April 2016 APPLAUSE

On Stage…

Must-see April Events

Henry VI, The Contention + The Ascension

My Name is Anton Chekhov  

Earthquakes in London, Snapshots

Fresh Scenes

Lady in the Dark 

plus 

Students in the Spotlight 

Leila Awadallah's Almost But Not Yellow to perform at Kennedy Center 
Cole Remmen, writer/performer of Go Boldly launches at CalTech                                                                                        

                                                                  Maddy Fox, MN Daily 

Henry VI: The Contention + The Ascension 

Stoll Thrust Stage March 30 - April 4  

Experience Shakespeare's own 'Game of Thrones' over the five days, or immerse yourself in this violent history in a double feature on April 3. Shakespeare raises timely questions as we enter an election year: what makes an effective leader? How much must a leader sacrifice for the “greater good”? Henry VI presented in two parts: The Contention +The Ascension, opened March 30, is performed entirely by students in the BFA 2018 class of the University of Minnesota /Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program.

“We’ve staged these works with an emphasis on clarity of text, with simple production elements. This is a rare opportunity to see this work staged,” said guest director Doug Scholz-Carlson, artistic director Great River Shakespeare Festival, who is joining in on the epic project with director Steve Cardamone, TAD member in the University of Minnesota / Guthrie Theater BFA program. “We have taken Shakespeare’s three play saga, and shaped it into two parts— a mini-series, if you will,” explained Mr. Cardamone. 
Tickets: theatre umn.edu or call 612 624-2345

                                                         
 My Name is Anton Chekhov, a creative collaboration by BA Performance students guided by affiliate faculty member Shirley Venard begins April with a showing you’ll not want to miss.   After investigating two of Chekov’s short stories and researching his life, these creative collaborators have devised a performance at the intersection of the author/playwright’s life and his work through the lens of love. March 31 and April 1 staged in the Nolte Xperimental Theatre, limited seating reserve your free tickets at z.umn.edu/umtad

                                                                          

Earthquakes in London graphic  by Francesca Pancorbo 

 "An epic, expansive play about climate change, corporate corruption, fathers and children"---  The Guardian 

 "The theatrical equivalent of a thrilling roller coaster ride", delivering "a rush of invention, humour and raw emotion"- Daily Telegraph 

“Questions fizz and soar like fireworks….not to be missed!"- Time Out

“Earthquakes in London…scores highly on the Richter scale”—British Theatre Guide

 An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett's epic "roller coaster" of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again. Earthquakes in London includes burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, and worldwide paranoia. “It is a fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe." writes Methuen Publications. 

Staged at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio, playing April 13-24, Earthquakes in London is under the direction of Bruce Roach and performed by the University of Minnesota / Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training class of 2016. Playing in repertory with this production will be Snapshots a presentation by the BFA class performing a series of scenes from the dramatic cannon, directed by Marcela Lorca and Michelle O'Neill.

 Tickets guthrietheater.org or by calling 612-377-2224.

Premiered at London’s National Theatre in 2010, followed by a tour of the UK , Bartlett’s sweeping Earthquakes follows three sisters caught in shifting relationships– with family, lovers, professional lives, and the planet’s future. A film version of the play is now in development, according to the playwright’s publicist. The Olivier Award winning writer is also author of Broadway's newest smash hit King Charles III likely to be up for a slew Tony Award nominations in May. 

Fresh Scenes presents the University of Minnesota / Guthrie Theatre BFA Freshman Company in performance April 28-30 on the Liu Stage , Kilburn Theatre. Tickets are free, but reservations required at z.umn.edu/umtad

                                                                     

          

Lady in the Dark, April 14-17 concludes the Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht Festival, a collaboration of the School of Music and Theatre Arts & Dance,  in Ted Mann Concert Hall.  The fully staged musical play, directed by David Walsh, Director of Opera Theatre and conducted by Chad Hutchinsonm is presented by University Opera Theatre. “Moss Hart’s wry, playful, intelligent book, Ira Gershwin’s wittily sophisticated lyrics and Kurt Weill’s hauntingly gossamer melodies [of this]... innovative 1941 Broadway hit is a multi-faceted gem” hails theSan Francisco Chronicle. This U of M School of Music production marks the premiere of Lady in the Dark’s critical edition, thoroughly researched and authorized by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. 

Tickets: 612-624-2345 or tickets.umn.edu

SPECIAL NOTE: Mark your calendar for April 14 and 15 when Lady in the Dark scholar/ award-winning author Dr. bruce mcclung and David Walsh, the production’s director, share the podium for a free "Preview for Patrons"  45 minutes before curtain in the first tier lobby of the Ted Mann Concert Hall. 

Students in the Spotlight 
                                                               

Leila Awadallah  photo: Brandon Stengel

Leila Awadallah and her Cast of Five 

to Play DC's Kennedy Center

BFA Dance major Leila Awadallah’s choreographic work has been selected for the American College Dance Association’s (ACDA) National Festival to be presented at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, June 8-11. Awadallah’s work was one of three pieces selected for their outstanding artistic merit to represent the North Central region. Artist adjudicators described the work as “a sophisticated , richly–layered work that invites you to discover it.  Almost But Not Yellow is full of enigmatic imagery that enhances its choreographic body.” Leila’s cast of five, Jessika Akpaka, Abby Johnson, Laura Osterhaus, Tabitha Stegar and Nicole Stumpf, were praised for "their strong performances in this work" at the regional conference and gala performance.

The National College Dance Festival highlights the outstanding quality of choreography and performance created on college and university campuses throughout the nation. The U of M is one of 31 participating schools to have been selected “by nationally recognized adjudicators at each of the 12 ACDA regional conferences". 

Additionally, Awadallah’s self-choreographed solo was selected for the regional Gala Performance presented on Wednesday March 23. UMTAD’S dance program is proud of all the Dance Majors conference participants including Ayana DuBose who presented her own choreographic work at an informal concert, the fourteen students who performed at the conference, and the four students who presented undergraduate research, Leila Awadallah, Ali Higginbotham, Margaret Ogas and Abby Taylor. Congratulations to Leila and cast. 

Go Boldly launches Cole Remmen at CalTech

The Starfleet crew aboard the Starship Enterprise as they sing the title song “Boldly Go.” Courtesy of Theatre Art California Institute of Technology (TACIT)

UMTAD senior, honors BA Theatre Arts student Cole Remmen wrote the wildly successful musical parody Boldly Go!, a musical parody of Star Trek. The show, which he co-wrote with his brother and Caltech theoretical physics PhD student Grant Remmen, premiered at Caltech on February 26, 2016 to rave reviews. Cole explains, “all of the shows sold out; we estimate that over 2,200 people saw it! We've been told it was the most popular show in the history of CalTech Theater.”

Spock falls in love with Takya the Andorian during the 60s-pop-style song “Emotionally Compromised.” Courtesy of TACIT.

“A musical of both substance and comedy, Boldly Go! follows the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise, along with some new characters, on an exciting and hilarious adventure. And it’s all set to a side-splitting tour de force of musical mayhem! At its core, Boldly Go! is a story about being true to oneself and one’s convictions, about friendship and love, about discovery and wonder, about the triumph of the individual over adversity, and about the joy of sharing with each other this vast and mysterious Universe.” – Theater Arts at CalTech

                                                  

We sat down with Cole, who also co-directed and starred in Boldly Go! as Spock, to talk about the show:

Could you talk about how you got the idea for Boldly Go! and the steps that took you to CalTech?

My older brother/co-author Grant and I had always discussed the possibility of writing a musical together. The idea for Boldly Go! came to us after we saw Star Trek: Into Darkness in 2013 and continued to watch some of the classic movies and TV episodes that summer. We went through approximately six drafts, rewriting and editing the script and music, storyboarding the plot, orchestrating the accompaniment, etc. In addition to being a parody of Star Trek, Boldly Go! is also a satire of musical theatre itself, with which my brother and I are very familiar. I then brought the show to the University of Minnesota for an auditioned workshop and public reading, which proved to be very popular. A few months later, in May 2015, I assisted with a public reading at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), where my brother is a graduate student. The reading at Caltech received an overwhelming reception. While Boldly Go! was not written for Caltech, we thought that it was a perfect place at which to premiere the show, given the history of the campus culture and its connections to Star Trek, dating back to the 1960s, as well as a director interested in producing new works. We were very fortunate to receive a lot of positive press, including mentions in The New York Times and LA Weekly as well an article in The Los Angeles Daily News, to name a few. We had an excellent cast of about 24 people and a fantastic band and crew, with around 60 people total involved in the production, including undergrads, graduate students, Caltech staff/faculty, scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, alumni, and even a Disney Animation technical director. Robert Picardo (movie/TV actor including Star Trek: Voyager) was able to join the cast for a couple performances in a guest cameo role.                                                          

Actor Robert Picardo (left) plays a guest role as Admiral Barnett. Courtesy of TACIT.

What’s been most helpful experience you’ve gained in your undergrad classes when it came to writing, producing, and performing in your show Boldly Go!? Was there a class, a professor's comment or guidance, or an experience at the U that has proved over time to be inspiring you?

In my time at the U of M, I've been lucky to have had great mentors and support from the faculty. In particular, Luverne Seifert has been a wonderful mentor for my independent projects, including the UROP grant that supported the U of M workshop of Boldly Go!, as well as the independent research credits that I am currently undertaking, which allowed me to spend time at CalTech earlier this semester for the production. Additionally, my previous directing experience, including directing and performing in a production of Copenhagen (also mentored by Luverne Seifert) as well as Lisa Channer's intermediate and advanced directing courses, gave me great experience with the directorial skills I was able to use assistant directing the CalTech production of Boldly Go!

Do you have any advice for current college theater students looking to produce their own work?

My advice for other students looking to see their work produced is, firstly, to really love whatever concept they are working on. If you want to see a project all the way through to production, it will take a lot of commitment and hard work, which means that you will be living in and exploring the world you're creating for a long time. Seek out opinions of others, including family, friends, professors, and other students. Workshopping is also an excellent way to get feedback from both actors and audience, if you have a public reading. I would strongly suggest applying for a UROP or contacting Open Stage, which can help fund your project. Get involved in other student productions and get to know your peers so you have a community of support.

How are you feeling after the closing of "Boldy Go!"? Have you already decided on the next place to produce the show?

My co-author and I are very excited at the success of the show and have been contacted by a few professional theatre companies in California and out East who are interested in possibly mounting their own productions of Boldly Go!. Of course, we would love to bring the show to Minneapolis if there is a theatre company interested here [hint hint]!

Check out the cast and crew’s vlogs from the experience here: https://tacit.caltech.edu/shows/1516boldlygo/videos

Faculty Center Stage 

Penelope Freeh, dance faulty member and collaborator Donna Schoenherr’s new dance theater work, Helioscope opens April 1 playing through April 3 as part of 2016 The Right Here Showcase at The Illusion Theater in the Cowles Center, 8^th floor.  Heliocsope, inspired by the innovative photographic studies of motion and methods of Eadweard Muybridge, will be performed by choreographers Freeh and Schoenherr, singer David Kozisek and Theater Arts & Dance students from our dance program: Kelly Folwick, Adrianna Lonick, Sara Mortenson, Tabitha Steger, Nicloe Stumpf, Kristina Van Deusen , Abigail Whitmore, and Natalie Wollman.  Helioscope also features the music of Joe Strachan and two other living composers, as well as images by video artist Kevin Osatz.  For 2016 Right Here Showcase tickets visit Evenbirtie.com  For more information righthereshowcase.weebly.com  The Star Tribune writes “The Right Here Showcase” offers a welcome venue for Twin Cities artists who deserve to be seen.”

A orginal photographic study of motion by Eadweard Muybridge

 Sonja Kuftinec will travel to Princeton University to participate as an invited panelist on a symposium of Gender and Violence, April 1-3. 

Luverne Seifert along with Dario Tangelson travel to California in April to lead a residency for SLAM, Science Leaders  and Management at UC Berkeley.   Earlier the duo lead a series of four communication workshops for students of the University of Minnesota Chemistry Department to help them develop skills to be better communicators. 

Carl Flink will choreograph the History Theater’s premiere of Alan Berks’s Complicated Fun: The Minneapolis Music Scene, which will be directed by Dominic Taylor (formerly TAD) This rockin’ production opens April 30, and plays through May 29, 2016.  

                                                                       ###

March 2016 APPLAUSE

On Stage…

Must-See March Events

Spring Dance Concert

Threepenny Opera

Brecht & Weill Smorgasbord

Henry VI : The Contention+ The Ascension

Spring Dance Concert shimmers with fresh talent March 4-5 at 6:00pm and 8:30pm in the Barker’s intimate Studio 100. Directed by Joanie Smith, co-founder of Shapiro & Smith Dance, this program offers choreography by students Leila Awadallah, Ayana DuBose, Luke Olson –Elm as well as two dance works created by faculty members Erin Thompson and Joanie Smith.  Tickets are available by calling 612 -624-2345

See related story in Faculty section on Joanie Smith's upcoming  Shapiro & Smith Dance Concert, April 2-4 . 

Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s classic is as current as today’s headlines in the riveting production now  on Rarig’s Stoll Thrust. Pulsing with contemporary politics and protest, the 32 member cast sings and dances this chilling critique of a society. “Here everything is a transition-so that nothing has value unless it can be sold to the highest bidder.” says director Kym Longhi, “Love is for sale. Justice is for sale. Pity is for sale.” Threepenny plays through March 6. 

Part of the Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht: 21^st Century Celebration with the support of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

 


 Brecht & Weill Smorgasbord, presented at the Southern Theater on March 21 at 7:30pm, offers an extraordinary opportunity to sample “tastings” of little-known works by the celebrated artists playwright Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill. Works sampled include Joe Fleischaker in Chicago, Fatzer, Man is Man, and several musical selections by Kurt Weill. The evening of excerpts will be performed by four Twin Cities theatre companies; Skylark Opera, Theatre Novi Most, Four Humors Theatre and Live Action Set.  Here’s a unique opportunity for Brecht/Weill fans to experience rarely performed works, some of which have been translated into English only recently.
                                                                                                               

Matthias Rothe of the University's German, Scandinavian, & Dutch Department is the dramaturge. Lisa Channer, head of the TAD’s Bachelor of Arts performance program, and David Walsh, University Opera Theatre direct the proceedings. The audience is invited to greet the performers at an informal reception and enjoy a smorgasbord of light refreshments in the lobby following the show.  For Brecht & Weill Smorgasbord  tickets contact Southern Theater, 612-326-1811. Learn more>.  
Part of “Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht Festival – A 21^st Century Celebration,” supported by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music.

Henry VI: The Contention + The Ascension
Shakespeare raises timely questions as we enter into an election year: what makes an effective leader? How much must a leader sacrifice for the “greater good”? Henry VI will be played in two parts: The Contention and The Ascension, March 20 – April 4 on the Stoll Trust Stage. The University of Minnesota /Guthrie Theater BFA class of 2018 will perform all roles. 

“We’ve staged these works with an emphasis on clarity of text, with simple production elements.This is a rare opportunity to see this work staged,” said guest director Doug Scholz-Carlson, artistic director Great River Shakespeare Festival, who is joining in on the epic project with director Steve Cardamone, TAD member in the University of Minnesota / Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training program. “We have taken Shakespeare’s three play saga, and shaped it into two parts— a mini-series, if you will,” explained Mr. Cardamone "You can experience Shakespeare's own 'Game of Thrones' over the five days, or immerse yourself in this violent history in a double feature on April 3.”  

The futility of war is ferociously conceived in this lean adaptation of Henry VI  saga featuring Joan of Arc, the well-intentioned but weak-willed King Henry, his fierce Queen Margaret, and a raft of opportunistic hypocrites longing for prestige and power. Allegiances change with each wind that blows. In the thrilling final chapter, emerging from the smoke of battle is soon-to-be-crowned Richard III, one of the most infamous villains of the stage.

Looking Ahead to April...

Mike Bartlett’s Earthquakes in London is driven by “an all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present …in an epic roller-coaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again. Earthquakes in London  includes burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, and worldwide paranoia. It is a fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe. “-- Methuen Publications.  When it opened at London's National Theatre, Earthquakes  was hailed for the "sheer energy and ambition of the piece...irresistible."  Directed by Bruce Roach, Earthquakes in London will be presented in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio April 14-23 and performed by the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater Actor Training Program senior class of 2016. Learn More >Ticket information  

The Class of 2016 will also perform Snapshots, a series of scenes from the dramatic canon: Sunday, April 17 at 1 pm Tuesday;  April 19 at 7:30 p.m,; Wednesday, April 20 at 1  p.m; Saturday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.  

Student Spotlight  

THREE WOMEN debut in TWO GENTS

Taylor Harvey and Am’ber Montgomery, both currently seniors in the U of M /Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program along with Andrea San Miguel, a recent graduate of the program, are thrilled to be making their Jungle Theatre debuts in the all-female cast of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen from Verona.  New artistic director Sarah Rasmussen staged this lively production which has received strong press reviews. 

A group protesting Rahsaan Mahadeo and David Melendez student conduct hearing outside Morril Hall last semester. 

 What is Diverse Knowledge? The Academic Stakes of Whose Diversity

On March 4, 2:00 pm, faculty panelists Zenzele Isoke (GWSS), Rose Brewer (American Studies), Diyah Larasati(Theatre Arts & Dance), Edén Torres (GWSS/Chicano & Latino Studies) will launch the discussion, which will be moderated by Rahsaan Mahadeo (Sociology), David Melendez (Theatre Arts & Dance) in the Kilburn Theatre, Rarig Center.
The student movement Whose Diversity? holds us to the mission of the University of Minnesota, a land grant institution founded to “promote access to higher education and collaborating to advance knowledge benefiting communities, the state, and world.” It calls for the university to work for substantive diversity, serving and supporting marginalized Minnesota communities through actions, not just words. In conversation with moderators Mahadeo and Melendez, faculty panelists will speak about their work in centering diverse experiences, epistemologies, and intellectual productions within the academy.

FEBRUARY SHOWINGS 

Associate Chair Sonja Kuftinec observes that February’s student course work included “The BFA Junior class performing in a physically innovative and highly committed Hippolytos backed by a live soundtrack created by the performers and under Dario Tangelson’s imaginative direction. First year students in the BA theatre program shared their adventurous work with Four Humors Theatre (alumni of the department) adapting Don Quixote. The showing featured several witty scenes with horses and a special guest appearance by the author, Minguel de Cervantes.”

SUMMER Courses 

Two new classes are offered this summer. All TAD students are encouraged to consider:

TH 5179W: Text and Performance  which includes Writing Enriched and Dramatic Literature credits will be offered July 5-29 M/W/F 10:00am - 2:00pm

TH 4380: Edinburgh Fringe Festival/Alternative Theatre in Scotland will run August 8 - 24.  Link to this study abroad course is here .

To apply financial aid to this summer session, students need to be enrolled in 6 or more credits. Taking both of these (or one of these plus any other course) fulfills  this  minimum. Questions?  Contact Lisa Channer chann006@umn.edu

Alumni in Action

                                                                                                  photo: Penumbra Theatre

Nate Barlow (BFA) performs in Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman playing March 1 -27  at the Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul.  Lou Bellamy Faculty Emeritus directs. 
  

Samantha Johns and Shelby Richardson both TAD alumnae transformed the film 

Basic Instinct into a contemporary performance piece in the Minneapolis White Gallery. “Our piece is an exact rendering of the movie with all the male parts removed. Think: Chunks of melting ice. Microphones. Nudity. Fab Clothes. Gallery blocks,”said Ms. Johns.  “We set out to copy the film 1:1 as best we could without the men. Our aim is exact gesture and language of the movie, with none of the material spectacle or men in an attempt to highlight gender, race, sex, time, space, history, theater and the like,” the artist explained.

Faye M. Price (MFA) directs Nina Simone: Four Women and Rob Jensen (MFA, Design /Tech) serves as technical director for this play with music at Park Square Theatre, March 8-26.  Ms. Price is the co-artistic director of Minneapolis’ Pillsbury House Theatre . Lance Brockman Faculty Emeritus has designed the show’s set.

Q&A with Diane Divita

 Professional Production Stage Manager

U of M Alumna also teaches stage management at Yale School of Drama,
 and Columbia University.  

       photo:Yale School of Drama

You stage manage on Broadway, Off Broadway, and regional theatres across the nation.  Have you a project you are most proud of and why?

I am so proud of many projects, ranging from my time at the Guthrie Theater, with Liviu Ciulei’s The Tempest, Garland Wright’s Richard III, Emily Mann’s The Glass Menagerie, to Tom Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center (which reminded me of my Guthrie days), Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper on Broadway, Hamlet with Jude Law on Broadway and Eclipsed with Lupita Nyong’o, and Dogfight, a new musical I did Off-Broadway. These projects grabbed my heart and soul and changed me in some significant way and are my benchmark of what is so wonderful about the theater.  

You mentioned once that you were drawn to directing, but changed to stage management. Why? What was the appeal?

Well, quite honestly, I walked into Rarig Center and thought, "How could I meet as many people as possible, and let them know, 'I am here to make my mark.''? I thought, “well, stage managers get to know everyone,” (without giving up my directorial urge and not really having stage managed before), so I was guided to Jean Montgomery’s office and she was in the midst of signing up stage managers. Jean was the teacher to be around. She had the pulse on the department and she was just so cool. She paired me up with Jann Iaco (another MFA candidate in Directing) and the rest is history. Not only did I begin my SM career at Rarig, but also I found my best friend in the world, Jann who, by the way, is still my very best friend!

After graduation, how did you find your path into the professional world of theatre?

After I graduated with my MFA in Directing, I knew that I still wanted to direct. A summer theater program in Brainerd Community College was headed by Robert Dryden who was looking for young directors, designers, and choreographers… This would then segue into teaching during the Fall/Spring semesters in the college. I was hired to direct Kiss Me Kate (a nominal success) and I taught an 'Intro to Theatre History' class as well. As I taught, I felt as though I was regurgitating facts… Continuing my theater trips to the city included seeing shows at the Guthrie Theater. Every time I felt the huge pull to work professionally and I knew I had to get into that theater… So Bob Dryden and I had a long talk about my aspirations to work professionally… He helped me fill out the Guthrie Theater intern application, read and vetted my answers. He was instrumental in giving me the confidence to do what I really wanted to do. By that spring, I was a stage management intern, doing The Pretenders at the Guthrie Theater, I then continued working throughout the country at regional theaters from Boston to San Diego to Seattle, with a stint as a production manager at Taper Too, part of the Mark Taper Forum. 

What training at the U of M Theatre Department was most useful in getting launched? Who guided you?

So many aspects of my graduate schooling still help me to this day. I was one of many Arthur Ballet teaching assistants, which allowed me to see theater all over the city. I was also a vocal production-teaching assistant for Elizabeth Nash. I took every Bob Moulton class available to use as directing students, and I as an assistant stage manager for his production of The Streets of New York, on the Showboat. I relished Charles Nolte’s theater history classes and I got to stage manage his Little Foxes. Wesley Balk and Lee Adey, two very different directors who taught directing, gave me the practical applications as well as the ability to think our side the box as a director. Jean Montgomery gave me the opportunity to learn the craft of stage managing through trial and error, success and failure. I credit my classmates, Jann Iaco, Susan Schwaidelson, Jack Guzman, Tim Cope and Kathy Ellison for raising the bar to strive to be the best. We learned about the passion of theater, the art form, the highs and the lows. No one was spared. We were pushed to be the best we could be and as grad school should, helped define who we were in the world of theater and what we still needed to learn in the real world. 

Reflecting on your experience, what might you consider the most powerful lessons or practices that have proved essential in your profession?  

Life balance. This is so important. Someone once said, “The theatre is like a jealous lover.”  Dramatic right? This is all the more reason to develop a life outside of this business, to gain a perspective, to live a life that makes one better at doing their chosen profession. I always need to continue to look at the big picture and to realize this is the theater. As real as it is for so many of us, I am always trying to put all the trials and tribulations of this business into perspective. I always have to remind myself that this is a business. As a leader, I try and lead from behind. I try not to be the biggest personality in the room. I try and really listen. I continually make sure that I have a lot of patience, And I try to laugh… the takeaway is laughter!

Why or why not should undergrads consider going to grad school, and if so, when?

I used to think that kids out of undergrad going right to grad school was a mistake, but now I have come to believe that it is a case-by-case basis. I am privileged to teach both at Yale School of Drama (with my mentor and dearest friend from the Guthrie Theater, Mary Hunter who is the head of the MFA Stage Management program), and Columbia University in the MFA Stage Management programs. Grad school is about the formulation of ideas and communication of those thoughts; being able to read, research, think and write, to explore, to fail and to succeed. Within my classes, I have experienced all sorts of age ranges. Sometimes the youngest in the class is the oldest soul or an international student whose second language is English is more astute about our culture and our theatre practices, than someone from the United States. School is not for everyone.

The students that go into these program have either hit a glass ceiling in terms of skills, and want to further hone those skills, or they are in these programs to network because of the professional connections within a grad school program. There are those kids who bypass grad school and either intern or become production assistants and those kids want to have that practical and “hands on” experience. I think today’s students are smarter. They know how to balance their personal and potentially professional lives, or at least they are very good at pretending!

Thank you, Diane. Is there any thing you’d like to add?

I am a survivor in the business of show. We, as stage managers, need to have long arms to pat ourselves on the back. You have to love what you do and do what you love. If not, get out, the job is too hard otherwise. I am loyal and ethical, or at least I strive for this in a cutthroat business. Teaching makes me walk the walk and talk the talk, and keeps me honest. I love paying it forward. It makes me better at my day job! I recently saw a quote from the late Alan Rickman: “The theater is a calling and a privilege.” So true.  

Faculty Callboard   

Joanie Smith co- founder  and artistic director of  Shapiro & Smith Dance premiere's her new work HANDS,stages BOLERO with all male cast " a thrill ride of dance..." [Star Tribune] and WEE VIOLENCE with guest artist Sally Rousse in Shapiro & Smith Dance Concert at the Cowles Center, March 25-26. Learn more >  
TPT2 's "MN Original" recently featured Joanie Smith exploring a work in progress and relating how Shaprio & Smith Dance developed.
    

Marcus Dilliard, Department Chair, assisted by Megan Winters, MFA graduate student, has created the lighting design forThe Duthchman  and The Owl Answers now playing at the Penumbra Theatre. 

Torry Bend, TAD Resident Scenic Designer, who joined the department last year, created and directed If My Feet Have Lost the Ground  at Open Eye Figure Theater in February. “I’ve been working on the show for the last three years and it is thrilling to see it premier in Minneapolis,” says Ms. Bend.  The show explores the experiences of Grace, a woman who spends too much of her life suspended in flight.  She finds a letter containing a living, beating heart in the airplane pocket in front of her. All she has to go on is a return address and a desire to keep this fragile thing alive.”  

Tessie Bundick, professional make-up artist and faculty member, recently did make-up for  A Prairie Home Companion guest Paul Simon.  “He was so lovely and gracious,” said Bundick “ and  he sings as beautifully as ever– at 73” Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson!

                                     Backstage at A Prairie Home 

Lisa Channer, Theatre Novi Most co-founder, and faculty member is producing The Seagull by Anton Chekhov opening March 5 playing through March 28 at the Southern Theater. Channer, heads the TAD‘s BA Performance Creation Program.  The iconic Russian classic about love, art and the power of symbols, is directed by Vladimir Rovinsky in a staging promises to “disengage the play from the clichés of samovars and corsets to directly address our contemporary world of disconnections.” The cast includes Barbra Berlovitz, TAD faculty member and acclaimed performer.

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Carl Flink, dance faculty member, is working this month as choreographer/ director teaming  up with  VocalEssence to stage Four Saints in Three Acts, an opera by Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein slated for performances  March 19 & 20, 2016 at the Cowles Center for Dance.  Last fall, as Movement Director Flink worked with Theatre Latte Da on the acclaimed presentation of Sweeney Todd, which was recently named by City Pages  #1 on their list of Finest Theater Productions  of  2015.  Earlier the Minnesota Orchestra, commissioned  him  as choreographer  for its Young People’s Concert  Series, conducted by Roderick Cox at the Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall in September 2015, as well as January and February of this year.

Sonja Kuftinec participates in symposium on community-based theater March 8 at Northwestern University and she is an invited panelist in a Gender and Violence symposium  April 1-3 at Princeton University.

Jason Allyn-Schwerin who recently came joined TAD as Technical Director and Shop Supervisor  has been one busy man. In addition to overseeing the Threepenny Opera responsibilities in the TAD scene shop, he is also Penumbra’s 2015 / 16 season Technical Director for The Dutchman and The Owl.  In December, he served as Technical Director for Ordway’s Sound of Music.