At the heart of The Butterfly Ship is a real-life tale: Once upon a time, several friends had a similar idea. Could we call upon the themes of creativity, nature, and the magic of fiction to guide our real-life experiences? Could we employ our passions for the classical arts to make a living in the modern world?
One day, Caroline had a dream. When she awoke, she began to write a story. She turned into a dust storm and whirled over a stormy ocean, a butterfly fluttered beside her.
Emily and Bo shared their longtime dream to create a traveling bus carrying dance and music across the country.
Meanwhile, it dawned upon Tessa that there was a way to do everything she loved--write, sing, dance, and play the piano. She called up Emily, "We can put on a show!"
Their first performance was a dance, music and poetry fusion about the Sun and the Moon, as an interlude during a show of a local band.
But the "show" was still calling out for a story. Tessa remembered the story Caroline had sent, and a beautiful collaboration began.
Alex, Emily and Tessa worked on distilling and writing more of the story over months, crafting new details to add to Caroline's framework that felt like discovering an existing history--"Ah! The worlds Ever visits are the colors of the rainbow!";"No wonder the butterflies are following the ship; they have a 'sun compass' like monarchs!"--in a small steaming café, with future narrator Alex, they'd meet before work at 8am.
We sent it to Sam, who fashioned it into a script.
Since then, there have been more people involved in The Butterfly Ship now than we can count. What has resulted is a project that has art and community at its core. It is an ever-evolving myth that both supplies us with creative material and inspires more to be generated.
One day, Caroline had a dream. When she awoke, she began to write a story. She turned into a dust storm and whirled over a stormy ocean, a butterfly fluttered beside her.
Emily and Bo shared their longtime dream to create a traveling bus carrying dance and music across the country.
Meanwhile, it dawned upon Tessa that there was a way to do everything she loved--write, sing, dance, and play the piano. She called up Emily, "We can put on a show!"
Their first performance was a dance, music and poetry fusion about the Sun and the Moon, as an interlude during a show of a local band.
But the "show" was still calling out for a story. Tessa remembered the story Caroline had sent, and a beautiful collaboration began.
Alex, Emily and Tessa worked on distilling and writing more of the story over months, crafting new details to add to Caroline's framework that felt like discovering an existing history--"Ah! The worlds Ever visits are the colors of the rainbow!";"No wonder the butterflies are following the ship; they have a 'sun compass' like monarchs!"--in a small steaming café, with future narrator Alex, they'd meet before work at 8am.
We sent it to Sam, who fashioned it into a script.
Since then, there have been more people involved in The Butterfly Ship now than we can count. What has resulted is a project that has art and community at its core. It is an ever-evolving myth that both supplies us with creative material and inspires more to be generated.