We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ruth McCleskey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ruth below.

Ruth, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I think the project that we had to pivot on the most was Totally Twelfth Night. We were in the thick of the pandemic and had an all-female stage production of Twelfth Night scheduled that we knew was no longer feasible. We pivoted to a filmed version doing it very stylized so that we could film people with all of the constraints that were in place. It ended up being one of my favorite projects because not only did I get to be on film but I learned so much about the editing process. Now, we have this time capsule production that lives on showing what a bunch of artists can figure out when they work together.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzz_OiTW8_XQsZt7KUJFCt-RhFYt8GCBT

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been doing some form of performance art for about 30 years. Right now, my main focuses are my female improv duo Ophelia’s Rope, Boiling Point Players theater company, and working with my friends at Cone Man Running Productions.

I started out doing theater in high school and continued into college getting a BA in theater. I have worked in a variety of mediums and just can’t give it up! In the last decade, I have focused on producing more works that have female-identifying parts in them so that I can work on projects with all the lovely artists that I have met over the years.

I think I am most proud of the community of artists that I have found myself in. It is a group of people that encourages all forms of artistry and doesn’t judge what kind of artist you are.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

From a theater prospective, go see shows! Tell people about the shows you see.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

You can be any level of creative that you want to be. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing to have a body of work that you can take pride in. It is hard to make a living doing your passion so if you find something else you are good at (or you don’t mind) that keeps your bills paid and you can still do creative things, that doesn’t diminish your status as a creative. You don’t have to be at the top of the game to have the title of an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://boilingpointplayers.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/ruthdoesstuff
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/opheliasrope

Image Credits
Christine Weems Michelle Odgers