Congratulations to all involved in the Fearless New Play Festival!
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Monday, March 11, 2019
Congratulations to everyone involved in the Fearless New Play Festival on a successful weekend! Keynote playwright Sheila Callaghan had a reading of her new play in development,
So Um Thank You on Thursday (see the photos below), and we had staged readings of new plays by current students and alumni on Friday and Saturday.
Good luck with the last week before spring break, and make sure to take some rejuvenating time off next week!
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Staged reading of
So Um Thank You
by keynote playwright Sheila Callaghan at the Fearless New Play Festival / Photos by David Andrews
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In this newsletter:
- Upcoming Events
- Feature Stories
- News
- Opportunities
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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Are you a TDPS student, faculty member, or staff member? Show us what a week in your life at TDPS looks like!
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Mark your calendars for the upcoming final reports of our IPCCR grantees!
(More details coming soon.)
Kristen Ahern and Benjamin Weigel
Thursday, March 14, 3:30pm; Room 1809
Gianina Lockley
Thursday, March 28, 3:15pm; Room 1809
Christine Hands
Thursday, April 11, 3:30pm; Room 1809
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Vertigo Dance Company
Monday, March 11 and Tuesday, March 12
Guest artists from Vertigo Dance Company will be teaching during dance technique classes today, March 11 and tomorrow, March 12. If you are not in a technique class but would like to join, please email Adriane at
afang1@umd.edu. See the
flyer for more details.
Vertigo will be performing at The Clarice on Wednesday, March 13. See more information on
The Clarice website.
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UTAS - TDPS Backwards
Wednesday, March 13, 7:30PM
Cafritz Foundation Theatre
Is there a song you’ve been dying to perform that traditionally wouldn’t be sung by someone who looks like you?
TDPS Backwards is here to shatter those gender norms and give students a space to sing ANY broadway song they want regardless of gender identity, race, age, etc. Inspired by Broadway Backwards, UTAS felt a need to have a fun night where students could sing songs from their favorite musicals regardless of how it is/was originally performed. Voluntary donations received the night of the performance will go to
Broadway Cares’ initiative to finding a cure for AIDS. Come out and have a blast with us as TDPS students and friends sing their heart out!
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Encountering Vulnerability
Thursday, April 4, 7:30PM
Cafritz Foundation Theatre
Join Dance major
Miejo Dambita for an immersive discussion on vulnerability and see its power revealed to you through art and the lives of others. This is part of Miejo’s Keystone Project for UMD’s Honors Humanities program.
For more information, see the
flyer. Limited registration spots
here.
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Kreativity End of Semester Show
Friday, April 5, 2019, 7PM
Saturday, April 6, 2019, 2PM
Dance Theatre
Kreativity Diversity Troupe will present their
End of Semester Show: Puzzles and Paradoxes
This is the last chance of the year to see the troupe's innovative kreations!
Free! No Tickets required.
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MadDASH Festival 2019
April 12-17
Save the date for the TDPS Dance area's MadDASH Festival 2019, coming up on April 12-17. We have confirmed the following guest artists:
- Monica Bill Barnes
- Alexandra Beller
- Robert Een
- Sekou Heru
- Christopher K. Morgan
- Angie Pittman
- Toyin Sogunro
- Janet Schroeder
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Raja Feather Kelly teaching modern dance technique at MadDash Festival 2018; photo by Dylan Uremovich
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Senior theatre major Molly Boyle finds her stage voice
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Senior Molly Boyle as Genevieve/Ophelia in
Hamlet Replayed
/ Photo credit: David Andrews
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“I am 180 degrees different from when I arrived at Maryland.”
Theatre major Molly Boyle ’19 always knew she wanted to be an actor, but it was in the rehearsal studio that she learned what it meant to be an artist.
In November 2018, Boyle was rehearsing for the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies' (TDPS) production of "
Citizen: An American Lyric," a play about racial injustice that addresses the everyday experiences of black Americans. As one of two white actors in the play, Boyle underwent a complete emotional and intellectual revolution as she portrayed characters that were both painfully realistic and empathetic.
“I had to reconcile with my inherited history, with the abuse that white people have inflicted on people of color for centuries,” she said. "To play my roles well, I learned to navigate between my life on and off stage."
The performance styles she learned in classes with TDPS faculty helped her develop the emotional and physical resilience to play complex, ambiguous characters. With Professor
Mitchell Hébert, she studied a psychological “from the inside out” approach to character development. Associate Professor
Leslie Felbain and Assistant Professor
Lisa Nathans helped her hone a more physical “from the outside in” approach.
Boyle said that many roles required her to draw on not only multiple approaches to character development, but also on research and ideas learned in other classes. In TDPS's 2017 production of "Antigone," Boyle was one of three actors playing the lead character Antigone, whose personality was divided into three parts. She used what she learned in an honors psychology class, “Merging the Multiple Me’s,” to portray this multifaceted and contradictory character.
Her September 2018 role in "The Triumph of Isabella," an immersive experience presented by TDPS’ International Program for Creative Collaboration and Research, required all of her training. In this exploration of seventeenth-century European street performance, she played an actress playing the role of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, who was the honoree at the 1615 Ommegang pageant in Brussels. Boyle used the skills she learned in professor Felbain’s
character development class, combining historical and psychological research with physical technique to understand the character’s gestures, rhythms and mannerisms.
Developing strong performance skills as well as a solid liberal arts education background was part of why Boyle chose the TDPS program at UMD.
"Having an academic background in liberal arts helps me understand how the work actors do on stage is relevant in the world," she said.
By Kate Spanos
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Freshman Theatre major Jordan Resnick wins KCACTF's Planet Earth Arts Playwriting Award for PLEONASM
Photo credit: David Andrews
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- PhD student Allison Hedges recently presented her paper, "'Speaking Words': A Brief Historiography of Ancient Egyptian Theatre,” at the Graduate Student Panel of the Emerging Scholars Symposium at the Mid-America Theatre Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 9.
- Recent PhD alum Michael Boynton ‘18 was promoted to Associate Professor in the Drama Department at Jacksonville State University. Congrats, Mike!
- Assistant professor Jennifer Barclay has been selected for a writing residency this spring at the New Harmony Project, an organization dedicated to supporting writers whose work emanates hope. Jennifer will join a core group of writers which include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Robert Schenkkan (All the Way), and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo).
- MFA Dance candidates Renee Gerardo and Ronya-Lee Anderson and BA Dance students Nana Edu, Sandra Bazubwabo, and Megan McDevitt have been accepted to attend the 2019 Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Summer Institute as Arnhold Summer Fellows this year. Congrats, all!
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Have news you want to share?
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- NEW Andrew Schneider’s performances push theater into new experiences that defy easy categorization. With AFTER, Schneider and his recurring collaborators will present part two of a trilogy about what it means to be alive in the world today. AFTER is a mind-bending performance examination of what constitutes a single life and the endless possible outcomes at the precise moment of death. With their trademark combination of hyper-precise sound, light and physicality, this NYC-based team manipulates theatrical conventions to deliver a poignant evening of shared consciousness about perceiving where we are, how we got here, and what comes AFTER. For Andrew Schneider’s upcoming performance at The Clarice on May 10 & 11, they are seeking 9 HYPERCUT “Principals” to handle the bulk of the scenes. More information about this opportunity on the attached call.
- NEW Nu Sass is seeking a stage manager for a production that will run in summer 2019. Rehearsals start immediately and reimbursement is $500. For more information, email nusass@nusass.com.
- NEW Folger Shakespeare Library is seeking a production assistant and assistant stage manager for its 2019/2020 season. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume on their website.
- NEW Montgomery College is now accepting applications for paid internships for their summer dinner theater. Application deadline is April 5th. For questions or more information, contact Dennis Mulligan, SDT Production Coordinator at dennismulligan@montgomerycollege.edu. More information here.
- The Shakespeare Theatre Company seeks qualified Teaching Artist candidates and qualified Camp Assistants for Camp Shakespeare 2019, a summer education program from June 17 to August 17. For more information about Camp Shakespeare, check here. or apply on their website or send a cover letter, resume, and references to employment@shakespearetheatre.org.
- Monologue Madness is currently hiring production & administrative staff for the upcoming 2019 event in Washington, DC. More information at their website.
- Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA, is looking to fill several positions for their 2019 summer stock season. For information, see the flyer.
- Wildwood Summer Theatre is looking for staff members and designers for their 2019 summer season team. Rehearsals start early June. Positions are unpaid but provide great working relationships and opportunities. Send resumes and covers letters to chairman@wst.org or producer@wst.org. More information is available on their website.
- Capital Fringe is looking for staff and interns for a variety of positions for the 2019 Capital Fringe Festival from July 9-28. For more information, visit their website and check out their flyer
- The Harmonia School of Music & Art, an after-school program for music and theater in Vienna, VA, is seeking a marketing intern from March to August 2019. See the flyer for more information.
- Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library is seeking an experienced Lead House Manager. For more information see the flyer and their website.
- Imagination Stage is offering a Professional Apprenticeship program for graduating college seniors. The apprenticeship is a one-year, full-time professional development program designed to give young theater professionals hands-on experience in a professional TYA theater setting. They offer apprenticeships in Education, Access & Inclusion, Marketing & Development, and Production. See the flyer for more details.
- FRESHH Inc Theater is seeking a creative team for their hip hop theater production, HERstory: Love Forever, Hip Hop at the Kennedy Center this June. They are looking to fill the following positions: production manager, scenic designer, dramaturgical assistants, assistant director, and assistant stage manager. See the flyer for more details.
- Signature Theatre invites students to register for Overtures, a two-week intensive, professional training program in June 2019 that provides rigorous and comprehensive instruction in vocal technique, performance technique, dance, acting and audition skills. For more information about auditions and registration, visit their website.
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- Bates Dance Festival will soon announce their 2019 Summer Festival line-up. BDF is an international professional dance training program with multiple work-study, internship and scholarship opportunities in admin, dance education, social media, community engagement, technical production, and videography. Applications for technical production and videography internships are highly encouraged. The Technical Production Internship is intended for young designers with a strong interest in dance production and stage design. The focus of the Videography Internship is on camera work and video editing necessary for proper documentation and promotional materials related to dance. For more information, contact Kendra Portier (TDPS Dance artist-in-residence) or visit the Bates Dances Festival website.
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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
Renee Gerardo, Graduate Assistant
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