Thursday, November 29, 2007

Winter Workshop Week

TWO Exciting Workshops are being offered as part of Winter Workshop Week.

Workshop Week is designed to bring together the students of Theatre Arts and Dance in creativity and collaboration with artists who often blur the lines between performing arts disciplines. They are a great way to gain experience and develop as an artist.

Workshop With Rainpan 43
Performance Artists Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle

Monday, January 14: 2pm-4pm
Tuesday, January 15: 2pm-5pm
Thursday, January 17: 2pm-5pm
Friday, January 18: 2pm-5pm

Barker Center 100

Museum of the Self - led by Rainpan 43 artistic directors Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle and director of Amnesia Curiosa, Andrew Dawson. This workshop in theatrical creation, inspired by Rainpan 43's performance piece Amnesia Curiosa, will investigate how we relate to our past, and how we carry memory across generations. We will use personal stories as source material, filtered through the dramaturgy of Amnesia Curiosa (medical anomaly, 19th century spiritualism/séance, cabinet of curiosities) to tell stories in arresting and surprising ways. Working with both sculpture/installation and physical theatre, we will find new and unique ways of making the "internal" external.



Workshop with Joe Chvala
Monday, January 14: 9-1pm
Tuesday, January 15: 9-1pm
Wednesday, January 16: 9-1pm
Thursday, January 17: 9-1pm
Friday, January 19: 9-1pm


Barker Center 100

A percussive dance/theater workshop with Flying Foot Forum's artistic director - Joe Chvala. This workshop will use the lives of Loie Fuller and Franz Kafka and Kafka's work "Metamorphosis" as inspiration for a percussive exploration (movement, text, voice) of the artistic transformations these artists created. Participants will concentrate on the contrasts between these two artists and on the connections of their artistic metamorphoses to their personal stories, to the beautiful but ephemeral art nouveau movement, and the inevitable natural decline of the human body.

If you are interested in participating in this free one-week workshop before the start of Spring Semester, please sign up in the Barker OR Rarig Center. Space is very limited; workshop participation and wait-list spots will be confirmed before the winter break.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Congratulations to the 2008-2009 Sounding Board Student Ambassadors

Dance Ambassadors:
Renee Copeland
Molly Stoltz

BA Theater Ambassadors:
Alissa McCourt
Kat Wodtke
Tom Lloyd
Addy Salami
Molly Corkins
Laura Lechner
Andria Schumann

BFA Acting Ambassadors:
Elizabeth Griffith
Danice Cabanela

BA Design/Tech Ambassadors:
Rebecca Struch


These students, along with the Peers will act as your student/faculty liaisons. Go to these individuals with any concerns YOU may want to be brought up to faculty, or in a formal discussion setting where issues can be dealt with.

Congratulations again to these great students!

Best,
The Peers
Kendra, Ashley and Briar


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TH 3120: 20th Century Irish Drama: Nationalism, Identity, and the Stage
Spring Semester, 2008
Monday & Wednesday 1:25-3:20pm
Instructor: Kay Martinovich

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course examines the development of Irish dramatic literature from the late 19th century to the present. In addition to critical analyses, students will rehearse, stage, and perform selected scenes. Beginning with the establishment of the Irish Literary Theater in 1899 -- which later became the Abbey Theater – this course will focus on issues of nationalism and identity in a broad range of Irish play texts as well as in the cultural and political climate in which these texts emerged. Students will analyze the plays through the lenses of various critical and theoretical discourses including post-colonialism and feminism. Unique to this course is a practical engagement with the plays. Students will work on textual analysis, specific dialects, and the particular structure of each play's language. This dual interaction with the material -- performing and critical thinking -- is vital to an interrogation of the idea of 'Ireland' -- as well as the world beyond.

TEXTS
The Playboy of the Western World - John M. Synge;
Juno and the Paycock - Sean O'Casey;
Translations - Brian Friel;
By the Bog of Cats - Marina Carr.

INSTRUCTOR
Kay Martinovich is in the Ph.D. program of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota. Alongside her graduate school career, Kay works as a professional theatre director predominantly in the Chicago area. From 1999-2006, she was an Artistic Associate with Irish Repertory of Chicago. For Irish Rep she directed several productions including the American premiere of Marina Carr's /By the Bog of Cats.../, Carr's /The Mai/, Stewart Parker's /Pentecost/, Tom Murphy's /Bailegangaire/, and Brian Friel's /The Yalta Game /and /The Bear/. In 2002 she graduated from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland with a Masters in Philosophy in Irish Theatre and Film Studies.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

UPCOMING AUDITION

THE WIZ will audition December 3 and 4 (singing/book) and December 10 (dance) with callbacks on December 11. The show is being directed by Dominic A. Taylor, directing faculty in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and Associate Artistic Director at Penumbra Theatre; musical direction by Sanford Moore, founder, director and arranger for the award-winning vocal jazz ensemble Moore By Four as well as director of the University Gospel Choir, and choreography by Uri Sands, co-founder/Artistic Director of TU Dance.

Auditionees should prepare one contemporary comedy or drama piece not to exceed 1 minute. For music auditions please bring in no more than one minute of a song to sing. The ideal audition song should showcase your skills at singing rock music, preferably a 70's pop song or songs from THE WIZ. Please bring sheet music for the accompanist or you may sing a capella. Singers may be asked to sing a short scale or phrase in order to identify vocal range for specific roles. The entire audition may not exceed 2 minutes.

The dance audition will be held December 10. Auditionees will sign-up in groups as indicated on the sign-up sheets. You should come at the appointed time warmed up and ready to go (room 20 has been reserved as a warm-up space). Dress appropriately -- no jeans or sneakers -- we need to see you move. Socks or bare feet are acceptable. Auditionees may be excused from their group at any time. Some auditionees may be requested to return later in the evening.

If you are auditioning for THE WIZ, you must sign-up for both sing/book AND dance auditions. Everyone moves and talks and sings in this show! Sign-up sheets are posted on the Production Notices Bulletin Boards across from the tunnel (NE end of the basement level of Rarig).

In order to audition for this production you must be enrolled for a minimum of 3 credits both this semester and spring semester 2008. Students cast in this production cannot be in PEACE CRIMES, WOYZECK, or THE GALILEO PROJECT.

Friday, November 9, 2007

TOWNHALL, The Wiz

If you are interested in the upcoming Spring show, "The Wiz" be sure to attend the townhall discussion concerning issues surrounding this project. The director, Dominic Taylor, along with musical director, Sanford Moore, will give interested persons a short presentation on their artistic vision for "The Wiz," to be followed by questions, concerns, ideas, and/or thoughts from YOU!

WHO: Any & All students & faculty associated with UofM Theatre Arts & Dance
WHEN: Monday, November 19 5:30-6:30pm
WHERE: Studio A, Rarig Center - UofM West Bank
WHAT: Townhall discussion of "The Wiz"


WHY: If we believe that "diversity" is not an issue to address, but a goal toward which we can be actively committed, it is necessary to analyze every play that is produced and staged within the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, its implications and propositions, and this is the first step in that direction.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Dear Theater Arts and Dance Folk,

We the Peers want to update you on the status of the coveted and celebrated Backstage Pass. We are in the process of making this site more interactive. Please post comments on what you want to see in the future for this blog. For the time being we will be updating the blog every two weeks with announcements and departmental events. We will also be giving you an update on the status of the BSP during this transitional period. Feel free to e-mail us at peers@umn.edu if you want to remain anonymous when expressing your ideas.

Keep checking the blog for upcoming events, in particular, the Town Hall concerning the Wiz which will happen mid to late November.

Happy Halloween,


The Peers
Kendra, Ashley, Briar


Crisis Point Theatre: a theater of danger and opportunity has been operating on a high level of success and excitement for many years. This year is not much different from the others however, this year your favorite Crisis Point Theatre board members have made it their mission to extend more help for students. Crisis Point would like to invite anyone to come and learn more about what goes on behind the curtain. We would like to invite all the seniors with projects looming to contact us, in order to see how we could better serve your needs. We understand how hectic senior shows can be; we would like to be a spring board for your success in anyway that is possible. We have a large amount of “goods” in storage which we would be happy to lend out to help. Please contact Crisis Point at cpoint@umn.edu or visit our website http://www.tc.umn.edu/~cpoint/ for more information.

Our season this year is going to be fantastic! Look for more details on Crisis Point call board or visit
the backstage pass for more information. Wishing you all a wonderful semester!

Your friends at Crisis Point Theatre!


Tuesday, October 9, 2007

WELCOME

Hey all you Theater Arts and Dance kids!

Here is our new Backstage Pass, it is all online and totally for you. There will no longer be a bi-weekly paper edition of the BSP. Now we will be posting and updating the BSP Blog daily.

DON'T forget to be our friend on Facebook you can search us as "peers". We will be posting weekly questions to ignite the artist's minds and informing you of any upcoming events

We will be putting all contents for the BSP on this website after our final paper copy is published on October Sixteenth 2007

Please post your comments after any article. We look forward to your feedback

PEACE OUT!
Your Peers