Newsletter
Archives
December 17, 2001
Greetings, Friends!
It is with great
pleasure that I send you another Theatre Alumni Newsletter.
Thanks SO much to all of you who took the time to complete
the Theatre Alumni survey! As you may recall, the purpose
of the surveys sent out by each department was to provide
information for our regular re-accreditation by the North
Central College Association. However, the survey also showed
us some things that the Theatre Arts Dept. is doing well,
and some things in which we need to improve. As I read and
re-read them, I was reminded how much the Theatre Arts dept.
has changed just in the 17 years I have been here (whew).
The most obvious change is in the makeup of the faculty, but
there are other significant changes as well (for example,
the change of calendar for the entire college). One thing
that has not changed, however, is the top priority we place
on the education of our students and the commitment to doing
thoughtful and provocative theatre in an environment that
inculcates the highest standards we can achieve in terms of
both a professional and artistic aesthetic. Nevertheless,
here are some general results of the survey (if you would
like more specific information on any aspect of the survey,
please contact me).
A majority of
the surveys indicated a high degree of satisfaction with such
elements as the actual productions helping students prepare
for a career, developing an area of interest, and developing
the aforementioned professional and artistic aesthetics. In
regard to the education within the major, there seemed to
be satisfaction with preparation for speaking well in public,
enjoying and understanding both reading and seeing plays,
thinking independently, creating original works, and succeeding
in a professional environment There was also a generally positive
response to the faculty who taught you, especially in regard
to their accessibility to students, quality of teaching, and
knowledge in the field.
These are some
of the areas in which you expressed dissatisfaction (although
even here, very rarely were any of these in a majority of
responses): in the courses: not enough multicultural theatre,
not enough women's theatre, and not enough of how to be a
theatre professional. The comps and SIP provoked almost 50/50
reaction as to how well they served as capstone experiences.
Here is how we
in Theatre Arts interpret the survey. We continue to do well
in: implementing our philosophy of integrating curriculum
and production in all areas, creating conditions in which
every student learns to speak with his or her own voice, studying
the plurality of cultures and world theatre traditions, and
providing students with varied experiences in both coursework
and production to make discoveries about themselves and their
potential in the art form (much of this is in our Department
Mission Statement which can be viewed at our web page - www.kzoo.edu/theatre).
On the whole, in comparison to most theatre programs from
similar institutions, the department seems to be effective
(this was almost a near unanimous observation in the survey,
by the way). On the other hand, we obviously need to improve
our courses in such areas as multicultural and women's theatre.
In addition, the entire program could do a better job of preparing
theatre majors to enter the "reality of the profession" as
well as integrating the SIP and Comps into an overall capstone
experience. Here are some of the things we've been doing the
last few years to address those areas:
1. Introduction
to African American Theatre is now a permanent course taught
every year.
2. For the last
several years, my First Year Seminar (Visions of America On
Stage: Issues of Race, Gender, and Class) has been devoted
exclusively to studying women playwrights and playwrights
of color.
3. Asian Theatre
is offered every other year. We now have a unit of African
Theatre (and are trying to incorporate Latin America) in our
theatre history courses which also highlight the often overlooked
achievements of women in Western theatre history.
4. We now offer
courses in Theatre & Production Management and Costume & Makeup
Design.
5. We place a much
greater emphasis on procuring an internship at a professional
theatre in the summer before either junior or senior year.
6. In the last
few years, we have totally redesigned Senior Seminar in connection
with the SIP and Comps. This is the course in which the Comprehensive
Exam is administered (in which seniors create their own artistic
season, a research and "paper" design and directing process
which now begins 6 months prior, in junior summer). There
are also several assignments in the course designed to provide
the "bridge" from academic to professional theatre, including
finalizing resume and photos (for actors), mock interviews,
and grant writing practice. There are guest speakers including
representatives from the Kalamazoo Arts council, professional
actors, teachers, and alums. At the same time, students must
write their own personal artistic manifestos, and in their
electronic portfolios, review and reflect on their four years
at Kalamazoo College, and submit their 3, 5, & 10 yr. plans
for their professional and artistic goals.
7. Senior Year
is a very busy time for the Theatre Arts majors, not only
because of the three part integrated focus of Comprehensive
Exams (critical thinking and research), the SIP (artistic
or professional development), and the Senior Seminar (career
preparation and Reflection), but also because we expect the
Seniors to take leadership positions in the program as directors,
designers, stage managers, even on the Play Selection committee.
In this sense, students are teaching other students, or advising
each other. In the Spring, after the Comprehensive Exam process
has ended, and after they have each presented an oral presentation
on their SIP, there is a formal exit interview as well a final
reflection in their portfolio. Through faculty contacts, suggestions,
and K-TAN, students are given some options on the bridge between
an academic and professional theatre career.
Now you're all
reasonably up to date on the survey, and what we are attempting
to do in response to the results! Again, we thank you for
your participation! OK - here's some news:
SPRING AND FALL
2001: Another two very busy and productive quarters so
far! SPRING: New acting teacher Professor Karen Pruis
Berthel directed Tom Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN
ARE DEAD in the Playhouse. Played on an almost bare stage,
with exquisite period costumes designed by Festival Playhouse
costumer Sas Hanson, and with an energetic company of all
women "players" complementing the verbal pyrotechnics of the
two title characters, this was without question one of the
most successful productions we've done in the recent past
- including sold-out houses and standing ovations! One of
the nicest nights I've ever spent in the Playhouse was the
Saturday night of ROSENCRANTZ in which we not only
recognized our special guest and dear friends Nelda K. Balch,
Robert Dewey, and Patience Vaughn from the stage, we also
awarded the first Kalamazoo College Outstanding Drama Teacher
Award to Ms. JoeAnn Peterson of City High School in Grand
Rapids. Because the Dungeon Theatre was not available most
of last year, all of our Senior Performance Series productions
were also on the mainstage of the Playhouse, a first for us!
We were proud to continue our innovative mini-season to complement
our mainstage shows. These "best and the brightest" carried
on a tradition of students creating their own theatre, and
we produced more student directed projects than ever before!
Three SIPs that were performed together in Fall 00 as ON
THE EDGE. All three, FREE PUDDING (Jordan Klepper), Y3K (Justin Thomas), and PLAYING THE RAPIST (Ryan Rivera), featured original writing and performances.
Other student directed productions in Winter and Spring 01
included the US premiere of Ecuadorian playwright Aristides
Vargas' THE AGE OF THE PLUM, (translated and directed
by Sarah Huckabay) a new Greek tragedy, LOACOON (written
and directed by Cassandra Johnson), a surreal staging of Marie
Irene Fornes' WHAT OF THE NIGHT (directed by Gretchen
Beesing) an expressionist treatment of Sophie Treadwel's MACHINAL (Margie Cangelosi) and LOVE LETTERS and EVERY GOOD
BOY DESERVES FAVOR (directed by Dana Ambrose and Allen
Krause, respectively). All of these seniors graduated in the
Spring of 01 (and we miss them)! In Spring, K alum and world
famous performance artist Lisa Kron finally returned home
with her stunning 2.5 MINUTE RIDE. The play had previously
been produced by The New York Shakespeare Festival, and had
been praised by virtually very major critical venue in the
United States and also won the prestigious Obie (off-Broadway)
award, the LA Dramalogue Award, and a GLADD media award. FALL:
The Fine Arts Building renovation is complete! We have much
improved costume and scene shops as well as a renovated Dungeon
Theatre and many other new and streamlined features of the
building! We celebrate the new facility with our season that
explores THE DRAMATIC DISGUISE: DISCOVERING IDENTITY WITHIN
RACE, GENDER, & COMMUNITY. What can "discovering identity,"
mean today? We try to answer that question on our stage in
terms of three of the most important masks we put on everyday:
our identity within gender, race, and community. Each of us
dons a "dramatic disguise" in an effort to negotiate our everyday
life in these most troubled and complex arenas of contemporary
society. Most of us, we suspect, are still seeking that "transformation
and true identity" that can happen at the end of the play.
We began in the Fall with Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT,
again directed by Karen Berthel, another very strong production
that was cited by many for the ability in which our student
actors understood and spoke the text with complete clarity.
This production again featured gorgeous Renaissance costumes
by Sas Hanson. In the Winter, I will stage Anna Deavere Smith's TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992. In the Spring, we close
with the Carlo Goldoni's Italian commedia dell'arte comic
masterpiece, THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, directed by
this year's professional guest artist directors, Allison Williams
and Todd Espeland. And, as always, we have our usual Guest
Artists and Senior Performance Series lined up!
THEATRE ALUMNI
NEWS: 00s: Gretchen Beesing (K'01), Sarah Huckabay (K'01)
and Simone Lutz (K'00) are living together in Brooklyn and
making their way into the various downtown theatre scenes
...Margie Cangelosi (K'01) is already employed fulltime in
production at the renowned Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven
(Margie's first theatre job right out of college and she already
has health benefits!) ...Sam Dyer (K'01) acted in SALOME in Belfast, Ireland ...Kim Henderson (K'01) has been working
in an Improv troupe and some other shows in Oxford, MS and
will enter a one year nursing program at Johns Hopkins University
...Anna Fleury (K'01) is teaching at the International Academy
in Blommfield Hills and just directed GODSPELL ...Jordan
Klepper, Rocky Russo, and Cassandra Johnson (all K'01) are
reviving their sketch comedy FREE PUDDING at
the Heartland Theatre in Chicago. Rocky has also acted in
a number of Chicago plays, including ALL MEN ARE WHORES at The Heartland and THE GREY ZONE at the Red Orchid
...Jeff Lung (K'01) is in China (again) on a Fulbright researching
Taoism and Chinese pop culture ...Adam Marshall (K'01) went
right from K graduation to entering the graduate film program
at Northwestern ...Justin Thomas (K'01) has been hired in
the prestigious year long apprenticeship program at The Arden
Theatre in Philadelphia ...Devin Brain (K'00) has moved to
Chicago and is working on a variety of theatre projects in
both tech and directing ...Felicity Hesed (K'00) has been
acting in various projects in Chicago, including a children's
theatre tour, some film, and improv work. She also taught
at Northlight's theater camp for children this past summer
...Sarah Ovink (K'00) is teaching drama at Claremont Middle
School in the Bay Area ...Joe St. Jean (K'00) is currently
a technical director at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre.
90s: Annie
Martin (K'99) had her play COMPLETING DAHLIA performed
on the mainstage at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI.
(I saw it - it was fantastic - and it is true that Annie's
name was actually in lights on the marquee!) Annie also returned
to K last Spring to conduct a 2 day playwriting workshop ...Jasmine
Presson (K'99) recently revived her performance piece LAYERS
OF SKIN at WOW Cafe in NYC ...John Schmitt (K'99) acted
in several plays at API Theatre in Kalamazoo ...Carrie Heitman
(Kê98) has entered the MFA Acting program at University of
North Carolina - Chapel Hill (we hear that Annie Bland (K'98)
has entered the same university in the graduate history program)
...Lizzie Kostielney (K'98) married Paul Boucher on 11/5/01
(I was on my way to the wedding and got a flat tire - honest)
...Liz Lowery (K'98) after helping Lizzie K. with her wedding,
told me she's on her way back to theatre, after a retail hiatus
in Denver (it will be fantastic to have you back, Liz) ...Jennie
Goodlander (K'97) has just completed her first term in the
MFA Directing program at the University of Hawaii where (among
other things) she is acting in pieces in both Kabuki and Beijing
Opera styles ...Nicole Paoletti (K'96) completed her MA in
Theatre Management at Wayne State University and also served
as Box Office Manager at Williamstown Theatre Festival ...Jeff
Patterson (K'97) among other projects acted in SINGLE ACTION
SHOTGUN (by Mike Gorman) at La MaMa in NYC ...Betsy Spess
(K'97) spent two years teaching English in Japan and this
past year, also worked in Nepal ...Andrea LaLonde (K'96) sent
such an incredibly thoughtfully response on her survey, I
had to tell someone! ...Julius Moore (K'96) just completed
his first term of nursing school in DC ...Stacey Shafer Peterson
(K'96) has entered the DePaul University Masters in Public
Service Management Program (Stacey also generously continues
to help current K students with internships in Chicago) ...Anjalee
Deshpande (K'95) has been assisting directing for Barbara
Gaines at the Chicago Shakespeare Festival ...Ivana Ivkovic
(K'95) is working like mad on several script projects in Hollywood
(in case you didnêt know, Ivana received her MFA in Playwriting
from UCLA some years back and she was also profiled in Lux
Esto last year for her activist work on site with Croatian
and Bosnian women) ...Jenn Moore (K'95) continues to stage
manage up a storm in NYC and regional theatres. Among other
projects, this past year she was PSM for THE BOOK OF LIZ at Drama Dept. and NOCTURNE at New York Theatre Workshop ...Hillary
Byrn Frazey (K'94) and her husband Doug welcomed their new
daughter Katrin in June of 2000 (sorry for the late news,
Hillary!) ...Mindy Bepko (K'93) has begun a new career as
a student at New York Law School ...Jason Masters (K'93) recently
had his musical OH BABY performed by Theatre X in Grand
Rapids ...Kate Warner (K'92) directed a bunch in the Atlanta
area. Just some of her shows this past year were CHERRY
DOCS, THE PEOPLE 'S MONA, and LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES ...Rich Hutchman (K'91) continues to be recognized in LA grocery
stores for his role in Disney's PHANTOM OF THE MEGAPLEX (we also heard that Rich got married in September - this newsletter
mention may get a confirmation!) ....Joe Stoltman (K'91) is
the Stage Supervisor at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC ...Last
we heard, Lisa Farago (K'91) was the Theatre Specialist in
Riverton Community Schools in Maine ...I'm not sure that everyone
read that Kristi Bierschbach Defrasnes (K'90) and her husband
Jean-Marc were blessed with the birth of their daughter Dinah
last year ...Kendall Buhl (K'90) is working in radio in the
Boston area ...Wade Jackson (K'90) and his wife Karen welcomed
their 3rd child - Forrest Lee Jackson on Aug. 26, 01 ...Katy
Stahl Loebrich (K'90) is Director/Producer of "North Carolina
Now" at UNC -TV ...Megan Owens (K'90) was production manager
for the inaugural production of Shakespeare in the Parque
in Alexandria, VA -a bi-lingual production of MIDSUMMER ...Alisha Rohde (K'90) became Dr. Rohde, completing her Ph.
D. at Ohio State.
80s: Andrea
Rundell (K'88) and Julie Hannaford became parents this year
when they welcomed their son Asher Thomas Hannaford Rundell
...Becky Soderna (K'88) continues as Director of Development
at Vacamas Programs for Youth, but somehow managed to find
time to study literature at Northern Michigan University ...Ross
Ambrose (K'86) is now Manager of Camera Sales of Fletcher
Film and Video Production in Chicago (great to see you at
Homecoming, Ross!) ...Barb Kormenos (K'86) is currently Asst.
Professor of Political Science at UCLA (and great seeing you
also at Homecoming, Barb!) ...Roxane Lie (K'84) lives in the
Portland, OR area, and has done an incredible variety of things,
including management and dog grooming as well as several years
at Portland Opera ...Lisa Kron (K'83) is in residence at Baltimore
Center Stage.
70s: Dianne
Richoz Barclay (K'79) is now Managing Director of TAG Associates
in NYC and also is Chairman of the Board of Directors at MCC
Theatre (I bet you'll be inundated with alums asking for auditions
at this great company after they read this, Di)! ...Holly
Hughes (K'78) is artist in residence at University of Michigan
...Jonathan Becker (K'73) is an attorney in Lawrence, KS and
his son Mark just completed his first term at K College (Oh
yes, he did - he even acted in AS YOU LIKE IT) ...We
hear Vinnie Liff (K'73) is in good health, still running Johnson-Liff
casting (only the biggest of its kind in the world). He was
also recently profiled for Lux Esto ...Dr. Joe Flickinger
(K'71) is now Chair of Media Studies at Radford University
in Virginia ...Dan Strehl (K'70) is currently Branch Manager
at Goldwyn Hollywood Library in LA.
That's it! PLEASE
send your notes to me either in hard copy or via email (otherwise
I don't know what you're up to)! As always, we want to share
the good things that are happening to us, because we consider
you folks, who have given so much to this program, to have
had a strong hand in making it the success it continues to
be for our students. You are always welcome back here - as
artists, and as people. Have a happy holiday season with your
families and friends and we hope to see you at the annual
theatre reception during Homecoming, October 2002.
Yours,
Ed Menta, Ph.D.
Kurt D. Kaufman Professor & Director of Theatre Arts
Email: menta@kzoo.edu
One more thing:
would you please send an email to me if: a. You would be willing
to receive this newsletter via email rather than hard copy,
and b. You would like to receive email reminders of our productions
a month or so before Opening. Two simple "YES" and/or NO answers
would do it! Please notify us of address changes, especially
email!
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