Kate Burke, Associate Professor, Voice, Speech, and Acting, made a February visit to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, as part of a team celebrating the dedication of a new school building financed by Charlottesville donor Paul Harnois and his late wife Christine.  Kate, who has an undergraduate degree in French, has twice served as translator for Fr. Rene Blot, pastor of St. Michel’s Church in Saltadere, during his visits to Charlottesville.  The church and its school provide the only infrastructure for the 25,000 Haitian citizens in the region.  Two Catholic parishes in Charlottesville participate in a “twinning” arrangement with Saltadere, sending volunteers to Haiti to witness the human crisis, to provide medical care, and to hand-deliver monies donated.   Fourth-year U.Va. student Steven Robillard (a Biology major but denizen of Media Studies)  also made the trip to Saltadere to shoot footage for a documentary project.  Kate will attend design meetings in March at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI, where she will coach Much Ado About Nothing and Night of the Iguana.

Bob Chapel, Professor, returned in December from a six week residency in Moscow where he directed a production of Sweeney Todd for the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts.  The show is playing at the GITTIS Theatre in downtown Moscow in rotating repertory with three other shows through May of 2007.  He has since traveled to Ann Arbor, MI to cast his upcoming production of Arthur Miller's Playing for Time, the first production in the University of Michigan's new Arthur Miller Theatre, opening in March.  This summer Bob will be teaching two courses on the U.Va. Semester-at-Sea ocean liner, visiting eight Central and South American countries June-August.  He looks forward to returning full-time to the UVA Drama faculty next fall and to resuming his duties as Producing Artistic Director of the Heritage Repertory Theatre in the summer of 2008.

Gweneth West, Professor, Costume Design, is one of three National Selection Team members representing KCACTF Design & Technology programs, criss-crossing the country to attend all eight regional festivals January-March.  At the final festival in Tulsa, the NST will select the 4 or 5 productions to appear at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival this summer.  Gweneth will see over 65 productions, nearly 800 design/technology entries in the National Barbizon competition, and Regional entries in design and technology exhibits.  She returns to teach classes on Mondays and Tuesdays with the support of three fabulous grad students, Brittney Belz, Joshua Burns, and Rachel Schuldenfrei.  "Lord, what fun we have!”   Gweneth will attend design meetings for Texas Shakespeare Festival's summer 07 production of Othello.