The Theatre Arts and Dance Department concluded its season with a rousing production of The Wizard of Oz. The show was produced in collaboration with the SUU Music Department and drew record numbers of enthusiastic audiences to the performances. Next year’s season promises to be equally exciting. Here’s what’s ahead for 2009-10.
Southern Utah University Department of Theatre Arts and Dance was one of seventeen colleges and universities to be awarded the prestigious American Masterpieces: Dance NEA grant. This grant is awarded to college and university dance programs for the re‐staging, performance and documentation of significant dance choreography in order to provide dance students with access to the legacy of American dance history. The $15,000 grant puts SUU in the ranks of major universities such as University of Wisconsin‐ Madison, University of Michigan, North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Washington.
This funding will allow the department to license Alwin Nikolais’ Imago and restaged by Alberto Del Saz with SUU students during a campus residency. Imago was selected because of its broad appeal to audiences of all ages. Activities associated with this project include an artist residency, six performances of Imago on the SUU campus, lecture demonstrations at seven elementary schools, a cooperative learning project with the Ririe‐Woodbury Dance Company and culminating in SUU representing the western United States as part of the Alwin Nikolais Centennial Celebration at Hunter College in New York City.
Seventeen Theatre Arts and Dance Department faculty, staff and students, as well as the Arts Administration Program, are represented as part of the producing team for the 7th season of the Neil Simon Festival. The Festival was founded by Richard Bugg and is the only professional theatre company dedicated to producing the work of the award-winning playwright.
Richard Bugg (Associate Professor of Theatre Arts), the Artistic Director of the Neil Simon Festival will be acting in this seasons Festival. Michael Harvey (Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts and Dance) is designing scenery for all three shows in which Randy Seeley (’09) will build. Randy and Jim Lord (’08), Sound Designer, both have been working for the Festival for five years. This is Jim’s first year as Managing Director. Jasmine Milius (’10), Costume Designer, and Anne Marie Keefe (MFA ’10), Production and Company Manager, are new to the Festival this year. Brian Tindall (‘08) is in his second year as the Festival’s Lighting Designer. Jalaire Robinson (’09) is stage managing Biloxi Blues, under the direction of Matt Neves (MFA Arts Administration Program Director). The cast of Biloxi Blues features Rev McLean (’09), Wendy Penrod (‘07), Chris Bodily (‘04) and Kristen Henley (’11), who is playing Myrtle in Harvey, in which Kasey Rude (‘08) is stage managing. Casey Carlson (‘10) is Assistant Directing Harvey as well as being the Props Master for the Festival. Cami Sheridan (‘11) is stage managing Last of the Red Hot Lovers, under the direction of Bradford Garrison (‘02) who is also the head of the intern program.
The Neil Simon Festival runs July 16-August 15, 2009 in the Heritage Center in Cedar City. For tickets and more information go to www.simonfest.org
Professor Richard Bugg was the recipient of the "Excellence in Education" award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Region VIII in February 2009. Furthermore, Richard is also producing and acting in the 7th season of the Neil Simon Festival, which performs July 16 - August 15, 2009 at the Heritage Center.
Dr. Christine Frezza will be directing the American Theatre classic, Thornton Wilder's Our Town in the Auditorium Theater in November 2009, with an all-student cast.
Dr. Dan Frezza, CPVA Academic Advisor, will be appearing in his fifth season with the Utah Shakespearean Festival, in As You Like It, as the shepherd Corin, and in Henry V performing several roles, including Sir Thomas Erpingham and the Duke of Burgundy.
Professor Shauna Mendini will be Project Director and Professor Kay Andersen will be Rehearsal Director for the National Endowment for the Arts, American Masterpieces Grant to license and restage Alwin Nikolais' masterpiece Imago with SUU students. The $15,000 grant will help support numerous activities including performances of Imago on the SUU Campus, lecture demonstrations in elementary schools, a cooperative performance with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company at the Heritage Theatre and a performance at the College of Southern Nevada as part of their Dance in the Desert Festival. The culmination will be a performance of Imago in spring 2010 as part of the Alwin Nikolais Centennial Celebration at Hunter College in New York City.
Professor Michael Harvey will be designing scenery for the 7th season of the Neil Simon Festival, which will be held in the Heritage Center in Cedar City. In March, 2009 Michael co-chaired a panel entitled “It's All The Same, They'll Never Know: Plagiarism in the Digital Age“ at the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Annual Conference & Stage Expo held at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he chaired the session at the conference entitled “Next Generation Digital Portfolios,” which set a record for attendance of an Education Commission sponsored program with over 200 in attendance and participated as a panel member for the session “Teaching Projections for Theatre.”
Professor Paul C. Ocampo received the Cedar City Arts Council Artist’s Grant in January 2009. He will give master classes at the National Taiwan University of Arts in Taipei and in Modern Dance at the Steps Dance Studio in Manila, Philippines July 13 – 25, 2009.
Professors Chien-Ying Wang and Paul C. Ocampo will perform their choreography Equanimity in the American Dance Guild Performance Festival 2009 at Manhattan Movement Arts Center, New York City September 11-13, 2009. Wang and Ocampo will also give master classes at the National Taiwan University of Arts, Taipei June 28 – July 11, 2009.
Professor Brian Swanson will return for his twelfth summer with the Aspen Music Festival and School as the Aspen Opera Theatre Center Production Manager and Technical Director. The 2009 season will include La Bohème, The Rape of Lucretia and Don Giovanni. Brian was a panelist for the session "It's All the Same, They'll Never Know: Plagiarism in the Digital Age" at the 49th annual United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference in Cincinnati, OH March, 2009.
During the Theatre and Dance Awards Banquet on April 27, 2009, the following scholarships were awarded to students for the 2009-10 academic year:
Robert Snow & Lehi Robert Gardner Fred Adams Renaissance Man |
Robin Lynn Bishop Memorial San Christopher |
Natalie Bell (‘08) is the Scene Shop Manager and Assistant Technical Director (ATD) for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival summer 2009. She will also be the ATD for the fall 2009 season of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. She will be starting her second year of graduate school at the University of Delaware, Professional Theatre Training Program (PTTP) fall 2009.
Brent Barnes (‘04) performed in the Silk Road Theatre Project production of Pangs of the Messiah March through May, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois.
Eric Chiu (‘01) has been doing theatrical lighting with Cirque du Soleil in Macau, China for the last year and a half. He returned to the Las Vegas area February, 2009.
Nicholas Chacon (’08) is working as a Crew Head summer 2009 at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Nich reports he had a great year as a graduate student at Rutgers.
Rhett Guter (’09), Outstanding Graduate in Theatre 2009, will be performing in Les Misérables and The Music Man at the PCPA Theaterfest in Santa Maria, California this summer (http://www.pcpa.org). Rhett was the first student to graduate from SUU with the new BFA degree in Music Theatre.
Mitsuyo Miyazaki (‘99) recently co-directed and line produced a reality show pilot called "In the Park" which she described as a comedic version of American Idol. Currently, she is about to begin working as a translator for a Japanese actor for his feature film shoot.
Brian Tindall (‘08) will be designing lights for the Neil Simon Festival summer 2009 in Cedar City. Brian finished a 9-month national tour in a production position with the Disney on Ice production. During the tour they performed in 23 states and visited Canada twice.
Laura Webb (‘08) continues this summer at the Arizona Theatre Company in a paid position as an Assistant Director for their High School summer program called Summer on Stage. She will be helping directors for the two main stage shows and teaching workshops. In fall 2009 she will be starting an internship in directing at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
(Photos: Top: 2009 Production of The wizard of Oz Bottom: 2009 Production of Journeys Faculty Dance Concert)