Monday, August 26, 2019
Welcome back, TDPS! We hope you had a wonderful, restful summer.
And welcome to our new students and faculty. For those of you who are new, this is our regular TDPS newsletter, which is sent every other Monday morning. Here we share the latest TDPS news, upcoming events, and opportunities for jobs, auditions, or grants.
Good luck to all as we start another academic year!
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In this newsletter:
- Upcoming Events
- 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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Main Season - Fall 2019
(free tickets for students!)
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September 28 - October 5
Written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Translated by Maurice Valency
Brian MacDevitt, director
Leigh Wilson Smiley, acting coach
Kendra Portier, choreographer
Under what circumstances can a society skew their morality for comfort and personal gain? Set in the fictitious town of Güllen, experience the story of a woman’s revenge on a community that cast her out when she was pregnant and impoverished. This allegorical dark comedy features a village of citizens—set into motion as a mob of dancing birds, whose sweeping murmurations turn ferocious. The play arcs from absurdist to barbarous in order to question what happens when civil ethics, personal morality, patriarchal rule, justice and democracy go amok.
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October 4-6
Ronya-Lee Anderson, choreographer
Heidi McFall, choreographer
Black Madonna and Miss America
by Ronya-Lee Anderson
Black Madonna and Miss America is an investigation of socio-political happenings in conversation with the positioning of the Black female icon in public and private spheres—in the church, on the stage and in the streets. This cinematic and multi-genre dance piece explores the intersections between identity, cultural heritage and pop culture.
Corpora Caelestia: A Movement Opera
by Heidi McFall
Corpora Caelestia: A Movement Opera is a music and dance collaborative performance featuring a live organ, voice and movement by an ensemble of women. This sacred and minimalistic piece explores the contrast between the boundaries of the physical body and a freeness of spirit. The breathy, effortful quality of the organ captures a feeling of longing as the soul tries to break free from physical restriction.
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November 1-9
Written by Pearl Cleage
Scot Reese, director
Alvin Mayes, director
Set in 1898,
Flyin’ West is the vivid and spirited story of African American women pioneers who settle together in the all-black town of Nicodemus, KS. After emancipation, the play’s four women have taken advantage of the Homestead Act to leave the oppressive South in hopes of finding the freedom that had been denied to them for so long. Cleage’s work explores themes of determination, racial pride, intermarriage and the power of love to highlight the female empowerment that she sees as vital to the African American community.
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November 15-17
untitled sad piece by elephant JANE dance
Heidi Henderson, choreographer
untitled sad piece examines small sadnesses, those moments when we allow ourselves to not be chipper. In reiterative solos and tender duets, the dancers of elephant JANE dance see into each other's eyes and touch, sweat and galumph. The movement is effortful. These dances are real— messy, emotional, highly structured, single-minded, fluid, quiet and virtuosic.
Burnish (Magenta #08) by BANDportier
Kendra Portier, choreographer
Burnish (Magenta #08) renders the magical phenomenon of magenta into live performance. Unlike other colors, magenta does not have a wavelength and is only perceived as such because of the absence of green waves of light. In this way, magenta is a metaphor for what is experienced through absence. In this piece, a cast of six performers become swathes of color vibrating and spilling across the stage. Wild movement, complex patterns and expressive rhythm sharpen into something unnerving, boldly feminine and poetic. Magenta becomes a vibrant articulation of bodies moving with velocity and tenderness.
Burnish is supported (in part) through the Summer Dance Residency Festival at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Emory University and Bates Dance Festival.
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Second Season - Fall 2019
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October 18-20
I Have an Idea for a Play
Written by Jordan Resnick
Directed by Katie Arnold
Doubled Bodies
Choreographed by Kristina Harris and Gabriel Mata
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November 22-24
Breath, Boom
Written by Kia Corthron
Directed by Jasmine Mitchell
Revolt
Written & Directed by Walker Green
Music Direction by Liezel Werner
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December 6-7
Soundtrack
Written by Diallo Adams
The Triumph of Horus: An Ancient Egyptian Sacred Drama
Translated by H. W. Fairman
Adapted and directed by Allison Hedges
Second Season tickets are free and become available one week before the opening of the show. Stay tuned for more details!
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Other events coming u
p
soon
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Kreativity Open Mic Night
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September 6
Join the Kreators of the Kreativity Diversity Troupe for an open mic night, full of music, dance and spoken word.
Want to try out your own performance chops? Show up and sign up! Just looking for a night of entertainment from some of the most talented students in the metro area? Simply take a seat and enjoy the show.
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September 6, 5:30PM
Dance Studio 2
On the first Friday of every month, join the Dance area for a showing of student works-in-progress. Open to all!
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September 13-14
NextNOW Fest is an inspiring experience where creativity and community converge. By amplifying the voices of intriguing, inventive artists from around campus and the country, NextNOW Fest creates a forward-looking microcosm where art shapes and transforms our future.
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Have an event you want to share?
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TDPS folks were busy this summer! Check out some of this summer's news, and send us your news to be included in the next newsletter.
- PhD candidate Jenna Gerdsen and PhD student Jonelle Walker published their article, “Who Reports Mandatory Reporters” in Theatre Topics, for the journal's special issue in July about theatre practice in graduate education. Congratulations, Jenna and Jonelle!
- Dance faculty Alvin Mayes was quoted in Dance Magazine with advice for dance majors as they prepare to enter the professional world.
- This year, PhD candidate Victoria Scrimer is a fellow for the Graduate School Writing Center. The center has regular Friday writing workshops and bootcamps, so take advantage of this resource! For more information about the center and to sign up for a consultation, visit their website.
We also heard about the following alumni placements. Our recent BA and MFA Dance grads are out there changing the world!
- Sinclair Ogaga Emoghene (MFA Dance ‘16) was hired as assistant professor of contemporary dance at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA.
- Mustapha Braimah (MFA Dance ‘18) was hired as a visiting assistant professor of dance at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
- Bayardo "B" Martinez (BA Dance '19) was hired as a dance educator at Prince George's County Public Schools.
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Have news you want to share?
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- PhD candidate Allison Hedges is calling for auditions for her Second Season production, The Triumph of Horus: An Ancient Egyptian Sacred Drama, which will be presented on December 6 and 7. See the audition notice for more information.
- Folger Shakespeare Library is seeking Production Stage Managers for its 2019/20 season production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, by William Shakespeare, directed by Aaron Posner. Rehearsals begin Monday, December 16, 2019, and the production closes Sunday, March 1, 2020. This is a weekly contract position that begins with first rehearsal. Folger Theatre’s performance schedule is an 8-show week. Must be a member in good standing of Actors’ Equity Association. Submit a cover letter and resume on their website.
- The Jung Society of Washington is hiring a part-time director of communications to handle publicity for their upcoming programs. Visit their website for more information.
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Have an opportunity you want to share?
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Do you have something you want 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 Aurelia Spanos, Coordinator of Marketing & Communications
Krissy Aurelia Harris, Graduate Assistant
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