don't know.

Do you think somebody would us this?

And we usually just got it anyway, because you never kno what they're gonna come up with.

At first, I was a little worried, because I was sort of going into it without any planning.

So I started by getting a look at, like, the materials.

Then I di some sketches in my sketchbook, and I was like, Oh, I got it.

I think for all of us who've been involved in the idea store, seeing people's light bulbs go on.

It's it's something we'll never forget.

Kids are they hav a unique perspective, and they can look at something and and see it in a way that I would never even have thought of.

A lot of our high schoo students know what's happening in the world, and they know tha there's so much just consuming, consuming, consuming, and so we talk about the idea store and creative reuse.

I am a big fan of reusing art, lining random things that are going to be thrown away, and using that just in like my everyday art education is one of our missions.

It's part of our mission statement, creative reuse through arts and education.

We had in 2007 the first of what we called teachers.

Great giveaways.

I put out a list of things that I would love for us to have fo teachers, and the donations just absolutely flooded in.

Any tim there are people that want a way not to throw something good away, their ears are open and they're waiting for tha opportunity.

2008 we opened it to all of the teachers i Champaign Urbana, and the first year they took away a lot of materials.

And in the second year, they took away a ton, literally a ton, because we waited of all these donate supplies that were intended for creative reuse.

We value w value our volunteers at the idea store so much.

We wouldn't b here without the volunteers.

And that's me speaking as volunteer.

People walk in, they wonder where all this stuf comes from.

They wonder, how can I help in January and February the people in receiving took in 4.5 tons in donations.

Let' face it, it's crazy.

It's crazy good.

It's just a matter of being exceptionally well organized as best that we can be when what's coming at us is chaos.

Volunteers come to u from all walks of life.

We have volunteers of all ages, all abilities, and you know, each one finds their niche and and really sticks with us.

The Champaign Urbana community is incredible.

The surrounding areas are incredible.

We're suc a diversity of people here.

You know, the times are going to be a little interesting in the coming months and years.

I know I lay awake many nights thinking, how are we going to d this?

Is this going to be well received?

You know, you have t have faith when you have a gut feeling that something is right for the community that you've lived in for, you know, almos all your life, and my guts just told me that I wasn't going to be alone in this mission for very long, the idea store an watching it grow has fulfilled a dream of a lifetime.

For me, think for all of us who've been involved in the idea store and watching it grow and change.

It's it's something we'll neve forget, and I hope it lasts for a long time.

Well, when I was teaching i fullinger auditorium a few years ago, I had a student who I wa watching as I was lecturing, and they seemed like they were kin of in and out of it, not sleepy, but almost unstable, physically And at the end of class, I went to go stand up, and then the sat back down, and my team and I went and asked this individual like, what's going on?

Are you okay?

And they explained to us that they were on the lowest meal plan, or the least expensive meal plan that the campus offers, and so they don't have more than one meal a day certain days of the week.

As kept listening to this student, as well as other students wh are telling me it's really hard to sit in class and have yo talk about food when I'm hungry, I realized that this was a pervasive problem with my students in my class, and so started out by having my husband and I bringing food from ou house, and we were supplementing students nutritional needs b putting gorilla bars up on the front of the stage.

And then i went further to snack cups and other things.

And then, i reality, we realized this wasn't sustainable for our family financially.

And so I started partnering with other loca entities, specifically Schnucks in Muhammad, now donates foo and so before, during and after class, students can grab snack that are donated to help nourish themselves, or they can brin them to other friends who are in need.

I have a table outside of my classroom, and so students come early to class, they can grab some snacks.

The table remains open the whole entir time I'm lecturing, as well as on through after class.

So students, if they're in the middle of class and we'r lecturing about food, and they get hungry, they can stand up, walk out the classroom door, grab something and then snack o it.

Or even by the end of class, if they're like, Well, I don't want to take anything unless there's something.

Unless there's something left over.

They can then grab those item for themselves, for friends, and they can make sure that w decrease nutrition and security on campus.

So if someone is struggling with nutrition and security, and they might be little insecure to reach out, or they might feel a little bi ashamed, just know that you're not alone, that 25% or so of our campus body here is not nutrition secure, meaning tha they do need help with meeting their nutritional needs in on way or another.

Because we have 40,000 or so undergraduates, we're talking about 10,000 undergrad.

Graduate students wh are having a hard time meeting their nutritional needs.

So take advantage of these programs.

That's why they're set up fo you.

Reach out to myself, reach out to other individuals, shar what your needs are, and then we can hopefully try to work together towards a solution.

I would describe my relationshi with Professor guess, food drive as a little bit of a give and take.

I've definitely had chances to take a couple things, you know, at the end of the class, like, if I, you know, i there's things left, and maybe I'll give it to people that I know, maybe not, maybe don't have as much food, or just, you know, giving to my friends, whatever.

And then I actually had the chance to be at the tables and kind of sit outsid and, you know, talk to people.

And I kind of just said, yo know, hey, like, if you want, if you'd like to take something it's totally free.

You're more than welcome to take one thing.

If you don't want to take anything, that's totally cool.

And just kind of like giving them a comfortable space to be able to take something if they're hungry.

Running this program does take quite a bit of time, energy, labor, and it can be hard to balance it with my own health and wellness.

I know that ther have been times when I've picked up the food for my students ru to school slash work, and made sure my students had food tha they could grab either outside my office or outside the classroom.

And then when I'm done teaching, I'm realizing, wow, you know, I've been busy taking care of everyone else but I actually forgot to bring a lunch for myself, and so then I'll call my husband, or I'll have another friend who comes and can bring something to me during my office hours.

So it's really something that I'm not doing by myself.

It's this collective effort, either directly or indirectly, wit lots of other individuals.

But in reality, I would have to say that that doing these passion projects as a professor, thing that are not part of your job, but things that need to be don or should be done, ethically or morally, they do take a little bit of time, and it does cut into my ability to self care sometimes, unfortunately, I think Professor gist does this free food drive because she knows that the core of student success comes from their well being, and that comes from being healthy, well fed, and just having those, you know, very tangible things at their fingertips to be able to acces every day is not something that everyone has the chance to have.

My family was relatively well to do.

We grew up in the Chicagoland suburbs.

However, as I got further in my undergraduate career, my parents realized that putting five children through college is a very expensive endeavor, and they put me in a very tight budget, kind of barely making ends meet.

And to that effect what I needed to do is I needed to find creative ways t actually make myself feel full and satiated.

So I would go an buy some of the least expensive foods, like potatoes, and microwave them, wrap them in aluminum foil, and then over th course of the week, that would be my lunch, I'd grab some sal and pepper in the union and I'd try to offset that lack o funding with really inexpensive foods, but what that ended up doing is it ended up causing some nutritional deficiencies i myself, and actually, my health and wellness was compromised because of that.

So even if someone comes from a relativel well to do family doesn't mean that the family has it in their budget to pay for tuition and fees and books, and then also proper nutrition for their college student as well a siblings.

And with that in mind, imagine how much more difficul it is for other individuals who aren't coming from these affluent families.

So for myself, I was like, if it's hard for me to meet my nutritional needs, how much more difficult is it for other individuals?

Everybody just holds tight.

Everybody's got the right to live.

One word to describe the statio theater.

I guess it would have to be special.

I'm ver connected to all of the people that are involved in the station theater, and have been throughout the years.

It's the theater is a family.

I found my group of people, guess people like minded such as myself, when audiences come see show here, they literally could reach out and touch the actors.

So it's a really special kind of way to experience live theater and up close and personal, just the intimacy being thi close to the audience, hearing, seeing their reactions, that gives me a charge more than anything.

The station theater originally served as a passenger depot linking Urbana to the Big Four railroad lines across the Midwest.

I.

The station bustle travelers until the 1950s when the rise of multi lane highway led to the decline of passenger rail services.

The las passenger train stopped at the depot in 1957 and in 1967 the building was reborn as a theater.

When I was an undergrad, I wa so passionate about this place.

Like, I've seen so many plays I've seen so many stories told in this tiny little space.

And I was just like, my goal is I gotta be in one of those shows I gotta work on one of the shows somehow.

I'm gonna find a way to get into the station theater and, like, be involved somehow.

And now, currently, I'm directing their spring musical assassins.

Stephen Sondheim's assassins is a provocative one act musical following nine people who attempt to assassinate US presidents.

The show explores themes of obsession class struggle and questions the legitimacy of the American dream.

It's been a lot of trial an error and just seeing how other people operat with each other.

The process has been, I wouldn't say, tricky.

It's just been something new like a new learning experience.

We are all volunteer run, so the three artistic directors, including myself and Kendall who's our president, we all put in a lot of time and love a lo of heart that goes into all of this.

We love theater.

We lov meeting all of the interesting people who choose to come and b part of our productions and to choose to come see the questions.

So it takes over a lot, but it's also something that I've done pretty much my whole life.

An so when I'm not doing a show, I sort of wonder, What am I supposed to do with myself?

It's a hobby for me, but it' extremely demanding.

It's long hours.

People don't understand it.

They're like, you're not getting paid to do this, like, what?

And to do theater, you have to find people that support you.

Okay, yeah, I feel like this idea of foun family is very important when it comes to community theater, because I feel like a lot of people who are involved i theater might not have some some have the best home lives.

Som people do not have the best home lives.

I remember when I was in high school, the theater was where I found my home.

It's where I found my tribe, my people, and we were always able to connect with other people who I shared so much with you can change the world.

Your little finger, just single little finger can change the gratitude in 2020 leadership changed hands with a renewed focus on inclusivity, both in a place selected and Cast featured, but some things stayed the same, challenging, educating entertaining the audiences.

That has all stayed the same, but think one of the biggest changes in the last few years has been to really, truly become more inclusive.

I really like community theater, because if you're not used to like having people from all walks of life tell these stories.

I think that' important part of learning as an artist and then learning to be a better partner in your community.

Whenever you ste foot in a theater and you see a show there, maybe say some things you click with, some things you don't some things you want to take with you, some things you want to leave.

I think with assassins, I find that some audience members might be sitting in the uncomfortableness afterwards, and I think that it's okay to sit and feel uncomfortable, but to have a perspective, to reflect.

I just hope that audiences find a little bit of escape for a while and get to be transported to somewhere else and forget about their worries and just be truly entertained.

The arts fuel a lot of us, most of us wh were here or volunteer here year round, can't imagine our lives without it.

So it's kind of a thrill and a privilege to hav such a large role in continuing, making sure the theater i moving forward and thriving and offering something to our community that we think all communities need.

And.

I think I first discovered K-Po when I was, like, eight or nine years old.

It was such an easy and like accessible way to access dance.

All of the K-Po like music videos, all like the songs, they have their ow choreography, and so it was just like really easy to get into.

In high school, a lot of m friends were into K-Pop and into dancing.

And so it was something I kind of just got into naturally through them.

Over time, I started to, like, get more into K-Pop and get more into dance.

And so coming on campus, it was kind of jus something naturally that would happen, just like being able t join the K-Pop dance group.

I We a K-Pop cover dance group.

Th full name is truth and beauty.

We try and make TNB like a community where people feel comfortable learning because that can often be really vulnerable.

Okay, so center of the person all the way on the left, will face to the left everyone else face to the right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There.

Nice.

Now, that.

Yeah, in three weeks w have our own event, which is our contest, and so that will be our last performance of this semester.

This semester, I'm cover leading which means that I'm leading for one of our dance covers with our upcoming performance with contest.

The song that I chose was a song that I was really familiar with and something that I've been wanting to do since the song came out.

TTYL b hitley semble, that song is kind of like an upbeat, fast paced song, and it's pretty straightforward, And that's wh I wanted to cover lead it.

You.

Amazing.

It's happening.

It's happening.

You look amazing.

Lee, actually, how are we feeling?

Excited?

Oh, the same thing for some of us our last performance.

It's been a long day, but I' I'm just excited because, like, it's nice to, like, se everything come together.

We've been preparing for like, a lon time, so I'm just like, really excited, also, like, really Nervous.

At the same time you stop don't stop me.

I, even when I was in hig school, K-Pop was still a little bit stigmatized.

I guess I woul wear, like, merch sometimes, and even though it'd be, like, a bit embarrassing, in my head, I'm like, at least, I'm sure t myself, at least I'm having fun, or at least, I'm not reall caring about what other people think.

Being on stage, being recorded on video, that's something that'll be there almost forever which I guess is already like a large part of what my legacy on Canvas would be.

A lot of the time when I do watch olde videos, I do tend to arrange a little bit.

That's kind of good thing, because in my head, it's kind of like a sign that I At least improving and getting better at dancing.

There's like a phrase that people say all the time, it's like to be cringe i to be free, and I really do feel that a lot of time.

Hey, music.

These are the directors, editors and producers who brought you the program you just saw.

Mazie how many hours did you spend in the editing bay putting your story together?

Way, way too many, but hour well spent.

We are so happy with what we came up with, and we'r so excited everybody got to see it good.

Sam, if you had your choice now after all of this, would you be a director, editor or a producer?

I think I'm gonna have to go wit director.

I found myself really enjoying framing up all of ou interviews and speaking to all our subjects, their stories were just so interesting, so excellent and most importantly, are yo guys all still speaking to each other?

Yes, yes, excellent job well done, guys.

We really appreciate your hard work.

I'm Sarah Edwards, thanks for Joining us on Prairie Fire.

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