Nurse Hopes To Show Compassion Through Performance In Hospital Hallways
DENVER (CBS4)- After 10 years of working as a nurse at Rose Medical Center, Tara Rynders had an idea: she wanted to share her work experiences with others using theater.
"We are running on empty and we are trying to do this job that is all about caring for another person so I wanted to bring that up. I feel like we don't talk about that in society," Rynders said.
That idea came to life Thursday night. Ordinary hospital halls at Rose were transformed into the main stage.
"When you hear live music as you're walking through the hospital, my heart just opens up because you're just not used to that," she said.
With the help of an arts in society grant, Rynders started planning an immersive performance titled "First, do no harm."
The nearly two-hour performance plays out entirely in the hospital.
"I thought for sure along the way somebody was going to be like there's no way you can just do a performance in the hospital," Rynders said, "But everyone was like yeah let's make this work let's see what we can do."
Fifteen people including Rynders act out scenes in hallways, rooms, even rooftops. The rest of the building is business as usual.
"The most beautiful things that I've seen is bringing the arts into a space that doesn't necessarily have the arts in it on a daily basis."
She said patients and visitors are usually at the hospital "because of a hard time, somebody's sick or maybe you're having a baby."
Her hope is that everyone leaves with something different but overall a new perspective on life.
"There's a quote in the script that 'death doesn't need an invitation' and the other director added and 'neither does life.' We've don't need to be asked to live we have been given this pleasure to live and we just need to walk through that door,"
LINK: The Clinic Performance
Karen Morfitt joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around the Denver metro area. Connect with her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.
