RUTH TO BECOME THE NEW TURTLE KEY ARTS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR.
We first encountered Ruth Naylor Smith as a recent graduate of the Ecole Jaques Lecoq in our very early years at the Turtle Key Arts Centre where she performed with a number of associated companies that brought their work to our space and was then cast in one of our first in house productions.
Whether as a slightly shocking bouffon character or as an ‘enhanced’ Juliet in “Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet” (1994), she was one of those actors who completely captivated you when she was on stage – her honesty to whatever part she was playing shone through. This same honesty and integrity led her to becoming a phenomenal facilitator and teacher and an insightful stage director as her career progressed. Once Ruth had arrived with us in the early 90’s, we never really let her go! Although she has forged her own impressive career and is now Head of Movement at Mountview Academy, she has been generous enough to always find the time to stay connected to us over all those years.
She is an indispensable part of our Turtle shell, having helped to forge our identity and to build strategies for our different areas of work. Her influence can be seen both in the companies we produce and in the outreach work that she helped to design. In the last years, her main input has been to our beloved Key Club, an initiative which she founded over 20 years ago and which she has nurtured ever since. The members and former members are a testament to her passion and commitment, and they show that the arts really do make a difference to us as individuals.
We feel so lucky that we will retain Ruth’s artistic guidance and support as she moves into a new phase in her relationship with Turtle Key Arts as our first Associate Director. She is a testament to what our Turtle stands for, ‘The intuitive knowledge of Truth’.
