Remember those “What I did on my summer vacation” essays facing us as when returned to our grade school classrooms in the fall?  What I wouldn’t have given back then to digitally save and store that essay as a word doc., ready for revision the following fall since, in my experience, each subsequent submission as I rose through elementary grades was essentially a rehash of the previous report. But instead, every September I would laboriously reconstruct the same essay – painstakingly printing it to the page in the lower elementary grades and then, in the upper elementary grades, writing it out in longhand.  Keep in mind that I’m a lefty, which makes cursive writing an ordeal in itself! 

What did the faculty of the Drama Department do on their recent summer vacation? I’m both impressed by the range of their output, as well as honored to be a part of this talented team of colleagues.  Here’s the rundown of how they spent their summer months: 

Rose Beauchamp, Lecturer in Dance, Toured the US and Canada with her professional company - inFlux Dance

Bob Chapel, Professor of Drama, taught courses in Musical Theatre History and South American Theatre as a faculty member on the Semester at Sea cruise that sailed the pacific coastline of Central and South America.                        

Kate Burke, Associate Professor of Voice and Speech,was the voice/text/dialect coach for the Guthrie Theatre’s production of 1776.

Theresa M. Davis, Associate Professor of Cross Cultural Performance, attended the summer U/RTA board meeting in Las Vegas.  Theresa is an U/RTA board member.

John Frick, Professor of Theatre History completed his first year as President of the American Theatre and Dramatic Society – presided as chair of ATDS at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference in New Orleans and gave a paper “The Ante-bellum Dramatizations of Uncle Tom's Cabin” at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford CN.

Doug Grissom, Associate Professor of Playwriting, saw his play Elvis People open in New York City at New World Stages.

LaVahn Hoh, Professor and Associate Chair of Drama,was a guest on The Diane Rehm Show, talking about the Circus in America.  The interview was broadcast on NPR affiliate WAMU 88.5 in Washington DC.

Marianne Kubik, Assistant Professor of Theatre Movement, was a presenter at the International University Theater Methods Conference in Bovec, Slovenia.

Lee Kennedy, Associate Professor of Lighting Design contributed to the local community, volunteering his expertise as a consultant for Monticello HS.            

Marcy Linton, Assistant Professor in Costume Technology, was recruited and hired to drape in the costume shop of the renowned Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Michael Rasbury, Assistant Professor ofSound Design, was the sound designer for The Lost Colony Pageant and furnished sound design and musical composition for the Foothill Theatre Company, Nevada City CA

Betsy Tucker, Assistant Professor of Drama,attended the Michael Rohd Workshop (founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre) at the North American Cultural Laboratory in the Catskills, NY.

Gweneth West, Professor of Costume Design,designed costumes for Othello at the Texas Shakespeare Festival, Kilgore, TX.

Richard Warner, Professor of Acting, portrayed Frank in Educating Rita at St Michael's Playhouse in Colchester, Vermont (hearsay has it that Richard also danced in St Michael’s production of Into The Woods.

Steven Warner, Technical Director and Lecturer, has been supervising a very smooth and efficient installation of the JR Clancey automated winch rigging system in the Culbreth Theatre (replacing Mr. Hydro)

	Construction on the new Parking Structure adjacent to the Helms Theatre (Click for larger image)

Yours truly attended the Prague Quadrennial International Theatre Design Exhibition in the Czech Republic.

Upon returning from our summer vacations the appearance of the landscape around the Drama building had undergone many significant changes as construction moved forward on the Arts Grounds Parking structure and the Ruffin Hall Studio Art building. Here are some images of what it’s looking like around the building these days.

Hopefully our building expansion is close behind – I just received the architect’s rendering of the Ruth Caplin Theatre and am excited to share it with you below...

	click for larger image

 

Regards,
Tom

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