Oracle Online

Steiskal recently decided to expand upon his dedication to studio art and give theater a try. In 'The
Duchess of Malfi' he plays several small roles, which he says “enhance the scenes.”

Throughout the play, he goes from Drunk to Monk -- and also plays an Executioner. Though Scott thinks the stage is a work of art in itself, he believes that the theater/art correlation is “a rash assumption to make.”

He says many of the people involved in art and theater have similar personalities, but some just have different outlets for their talent.

On the other end of the spectrum is Molly Gollinger. She has been involved with theater for a long time, doing three plays a year during high school and volunteering to make rounds at other area schools to perform educational pieces (mostly about bullying). Now she’s taking Intro to Theater, but calls the theater/art correlation concept “bullshit.”

For Intro to Theater, she had to make a mask that represented herself.

“My artistic skills are nonexistent,” she said, showing a misshapen poster board with scratchy colored pencil marks streaked around cut-out eyes. It’s true.
Her mask might be compared to a kindergarten workshop where kids eat half their paste and use the rest to glue cotton balls on grocery bags.

She admits that though some people can both paint and fake-cry, a lot of theater people have no talent in other artistic areas.

But for every person, there is an equal and opposite person. That’s Brendan Rohde.

Rohde has virtually no theater experience -- and is currently not pursuing any -- but has had art in his life since he was old enough to hold a crayon. Brendan, still a bit introverted, was even more so as a youngster when he came home from school every day and made drawings to occupy himself. In seventh grade, he started putting it all together, buying paints and other supplies.

He took a multitude of art classes in school -- Painting, Advanced Painting, Life Drawing, Watercolor, Pottery -- and even managed four art classes (and one AP math class) in a single trimester. His most challenging work was a mural based on diversity that he and two of his friends were given grant money to complete. But his favorite is “MLK/Lincoln," a composite of his two heroes which took about two weeks to complete.

Brendan has had paintings displayed at Roseville City Hall -- but he does not see himself on stage any time soon. What does he think about the art/theater correlation?

“You can’t lump all artistic people into the same category," he said. "Within the artistic community there are individuals that are different from one another.”

So, are you a Scott, a Molly, or a Brendan? Scott thinks art and theater are two branches of the same thing -- and Molly thinks art is the polar opposite of acting. Brendan, a little less aggressive about the topic, notes a hint of ignorance in people who think of painting and acting as one skill. Maybe this only proves what most of us probably knew all along: Everyone is different. Art may be art, but painting a musician is wildly different than going from Drunk to Monk.