[Vision2020] Kostroff finds inspiration, gives it right back

[Moscow Cares]

Jenny Kostroff is the primary reason why the Annual Intolerista Wingding will ALWAYS be held at the 1912 Center.

Thank you, Jenny, for being who you are where you are when you are . . . the right person at the right place at the right time.

Courtesy of today's (March 14, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.

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Kostroff finds inspiration, gives it right back

Jenny Kostroff
TITLE: Executive director for Heart of the Arts Inc., which manages the 1912 Center in Moscow.
FAMILY: Husband Michael Kostroff; daughters Annie, 13, and Linnea, 10
EDUCATION: Attended high school in the San Francisco Bay Area, except for a semester in Switzerland and another semester in Munich, Germany; theater major and German and philosophy minor at the College of Wooster in Ohio.
WORK HISTORY: Four years as house manager for the San Jose Repertory Theatre; two years as facilities manager for a "dot-com company" in the Bay Area; volunteered with the Moscow Parent-Toddler Cooperative, Rendezvous in the Park and the Palouse Patchers while her children were young.
You don't have to spend much time with Jenny Kostroff to realize she has an infectious personality.
Simply put, she loves life and doesn't have any problem sharing that fact with the rest of the world.
Kostroff has what she proudly calls a "modern family." She's married to actor Michael Kostroff, who lives in New York City. She has two daughters from her previous marriage who live with her half the time. Her ex-husband, Luke Sheneman, and his wife, Morgan Gardner, live just down the street from her, and her mother also lives in Moscow, on the same street.
She says she enjoys sewing and artistic projects, although she hesitates to call herself an artist. She also loves supporting local artists, music, theater and a good television series to watch.
"And I am lucky that I get to watch my husband on TV from time to time as well," she said.
Doug Bauer: Were you surprised to find such an active arts community when you first moved to Moscow?
Jenny Kostroff: I had visited before we moved here. My ex-husband proposed to me here, too. We came and visited because he had been a student at the (University of Idaho). So I did know about the jazz festival here, I knew that it was a lively small town. But I really don't think I was completely sure, moving from an area with big-city attractions, that I would find as much rich culture here as we ended up finding. And what's super fun is, here you can actually do the things you want to go do. If you live in a busy metropolis, there might be a lot of great things to do but you can only get to one of them. And here sometimes you can go to three events in one evening, which sort of blows my mind, but you actually can.
DB: Your husband is a fairly accomplished actor. How did you meet, and what's it like living so far away from him?
JK: Michael and I met at San Jose Repertory Theatre when I was the house manager there. He came in as a touring actor and was in 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor.' It was love at first sight, but both of us didn't admit that we had fallen for each other, so it was what we call a four-week non-relationship because we were way into each other but we didn't know it. So we went our own ways at the end of that, and that was the end of it. (They eventually reconnected and became email pen pals). When my ex-husband and I decided we were going to go ahead and get divorced, very amicably of course, I ended up saying 'I can actually call you on the phone now, Michael.' He'd been single his whole life, and here he is, late 40s, thinking about starting a relationship, and that was very scary to him to imagine that I was now free and could actually date him.
He was living in L.A. at the time because he was working on 'Sonny With a Chance' for the Disney Channel. Just when we started dating, he got the urge to go back to New York to be on Broadway. That makes it even farther away from Idaho. L.A. is bad enough for a commute. But New York City is quite a haul. We just sort of didn't have a choice because we were crazy about each other. I typically visit (New York) once a month. But it is hard. We have FaceTime and phone and email, and even paper mail. People forget we like getting stuff in the paper mail. ... I'm very lucky, and I'm glad I have him in my life. I can write notes to him to tell him that, and he can read them over and over and over again.
DB: You obviously have a deep relationship with the 1912 Center. What's your favorite aspect of it?
JK: I think what I love about this building is how much community it has seen and the fact that I'm giving it the chance to see a whole new population of people come through it. To realize that in 1913 there were kids in here learning and that we're now past 2013 and we have people coming and going in the building learning. Adults, kids, you name it. And the fact that it's come full circle: The high school is doing some renovations starting after spring break, and those students that are being displaced from the classrooms that are getting renovated will be coming over here again. So here's high school in 1914 and high school in 2014, still using the same facility. It's a really neat connection between the space and the people. And a space that is really inviting and welcoming is an asset to any community.
DB: You read to children at BookPeople every Thursday. What are your favorite kids' books?
JK: I have a lot of favorites, but the ones I've been obsessed with lately are the Mo Willems books. He has this series of books (in which) there is an elephant and a pig and they talk back and forth to each other and they're really funny characters. One time, I dressed up as a blue crayon and read 'The Day the Crayons Quit,' and that was really fun. The kids were really laughing. I've always enjoyed both the illustrations and the writing of children's literature, and now that my kids have grown up past picture books I feel this is my secret way of staying up on what's coming out. I love the new stuff coming out. Every year there is a Caldecott (Medal) winner, and I get to read those books to the kids and help them experience those for the first time, and I can find new books to fall in love with.
DB: You've been known to dance to background music in public. Don't you worry that people might think you're a little odd?
JK: No, not at all. I think it's sort of a seize-the-moment type of thing. I think it can be contagious. I always feel that it's the same when you smile at people. If someone's having a bad day or if you're having a bad day it's really hard not to enjoy that. So I figure that rather than being perceived as odd maybe I'm helping someone else just go, 'Yeah, it is a nice day,' or 'Yeah, that is interesting music,' or maybe notice something that they're not noticing. I figure people do that for me, and at the least I can do that for somebody else.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
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