Theatre Department Alums Shine in Guthire's Born Yesterday and A Christmas Carol

This month Guthrie stages brim with holiday fun-- Garson Kanin's classic comedy Born Yesterday and Charles Dickens' perennial favorite A Christmas Carol now in its 39th season. Both companies shine with U of M alums -- talented actors who learned their craft through the Theatre Arts & Dance Department.

Nearly half of the professional actors in this year's A Christmas Carol cast trained and graduated from the U of M's theatre program earning B.A., B.F.A, and M.F.A. degrees. All have appeared on the Rarig Center's stages during their student days. Several gained invaluable experience performing on the University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat. Those in the U of M/Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program have studied in London for a semester.

From Young Scrooge (Paris Hunter Paul) and Belle (Eleonore S. Dendy), to Mrs. Crachit (Virginia S. Burke), to nephew Fred (Hugh Kennedy), to Mrs. Fezziwig (Suzanne Warmanen) and her daughter Dora (Virginia S. Burke), Deirdre (Anna Reichert), and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Torsten Johnson) all are former students strutting their stuff on the Guthrie's thrust stage.

Anna Reichert, who plays several characters and sings as a chorister identified training for the stage as one of her most valuable lessons. "You can always take [it] with you. When I feel I'm a bit too tired, I have come to depend on my physical training. I learned to be alive and present on the stage. Through training I can always rely on being there." The movement classes taught in the BFA program "with the dance and physical warm-ups, keep me physically fit ...yes, training and technique carry you through," especially on multiple show days. With the large number of characters in Dickens' tale, the play's production requires many actors to perform multiple roles making lightning-quick costumes changes and instant character transformations.

Another connection to the Guthrie is the costume design by award-winning U of M faculty member Mathew J. LeFebvre, creator of both the evocative Victorian costumes for A Christmas Carol and the elegant 40's look (described as "amazing" by the StarTrib) for Born Yesterday. Reflecting on that experience and the theatre program's Guthrie association, LeFebvre, said, "It's so gratifying to see all that work on stage--amazing to me because all those artists--the tailors, drapers, the dyers, technicians make me look better than I deserve. They invest so much of themselves into making them, so the result is always richer...I grew up in the profession working in this theatre, I learned so much in my sixteen years at the Guthrie. In a way, it's been my alma mater."

Behind the scenes, alums Jason Clusman (Assistant Stage Manager) and Joseph Stodola (Assistant Director) keep the large cast of 20 professional players, 11 non-speaking performers-- Party Guests, Pallbearers and Carolers, plus 14 children right on cue for every entrance. A Christmas Carol continues on the Wurtele Thrust Stage through December 29, 2013.

Asked about the most valued lessons learned, theatre arts alum Stuart Gates was quick to answer, "Interaction with local artists. Artists who had lectured, or taught as us as professionals, or people I had workshopped with, who I had seen on stage that was powerful...As someone starting out, you can say 'I speak the same language' because you were there (at the U)... A few years ago I had a class on the nuts and bolts of auditioning taught by director John Miller- Stephany, working with someone in the profession makes you rise to the challenge." Little did Gates know five years ago that he would be in the Born Yesterday company at the Guthrie directed by John Miller-Stephany.

The Born Yesterday company boasts five U of M theatre grads including Jennifer Blagen as Mrs. Hedges (BA), Stuart Gates as Hotel Manager (BFA), Miriam Schwartz as Manicurist (BFA), Michael Hanna as Bellhop (BFA) and Warren C. Bowels (MA and Ph.D). Calling the cues in the control booth, you'll find BA alum, Karen K. Wegner (Stage Manager) from the Duluth campus and Noah Bremer (Assistant Director ) trained at the U of M-Twin Cities helped with rehearsals notes and staging.
Two current seniors, Ryan Colbert as Waiter and Michael Fell as Bellhop, just 5 months shy of completing their Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training requirements, take stage complementing the Gopher contingent. Born Yesterday continues through January 5, 2014 on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.

In addition, Theatre Arts faculty/ associate faculty members made artistic contributions to the productions. Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Designer), Lucinda Holshue (Voice & Dialect), and Marcela Lorca (Movement) helped to bring Born Yesterday to life on stage, while Ryan Connealy (Recreated Lighting Design) and D'Arcy Smith (Voice & Dialect) added to the the success of this season's A Christmas Carol.
To paraphrase Tiny Tim, "God bless 'em everyone!"

Theatre Faculty Member Marcus Dilliard's work broadcast on PBS World Premiere of "Silent Night" by Minnesota Opera

On Friday, December 13, 8pm CST, as spotlights bring the stage to life for the national PBS broadcast of Minnesota Opera's Silent Night, the production's lighting designer Marcus Dilliard, who also heads U of M's Theatre Arts graduate program in Theatre Design and Technology, can smile with a sense of accomplishment.

"Silent Night has been quite the journey--starting in St. Paul, then on to Philadelphia, and now sharing it nationwide," said Dilliard, who has designed for opera, theatre and dance across North America and in Europe. His numerous Minnesota productions include work for the Guthrie Theater, Theatre Latte Da, Children's Theater Company, Minnesota Dance Theater and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Recent designs include Born Yesterday for The Guthrie Theater, The Tempest and Metamorphoses for PlayMakers Repertory Company, Steerage Song for Theatre Latte Da, The Mikado for Lyric Opera Kansas City and Cosi fan Tutte for Boston Lyric Opera.

In the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night, composer Kevin Puts recalls an incident during World War I in which Scottish, French and German soldiers negotiate a Christmas truce and share their provisions and personal stories. The opera's libretto, by Mark Campbell, is in English, German, French, Italian and Latin. It was commissioned, and then developed through the Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative with the Philadelphia Opera Company.

While press notices were very enthusiastic for Silent Night as a whole, one reporter commented that Dillard created "a vibrant lighting display... capable of shifting from the chaos of battle to the tranquility of evening" (examiner.com). Another remarked the production was "evocatively lit by Dilliard" (Lorenzo Bassi, GB Opera).

"Theatre -- but especially opera -- is always a rich collaboration of artists," noted Mr. Dilliard. "Every production is a unique experience, but giving life to a new work like Silent Night is particularly challenging and rewarding. Each production element needs to be in harmony, working together, always telling the story."

In a related item, Mr. Dillard's lighting design supports Theatre Latte Da's production All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, in another portrayal of the ceasefire, at Minneapolis' PantagesTheater this holiday season.

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Sage Cowles, pivotal supporter of University's Theatre Arts & Dance Department, Dies at 88

Artist, thoughtful advisor, understanding friend and visionary philanthropist, Sage Cowles passed away peacefully November 21, 2013. "Sage along with her husband John Cowles, who died last year, were pivotal supporters of dance and theatre in this community, across Minnesota, and the United States," stated Carl Flink, U of M's Theatre Arts & Dance Department chair. "Together they have left an enduring legacy within our department that will likely touch it as long as it exists through the Sage Cowles Land Grant Guest Artist Chair program, their support of the Barker Center for Dance, the new Guthrie Theater building, the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, and so much more."

Sage Cowles' passionate support of the U of M's Dance Program literally rescued it from being eliminated in the mid-1980s and transformed it into the nationally regarded program it is today. When a conventional block-style building on the University campus was being proposed to house the dance program, benefactors Sage and John Cowles stepped forward and suggested that new building should "leap skyward," and donated the necessary funds to create today's soaring Barker Center for Dance. Opened in 1999, the Center located at 500 21st Ave on the West Bank of the Twin Cities campus, provides much-needed classroom and studio space.

In 1987, she established the Sage Cowles Land Grant Chair connecting nationally and internationally recognized artists and scholars with dance students, exposing them to contemporary artistry, masterwork and new thinking in dance studies. University of Minnesota Dance is unique for its extensive use of renowned professional artists in the education and training of students. There have been many notable artists and scholars on campus over the years, as well as licensing of masterworks including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Jose Limon, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Bill T. Jones, Lar Lubovitch, Trisha Brown, Lin Hwai-min, Donald Byrd, and others.

The program has also commissioned of new work through the Cowles Land Grant Chair including artists such as David Dorfman, Zvi Gotheiner, Bebe Miller, Tere O'Connor, Doug Varone, Sardono Kusumo, Nora Chipaumire, and many more. Notable dance scholars have also been invited to speak on campus and interact with performances and symposia, including Thomas DeFrantz, Susan Foster, and Brenda Dixon Gottschild to name a few.

"Her gift has helped to make us one of the most cherished and respectable dance programs in the country," commented Ananya Chatterjea, Director of Dance. "Our students have benefited from the exposure and opportunities to train with wide ranging artists, explore historical to contemporary works, techniques and approaches."

UMTAD Chair Carl Flink recalled "Sage and John Cowles enthusiastically attended student performances of Dance Revolutions by University Dance Theatre each year to nurture and support the next generation of performing artists. They will be greatly missed."

Kristin Linklater,Theatre Artist & Creator of JOAN:Voices in the Fire joins Talk-Back November 15, Rarig Center

Author, vocal coach, gifted teacher and theatre artist Kristin Linklater, one of the original creators of Joan: Voices in the Fire, joins the cast for a post-show discussion at the Rarig Center Friday, November 15th as part of her University of Minnesota residency. The public is invited to this free post -performance event in the Stoll Thrust Theatre. Linklater's visit to the University of Minnesota and this post-performance dialogue is made possible by a generous gift from Professor Andreas and Elisabeth Rosenberg.

Joan: Voices in the Fire reinvigorates the Joan of Arc story, seamlessly weaving together movement, rap, and hip-hop with excerpts from works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Anouilh, Voltaire, Twain, plus contemporary material. Exploring the narrative from a 21st century point of view, Joan: Voices in the Fire was originally devised by MFA students at Columbia University, together with renowned theatre artist Kristin Linklater, Rebecca Wright, and Stacy Davidowitz. This unique tale with music is directed and choreographed by Austene Van will be performed November 14-24, 2013 by the BFA/Guthrie Theater Actor Training program senior class on the Stoll Thrust Stage in the Rarig Center. For Joan: Voices in the Fire tickets and information visit: theatre.umn.edu or call 612 624-2345.

Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Kristin Linklater developed her own innovative vocal methods to become major influence within the theatre over the past five decades. She has coached voice at the Stratford Festival, the Guthrie Theater, the first Lincoln Center Repertory Company, the Open Theater, the Negro Ensemble Company , the Manhattan Project, and NYU's Graduate Theatre Program (now Tisch School of the Arts). Kristin Linklater currently teaches in the graduate program at Columbia University. (see http://www.kristinlinklater.com/linklater.htm)

She has authored two ground-breaking books Freeing the Natural Voice ( published 1976 Drama Publishers) now revised and expanded in a new format, and Freeing Shakespeare's Voice (published 1992 Theatre Communications Group). She has written articles and presented workshops in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Russia. Moreover, she has trained teachers in her methods who now teach in the majority of actor-training programs in the US, and in Australia, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium , Finland, Spain and Russia.

In 1978 Linklater co-founded, with Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company, in Lennox, Massachusetts, and later in the 1990s she created and co-directed with Carol Gillgan the Company of Women, an all-female Shakespeare company.

Dance Faculty Women Recognized For Leadership in Diversity

Minneapolis/St. Paul -- University of Minnesota Dance Theatre (UDT) faculty member Rachmi Diyah Larasati teams up with Dag Yngvesson of the Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature Department to present "Poetics of Labor: Citizenship and Invisibility," this Thursday, October 31st at 4:00pm for a film screening and discussion. Lasarati who authored, The Dance That Makes You Vanish, published by the University of Minnesota Press published earlier this year, has just been nominated for the Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Social Interaction, presented by the Media Ecology Association. Her book describes the intricate irony between the tranquil style of dance and the violent government of mid-1960s Indonesia. Her background as an Indonesian national troupe dancer informs her work as both an author and UDT instructor.

On October 12, another UDT faculty member, Toni Pierce-Sands, was recognized for
her "lifetime of service to the community" through the arts at the Emerald Service
Awards, Inc., founded by The Links, a group of African American female leaders supporting culture in communities around the country. Pierce-Sands is a fitting recipient of such an award, as co-founder of TU Dance Company and School and as a UDT instructor. TU Dance performs a fusion of dance styles to celebrate and promote diversity, and teaches classes for all ages to encourage public involvement in the arts. She is an involved UDT faculty member, contributing most recently as the director of "Dance Revolutions."

A TU Dance colleague, UDT instructor Kenna Cottman was also recently awarded for her contribution to the local arts scene. She won Outstanding Performer at the SAGE Awards on October 15th for Pramila Vasudevan's "F6" and Angharad Davies' "Pretend." Cottman, like Pierce -Sands, explores and communicates her identity as an African American woman through dance. In addition to her work at TU Dance, she studies traditional and contemporary drumming, and the oral tradition of storytelling. Her company, Voice of Culture Drum and Dance, strives towards social change by performing and hosting workshops in schools.

The SAGE awards, first presented in 2005 to provide recognition amongst the Minnesota dance community, are named for Sage Cowles, who performed on Broadway and TV and founded the Minnesota Independent Choreographers' Alliance. Amirah Sackett (U of M '98) was also honored at the SAGE Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in "We're Muslim Don't Panic."

Warm congratulations to these dedicated UDT instructors whose passion influences the community every day!

Actor/Writer Ricardo Vazquez ( U of M '07) wins Ivey Award

At the recent Ivey Awards hosted by Minneapolis' historic State Theatre, U of M alum Ricardo Vazquez ('07) earned the title of "Emerging Artist of the Year". The actor-writer claims that it could have been anyone, but most would agree that his outstanding work ethic and performance energy have something to do
with it.

After his portrayal of Gabriel Goodman in Next To Normal at the Mixed Blood Theatre last year, critics called him "a heartthrob-in-the-making... a vivacious spirit [with] affecting emotionality" (Star Tribune). In The Seven at Ten Thousand Things, he brought "palpable sensuality" to the stage as Tydeus the poet (Pioneer Press).

Vazquez recalls his time at the University of Minnesota Theatre Arts and Dance Department as a time of growing. "Everything is about practice and discipline," he says, "I owe this mentality to the program." Performing as Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest on the University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat proved a turning point for him. "I remember wanting to make each of those shows different, exciting, and alive," he says of what then seemed like a "marathon" of 89 shows.

"Work. Work. Work. And after that, find more work." This mantra has taken Vazquez far since graduation, resulting in numerous roles on stages across the Twin Cities including a fellowship at The Playwrights' Center. "[I] want to always be doing something."

Coming up, he stars as Rene in the film Death To Prom, premiering next month at The Minneapolis Sound Unseen Festival. Look for him on stage next at Park Square Theatre in Of Mice and Men, also this November.

Opening Oct. 18 UDT/ Dance Revolutions premieres New Work by Chatterjea, and selected innovative work by Chipaumire, Flink, Rink, & Sands

Minneapolis, MN -- UDT / Dance Revolutions presents the premiere of "Neel, a blutopia of interrupted dreams" and a collection of innovative work by choreographers Ananya Chatterjea, Director of Dance, founder of the Ananya Dance Theatre, Carl Flink, Department Theatre Arts & Dance Chair, founder of Black Label Movement, Uri Sands, co-artistic director of TU Dance, and Nora Chipaumire and Scott Rink, both world renowned choreographers and visiting Cowles Artists. UDT/ Dance Revolutions takes center stage October 18 through 20 under the direction of Toni Pierce-Sands, faculty member and co-artistic director of TU Dance. This season's concert unfolds in the intimate setting of Studio 100 in the Barbara Barker Center for Dance.

Ananya Chatterjea premieres a new work titled "Neel, a blutopia for interrupted dreams" exploring dreams and their effect on our lives. According to Chatterjea, "the dreams we weave sustain us with hope while facing the harshness of life, sometimes that harshness interrupts the dream with the reality of life's troubling march." Shaped by the blues, dreams can swing to the indigo depths of pain or be tinged with the azure of hope, explained the artist.

Ms. Chatterjea is dancer, choreographer, dance scholar, and dance educator, who envisions herwork in the field of dance as a "call to action" with a particular focus on women artists of color. She is the Artistic Director of Ananya Dance Theatre, a company of women artists of color committed to the intersection of artistic excellence and social justice (www.ananyadancetheatre.org). She is also Director of the Dance Program and Professor in the Department of Theater Arts & Dance in the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She is the proud recipient of a 2011 Guggenheim Artist Fellowship for Choreography. She was named "Best Choreographer" by City Pages in 2007 and has received awards from the BIHA (Black Indian Hispanic Asian) Women In Action organization, the MN Women's Political Caucus, and the 21 leaders for the 21st Century Award from Women's E-News (http://www.womensenews.org/21leaders2007.cfm), for her work weaving together artistic excellence, social justice, and community-building. She was honored by the Josie Johnson Social Justice and Human Rights Award at the University of Minnesota (2008).

Nora Chipaumire, who restaged her signature solo "Dark Swan" with nine male U of M students in 2010 for the "Continuously Rich" symposium and performances, now has re-cast this controversial work for with 21 women for UDT/Dance Revolutions. Born in Mutare, Zimbabwe, Nora Chipaumire has been challenging stereotypes of Africa and the black performing body, art, and aesthetic for the past decade. "Dark Swan" takes expectations of African dance performance (specifically, drums and fierce movements, according to the artist), and turns them on their heads. The choreographer started with a classic European ballet, Black Swan, "And I sort of had my way with it," Chipaumire said. "Being fed up with labels being put on who I am and the expectations of what my work should be, I wanted to use this very classic dance and classic music to sort of try and put cold water on people's assumptions."

Ms. Chipaumire is a 2012 Alpert Award in the Arts recipient and 2011 United States Artist Ford Fellow. She is also a two-time New York Dance and Performance (aka "Bessie") Awardee: in 2008 for her dance-theater work, Chimurenga, and in 2007 for her body of work with Urban Bush Women, where she was a featured performer for six years (2003-2008) and served as Associate Artistic Director (2007-2008). She has studied dance in many parts of the world including Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Kenya, and South Africa), Cuba, Jamaica and the U.S. A graduate of the University of Zimbabwe's School of Law, Chipaumire holds an M.A. in Dance and M.F.A. in Choreography and Performance from Mills College (CA). She is the recipient of the 2009 AFROPOP Real Life Award for her choreography in the film, Nora. She has also been awarded the 2007 Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, and a MANCC Choreographic Fellowship in 2007-2008.

Her recent works include The Last Heifer (2012), commissioned by Danspace Project for Platform 2012, Parallels; Visible (2011), commissioned by Harlem Stage and created in collaboration with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar; Kimya (2011), a work for Jokajok!, a female ensemble based in Kenya; I Ka Nye (You Look Good) (2010), created and performed with choreographer Souleymane Badolo and musician Obo Addy; Silence/Dreams (2010), created and performed with Fred Bendongue and named one of the ten best dances of 2010 by the New York Times dance critics. She is featured in several films, including "Dark Swan" (dir. Laurie Coyle, 2011); the award-winning, "Nora" (dir. Alla Kovgan & David Hinton, 2008); and the documentary "Movement (R)evolution Africa --a story of an art form in four acts" (dir. Joan Frosch & Alla Kovgan, 2006).

Carl Flink, contributes to the evening's program "A Modest Proposal." This work, originally created with his Black Label Movement company and John Bohannon for the 2011 TEDx Brussels, has subsequently become an Internet hit. Flink, the choreographer and artistic director of Black Label Movement based in the Twin Cities (www.blacklabelmovement.com), is also the Nadine Jette Sween Professor of Dance and Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

From 1992 - 1998, he was member of the New York City based Limón Dance Company, performing the works of Jose Limón, Donald McKayle, Ralph Lemon, and Daniel Nagrin among others. A short list of other dance companies and choreographers he has performed for includes Creach/Koester Men Dancing, Paul Taylor, Joanna Mendl Shaw, Paul Taylor, Janis Brenner and Shapiro & Smith Dance. His choreography is recognized and embraced for its intense athleticism, daring risk taking and humanistic themes that often address diverse social, scientific, political and working class subjects in addition to more abstract dance approaches.

Dance programs and arts institutions across the United States have presented or commissioned his choreography including the Bates Dance Festival, Minnesota Orchestra, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Stanford University, University of Iowa, Mount Holyoke College, Brigham Young University, Carleton College and Roger Williams University. His new commission "HIT" premiered at The Dance Center of Columbia College of Chicago March 10, 2011. He is currently in the third year of a creative collaboration called The Moving Cell Project with biomedical engineer David Odde which resulted in "Science + Dance = Body Storming" published in Trends in Cell Biology (November 2012) and was first presented in its dance form at Washington, D.C.'s TEDMED conference earlier this year.

Scott Rink created "Here We Are" based on a short story by Dorothy Parker, in which he links a duet and quartet with dancers and speakers. Premiered in 2003 at the University of Minnesota, the work performed by University students was selected to be presented the following spring at the 2004 American College Dance Festival national performances at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center. Mr. Rink is a returning Cowles Visiting Artist who first was in residence re-staging a work by Lar Lubovitch in 1996.
As a director/choreographer, Scott Rink's work has been praised as "an unusual hybrid genre in which dance is part of a larger theatrical whole" (Village Voice) using the dramatic text as a musical score where "patches of pure dance heighten dramas like light shining from beneath colored glass" (New York Times).

His Off-Broadway choreography credits include, Queen of The Mist (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cumming III), Hello Again (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Being Audrey (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Crossing Brooklyn (Transport Group,Dir. Jack Cummings III) Songs For a New World (George St. Playhouse, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Nor'mal (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Minimum Wage (45 Bleeker, Dir. Guy Stroman). Commissioned works include dances for Ailey II, American Ballet Theatre II, Oakland Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Repertory Dance Theatre, The Ailey School, Harvard University, UNCSA.

Mr. Rink has created a number of works for danceRINK performed in New York City most notably at Joyce Soho, Symphony Space, American Theatre of Actors, HERE, The Kitchen and Tribeca Performing Arts Center as well as other national and international dates. He has adapted, directed and choreographed three dance films from the works of Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut.

Uri Sands presents one of his own TU Dance's signature pieces, "Earth" (2009) and explores the connection between the senses and the elements according to the Hindu Ayurveda philosophy. The belief contends everything in the universe is made up of five elements - air, fire, water, earth and ether. These elements are said to be represented in the mind, body and souls of humans, expressed through the five senses. Radiating with energy, "Earth" is a journey into the earth's very core, a primal ritualistic dance that fervently honors an ancient wisdom. The dance is "...awe-inspiringly athletic and simply amazing to behold," praised St. Paul's Pioneer Press and described Sand's piece as "a primal, tribal tone, conveying a daunting danger that left (one ) breathless and the audience on its feet." Uri Sands has also been a visiting artist and instructor three times prior to the licensing of this signature work. His work this fall will be re-staged by two TU dance artists.

A native of Miami, Sands performed as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, Minnesota Dance Theatre, James Sewell Ballet as a guest artist Complexions under the direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, and as principal dancer with North Carolina Dance Theatre. His recent choreographic commissions include, among others, VocalEssence, Zenon Dance, Penumbra Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In addition to several film and television credits, he has taught extensively throughout America and Europe. He was awarded the McKnight Artist Fellowship (2004) and earned the Princess Grace Award in Choreography (2005). TU Dance founders Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands were named "2005 Artists of the Year" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

For tickets and information
Call U of M Arts / Events Ticket Office at 612 624-2345 or
visit theatre.umn.edu
Customer parking is available in a surface lot across from the Barker Center on 21st Ave. and on the 21st Ave. Parking Ramp, located across from the Rarig Center, on the University of Minnesota West Bank Campus.

Quick Facts
What: UTD/ Dance Revolutions directed by Toni Pierce -Sands
Who: University of Minnesota Theatre Arts & Dance
When: October 18-20, 2013
Where: Barbara Barker Center for Dance, West Bank Arts Quarter.
500 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, 55454
Tickets: $6 Students; $11 U of M faculty and staff; $16 General Public.
U of M Ticket Office (612) 624-2345 or online at dance.umn.edu
Subject to availability, tickets will be sold at the door ONE hour before each the performance.
October 18 8:00 pm Opening night Performance
October 19 2:00pm Matinee, 8:00 pm Performance
October 20 2:00 Matinee 8:00pm Performance

University Theatre Arts & Dance is a laboratory for performance and practice of content taught in the Department's academic programs. In keeping with the University of Minnesota's three public purposes - research, and discovery; teaching and learning; outreach and public service - the mission of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance is to educate students and audiences about the performing arts, and about the social issues and human emotions the arts speak to so powerfully. We are committed to realizing this mission by creating, producing, and studying works of theatre and dance, and performing them publicly for diverse audiences drawn both from the University and the community at large. Patrons should expect to see performances that challenge the mind and are produced with the highest possible quality.

Eurydice opens Theatre Arts & Dance season this week, plays Oct. 3-13 Nolte Xperimental Theatre, Rarig Center

With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists and breathtaking visual effects, Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl presents a fresh look at a timeless story of love, loss and family. Directed by faculty member Lisa Channer, (co-founder of Theatre Novi Most), this modern retelling of the classic myth of Orpheus is reimagined through the eyes of his bride Eurydice. When she dies too young on her wedding day, Eurydice is required to travel to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. Presented in the Rarig Center's Nolte Xperimental Theatre on the West Bank Campus, Eurydice opens October 3, and plays through October 13, 2013. Seating is limited.

"The language of Eurydice has been incredible to work with for me and my talented team," director Channer commented. "Ruhl conjures a truly unique world of mourning, loving and remembering as she takes us on a journey to both the underworld and our own soft hearts. She manages to juxtapose the mundane with the epic in remarkable ways." Indeed, The New York Times praised Ruhl's play as "rhapsodically beautiful...weird and wonderful ...a moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the pleasures and pains of memory." In the decade since writing Eurydice, Ms. Ruhl was named a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Clean House, and received the 2006 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the "genius grant " for her playwriting.

In addition to co-founding Theatre Novi Most with Valdimir Rovinsky, Lisa Channer is an associate professor at the University's Department of Theatre Arts & Dance and holds an MFA in directing from Yale School of Drama, with additional training at the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts in Russia. Her directing and performance work has been seen in New York at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre, Chicago's Organic Lab Theatre, Amsterdam's IT's Festival, Belfast's Old Museum Arts Centre, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Russia's Bodyword Festival and many Minneapolis venues. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award for her work in Russia in spring of 2011 and is a current fellow with the Shannon Leadership Institute. She was co-founder of Sleeveless Theatre in Massachusetts from 1989-1997. Together with Mr. Rovinsky in 1998, she co-founded Theatre Novi Most, "to adapt or create new works for the stage through a rigorous process of exploration and improvisation that mixes Russian theatre techniques and traditions with physical theatre methods from the U.S. and Europe." See http://www.theatrenovimost.org/about.html

The Eurydice cast includes the following performers: Edward Euclide (Orpheus), Kiara Jackson (Eurydice), Rick Miller (Loud Stone), Evan O'Brien ( Little Stone), Nico Swenson (Nasty Interesting Man /Lord of the Underworld), Gaosong Vang (Big Stone) and Nathan Tylutki (Father).

The production's creative team creative team includes: Eric Norton (Assistant Director), Michael Mellas (Dramaturg), Katie Wicker (Costume Designer), Annie Henly (Set Designer), Kevin Springer (Sound Designer), Kathy Maxwell (Lighting Designer), Audrey Rice (Stage Manager), Sylvia Bay (Assistant Stage Manager), Andrew Buckholtz (Assistant Stage Manager). Musicians for the production are Aviva Gellman (Cello), Glenn Geppert (Guitar), and Bree Schmidt (Cello).

For tickets and information call: U of M Arts / Events Ticket Office at 612 624-2345 or visit theatre.umn.edu Customer parking is available the 21st Ave. Parking Ramp, located across from the Rarig Center, University of Minnesota West Bank Campus.

Quick Facts
What: Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
Who: University of Minnesota Theatre Arts and Dance
When: October 3-10, 2013
Where: Rarig Center's Nolte Xperimental Theatre, West Bank Arts Quarter.
330 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis
Tickets: $6 Students; $11 U of M faculty and staff; $16 General
U of M Ticket Office (612) 624-2345 or online at theatre.umn.edu
Tickets are also available at the door two hours prior to performance.

Justin Reiter, U of M '13, chosen by Celebrated Choreographer to open Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theater season

After graduating just this May, Justin Reiter (U of M '13) has leapt into a professional dance career with Donald Byrd's critically acclaimed Spectrum Dance Theater in Seattle. This influential company introduces world premieres and explores traditional pieces to bring them new meaning. Mr. Byrd, a "brutal, magnificent talent" (Seattle Times), has tapped Justin Reiter, of Sioux Falls South Dakota, to join his company.

Mere months ago, Reiter completed his Dance BFA at the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, where he reflects, "I was given the insight I needed to become a contemporary dancer in a global context." The December 2012 production of Dance Revolutions on Rarig's Whiting proscenium stage provided an opportunity for him to showcase his talents, performing pieces by acclaimed choreographers Bill T. Jones, Shapiro & Smith and Donald Byrd.

When Mr.Byrd came to speak at the Barbra Barker Center for Dance and guide students in the revival of his piece, Jazz 1 (1997), he recognized in Reiter the special skill, talent and passion demanded of Spectrum Dance Theater artists. This summer, Reiter was invited by Byrd himself to participate in a Spectrum Dance Theater workshop, and two weeks later was chosen to join the company. Subsequently, Reiter moved to Seattle to pursue his wildest dreams.

Next week on October 4, Spectrum Dance Theater's 2013-2014 Season: America: Sex, Race & Religion opens with Byrd's Prodigal and Justin, four months after his graduation, will celebrate his debut as the newest Spectrum Dance Theater company member.

Chatterjea's MOHONA, Estuaries of Desire at O'Shaughnessy Sept.20-21,8pm

Ananya Chatterjea, Director of the U of M Dance Program, brings to the O'Shaughnessy stage Mohona: Estuaries of Desire, a multi-disciplinary, total theater experience on St. Catherine's University campus this weekend Friday and Saturday, September 20-21 at 8pm.

Mohona: Estuaries of Desire relates stories and layers images of women's work and lives in relation to water. The performance space is imagined as an estuary - located at the confluence of multiple marine flows, rich in possibilities--where dancers layer breath, movement, and voice to explore themes.

"It is predicted that any future war will be around water, and this will affect women greatly," says Chatterjea, the award- winning dance activist stated in Dance Magazine (September, 2013). "In India, corporations are buying up huge bodies of water and distraught farmers are committing suicide, leaving behind their wives. My idea is to connect all of these elements and explore the ideas through movement. Dancers are storytellers."

Chatterjea's Ananya Dance Theatre was recently nominated for a SAGE Award as "Outstanding Ensemble" in recognition of last season's innovative Moreechika in which the company explored the role women play in the fight for the resource of oil. Through dance, shadow puppets, and multi-media, environmental destruction and social violence were traced to the reckless pursuit of oil. Dancers in that production included several UM Theatre Arts & Dance department alumni -- Sarah Beck-Esmay, Orlando Hunter, Brittany Radke, Renee Copeland and dance major Alexandra Eady in addition to the talented Sherie Apungu, Ananya Chatterjea, Rose Huey, Lela Pierce, Chitra Vairavan, and Hui Niu Wilcox.

Mohona: Estuaries of Desire is created by Ms. Chatterjea in collaboration with Mankwe Ndosi and the dancers of the Ananya Dance Theatre, and is scored by Greg Schutte with Mankwe Ndosi and Pooja Goswami Pavan. Sets and costumes design are created by Annie Katsura Rollins.

Tickets are available by calling 651-690-6700 or visiting www.theoshaughnessy.com

Santino Fontana, U of M '04 nominated for Broadway Tony Award

This week New York's Tony Awards committee nominated Santino Fontana (U of M '04) for his outstanding performance of a leading role in Broadway's musical revival of "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella." Mr. Fontana, was a member of the inaugural class of the Guthrie Theater/ U of M BFA Actor Training program in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.

One of his first professional roles was as Shakespeare's brooding prince Hamlet for the Guthrie Theater production directed by Joe Dowling. This week Fontana was recognized for playing yet another prince, the charming one with Cinderella's glass slipper. Besides winning Cinderella's heart, Fontana has won accolades from the press as well as the League of Broadway Theater Owners and Producers, which organizes these awards with the AmericanTheatre Wing.

Joe Price, head of the Guthrie Theater/ University of Minnesota BFA Actor Training program commented, "Everyone in the U of M Theatre Arts and Dance Department, students and faculty are very proud of Santino and this extraordinary recognition of his professional career in the theatre. We wish him the very best." The Tony Awards ceremonies take place at Radio City Music Hall on June 9 and are nationally telecast .

See the Startribune http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/celebrities/205494871.html

Welcome Spring at ancient Walpurgis Fete, April 30, 8pm, FREE

Drive away Winter's darkness and welcome Spring's light. Walpurgis Nacht, an ancient festival celebrating the end of winter/darkness and the beginning of spring/light, was appropriated by the Catholic Church with the canonization of St. Wapurga in 870. In this site specific performance event directed by Michael Sommers, performers and audience move along the West Bank. There is no seating.
Audience will gather at the Amphitheater between Anderson and Ferguson Hall on the West Bank.
The festival will proceed at 8pm rain or shine.
No reservations necessary. https://events.umn.edu/025283

Costume Designer & Make-up Artist Tessie Bundick's work on Exhibit, opening April 6 at Hennepin History Museum

Associate faculty member Tessie Bundick, costume designer and make-up artist exhibits her work at the Hennepin History Museum in "The Enchanting Picture She has Painted: A Look at the Work of Hennepin County Artist Tessie Bundick." Bundick has designed costumes and make-up for feature films, theatre, and television. Powering famous faces, combing and arranging locks, and designing costumes, Bundick has worked with wide a wide variety of stars-- River Phoenix, Emmy Lou Harris, Garrison Keillor, Chet Atkins, the Everly Brothers, Jose Ferrar and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Opening April 6 at 6:00pm, this exhibit includes costumes, original photos, and personal correspondence with the artists.
The Hennepin History Museum is located at 2303 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis.
Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for seniors and persons under 18 years of age.

SPUNK AT PENUMBRA - See Alumni/Faculty work on display

SPUNK brings new blood and revives the Penumbra Theatre, writes the StarTribune. Patdro Harris directs this sensuous and witty journey through African American life at the dawn of the twentieth century. SPUNK, based on folklore collected by literary icon Zora Neale Hurston, features Keith Jamal Downing, T. Mychael Rambo(associate faculty), Mikell Sapp, Dennis W. Spears (associate faculty), Jevetta Steele and Austene Van, who bring to life this rich mixture of storytelling, dance and the blues. Costume design is by alum Amanda McGee , a recent MFA student and set design for SPUNK is by Lance Brockman. Penumbra's Artistic Director Lou Bellamy and Brockman are both recently retired faculty of the UMTAD. Don't miss seeing SPUNK which plays March 14 - April 7. For more info or to buy tickets, visit Penumbra's website.

Last chance to see scenic art exhibit on America's vaudeville era guest curated by Professor Lance Brockman at West Bank's Andersen Library through March 15

Theatres and vaudeville stages were the entertainment outlets that Americans sought before the days of movies, television, and the Internet. The University of Minnesota celebrates that bygone era with a new exhibit, titled "Creating the World for the Stage: 1893-1929 - An Exhibit of Scenic Sketches."

Painted renderings of backdrops, sketches and other artifacts from the Performing Arts Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries are featured in the exhibit that explores the exotic worlds created by the scenic artists for both public theatres and private fraternal spaces of the Freemasons. The exhibit is guest curated by Professor Lance Brockman of the University's Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. Presently on view the exhibit concludes March 15, 2013 at the Elmer A. Andersen Library, West Bank of the Twin Cities Minneapolis campus and is free and open to the public.

The exhibit documents the backstage technical environment of the popular stage during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The artifacts include original renderings and materials from Twin City Scenic Company, Great Western Stage Equipment Company, and the Holak Company.

The companies used these materials to market their painted drop scenery to public theatres across the country and later to fraternal organizations, such as the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Brockman said that the Freemasons use of theatre and set design in their degree rituals helped them to boost membership.

"What had once been recitation, previously, now becomes a lively and fun theatrical presentation - you can see how attractive this would be to potential members," Brockman said. "And as public theatre became less and less of a market for these scenic studios, the Freemasons became more and more of a market."

Brockman, who is retiring after 37 years, was instrumental in acquiring the collections for the University of Minnesota, beginning in 1983. His research into this period of set design, he said, was primarily to help him teach theatre students about the nearly lost craft of painted drop scenery.

"The exhibit shows people that we have the collections and it's also a great resource for scenic artists," said Peter Baker, a theatre arts student who assisted Brockman with the design and installation of the exhibit. "The art of painting these drops was never really passed down. It sort of died off. But having the sketches and being able to look at the extant work, you can actually pick out how they did it, how they painted it. It becomes a resource, not only for the historical context, but the practice itself - the art, as well as the artifact."

Theatre arts student Nicky Rodriguez assisted Brockman with the exhibit curation.

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday; and 8:30 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, go to z.umn.edu/stage. All images are available online at lib.umn.edu/scrbm/paa/scenery.

Alums Faye Price and Noel Raymond honored as MPR's ART HEROES

U of M Theatre alums Faye Price and Noel Raymond, are honored as "Art Heroes" and are featured on Minnesota Public Radio news for their spirited leadership and clear artistic vision of Pillsbury House and Theatre, located on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis.

As co-artistic directors, Price and Raymond face many challenges reports MPR. "It's in a neighborhood which has sometimes had a reputation for crime as much as creativity. It's a professional theater company in a community center that suffers from the low expectations assigned to a 'community theater.' And its budget took a beating in the recession."

Price ruminated on all three issues recently as actors ran through their lines on Pillsbury's stage for a remount of the play, Buzzer. It's a provocative piece that's typical Pillsbury fare, highlighting issues of race, class and friction related to urban gentrification. The play got rave reviews last year, and it's now remounted at the Guthrie Theater, and co-artistic director Price sees challenge ahead.

"I can't begin to tell you how many people think that, because we're in a neighborhood center, because we're in this neighborhood in particular, that if you come to see a play here your expectations shouldn't be very high," she said. "That's what people expect, and we always change their minds."

Read more of Marianne Comb's news feature on Art Heroes Faye Price and Noel Raymond.

Dance Prof Rachmi Diyah Larasati authors "The Dance That Makes You Vanish"

Theatre Arts & Dance professor, Rachmi Diyah Larasati has written Dance That Makes You Vanish: Cultural Reconstruction in Post -Genocide Indonesia. Published by the University of Minnesota Press in March, the new work explores the transformation of dance form in the highly charged political repression in her native homeland during the 1960s.

Indonesian court dance, a purportedly pure and untouched tradition, is famed throughout the world for its sublime calm and stillness. Yet this unyieldingly peaceful surface conceals a time of political repression and mass killing. Between 1965 and 1966, some one million Indonesians--including a large percentage of the country's musicians, artists, and dancers--were killed, arrested, or disappeared as Suharto established a virtual dictatorship that ruled for the next thirty years.

In The Dance That Makes You Vanish, an examination of the relationship between female dancers and the Indonesian state since 1965, Rachmi Diyah Larasati elucidates the Suharto regime's dual-edged strategy: persecuting and killing performers perceived as communist or left leaning while simultaneously producing and deploying "replicas"--new bodies trained to standardize and unify the "unruly" movements and voices of those vanished--as idealized representatives of Indonesia's cultural elegance and composure in bowing to autocratic rule. Analyzing this history, Larasati shows how the Suharto regime's obsessive attempts to control and harness Indonesian dance for its own political ends have functioned as both smoke screen and smoke signal, inadvertently drawing attention to the site of state violence and criminality by constantly pointing out the "perfection" of the mask that covers it.

Reflecting on her own experiences as an Indonesian national troupe dancer from a family of persecuted female dancers and activists, Larasati brings to life a powerful, multifaceted investigation of the pervasive use of culture as a vehicle for state repression and the global mass-marketing of national identity.

Rachmi Diyah Larasati is assistant professor of cultural theory, critical studies, and dance history in the department of Theatre Arts & Dance at the University of Minnesota. She also holds an affiliate graduate faculty position there in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and is a former guest faculty at the Brown University Critical Global Humanities Research Institute.

Get the Book!

Sweet Revenge! to thrill Minnesota Centennial Showboat summer audiences, opening June 13, 2013

St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Centennial Showboat announced today plans to present SWEET REVENGE!, an action-packed tale of high adventure, June 13- August 24 to be performed aboard the famous boat that last summer drew nearly 11,000 visitors to Harriet Island, downtown St. Paul.

In SWEET REVENGE! (or No Mother to Guide Her) by Lillian Mortimer, Ralph, the repentant criminal steals the heart of a farmer's daughter only to have con man Livingstone claim her for his own. Split second escapes and skin-of-the-teeth rescues abound as criminals seasoned on the wicked streets of New York City prey on a community of country folks. Caught in a desperate web of deceit, secret lovers must battle to overcome powerful forces to escape. PETER MOORE and VERN SUTTON, the dynamic duo of that scored Showboat hits The Vampire! and The Demon Barber of Fleet Street join forces once again for this one-of-a-kind evening of family entertainment juxtaposing this classic American melodrama with song and dance routines.

When asked what can audiences expect in SWEET REVENGE!, director Moore quipped, "Crooked cops, a down-on-his-luck good guy, a big-city con artist, a killer and his side kick, a heroine caught in his evil clutches, plus a nasty whiskey-swilling granny... and oh, did I mention a raging storm complete with tornado that strikes on stage? What more could you expect from a night at the theater? And where else but on the Showboat can you cheer on the hero and hiss the bad guy?" Reviewing a recent revival of this 1905 melodrama, the New York Times commented, "If this brave tale of death, seduction, deceit, betrayal, and poetic justice cannot make you happy, you are in grave peril."

The Showboat also prides itself as home to olios, vintage musical interludes featuring song and dance. Spiced with fun gimmicks, colorful costumes and surprises, these tuneful crowd- pleasers are straight from the golden days of vaudeville. The Minnesota Opera veteran, maestro Vern Sutton returns to "direct with a sharp eye these musical vignettes...some poignant, some naughty" (St. Paul Pioneer Press) underscoring the evening's fun.

Docked on the banks of the mighty Mississippi at Harriet Island in beautiful downtown St. Paul, the Showboat offers welcoming public spaces, bars and a beautiful upper deck lounge with spectacular views of the city's skyline. Visitors stroll along embankments with wide green lawns shaded by towering cottonwoods as they step aboard. The Centennial Showboat - a floating palace with a fully air-conditioned 200 seat theater is styled after a vaudeville house, complete with painted scenery, footlights and nineteenth-century stage magic.

Owned by the University of Minnesota since 1958, the Minnesota Centennial Showboat proudly presents SWEET REVENGE for this 55th summer of fun and laughter. Visitors last year found "a perfect summer evening" for a first date or family outing. Tour groups, reunions, employee gatherings enjoy special rates. Unsolicited comments by one audience member sum up the response of many. "A talented cast of singers and actors kept me laughing and entertained the whole night...I'm going again and taking others with me." Convenient FREE parking for cars and busses is available. Arrive by bike on the Lilydale Trail or by boat and dock for FREE on the island. The University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat is completely accessible.

SWEET REVENGE! performs 2:30 pm matinees every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday: and evenings at 8:00pm Tuesday through Saturdays June 13- August 24, 2013. Thursday nights feature post-show Talk/Backs, informal Q & A sessions with cast members. Ask about Family Fun Special rates for Friday nights and Saturday matinees. Discounts for students with valid ID, seniors 62+ and groups rates for 15 or more are available. Reserve tickets ($23-$25) by calling 651.227.1100 or by visiting www.showboat.umn.edu. for more information.

FACTS
What: SWEET REVENGE! with Musical Olios aboard Minnesota Centennial Showboat
When: June 13- August 24, 2013
Where: downtown St. Paul, Minnesota Harriet Island, docked on the mighty Mississippi
Tickets: $23.00-$25.00 showboat.umn.edu or call direct 651-227-1100; ask about
rates for students, seniors, groups 15+ and Family Fun specials.

Teacher, Theatre Director, former Theatre Arts& Dance Chair Stephen Kanee Dies

Stephen Kanee (March 17,1941-January 18, 2013)

Born in Winnipeg, the only child of Sol and Florence Kanee, Stephen grew up in a household devoted to the arts, surrounded with love and nurtured by his aunts and uncles and grandparents, especially by his dear Bubba Rose Kanee. His father introduced him to fishing at an early age and Stephen enjoyed happy childhood summers out in the boat at their cottage in Lake of the Woods. Stephen's mother ignited in her son his lifelong passion for theater, art and music. Stephen said it was Florence, along with his Bubba Rose, who gave him the inner strength to follow his heart into the dramatic arts. His apprenticeship in the family flour milling business took him to London, where his interest in theater led to an internship at the avant-garde Royal Court Theatre.
In 1974, as a student at the University of Minnesota Theater Department, he was awarded a McKnight Fellowship in Directing, which brought him to the Guthrie Theater. At the University, he met and fell in love with MaryAnn Lippay. They married in 1981, and their life together became a celebration of love, wit, music, food, art, travel, family and friends. They were a truly devoted and joyous couple, and counted themselves lucky to find each other and the love they shared.

Stephen, who was mentored at the Guthrie by Michael Langham, scored his first success with his production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker.' It was followed by the first Guthrie production of 'A Christmas Carol,' which brought together for the first time playwright Barbara Field, scenic designer Jack Barkla, lighting designer Duane Schuler, costume designer Jack Edwards, and composer Hiram Titus. 'A Christmas Carol,' became a perennial Minneapolis favorite over a 35 year run. For the Guthrie, he also directed 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,' 'Rosencrantz and Guidenstern are Dead,' 'Catsplay,' 'Hamlet,' 'Great Expectations,' 'The Tavern,' 'On the Razzle,' 'The Birthday Party,' and I.B. Singer's 'Teibele and Her Demon,' which was later moved to Broadway. Elsewhere, he directed for the Cricket Theatre, the Houston Grand Opera, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Meadowbrook Theater, and Park Square Theatre, among others. Stephen was a gifted and adventurous director, highly theatrical in style, aware of the music and nuances of his texts. His use of the challenging Guthrie thrust stage was masterful. Under his direction, there never was a bad seat in the house.

When in 1980 the opportunity arose to pursue his lifelong ambition, teaching, he accepted a faculty position at New Mexico State University, which he held for five years. He then returned to the Guthrie to help steer the theater through a period of transition. In 1986, he realized his dream to join the faculty of the University of Minnesota Department of Theater Arts and Dance. As an Associate Professor and Head of the Directing Program, he directed 'Old Times,' 'Spring Awakening,' 'Restoration,' Mrozek's 'Tango,' 'Two Gentlemen of Verona,' 'The White Devil,' 'The Dybbuk,' 'The Visit' and many others, at Rarig Center and on the Showboat. His theater wisdom and advice helped guide and inspire theater professionals all over the country. He retired from the faculty in 2003. Stephen said the happiest, most stimulating times of his career were with his students. He will be deeply missed by his students and theatre colleagues, who had the priviledge of knowing him.

Donations may be made to the U of M Dept. of Theater Arts and Dance or charity of choice . A Memorial Celebration is planned for the spring. Hodroff-Epstein 612-871-1234
--Excerpted Star Tribune January 27, 2013

Musical SPRING AWAKENING named 2012's Top Play in Twin Cities; "Artists of the Year"Awards go to Rothstein and Flink

University of Minnesota's Department of Theatre Arts and Dance/Theatre Latte Da co-production of Spring Awakening , the critically acclaimed show described as "a vital leap forward for the American musical" (Time Out) has been selected as the Top Play of 2012 by City Pages, the Twin Cities' weekly publication.

SEE: http://www.citypages.com/2012-12-26/arts/top-10-plays-of-2012/

Carl Flink, Chair of Theatre Arts and Dance expressed his appreciation commenting, "We are very proud of this important achievement for our department which represents a significant moment; Spring Awakening engaged over 5,000 members of the public during its run this past spring and demonstrated powerful proof of how the academy and a community partner can come together to create high quality art rooted in an educational setting and experience for students." Spring Awakening, presented on the Rarig Center's Stoll Thrust, April 12- May 6, 2012 was also honored with the Twin Cities ' Ivey Award, and Lavender Magazine's Critic's Choice for its artistic excellence.

In a related story, both Peter Rothstein, Spring Awakening's director and Carl Flink, its choreographer were named Artists of the Year for their outstanding contributions in 2012. City Pages theater critic Ed Huyck noted Rothstein's controversial production of Oklahoma! in Seattle, his production workshops for Illusion Theatre, Playwrights Center and his own Theatre Latte Da production of Company, as well as the Spring Awakening co -production with the U of M. Linda Shaprio, City Pages contributor in dance, pointed to Flink's distinguished work as dancer/ choreographer/dance company director for Black Label Movement (BLM) and frequent collaboration with scientists. She praised his choreography with BLM which "deals with everything from the sinking of an iron ore ship... to using dancers to convey catastrophic changes in human cells." Flink continues to widen the scope of dance with its "interconnectedness with science, and probes the outer limits of the body in motion," she concluded.