Robin Baldwin: Her Brother's Keeper

“My job is to give to the community”, says Robin Baldwin who has dedicated her life to giving back through a unique ministry of comedy, drama and music. With the help of her husband, Bobby, and many supporters, Robin has brought a variety of entertainment formats to our area including comedy Improv workshops, dinner theatre, puppetry, KY Kidz Sidewalk Sunday School, radio broadcasts, television shows and Kookie the Clown. All of these programs were created to teach a positive message while entertaining young and old alike. But this non stop community activist does not take credit for all her accomplishments, “I’m not this good – the only way I’m able to do all that I do is because Jesus Christ lives through me.”

Baldwin was born in Bowling Green as Robin Willoughby and although she had accepted Jesus Christ as her savior by the age of 15 she began her young adulthood as most do – trying to find her own way. It didn’t take very long for her to decide that His way was best and to dedicate herself to turning her life over His guidance on a daily basis. She began her training as a performer in Louisville with such groups as Master Productions and the Funny Farm. After relocating to LA Robin created her still active persona Kookie the Clown and began doing comedy grams, which she had begun in Louisville. She dubbed her business The Many Faces of Comedy. Still working day jobs in selling and banking, the comedienne performed impersonations, clown shows, illusions, storytelling, and entertained local children as well as staying involved with area acting troupes and companies such as The Improv.

Robin soon tired of corporate America and decided to quit her day job to pursue her dramatic interests full time. She began working on TV as the cohost for Mountain Area Productions Mountain News & Views on cable. After a short while, Robin went solo as the host and expanded the news format to include movie and restaurant reviews as well as local entertainment and special events, doubling the length of the weekly show. Many Faces of Comedy also continued to expanded and she began hosting introductory workshops in area libraries, teaching children to use their imaginations and think fast through comedy improv and drama. She also ran Happy Faces Catering specializing in her homemade pastries. During these years in the star studded, fast paced city Robin had many opportunities to hobknob with actors and hone her own skills through her work and studies with a variety of drama societies.

After returning home to Bowling Green, she created the Christian Hit Music Video public access program which ran on cable from 1995-1997 and included interviews with both local and national artists. She also worked full time as a DJ at WCVK. Robin is a doer, so she constantly has to resist the desire to work on a hundred projects and by 1997 it was time to end the program to make way for future project.

Robin continued building her close relationship with God and allowed herself to be moved on whatever course he steered. One summer afternoon, that path lead her to join Hillvue Heights annual celebration Godstock, where she first saw Bobby Baldwin testify. It soon became apparent to both that their destiny was together and they wed on February 7, 1997. Bobby, a well known musician in the area, shared her passion for performance and the two began making plans to create outreach ministries. “Our job is to reach out to those people searching for hope. I have been down that road and there is nothing out there. Christians can have fun and be a living example for what Christ represents.”

Robert and Robin Baldwin serve as the President and Vice President as well as the creators of Standing Stone Ministries who’s mission statement is “‘Just Reach Out’ in love and kindness. Be gentle to all. Be slow to speak, quick to hear. We believe we can reach many through Jesus with the small acts of love. Where the Spirited of the Lord is, there is Freedom!” It is a nonprofit organization which utilizes the limitless tools of comedy Improvisation, Drama, Music and Clowning to accomplish its mission. Currently Standing Stones Ministries consists of two outreach programs utilizing the talents of its directors including dinner theatres and KY Kidz. The also plan to expand into multimedia and publishing, showcasing Bobby’s music in the near future.

KY Kidz is modeled after the Dream Center’s Sidewalk Sunday Schools which are based in LA. After seeing a television documentary about it, Robin returned to LA to be trained in their methods. Like Sidewalk Sunday Schools in larger cities, KY Kidz is a program to “take back the streets” by providing a positive message for youth growing up in impoverished and often violent communities, who often look to street gangs as their protectors and role models. Robin believes that people in this area don’t realize that their children are being exposed to the same seductors associated with larger cities.

KY Kidz consists of a small group of people, both youth and adult, who adopt a neighborhood. Robin’s goal is to train many KY Kids groups in towns throughout the area. She provides them with the skills to work independently. The group chooses a neighborhood and then returns to it regularly to conduct games, storytelling, music and puppet shows as well as deliver their message for finding inner peace and harmony through Jesus. The atmosphere is more akin to a festival than a Sunday School class. In addition to these celebrations, the group also lends a hand to neighbors in need by doing errands, offering food baskets and cleaning up the neighborhood and other small acts of love. According to Baldwin, Sidewalk Sunday Schools takes a 40% bite out of crime after one or two years in adopted neighborhoods and they have seen similar results in their group which performs in a Russellville mobile home park. KY Kidz’ next target is Gordon Avenue in Bowling Green and they are currently forming a group and looking for volunteers to help adopt that neighborhood.

Another branch of Standing Stones Ministries is the dinner theatre. Originally, the Children of the Harvest theatre troupe began as an on the road outreach ministry performing the play Life Flash in prisons. This year the group found a home base in Joshua’s Place and began producing monthly dinner theatres, Life Flash being their first performance. Many people think of Joshua’s Place as a teen hangout, but the venue has a wide variety of offerings for adults and activities from live music to self defense classes. Dinner Theatre is one of the more adult oriented offerings and features specialty culinary dishes served by the cast members. The ticket price of about $15 includes the performance as well as meals such as prime rib with a dessert. The proceeds help to support Standing Stones Ministries as well as Joshua’s Place. The 1999-2000 season features six productions, half of which have been performed.

Life Flash debuted on August 26, featuring Bobby Baldwin as a death row inmate, visited by the ghosts of those who’s deaths he was responsible for. On September 23 Standing Stones Ministries hosted a production of the drama The Perfect Plan by Hillvue Heights performing group Potter’s Clay Creative Arts Ministry. This show coincided with the church’s Women’s Conference and showcased Pastor Steve Ayers as Satan unleashing as hellish scheme to destroy humanity through Operation: Attack Female Sexuality. And last month, the Children of the Harvest players were back with the comedy improv feature Mystery Dinner Theatre. The Sherlock Holmes-like spoof involved the audience as they created lines for a character and participated in solving the mystery. Coming up this month production companies and drama troupes from the surrounding area will come to Joshua’s Place to perform several short vinettes centered around the theme of Forgiveness, Hope, Charity and Love. In December Bobby Baldwin and his Praise Band will perform The Gift. The music based production depicts a mother and her two children who are homeless on the streets on Christmas eve when a miracle occurs at midnight. “And it ain’t about Santa!” exclaims Robin. The season closer is being planned as a production featuring reknowned dramatic actor David Payne.

Standing Stones Ministries also holds Comedy Improvisation and other dramatic workshops on Thursdays at Joshua’s Place. The exercises and games taught at the workshop help to build self esteem by teaching skills in listening, alertness, self confidence and being able to think fast on your feet and build sharpness of mind. Anyone is welcome to attend the workshops or join Children of the Harvest. Standing Stones Ministries is by no means a stagnate group. Plans to initiate a new television program featuring KY Kidz is now in post production and Robin is considering additional venues to host her dinner theatres. Despite this rigorous schedule, Robin Baldwin still operates Off The Wall Productions which she has run for 10 years and it’s subsidiary The Studio Florist, located in Scottsville. The companies specialize in creating wedding “sets”. An example was her own wedding, where she incorporated an air of the medieval splendor for which she had gained an appreciation for during her participation in renaissance festivals. She has created other presentations with this them in LA schools and more recently in area libraries when they featured Knights of the Round Table as the theme for summer reading programs. Off the Wall Productions is available to create any type of themed performance that fits with a schools or library’s current offerings or special events. Kookie the Clown also remains active in the area, volunteering at special events and making school, library and youth group appearances. In addition to performance, Robin is proficient in the visual arts. She use to draw and paint and her still-life and landscape photography took home ribbons in shows such as Citizens National’;s. But her boundless energy steered her toward s the faster pace of television and radio.

Normally facing each project with a unrelenting dedication and fervor, Robin remarked “The only thing that slows me down is set design”. This is one of her greatest passions and when she undertakes a new design it really gets her creative juices flowing and she becomes so engrossed that she loses track of time. The artist’s skill shines through in the staging for the dinner theatres as well as her wedding creations. Our community has been enriched by being one of the canvases chosen for Robin Baldwin to paint her vision of a brighter way on. Appointed as her brother’s keeper, Robin Baldwin sees herself as a vessel of her Lord’s work, ready to embark wholeheartedly upon any journey that he initiates. “I don’t want you to glorify me. …He is my writer, my inspiration, my visionary, everything that I am.”

Photos:

Robin Baldwin in Mystery Theatre by Andrea Ford

Robin Baldwin & Mel Gibson during Lethal Weapon 3 promotion

Kookie the Clown

Ky Kidz in their adopted Russellville neighborhood

Dinner Theatre Audience at Joshua’s by Christopher Hollman

Bobby Baldwin in Life Flash by Joe Imel

Steve Ayers as Satan by Christopher Holloman

Cast of the Perfect Plan by Christopher Holloman

Cast of Mystery Theatre by Andrea Ford

Mystery Theatre by Andrea Ford

The Baldwin’s Wed

Kim Mason is the Content Manager of the Amplifier which was founded by her in 1995. She serves as Executive Director for the BG International Festival and designs websites. www.kimmason.ky.net