Lucinda McDermott Piro, director of education for Richmond CenterStage (Photo courtesy Lucinda McDermott Piro)
Lucinda McDermott Piro remembers two art-specific edicts from her parents while she was growing up in Southwest Virginia during the 1960s. The first rule was “no coloring books,” and the second was to “create your own possibilities.”
The words stuck for Piro and her siblings. Their “possibilities” turned into acting, dancing, performing music and writing plays.
Piro's own artistry in acting, music, theater and writing drives her work as director of education for Richmond’s CenterStage, where she develops partnerships that encourage school-age youth to be creative thinkers.
On Tuesday, Piro will be part of The Valentine’s Community Conversations series at the Robinson Theater. This arts panel will include Piro; Scott Garka, president of CultureWorks; and Gina Lyles, program coordinator for the Self-Advocacy Program at Art180. The panelists will discuss arts education, juvenile justice using the arts and employment in the arts.
During a meeting in her colorful office, in which a dozen or so LEGO blocks adorn a corner table, Piro lists several school-related activities her office has spawned or continued since she joined CenterStage last summer. CenterStage’s programs teach vocabulary and reading comprehension to early learners through theater. Jazz music is used as gateway for middle and high school students to become engaged citizens. CenterStage’s technology assets enable students to learn performing arts design and prepare other teens for careers in film and digital media.
When Piro began creating her own possibilities in the arts, she wasn’t much older than many of the high school students with whom she works. She graduated with theater degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia and lived in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Finding work wasn’t always easy, prompting Piro to lean on her abilities and create her own work. She thought back to her teens, when her father, a sculptor, gave her a copy of Georgia O’Keeffe’s autobiography. Piro became drawn to the complex American modernist painter whose work continued to evolve well into her 90s.
“When I ran into obstacles in acting, I wrote my own show about Georgia O’Keeffe,” Piro says.
On her website, McDermott says that researching and writing a one-woman play about O’Keeffe allowed her to combine her passions for acting, writing and art, and to pay homage to a woman who lived life and created her art on her own terms.
The play grew from a 15-minute piece to a 90-minute production with a premiere in 1992 at VCU’s Shafer Street Playhouse. It was performed in New York at the William Redfield Theatre and had a later run off Broadway.
Piro, while proud of her success, says her story isn’t an anomaly, because everyone is born with some level of creativity. “Every child is capable of picking up a crayon. We know when music is played, we see the [positive] effect on babies.”
Tapping into that creativity doesn’t have to cost much, despite the current political climate that puts public arts programming at risk, she adds.
During her short talk at The Valentine, Piro hopes to empower parents to find enrichment opportunities that aren’t always provided in public education. When raising her son and daughter in Southwest Virginia, Piro took advantage of free dance and theater programs, or served as a volunteer with her husband in exchange for programs their children could attend for free.
Other ways of creating art in the home are as simple as setting up bins filled with art supplies or old clothing for costumes to nurture creative energy.
“You put up their art and make kids feel valuable,” says Piro. “The hope is to give them something tangible that they can do and to make it part of their lives.”
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