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Richard Warner appears in Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln

Professor Richard Warner had “the experience of a lifetime” being directed by Steve Spielberg in Lincoln..According to Warner they were “four euphoric weeks - directed by a master filmmaker who just happens to be a wise, witty, collaborative artist.”  Warner auditioned for the film in Charlottesville for local casting director Erica Arvold in June 2011.  His audition video along with all those who auditioned for Arvold were sent to Avy Kaufman in New York.  Kaufman selected those she thought Spielberg should consider and Spielberg viewed each 30-second video.  Warner received an offer on July 20.  His first day on the set was November 1 2011 and he was impressed with the prep process for each actor.  There was one artisan doing his hair, one doing his make-up, and a third doing his beard.  All of these artisans had to prepare 100 actors for every shoot that included the Congress and Warner was very impressed with their efficiency. Around 5:00 a.m. each day all the actors rotated around the different prep areas, all coordinated by the second assistant director and a crew of production assistants.Setting the scene was a 50-foot square raised platform in a back alley in Petersburg, Virginia that was serving as a period outdoor soup kitchen.  In front of the platform was a greasy-aproned cook, standing beside a cauldron of steaming soup. Thirty background actors were sitting around crude wooden tables on the platform, all costumed as sooty 1865 laborers. A gypsy fiddler roamed, playing jigs and reels. Four horses were tied to a rail on the side.  None of that extensive back drop made it into the film.  What remains is a close-up of Warner’s character, Homer Benson, then a pan out to reveal his character being offered a bribe.Warner said, “One of the wonderful by-products of this experience has been the feedback I've received from the Wahoo Drama Nation. What a pleasure these past months have been for me hearing from former students. What a treat for an old actor coach!”

Kate Burke panelist discussing Voice and Virtuality: Teaching With and Without the Body

On November 26, 2012 Professor Kate Burke, UVa Department of Drama was a panelist on Voice and Virtuality: Teaching With and Without the Body.  Prof Burke was joined on the panel by Louis Bloomfield of the Department of Physics, Clare Kinney of the Department of English, and Andrew Wade, former head of the voice department at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Mr. Wade was Head of Voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1990-2003. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 as Assistant Voice Director to Cicely Berry, where he oversaw all of the voice work for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan Theatre. In conjunction with Cicely Berry, Mr. Wade recorded Working Shakespeare – a series on voice and text work with Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson, Toby Stevens and Claire Danes. Mr. Wade trained at the Rose Bruford College, the Arts Educational School, and served as Head of Voice at East 15. Mr. Wade was Verse Consultant on the film Shakespeare in Love. He also coached Courtney Love for the role of Lady Macbeth, and worked on the new musical Lord of the Rings. Since leaving the RSC in 2003, Mr. Wade has continued to work all over the world in a freelance capacity. He teaches at the Stella Adler Studio, Delaware University, the National Theater School in Montreal and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
The panelists considered the power and purpose of the teacher’s voice at this moment of transformation in the delivery of education. The questions addressed included: Can the face-to-face encounter be replicated in our new media? What has the embodied voice traditionally offered to students? And how can it be – or should it be – sustained, as methods of instruction change?

As universities begin to launch ambitious programs of online teaching, this is a timely conversation on the place of the human voice in the pedagogical mission of higher education. Watch the discussion here.

Michael Rasbury sound designer for Henry V
at Folger Theatre

Drama Department Associate Professor, Michael Rasbury, is the sound designer for Robert Richmond’s production of Shakespeare’s Henry V which runs through March 3 at Washington D.C.s Folger Theatre.  The production is, according to the Washingtonian’s review, “an outstanding interpretation of the fourth and final installment of the Henriad tetralogy, combining a raucously funny approach with a thoughtfulness about war and its legacy.”  The review further notes that, “With such simple staging the battle scenes are more of a challenge, but Michael Rasbury’s sound design helps conjure a realistically bloody Battle of Agincourt, complete with a post-explosion ringing in the ears that feels more like The Hurt Locker than a history play.”

Read the reviews here:
Washingtonian
http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/afterhours/theater-review/theater-review-henry-v-at-the-folger-theatre.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WashingtonianBlogs+(Washingtonian+Blogs)

MD Theatre Guide
http://www.mdtheatreguide.com/2013/01/theatre-review-henry-v-at-the-folger-theatre/

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