OCTOBER 10, 2007 NEWSLETTER It’s The Straight Goodsualrtheatre.dance/May-10--2012.pdf · With...

NewsletterIt’s The Straight Goods

Up, up, and away!!! As graduation draws nigh, we close out the year with a continuing string of successes. In this edition you can read about our award winning entries in the undergraduate research symposium, get a feel for the experiences of some of our graduating seniors, and take note of a faculty excellence award given to one of our number as a result of a state wide competition. The end of April brought great attendance and strong expressions of popular appeal in response to an exciting spring dance concert, and just yesterday, we gave out twenty-one theatre and dance scholarships for the next academic year.To those who are leaving the family, my best wishes and my appreciation for having shared your talent with us in recent years. To returning and new students, my wish that you experience the same joy, discovery, and sense of achievement of those who have come before.

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NEWSLETTERART Benefit Performance to Send

Students to England for Marlowe

Festival

The proceeds from this Saturday!s benefit performance of ART will go to sending our students to perform at the Marlowe Festival in England next sum-mer. The tickets are $50 and reserva-tions can be made by calling 569-3456.

Auditions: Beast on the Moon or

Danny and the Deep Blue SeaAuditions for the UALR Theatre & Dance Spring Play Beast on the Moon

by Richard Kalinoski or

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by Patrick Shanley will be held October 18th and 19th 4:00--7:00 PM in Haislip Theatre 127 in the Performing Arts building.Scripts can be checked out in the Theatre office 569-3291.

Beast on the Moon SynopsisIn 1921, an Armenian mail-order bride is shipped to Milwaukee to begin a new life with her photographer husband. Both yearn to emerge from the dark shadows of the Armenian holo-caust. As they struggle to redefine family amidst grief and displacement, these kindred strang-ers realize love deeper than ever imagined. Email [email protected] for a copy of the script.Bar-Crossed Lovers: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea Synopsis

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It"s The Straight Goods

So...week two of ART coming up including the bene#t performance for the Marlowe Project on Saturday night$$tickets still available. Next week will see us in high gear with the design presentation for Purgatory and auditions fort he #rst show in Haislip in Spring semester! Watch the boards for a times and places and by all means take advantage of what"s coming your way!

This week we begin with installments from our recent grads on their experiences with intern and grad programs. Alexis Qualls writes to us of a typical week at Columbia University in the MFA Stage Management area. You may need a nap when you #nish reading this account! ...more

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance celebrated a

host of prestigious awards this spring. With Yslan Hicks as her

mentor, Mikita Thompson entered a poster project. Visiting Mr.

Green: A Costume Design and took first prize in the Arts

category. TJ Medel and Erin Anson were selected from a

college wide pool of applicants to present at the Undergraduate

Research Symposium. TJ, mentored by Dr. Jay Raphael

presented Out of Our Minds, based on his work with

improvisation and acting theory, and Erin, mentored by Stacy

Pendergraft, presented Criminal Hearts: An Undergraduate

Experience Directing a Full Scale Theatre Production.

Ting-Ting Chang with UALR dancers for her piece “Impression Red II”



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May 11, 2012

This yearʼs award from the Womenʼs Foundation of Arkansas for the Designing Woman of the Year-2012 went to our own resident costume designer, Yslan Hicks.

See the very nice video put together by Aristotle of Yslan and Jay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdK2tbWVDU0

TJ Medel and Erin Anson were selected from a college wide pool of applicants to present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. TJ, mentored by Dr. Jay Raphael presented Out of Our Minds, based on his work with improvisation and acting theory, and Erin, mentored by Stacy Pendergraft, presented Criminal Hearts: An Undergraduate Experience Directing a Full Scale Theatre Production.







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This spring, the department presented what is repeatedly being praised as one of the most professional dance concerts seen on the UT stage. Several audience members recounted that they didnʼt feel they were watching “choreography” but rather an elegant collaboration that yielded a complete theatrical experience for each of the works in the concert. The exquisite lighting designed by Sara Lyon, Joe Staffordʼs set pieces and the unique choreography of the dance faculty contributed to the strength and the artistry of the dancers.

The collaborative efforts, even to the efficiency of the backstage process contributed to a diverse and exciting evening. The variety of techniques and styles presented in this Springʼs production captured the viewers. From the neo-classical ballet to the epic sweep of the Chinese fan dance to the tribute to Cunningham, Graham, and Limon, toʼ70ʼs style disco finale, an enthralling versatility made for a sophisticated and entertaining evening.



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Department of Theatre Arts and Dance Graduating Seniors Say Goodbye

As we wrap up a wonderfully successful and

eventful semester, the UALR Department of

Theatre and Dance is proud to be sending off

seven talented graduates. We look forward to the

bright futures that lay ahead for each of them, but

we asked them first to look back over the past

several years and answer a question. Below you

will find a sampling of the responses.

“What is the most valuable memory or piece of knowledge you have gained from your experience

at UALR?”

"The most valuable piece of knowledge that I have

gained at UALR is that the thirst for knowledge

should be unquenchable. Dr. Jay Raphael said to

my Acting 1 class on my first day, “Be a sponge and

soak up all of the information you can.” Though he

addressed the entire class, I claimed those words

as advice to me alone and ran with them on a four

year journey toward maturity, knowledge, and

success.-- a journey that would mean nothing were

it not for the support system that my friends and

faculty have provided for me."

-Penn Ross Jackson, Jr.

“This is going to sound kind of humorous, but

indeed I believe it is a very valid piece of

knowledge: Look up. I remember it was my first

day to ever drive the lift onstage, and Sara told me,

“When you are going up, make sure you look at

what's above you.” I was like “Ok, sure. Of course, I

will do that anyway.” Turns out I didn't. I was

raising the lift and bumped my head on a barn

door light cover. It pissed me off because those

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things are sharp! I should have heeded her

warning and looked up.

As I look back on this moment I believe it

parallels greatly with my whole experience at

UALR. This program has taught me to look up,

in every sense of the manner. I learned to look

up at what's coming ahead of me. Look up

deadlines. Look up research. Look up

definitions. Look up the credentials of our very own professors just to know who is teaching

us. I learned to look up what I want to do. Look

up movies and research clips of companies I

want to be a part of. I've learned, even when

partnering in a dance, to look up at my partner.

It didn't hit me until one of my last moments in

the theatre when it physically hit me, and I had

a scratch to show for it. It brings a whole new

meaning to the phrase heads up. Because more

often than you know it in life, in this world, in this career and in this department, you would

be ten times better off if you just took the time

to LOOK UP!

-Calvin T. Chester

“The biggest lesson I will take from my time at

UALR is how important it is to

compartmentalize your life and to keep

reassuring people that you are dependable and trustworthy through your actions. I realized the

importance of compartmentalization in my

second semester when my boyfriend of two

years broke up with me on the opening night of

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. I was so distraught

and shocked. Still, I was a character in a two-

person play, and I had to perform just as we

had rehearsed, even though I felt completely

lost. It continued on through classes and other

productions, juggling the stress and emotions

of life and school with the responsibility to my

fellow students to give every class and rehearsal

100% of my energy. It seems like every time I

lost a close friend or loved one, it happened

during a production. The same goes for break-

ups and injuries. They always seem to happen

during opening week. You just have to hold your head up high, keep people informed of

your situation, and trust your own judgment

about the limitations of what you can and

cannot do. Some situations are worse than

others, but there are times you have no choice

but to swallow it down for a few hours so that

you can tend to it after you have accomplished

what you needed to in order to fulfill your

responsibilities to a group of

people.” -Erin Anson

“I guess the most valuable piece of knowledge I

gained pertains to me as a choreographer. I

learned that it is not all about entertaining

people. It's not about proving myself or

creating work to satisfy anyone else. My

choreography is about expressing my ideas. Not

everyone is going to love my work, and that is

just the nature of the beast. I learned to stop looking for the approval of everyone else and

just pour my heart into what I love. Love it or

hate it... It's mine. I couldn't say that before I

came here.”

-Genevieve Schmidt

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OCTOBER 10, 2007 NEWSLETTER It’s The Straight Goodsualrtheatre.dance/May-10--2012.pdf · With...

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