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It must be awards season, because TDPS is bringing in the accolades! Check out all the great news below from TDPS faculty, students, and alumni who are doing a wide range of performance and research activities.
We are getting ready to open our last two main season productions of the year: The School of Bento Bonchev, directed by Yury Urnov, and UMoves: Undergraduate Dance Concert, directed by Christopher K. Morgan. Make sure to get your tickets now! Also check out the other TDPS events coming up before we wind down the semester.
Finally, if you're looking for summer jobs or internships, check out the opportunities section below.
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In this newsletter:
- Upcoming and recent TDPS events
- Feature Stories
- News (Awards & Honors, Performances & Productions, Publications, other activities)
- Opportunities (Jobs & Auditions; Scholarships, Fellowships, & Grants)
- Other Upcoming Events (Off-Campus)
Want to share your news with the TDPS family? Have a story you want featured? Have suggestions to improve the TDPS newsletter and communications?
Tell us about the creative, collaborative, innovative, and entrepreneurial work you're doing!
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The Schooling of Bento Bonchev
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April 28 - May 6
Kogod Theatre
Directed by Yury Urnov
Love and lust are the ultimate Hallmark emotions, right? According to Bento Bonchev, they’re saccharine marketing gimmicks designed to sell flowers and candy to those gullible enough to believe. But Bento’s world is turned upside down when an astounding discovery forces him to rethink his dogma. Set in the not-so-distant future where love is thought to be a myth, this Russian absurdist satire offers a truly novel take on an age-old question of the heart.
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UMoves: Undergraduate Dance Concert
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May 5 - 7
Dance Theatre
Directed by Christopher K. Morgan
Undergraduate TDPS Dance students present a concert of original choreography. The program includes new works created and/or performed by undergraduate students as they explore their choreographic voice and vision, plus pieces developed throughout the year by guest choreographers.
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April 26
6 - 7pm
The Clarice will host the show case and finals for the
Do Good Challenge next week. The Do Good Challenge is a year-long effort that engages over a thousand students across campus and partners with numerous colleges, schools, and programs.
Capped by an eight-week competition created by UMD students to encourage their peers to Do Good, the challenge awards over $20,000 of total prize money and gives students a chance to get their organization’s name in front of a panel of high-profile judges and hundreds of supporters and professionals during the finals.
Register
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TDPS activities at Maryland Day 2017
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Be sure to check out the TDPS activities at
Maryland Day at The Clarice on Saturday, April 29!
For the complete schedule of Maryland Day events at The Clarice and event descriptions, click
here.
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Speaking of Books: A Conversation with Dr. Esther Kim Lee
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April 20, 2017 at 2pm
Performing Arts Library Piano Room
FREE EVENT!
As part of the UMD University Libraries series Speaking of Books: Conversations with Campus Authors, Professor Esther Kim Lee will discuss her book The Theatre of Henry David Hwang.
Utilizing historical and dramaturgical analysis, Dr. Esther Kim Lee argues that David Henry Hwang, one of the greatest contemporary American playwrights, has developed a unique style of meta-theatricality and irony in writing plays that are both politically charged and commercially viable. With the revival of M. Butterfly set for fall 2017 under the direction of Julie Taymor, Dr. Lee will also share why the play and playwright continue to resonate with audiences around the world.
More
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From Actor to Lawyer:
How Theatre Works in Law and the Legal Profession
A Conversation with Abigail Bortnick ‘03
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April 21
10:30am-12pm
Cafritz Theatre
TDPS Board member and alumna Abigail Bortnick (BA Theatre '03) returns to the School to discuss how she applied her UMD theatre training to her successful law career.
Join us for a conversation moderated by Professor Laurie Frederik on the following topics:
- Performance Techniques in Law
- Relationships and Professional Networking
- The Art of Public Speaking and Persuasion
- Resilience for Job "Auditions"
Flyer and Registration
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A Workshop on Self-Producing with Jonathan David Martin
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April 27
5-8pm
Cafritz Theatre
Join actor, director, and Theatre J Associate Production Jonathan David Martin for a workshop on self-producing. Learn to articulate your artist-producer and creative goals; learn about funding, finding space, marketing, PR, finances, and ticketing; and get a starter-kit of materials and templates.
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MFA Portfolio Exhibition at Studio Theatre
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May 15, 2017
2-7pm
Studio Theatre (DC)
Attend the MFA Design program’s annual Portfolio Exhibition, which will be held at
Studio Theatre in Washington, DC next month.
This year the exhibition is co-hosted by DC's artistic directors: David Muse, Janet Griffin, Adam Immerwahr, Jason Loewith, Ryan Rilette, Eric Schaeffer, Howard Shalwitz, Janet Stanford, and writer/director Aaron Posner. The event will be catered.
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THET408B:
Sistah Outsider: Contemporary Black Women Playwrights
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Summer I: May 30-July 9, 2017
M, Tu, W, 10am-12:15pm
Khalid Yaya Long
In this interdisciplinary course, students will critically examine the plays of contemporary Black women playwrights, from Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play,
A Raisin in the Sun, to recent works of Lynn Nottage, Katori Hall, and Dani Gurira. Students will engage critical essays and other mediums, such as film and music, as catalysts to look in-depth at the intersections of identities: race, class, gender, and sexuality.
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DANC705:
Seminar in Arts Education
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Summer II: July 10-August 20, 2017
Online
Professor Karen Bradley
History of arts education in the US, recent policy changes and trends, current and recent research findings, proposed legislation at the state and federal level and the relationship of research findings to policy, community and social justice and the arts.
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Casting Workshop with Lindsey Kasabian '03
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TDPS students with Professor Scot Reese at the casting workshop with Lindsey Kasabian '03 on April 7.
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CLOVE Devising Workshop with Paige Hernandez '02
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The group began the process of developing the work which will be presented by TDPS in Spring 2018.
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Maryland Opera Studio's The Orpheus Adventure
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Congratulations to all involved with Maryland Opera Studio’s
The Orpheus Adventure on their excellent review from
BroadwayWorld.com! The review features praise for the choreography by
Professor Adriane Fang (performed by TDPS students and alumni
Chelsea Brown ‘16,
Stacey Carlson,
Christine Hands,
Christina O'Brien,
Shawn Stone, and
Gabrielle Welsh), and designs by MFA Design graduate students
Richard Ouelette (set)
,
Rob Siler (lighting),
Heather C. Jackson (costumes).
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Congratulations to Esther Kim Lee
and
James Harding
on their promotions to Full Professors by the University of Maryland. Their national and international acclaim, scholarship, teaching and service are greatly valued and embraced by the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies!
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Mia Levenson Wins KCACTF Undergraduate Scholar Award
Congratulations to
Mia Levenson (BA Theatre '17) for winning the
KCACTF Undergraduate Scholar Award recognizing an outstanding research paper in theater written by an undergraduate student. Mia's paper is titled “A Tedious Theatre: The Spectacle of the Body in 17th Century Anatomy Theatres and in Webster’s THE DUCHESS OF MALFI.”
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TDPS Dance Faculty Receive Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards
Congratulations to TDPS Dance faculty
Christopher K. Morgan,
Adriane Fang, and
Sara Pearson who each received Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards! Morgan and Fang received awards for solo performance; Pearson received an award for choreography.
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Jonelle Walker Awarded Flagship Fellowship
Congratulations to
Jonelle Walker (MA '17) on being awarded a
Flagship Fellowship to continue her studies as a PhD student at UMD TDPS! The Flagship Fellowship is used by the Graduate School to recruit doctoral students with exceptional qualifications and a clear promise for outstanding performance in their studies.
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Kate Spanos Awarded Fulbright to Brazil
Kate Spanos (PhD ‘16) has been awarded a postdoctoral Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to study dance in Brazil. She will be based at the
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife for six months, starting in January 2018. Kate’s project is entitled “The Frevo Tradition and Pernambucan Cultural Identity in Recife, Brazil."
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Jared Mezzocchi Accepted to MacDowell Colony & Nominated for Lucille Lortel Award
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LaTefia Bradley Named Outstanding Instructor by Maryland Women’s Lacrosse Team
MFA Dance candidate LaTefia Bradley was named Outstanding Instructor through the Most Valuable Professor program at the Maryland Athletic Department. LaTefia was nominated by one of her students who plays for the Women's Lacrosse Team. To reconize the honor, LaTefia received tickets to the April 12 lacrosse game against Princeton.
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Brittany Ginder Awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship
PhD Candidate Brittany Ginder has been awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship for Summer 2017. This program enables doctoral students to devote a summer of focused work to prepare for or complete a benchmark in their program’s requirements. Brittany's current dissertation title is ""Bitches in Britches: A History of Travesty Actresses on the Eighteenth Century London Stage" and she will be using the time this summer for archival research and writing.
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TDPS Welcomes New Faculty Member Crystal Davis!
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It is with enormous pleasure that we share the appointment of a new Assistant Professor of Dance,
Crystal U. Davis to the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, beginning in the fall of 2017. Crystal U. Davis is a movement artist and scholar born and raised in North Carolina. Ms. Davis earned her B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in Dance from Emory University, her M.F.A. in Dance from Texas Woman’s University, her Masters in Performance Studies from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and her
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MFA Dance alum
Kwame Shaka Opare
'13 was
featured on Okay Africa
for the debut of his multimedia project
.theScope .theWork .theProcess: GHAN
A. Photo by Kwame Shaka Opare.
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- Professor James Harding's co-edited anthology The Sixties, Center Stage: Mainstream and Popular Performances in a Turbulent Decade was recently published by University of Michigan Press and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
- Artist-in-residence Christopher K. Morgan performed with his company Christopher K. Morgan & Artists (including MFA Dance candidates Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves) on The Family Stage at the Kennedy Center on April 7.
- MFA Dance candidates Chris Law and Ama Law performed at Howard University’s Unjust: Spring Dance Concert 2017 on April 7 & 8.
- MFA Dance alum Kwame Shaka Opare '13 was featured on Okay Africa for the debut of his multimedia project .theScope .theWork .theProcess: GHANA at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). He says, "Dance is engaging, thought-provoking and for everyone. If my work inspires audiences, that’s a beautiful thing." Check out the last few minutes of the BAM video to hear his passion for dance and the arts!
- Professor Maura Keefe, Scholar-In-Residence at Jacob's Pillow curated “Women in Dance," Dance Interactive Themes/Essays in recognition of Women's History Month.
- Professor Esther Kim Lee will give a talk at the CUNY Graduate Center on the history of Eurasian as an archetypical character in theatre, film, and television on April 26.
- Alumna Paige Hernandez ‘03 was featured in Washingtonian’s “40 Under 40." Paige will be returning to TDPS to devise CLOVE with students for Spring 2018 main season performance. Go, Paige!
- TDPS grad students LaRonika Thomas and Sarah Beth Oppenheim are involved in the VAST: Teaching Workshops by Graduate Teaching Fellows taking place this spring.
- MFA Performance alumna Caroline Clay ‘13 is currently performing in The Little Foxes on Broadway. Congratulations, Caroline!
- Professor Lisa Nathans was interviewed for her dialect coaching work on The Secret Garden at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle.
- TDPS alumni company Pointless Theatre has received a stellar review for their current production of .d0t: a Rotoplastic Ballet in The Washington Post, with mention of their beginnings here in the UMD Theatre program.
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Have you recently received an exciting opportunity, award, or accolade?
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Have an opportunity you want to share?
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Do you have news to share with the TDPS community?
The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
advances and transforms the research and practice of the performing arts
through a commitment to excellence and innovative education
.
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Kate Spanos, Coordinator of Marketing & Communications
Jonelle Walker, Graduate Assistant
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