A Russian Approach to a Russian Classic

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

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.