UMTAD's current production of Working, now on stage through Nov. 9 at Rarig Center, has been dubbed as a Pick of the Week by Minn Post, enjoyed positive press reactions by Workday, Minnesota and Minnesota Daily. Working's dramaturg Rye Gentleman shares his observations about Studs Terkel (1912-2008) American author, historian, actor, broadcaster whose celebrated book served as the foundation for this musical stage adaptation:
In his introduction to Working: People Talk About what They Do All Day and How They Feel About It, Terkel wrote: "This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence- to the spirit as well as to the body...It is, above all (or beneath all) about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us. The scars, psychic as well as physical, brought home to the supper table and the TV set, may have touched, malignantly, the soul of our society."
Terkel's 1974 book, the basis for this production, is a compilation of his hundreds of interviews with working persons: a waitress, a fire fighter, a hedge fund manager. Despite wildly divergent occupations, socioeconomic statuses, racial identities, and geographic regions, the subjects of Terkel's book joined to form an unlikely chorus, again and again drawing our attention to the quiet desperation and indignity suffered by workers in the United States.
The steel worker who believes he is merely a beast of burden. The mechanized welder. The caged bank teller. The monkey in the office cubicle.
Forty years later, the roles have altered but the rules haven't. The fundamental dehumanization of the American worker remains and, in some respects, reaches its inevitable crescendo.
When was the last time you went to work and were treated like a human being?
During his career, Terkel interviewed Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, and Dorothy Parker, and wrote several oral histories, including Race: What Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession (1992). He graduated from University of Chicago's law school in 1934; immediately shunning the legal profession, he took a job in radio broadcasting through the WPA's Federal Writers Project. He was a victim of McCarthyism and a National Humanities Medal winner. He held well over a dozen jobs over the course of his life. On his first date with his wife, Ida, he borrowed twenty bucks from her that he never repaid.
For tickets and information about Working visit theatre.umn.edu or call 612 624-2345.
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Cracks in the Wall: 25 Years after Berlin Symposium
Twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this symposium asks how performance can animate representational ruptures in three walled (or previously walled) sites: Berlin, Israel/Palestine, and along the US/Mexico border. Organized by Sonja Kuftinec, participants will include members of the IAS Collaborative on Brecht, the Department of Theater Arts, and Combatants for Peace. Admission is free. November 6 at 4:00 PM, Crosby Seminar Room, Northrop
Further information: Theater Arts Professor Sonja Kuftinec kufti001@umn.edu
Alumni Spotlight: SAGE Award-winning Dancers, BFA Grad cast in Utah Shakespeare Festival
UM's Dance Program was well represented at this month's Sage Awards at the Cowles Center. The season's Outstanding Ensemble Award recognized members of Black Label Movement's Wreck. Cheng Xiong, Ashley Akpaka, Jessica Ehlert, Lauren Baker, Jose Bueno, Miriam Castro, Natalie (Braun) Carr and Margaret Johnson -- 8 of the 13 artists in the ensemble are graduates of the department's program.
Dance Program Alumus Duncan Shultz received one of the two Outstanding Dance Performance Awards.
Dance Program Alumna Rosy Simas piece "We Wait In the Darkness" received one of the two Outstanding Design Awards.
Visit http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/stageandarts/279218162.html
Fresh from crossing Northrop's stage for his diploma in May,Eric Weiman('14 BFA ), walked right into his first professional role at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Weiman, recently interviewed for the Festival's website was asked what or who inspired him to pursue his dream of acting. Eric answered, "My parents, first and foremost, are the biggest supporters and inspirations for following acting..., they have always been supportive and accepting of the path I wish to follow. I also cannot think of where I would be today without Jon Ferguson and Ken Washington, two teachers and mentors of mine in Minneapolis (at the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training program) who took chances on me early in my life as an actor and taught me that acting is a craft, an art, and not just a hobby."
For the full interview visit http://utahshakespearefestival.blogspot.com/2014/10/utah-shakespeare-guet-blog-eric-weiman.html
Faculty/Staff Professional Activities
Theatre Arts professor Michael Sommers directs and designs The Juniper Tree at the Open Eye Figure Theatre slated to open Nov. 6 and play through Dec. 6. In this production with original music composed by Michael Koerner, Sommers brings to the stage this classic Brothers Grimm tale brimming with singing birds, dancing bones, and barking trunks. A live band blasts the brutish stepmother and soothes the sobbing sister. Sommers predicts a not -to -be- missed whirl of fairytale fun "where everyone (who's supposed to) lives happily ever after." Recommended for ages 8 and up. Visit OpenEyeThreatre.org for details and ticket information.
Dance professor Carl Flink, presently on sabbatical leave, conducts an artist-in-residency program and stages his Lost Lullabies at Orem's Utah Valley University. Dance program's Linda Talcott Lee performs in the Ordway Center's A Christmas Story opening November 29.
UMTAD department chair Marcus Dilliard designs lighting for a string of productions in the coming weeks : Pittsburgh Opera's Otello opening Nov 8; Guthrie Theater's Relics, Nov. 14, Moving Company at The Lab: Love's Labour's Lost, Nov. 21, and finally for Cantus/ Latte Da Theatre at Pantages, All is Calm, Dec. 18.
