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18 SCW: SANTA CRUZ WOMAN | WINTER 2015 SANTA CRUZ—In 1968 Wilma Marcus arrived in Santa Cruz, a young dance teacher bursting with plans for her new job at the University of California's radical new campus on the hill. Two years later she had transferred to Cabrillo College, drawn to its diverse student body, hardworking faculty and academic freedoms. From this fertile creative ground she launched a career teaching theater and embarked on a lifetime role as fairy godmother to the Santa Cruz arts scene. "There's something about this community that gives you breath and space and the acknowledgement of being unique," says Chandler, who changed her name following her marriage to writer John Chandler. "It's a small town, but it's really not a small town, with its passion for the arts, education, for excellence. It's a really exciting place to be creative." In the early 1980s, at the height of the women's movement, Chandler and three other women created the National Festival of Women's Theater, a days-long banquet of drama, workshops, oral history and poetry centered at the Louden Nelson Center. The festival lasted just three years before "the grants dried up," says Chandler. But, one component, In Celebration of The Muse, persisted as a women's poetry festival until last March, when longtime director Amber Coverdale Sumrall announced her retirement. Working with co-director Dena Taylor, Chandler decided to take up The Muse once more. She says there will be some changes: it will be open to memoir, plays and other literary forms; and men will be invited to read on behalf of late poets like Adrienne Rich and Maude Meehan. "I'm not beating any drum anymore, because I think the time for that is past," says Chandler. "But, I do think there's still a need for women writers to be represented. Because when you look at women in the arts, they're always in the minority." Poetry needs champions, too. "Nobody curls up with a good poem," she says. Chandler, who is working on her first book of poems, is perfect for the job. "A poem has the ability to crystallize and synthesize and illuminate in a way that you can't when you're just sitting and thinking or have too many words at your disposal." Chandler retired from Cabrillo College in 2002, but she remains deeply involved in the arts scene. The Willing Suspension Armchair Theater, which she started at Cabrillo in the '90s for students who had trouble memorizing lines, still performs free one-hour readers theater shows each month. She and her husband still select readers for the monthly Community Writers Series at the Porter Memorial Library. And Chandler's beloved 8 Tens @ 8 short play festival enters its 21st year this January at the Actors Theater. This year it's bigger than ever, with 16 plays (the actual name is 8 Tens @ 8 X 2), including one written by a prisoner in Texas serving a life sentence. Most performances sell out. Chandler finds the arts scene in Santa Cruz—the one she helped build—as vibrant as ever. "People are really excited and appreciative and want to be part of it," she says. "This community is just vital and alive." Chandler lives in Santa Cruz with her husband. Arts and The Woman Wilma Marcus Chandler's artistic passions "There's something about this community that gives you breath and space and the acknowledgement of being unique." By Traci Hukill Wilma Marcus Chandler Playwright/Director

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