In November, Strayer-Wood Theatre will produce Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters in the Bertha Martin Theatre. The department is pleased to welcome three guest artists to work on this production. Alice Ivanova, who teaches acting at the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy in Russia, will guest direct this classic play about the lives, loves, and losses of Masha, Olga, Irina and their brother Andrei. Set in a provincial Russian town in the early 2000’s, the play explores issues of coping (or not coping) when your dreams are unfulfilled. Alice has taught acting workshops for UNI Theatre students in the past, and specializes in a training approach which focuses on Stanislavsky’s Etude Method, designed to let actors be completely open, confident and spontaneous.
Lera Nekhaeva is a former student of the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy and specializes in Theatre design. She is currently pursuing an MA in graphic design in the Art Department here at UNI. She began her connection to UNI as part of an ongoing exchange program between the Theatre Department and the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy. Lera’s work on this project will closely follow the model of theatrical design in Russia, where a scenographer is often responsible for multiple design elements. In the American system of design, it is more common for designers to specialize in a single area, so you would see one designer for scenery and a different designer for costumes. Lera will provide a vision for all the physical elements of this world, so the scenery, props and costumes will all evolve under her guidance. Evolve is an interesting word, since the acting company that Alice will form will have input into what they think their characters would wear- and browse through pulled items to see if they can individualize themselves.
Alice and Lera were able to hold initial design development meetings in Russia over the summer, and now the process continues with input from Theatre departmental staff. Theatre students will benefit from being able to work with someone who comes from a different background and whose approach may be different than they are used to. We will work in an 11 week process, which is almost twice the amount of time we would normally spend preparing a production. This shift is owing to the fact that a full year’s of shaping and polishing a show would not be unusual in the Russian system.
Additional support for this collaboration will come from Rebecca Burkhardt from the School of Music. Dr. Burkhardt is the conductor of the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and has she has visited and taken students to Russia many times. She has also conducted in Russia. She will help select appropriate Russian songs and motifs to be used as part of and in support of the performance. She will also help to incorporate live musicians into the cast.
This unique connection with Russia was made possible by the UNI Institute of Humanities and Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. Several Theatre students and faculty have benefited from this program and it is only through the connections made possible by the Institute that we are producing Three Sisters with this wonderful combination of talent now.
Three Sisters opens on November 6th and will run through November 16th.
Eric Lange, Head
Department of Theatre
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
A New Year - A New Name
You may have noticed that Theatre UNI has a new name: the Strayer-Wood Theatre. In recognition of the 30th anniversary of the building, the faculty and staff of the UNI Department of Theatre elected to change the name of our production program to honor our home, the Strayer-Wood Theatre. We hope that this change will strengthen our identity and remind our audiences that we continue to produce quality theatre in the Strayer-Wood. We will, of course, continue to answer to Theatre UNI in honor of the past seasons.
As the fourth week of the 2008/09 season and academic year begins, rehearsals for the fall semester main stage productions are well under way. Steve Taft, UNI professor of theatre, directs John Guare's comedy, The House of Blue Leaves, for the Strayer-Wood stage. Special guest artist, Alisa Ivanova, from St. Petersburg, Russia, has returned to UNI to direct Anton Chekhov's classic drama/comedy, Three Sisters, in the Bertha Martin Theatre. For more information about this unique opportunity, see the blog entry by Eric Lange, Head of the UNI Dept of Theatre.
The Design and Production committee hosted the 2008 fall regional conference of USITT (United States Institute of Theatre Technology) Northern Boundary this past weekend. More than 60 university theatre faculty, students and professionals from Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota congregated at UNI for workshops and networking.
Following a cookout on the Strayer-Wood loading dock, the conference kicked off with a slide show of work from schools in the region. Mark Parrott put together a presentation of production and work call photos from the past two Theatre UNI seasons to share with the audience. The region’s semi-annual business meeting was held earlier in the evening, during which I was elected to fill the remaining term of the Vice President of Programming and Amy RohrBerg and Leonard Curtis volunteered to serve on the region’s scholarship committee this fall.
Saturday’s activities began with a makeup workshop, Blood and Gore, led by Amy RohrBerg. Dani Jo Stephenson volunteered to allow Amy to make her up with bruises, burns, and a bullet hole in her forehead. A sound workshop, Mixing Sound for Live Theatre, was offered by Sandy Nordahl and Travis Duncan at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center and later in the morning, Amy joined Mark for a mask workshop. Tours of the Strayer-Wood and Gallagher-Bluedorn were offered as well.
During lunch, Carol Colburn led a discussion among faculty on student outcome assessments and how the different programs are working the assessments into their curriculums.
Later, a group of attendees were shuttled to the UNI Museum for a tour and discussion of the Visions of Africa: Art and Ritual exhibit while others participated in the student-to-student tech olympics. Tom Kobes, Jessica Van Essen and Ronnie Wells organized the event around a costume quick change, during which participants had to change two actors from one costume to another in the shortest time possible. Amanda Juhl and David Harnois volunteered to be the actors redressed while their dressers were timed. Meghan McKinney had the best time when changing Amanda.
Amy RohrBerg led a workshop on Kabuki Theatre and kimonos later in the afternoon while several representatives from ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) held a training sessions on the Congo and Congo Jr. light boards.
Eight students displayed their design and production work in a combination exhibition/competition for three scholarships to the national USITT conference. Six were UNI theatre students: Chad Albert, Will Azbill, Tom Kobes, Aaron Mayer, Meghan McKinney, and Jessica Van Essen. Meghan and Jessica received two of the three scholarships for the displays of their work.
The conference concluded with the announcement of the scholarship recipients, tech olympic winners and an invitation to attend the national conference, to be held in Cincinnati in March.
The success of the conference is thanks in large part to the more than twenty UNI theatre students who volunteered several hours to planning, organizing, publicizing, setting up, running and participating in the conference and cleaning up after.
Coming this weekend, light hang for The House of Blue Leaves.
As the fourth week of the 2008/09 season and academic year begins, rehearsals for the fall semester main stage productions are well under way. Steve Taft, UNI professor of theatre, directs John Guare's comedy, The House of Blue Leaves, for the Strayer-Wood stage. Special guest artist, Alisa Ivanova, from St. Petersburg, Russia, has returned to UNI to direct Anton Chekhov's classic drama/comedy, Three Sisters, in the Bertha Martin Theatre. For more information about this unique opportunity, see the blog entry by Eric Lange, Head of the UNI Dept of Theatre.
The Design and Production committee hosted the 2008 fall regional conference of USITT (United States Institute of Theatre Technology) Northern Boundary this past weekend. More than 60 university theatre faculty, students and professionals from Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota congregated at UNI for workshops and networking.
Following a cookout on the Strayer-Wood loading dock, the conference kicked off with a slide show of work from schools in the region. Mark Parrott put together a presentation of production and work call photos from the past two Theatre UNI seasons to share with the audience. The region’s semi-annual business meeting was held earlier in the evening, during which I was elected to fill the remaining term of the Vice President of Programming and Amy RohrBerg and Leonard Curtis volunteered to serve on the region’s scholarship committee this fall.
Saturday’s activities began with a makeup workshop, Blood and Gore, led by Amy RohrBerg. Dani Jo Stephenson volunteered to allow Amy to make her up with bruises, burns, and a bullet hole in her forehead. A sound workshop, Mixing Sound for Live Theatre, was offered by Sandy Nordahl and Travis Duncan at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center and later in the morning, Amy joined Mark for a mask workshop. Tours of the Strayer-Wood and Gallagher-Bluedorn were offered as well.
During lunch, Carol Colburn led a discussion among faculty on student outcome assessments and how the different programs are working the assessments into their curriculums.
Later, a group of attendees were shuttled to the UNI Museum for a tour and discussion of the Visions of Africa: Art and Ritual exhibit while others participated in the student-to-student tech olympics. Tom Kobes, Jessica Van Essen and Ronnie Wells organized the event around a costume quick change, during which participants had to change two actors from one costume to another in the shortest time possible. Amanda Juhl and David Harnois volunteered to be the actors redressed while their dressers were timed. Meghan McKinney had the best time when changing Amanda.
Amy RohrBerg led a workshop on Kabuki Theatre and kimonos later in the afternoon while several representatives from ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) held a training sessions on the Congo and Congo Jr. light boards.
Eight students displayed their design and production work in a combination exhibition/competition for three scholarships to the national USITT conference. Six were UNI theatre students: Chad Albert, Will Azbill, Tom Kobes, Aaron Mayer, Meghan McKinney, and Jessica Van Essen. Meghan and Jessica received two of the three scholarships for the displays of their work.
The conference concluded with the announcement of the scholarship recipients, tech olympic winners and an invitation to attend the national conference, to be held in Cincinnati in March.
The success of the conference is thanks in large part to the more than twenty UNI theatre students who volunteered several hours to planning, organizing, publicizing, setting up, running and participating in the conference and cleaning up after.
Coming this weekend, light hang for The House of Blue Leaves.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Show Comes Together
My apologies for not keeping up with the Theatre UNI blog. If only there were 25 hours in a day.
Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for the Theatre UNI/UNI School of Music production of The Crucible, an opera based on the play by Arthur Miller. Since I've already sat through four technical rehearsals, I decided to duck out tonight and write instead.
The road to mount this particular show has been complicated. Because Theatre UNI is undertaking a large scale alumni production of Miller's Death of a Salesman this spring in celebration of the 30th anniversary of our home, the Strayer-Wood Theatre, we (referring to the Theatre UNI faculty/staff) decided last spring that it might be in our best interest to put a little more time between the end of the first show of the semester and the opening of Salesman. Therefore, we scheduled The Crucible to open a week earlier in the semester than our usual production calendar would suggest. We decided to open on Thursday, February 14. Valentine's Day does seem like an odd choice of opening dates for The Crucible but considering the production calendar, that was the day.
Several weeks after choosing the show dates for our four main stage productions, building the production calendar, starting a season ticket renewal campaign and advertising in a couple media sources, an overlooked scheduling conflict was brought to our attention and made it necessary to move The Crucible up by another week, opening just three and a half weeks after the start of the second semester, instead of our normal five and a half weeks.
So the production calendar was updated, people who had already purchased tickets were contacted, and we adjusted, holding auditions and beginning the design process last fall while we were also working on Cloud 9 and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The building of scenery and costumes began so soon as Midsummer opened.
After a nice holiday break, we jumped right back into the production and have managed to pull together a truly beautiful production. Winter weather, illnesses among the production team, cast and crew, and the workload of some production personnel have made it difficult at times to see the light at the end of the tunnel but I truly believe that we are there, just in time for opening. Now I hope the weather cooperates.
And speaking of, as I sit in my office typing this, I'm glancing out the window to watch the snow continuing to fall. The forecast calls for up to a foot of snow by noon tomorrow. At least we have an evening off before the opening on Thursday.
Tonight is the final dress rehearsal for the Theatre UNI/UNI School of Music production of The Crucible, an opera based on the play by Arthur Miller. Since I've already sat through four technical rehearsals, I decided to duck out tonight and write instead.
The road to mount this particular show has been complicated. Because Theatre UNI is undertaking a large scale alumni production of Miller's Death of a Salesman this spring in celebration of the 30th anniversary of our home, the Strayer-Wood Theatre, we (referring to the Theatre UNI faculty/staff) decided last spring that it might be in our best interest to put a little more time between the end of the first show of the semester and the opening of Salesman. Therefore, we scheduled The Crucible to open a week earlier in the semester than our usual production calendar would suggest. We decided to open on Thursday, February 14. Valentine's Day does seem like an odd choice of opening dates for The Crucible but considering the production calendar, that was the day.
Several weeks after choosing the show dates for our four main stage productions, building the production calendar, starting a season ticket renewal campaign and advertising in a couple media sources, an overlooked scheduling conflict was brought to our attention and made it necessary to move The Crucible up by another week, opening just three and a half weeks after the start of the second semester, instead of our normal five and a half weeks.
So the production calendar was updated, people who had already purchased tickets were contacted, and we adjusted, holding auditions and beginning the design process last fall while we were also working on Cloud 9 and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The building of scenery and costumes began so soon as Midsummer opened.
After a nice holiday break, we jumped right back into the production and have managed to pull together a truly beautiful production. Winter weather, illnesses among the production team, cast and crew, and the workload of some production personnel have made it difficult at times to see the light at the end of the tunnel but I truly believe that we are there, just in time for opening. Now I hope the weather cooperates.
And speaking of, as I sit in my office typing this, I'm glancing out the window to watch the snow continuing to fall. The forecast calls for up to a foot of snow by noon tomorrow. At least we have an evening off before the opening on Thursday.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Guest Blogger
From Chelsea Cunningham, senior theatre major and director of the upcoming UNISTA production of Best of Broadway:
The cast of Best of Broadway performed three successful pre-show gigs this weekend at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. We performed 30 minutes of music before each performance of the National Tour of Annie, grabbing the attention of many theatre-goers. Spectators clapped along with the songs while members of the Best of Broadway team passed out postcards with show information on it. Ticket sales increased following these performances.
What's more, several cast members of Annie came to watch our pre-show Sunday night, saying that they were excited for the opportunity to hear other people sing. Last night, Annie cast members listened again - some coming right out to the lobby and others listening at the end of the hallway near their Green Room. I had the opportunity to introduce myself to them and they spoke praisingly of the talent of the ensemble, even pointing out several Best of Broadway cast members that they thought should audition professionally. One Annie ensemble member ended up asking me if we'd come to his dressing room and let him take a picture with us!
Attached is a photo of the Best of Broadway cast posing with Alex (front, blue sweater) who is an ensemble member in Annie, and with Amanda Balon (Annie) and Mikey the Dog (Sandy).
Thanks for your continuing support of Best of Broadway! We are working to make this a most successful production. For more information, continue to visit www.bestofbroadwayunista.com.
The cast of Best of Broadway performed three successful pre-show gigs this weekend at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. We performed 30 minutes of music before each performance of the National Tour of Annie, grabbing the attention of many theatre-goers. Spectators clapped along with the songs while members of the Best of Broadway team passed out postcards with show information on it. Ticket sales increased following these performances.
What's more, several cast members of Annie came to watch our pre-show Sunday night, saying that they were excited for the opportunity to hear other people sing. Last night, Annie cast members listened again - some coming right out to the lobby and others listening at the end of the hallway near their Green Room. I had the opportunity to introduce myself to them and they spoke praisingly of the talent of the ensemble, even pointing out several Best of Broadway cast members that they thought should audition professionally. One Annie ensemble member ended up asking me if we'd come to his dressing room and let him take a picture with us!
Attached is a photo of the Best of Broadway cast posing with Alex (front, blue sweater) who is an ensemble member in Annie, and with Amanda Balon (Annie) and Mikey the Dog (Sandy).
Thanks for your continuing support of Best of Broadway! We are working to make this a most successful production. For more information, continue to visit www.bestofbroadwayunista.com.
Monday, November 12, 2007
November
Sorry it's been a few weeks. Numerous times I've composed entries mentally but finding the time to actually type them out has been a little more difficult. Sometimes I wish I could simply project my thoughts directly onto the page. Of course I'd have to then find the time to edit.
Anyway, Cloud 9 and Midsummer closed last week. Both had very successful runs, playing to enthusiastic audiences.
Auditions for Death of a Salesman were held last week. Seventeen majors had their auditions recorded and sent to Larry Paulsen, the director. Call-backs will be held after Thanksgiving. Our stage manager Vanessa is currently putting together a list of dates relating to the production and collecting schedules in order to arrange a conference call for a design meeting before the end of the semester.
On Friday afternoon, Eric Lange, our department head, took five students to the Iowa Thespian conference in Davenport. Richard Glockner and I joined them on Saturday. Katy and Chelsea lead workshop on musical theatre auditions; Eric lead one on lighting design; and Mikey, Scott, and Briton on warm-up techniques and games. Richard attended auditions to scout for potential students and I staffed our table in the high school hall, answering questions about our program. We also talked to five alum who are now teaching and a former colleague now in Iowa City. I have to admit that I spent much of last week considering begging out of the event as I wanted to spend a Saturday at home for the first time in several weeks. But in the end, I'm happy that I went. It was nice to see the former students and to get out of town for awhile. And the reality is, I would have probably ended up helping out with the storage moving that was also happening on Saturday afternoon here in Cedar Falls.
Progress continues on The Crucible. During this morning's production meeting, we spent time going over the scenic design to determine how to make it fit the financial and labor resources assigned to the project. Later, several conversations were held to determine how best to accommodate the scenic design needs of the two productions currently rehearsing in the Strayer-Wood Theatre. In addition to the rehearsals for The Crucible, UNISTA's (UNI Student Theatre Assocation) production of the musical revue, The Best of Broadway, will be performing on the Strayer-Wood stage the weekend after Thanksgiving. The lastest word that I've heard is that a compromise acceptable to both production teams has been reached.
Earlier this evening, I spent about 30 minutes ordering perusal copies of several musicals in consideration for next season, including Urinetown, Spin: A Musical Myth, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Apple Tree and Little Shop of Horrors. My next task for the evening is to finish reading Tales of the Lost Formicans, a play that Richard is directing a workshop production of early next semester.
Anyway, Cloud 9 and Midsummer closed last week. Both had very successful runs, playing to enthusiastic audiences.
Auditions for Death of a Salesman were held last week. Seventeen majors had their auditions recorded and sent to Larry Paulsen, the director. Call-backs will be held after Thanksgiving. Our stage manager Vanessa is currently putting together a list of dates relating to the production and collecting schedules in order to arrange a conference call for a design meeting before the end of the semester.
On Friday afternoon, Eric Lange, our department head, took five students to the Iowa Thespian conference in Davenport. Richard Glockner and I joined them on Saturday. Katy and Chelsea lead workshop on musical theatre auditions; Eric lead one on lighting design; and Mikey, Scott, and Briton on warm-up techniques and games. Richard attended auditions to scout for potential students and I staffed our table in the high school hall, answering questions about our program. We also talked to five alum who are now teaching and a former colleague now in Iowa City. I have to admit that I spent much of last week considering begging out of the event as I wanted to spend a Saturday at home for the first time in several weeks. But in the end, I'm happy that I went. It was nice to see the former students and to get out of town for awhile. And the reality is, I would have probably ended up helping out with the storage moving that was also happening on Saturday afternoon here in Cedar Falls.
Progress continues on The Crucible. During this morning's production meeting, we spent time going over the scenic design to determine how to make it fit the financial and labor resources assigned to the project. Later, several conversations were held to determine how best to accommodate the scenic design needs of the two productions currently rehearsing in the Strayer-Wood Theatre. In addition to the rehearsals for The Crucible, UNISTA's (UNI Student Theatre Assocation) production of the musical revue, The Best of Broadway, will be performing on the Strayer-Wood stage the weekend after Thanksgiving. The lastest word that I've heard is that a compromise acceptable to both production teams has been reached.
Earlier this evening, I spent about 30 minutes ordering perusal copies of several musicals in consideration for next season, including Urinetown, Spin: A Musical Myth, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Apple Tree and Little Shop of Horrors. My next task for the evening is to finish reading Tales of the Lost Formicans, a play that Richard is directing a workshop production of early next semester.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Another Opening
A Midsummer Night's Dream opened to a enthusiastic almot full house in the Strayer-Wood Theatre this past Thursday evening. Performances of both Midsummer and Cloud 9 throughout the weekend have been well received by audiences and Cloud 9 received a glowing review from the Waterloo Courier earlier in the week. I am so proud of the work that everyone involved has done this semester on these two productions. Although it has been exhausting to produce two shows of a large scale at the same time with somewhat limited resources, I believe we have do so with great success.
Although there is another week of performances, work has already begun on Theatre UNI's next two productions, The Crucible and Death of a Salesman. Designs are due Friday for The Crucible, an opera version of Arthur Miller's play of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. The scenic designer, Leonard Curtis, is designing a simple, stark, yet breath-taking set that supports the emotional landscape of the opera beautifully. And Amy RohrBerg's working designs for the costuming contrast nicely to place the characters in the appropriate time-frame while not hendering the story's timeless theme.
There are also several student projects in the works, produced by UNISTA, the UNI Student Theatre Association. Best of Broadway, a musical revue, is already in rehearsal with performances scheduled for the first weekend of December in the Strayer-Wood. A workshop production of LUV will open just days before Broadway in the Acting Practice Room. Watch for more information about both productions. On November 10, UNISTA will present the stand-up comedy of guest Josh Fitkin and Tim Cahill, a senior theatre major. TAP, the department's service fraternity, will host a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on November 10 in Lang Hall. This has become a fairly successful annual event for the organization.
The first round of auditions for Death of a Salesman will begin Thursday, November 8. Because Salesman is to be directed by alum Larry Paulsen, who is currently performing in Denver, Colorado, and therefore able to return to UNI for only one day in December for auditions, the first round will be taped and sent to Larry. Students have been asked to prepare a monologue in the style and period of the show and identify which character or characters for which they wish to be considered. Larry will identify those students he wishes to "call back," or see audition a second time, on Sunday, December 2. While this is not the way in which we traditionally have auditions for main stage productions, the experience of creating a recorded audition will be a good one for our students and one they may well experience several times throughout a career in performance.
Classes also continue with plans being made for final projects and portfolio reviews not far off. Theatre majors will have an opportunity to take the Department's level II reading exam next month that will test their knowledge of a set of plays and other theatre related literature that the faculty feel those studying theatre should be familiar with. In the newest curriculum requirements, a passing score on the level II exam is necessary in order for a student to declare an emphasis area of study within the theatre program.
Two weeks ago, I happened to remember that I had reached an anniversary at Theatre UNI. I have been here for 12 years. This may not seem like a very important anniversary, except for the fact that when I arrived here in October of 1995, during the week between performances of Praying Mantis, it was for a 9 month temporary job. And since then, I have been almost constantly looking forward to the next job, the next move, and wondering where I would be in another year or two. During this past year, my personal life has changed in a way that will now allow me to settle down here at UNI and in Cedar Falls if I so desire. There is no "next" move on the horizen if I don't want there to be. I've got a big decision to make now, but fortunately, no deadline to be concerned with.
Although there is another week of performances, work has already begun on Theatre UNI's next two productions, The Crucible and Death of a Salesman. Designs are due Friday for The Crucible, an opera version of Arthur Miller's play of the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. The scenic designer, Leonard Curtis, is designing a simple, stark, yet breath-taking set that supports the emotional landscape of the opera beautifully. And Amy RohrBerg's working designs for the costuming contrast nicely to place the characters in the appropriate time-frame while not hendering the story's timeless theme.
There are also several student projects in the works, produced by UNISTA, the UNI Student Theatre Association. Best of Broadway, a musical revue, is already in rehearsal with performances scheduled for the first weekend of December in the Strayer-Wood. A workshop production of LUV will open just days before Broadway in the Acting Practice Room. Watch for more information about both productions. On November 10, UNISTA will present the stand-up comedy of guest Josh Fitkin and Tim Cahill, a senior theatre major. TAP, the department's service fraternity, will host a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on November 10 in Lang Hall. This has become a fairly successful annual event for the organization.
The first round of auditions for Death of a Salesman will begin Thursday, November 8. Because Salesman is to be directed by alum Larry Paulsen, who is currently performing in Denver, Colorado, and therefore able to return to UNI for only one day in December for auditions, the first round will be taped and sent to Larry. Students have been asked to prepare a monologue in the style and period of the show and identify which character or characters for which they wish to be considered. Larry will identify those students he wishes to "call back," or see audition a second time, on Sunday, December 2. While this is not the way in which we traditionally have auditions for main stage productions, the experience of creating a recorded audition will be a good one for our students and one they may well experience several times throughout a career in performance.
Classes also continue with plans being made for final projects and portfolio reviews not far off. Theatre majors will have an opportunity to take the Department's level II reading exam next month that will test their knowledge of a set of plays and other theatre related literature that the faculty feel those studying theatre should be familiar with. In the newest curriculum requirements, a passing score on the level II exam is necessary in order for a student to declare an emphasis area of study within the theatre program.
Two weeks ago, I happened to remember that I had reached an anniversary at Theatre UNI. I have been here for 12 years. This may not seem like a very important anniversary, except for the fact that when I arrived here in October of 1995, during the week between performances of Praying Mantis, it was for a 9 month temporary job. And since then, I have been almost constantly looking forward to the next job, the next move, and wondering where I would be in another year or two. During this past year, my personal life has changed in a way that will now allow me to settle down here at UNI and in Cedar Falls if I so desire. There is no "next" move on the horizen if I don't want there to be. I've got a big decision to make now, but fortunately, no deadline to be concerned with.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Opening Night
It's opening night of Cloud 9 and for Theatre UNI's 2007/08 anniversary season at the Strayer-Wood. We have a sold out crowd in the Bertha Martin Theatre, 140 people. The majority of the crowd seem to be students, many of whom probably have to see it for a class (this guess is based on the number of notebooks that I saw). Intermission comments were quite positive. I think it's a show for all involved to be proud of.
This is always a wonderful reward after the long process of rehearsals and building. The past week has been a busy one. In addition to the dress rehearsals for Cloud 9 and finishing touches on scenery, costumes, lights and sound, we began technical rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which opens next Thursday evening. We are a little behind where we should be and would like to be just seven days before opening, due mostly to the fact that we've been producing two shows in the same time period. However, great progress has been made in the past couple of days and we've made a few adjustments to the schedule to allow more time for painting, the writing of light cues, and the sewing of costumes. Now that Cloud 9 has opened, the attention of some of us can turn fully to Midsummer to make it's opening as successfull.
Design meetings have begun for our February production of the opera version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Designs are due in just two weeks and the build will begin the following Monday. Because we open less than four weeks after the holiday break, much of the build will happen prior, as well as many rehearsals. The music for the orchestra arrived earlier this week and Sandra Walden, the director, has begun rehearsals. I haven't had an opportunity yet to listen to the music from the show but I've been told by many colleagues that it is quite beautiful. I love good opera.
This is always a wonderful reward after the long process of rehearsals and building. The past week has been a busy one. In addition to the dress rehearsals for Cloud 9 and finishing touches on scenery, costumes, lights and sound, we began technical rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream, which opens next Thursday evening. We are a little behind where we should be and would like to be just seven days before opening, due mostly to the fact that we've been producing two shows in the same time period. However, great progress has been made in the past couple of days and we've made a few adjustments to the schedule to allow more time for painting, the writing of light cues, and the sewing of costumes. Now that Cloud 9 has opened, the attention of some of us can turn fully to Midsummer to make it's opening as successfull.
Design meetings have begun for our February production of the opera version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Designs are due in just two weeks and the build will begin the following Monday. Because we open less than four weeks after the holiday break, much of the build will happen prior, as well as many rehearsals. The music for the orchestra arrived earlier this week and Sandra Walden, the director, has begun rehearsals. I haven't had an opportunity yet to listen to the music from the show but I've been told by many colleagues that it is quite beautiful. I love good opera.
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