In this month of All Hallows Eve, I am reminded of the tradition of the ghost light, or an electrical light that is left on when a theatre is unoccupied or would otherwise be dark. Typically consisting of an exposed bulb mounted in a wire cage, the ghost lamp is mounted on a portable light stand and placed near stage-center. Why this light is left burning is shrouded in mystery. Some claim that it chases away mischievous spirits. Others insist that it provides the opportunity for ghosts to perform on stage. Either way, it ensures that no mortal trips into the orchestra pit by lighting the way across the stage.
UNC Greensboro has adopted the slogan of Light the Way for its new capital campaign. Since 1891, the University has been a beacon of social mobility for its graduates. From small rural towns in North Carolina to burgeoning suburbs, and from cities such as Charlotte, Atlanta, and Washington, DC, students from all backgrounds and circumstances find their way here and their future here. Along the way, they also discover their very best selves. Students thrive in a university of both history and substance, and in an environment of world-changing research and education.
The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) is the creative heartbeat of UNC Greensboro. We transform lives and communities by providing exceptional artistic and scholarly experiences for our students. CVPA is built on a foundation of academic excellence, creative innovation, and community engagement. We offer countless performance opportunities, hands-on learning, ground-breaking research, and student-teaching experiences along with high-quality studio training and mentorship to nearly 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students each year.
CVPA has four goals for the capital campaign: first is to increase student success by investing in students through scholarships and academic programs. Second is to foster diversity by recruiting diverse faculty role models and increasing awards for projects that are dismantling systemic racism in the arts. Third is to strengthen our community engagement projects by establishing an endowment to support such projects as Dancers Connect, Greensboro Project Space, and North Carolina Theatre for Young People. And fourth is to improve our infrastructure by creating a Visual and Performing Arts Center that would bridge Taylor Theatre, Sprinkle Theatre, and the UNCG Auditorium.
Through Light the Way, you can help us achieve our goal of being recognized as one of the leading arts institutions not only here in the Southeast but also in the nation. Your support will fund initiatives that promote student success; foster diversity among the faculty and staff; strengthen community engagement, which currently reaches more than 14,000 people each year; and invest in spaces to make and to experience the visual and performing arts. Like the theatrical ghost light in a darkened theatre, this capital campaign will light the way for CVPA’s future!
Sincerely,
bruce d. mcclung, Dean
College of Visual and Performing Arts
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‘LIGHT THE WAY’: $200 MILLION GOAL TO TRANSFORM UNCG |
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This is the biggest fundraising announcement in the history of our university.
Today, UNCG launches Light the Way: The Campaign for Earned Achievement.
This comprehensive campaign seeks to raise $200 million to strengthen three key areas: access, excellence, and impact.
“For 130 years, UNCG has been teaching students to look forward, innovate, and break down society’s barriers – big and small,” said UNCG Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. “To continue on this path we need to be bold, imaginative, and courageous. Our pursuit to transform students, knowledge, and the region is relentless. This campaign will light the way forward.”
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THE LIGHTS ARE BRIGHT ON CVPA STAGES |
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When the lights come up in UNCG Auditorium this season, they bathe the stage in the deepest colors and brightest whites imaginable with illumination reaching every corner of the stage as a new set of LED stage lights makes its debut.
The lights were installed last spring and paid for by a grant from the Office of Sustainability’s Green Fund, which supports projects that help meet the goals of the UNCG Climate Action Plan. The grant was initiated by Scott Garrison, Technical Director of the UNCG Auditorium.
Garrison had worked with LEDs before (the Auditorium already had a few), and he knew what they could do for design:
“There is so much to love about them. One is how much light gets to the stage with such deep colors. At a distance, an incandescent light would lose most of its visibility with intense colors, but with these fixtures, a deep blue shines as brightly as a white light. Designers will no longer be confined to a single color choice; they are free to quickly switch between colors to find just the right shade to evoke a reaction or perfectly enhance a performer’s skin tone without washing them out.”
Garrison also knew that, while expensive, LEDs are more energy and cost efficient. It was during conversations with CVPA Assistant Dean for Budget and Operations Brigette Pfister and Auditorium Production Manager James Goins when the proverbial lightbulb went off for Garrison.
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Meet Maranda
DeBusk,
Assistant Professor of Lighting Design
In the arts, light is crucial. In paintings, light can provide depth. In music, dance, and theatre, light can set the mood. In keeping with the theme of “light the way,” we asked Assistant Professor of Lighting Design Maranda DeBusk about how she designs light for
the theatre.
Q: What is the function of Lighting Design in a theatrical production?
MD: If you think of a production like a 3D wooden puzzle, you have the script which is the outline, and you have the pieces, which are the acting, set, and costumes. The director helps to put all those pieces in order. Lighting helps pull it all together by creating an atmosphere and takes the audience members on an emotional journey by directing their focus, pulling them in, forcing them out —fading, snapping, or swirling. Lighting is the element that connects us subconsciously to a story and makes a production whole.
Q: How did you get into Lighting Design?
MD: Lighting Design is at the nexus of the creative and the technical. As a child, I was very imaginative. I loved playing pretend and making up stories, which all but streamlines you into being a theatre maker. But I also loved math and problem solving, which didn’t always line up with what I saw in the portrayal of artist types. Lighting Design gave me a space to both paint with light and to work with a computer to problem solve, and do it all in the service of storytelling.
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SPARTANS SHINE ON BROADWAY AND AT THE TONY AWARDS |
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Hugh Hysell
(’88 BFA Acting)
just won his second Tony Award
as a producer—this time for
The Inheritance, which garnered four Tonys, including Best Play, at the ceremony on September 26th.
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Julie Devore
(’12 BFA Theatre Production & Design) is the production stage manager on American Utopia, which won a Special Tony Award this year.
Evan Frierson
(’13 BA Spanish) is a percussionist
for the show.
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Deon’te Goodman
(’16 BM Vocal Performance)
has performed in the ensemble of Hamilton since 2019 and is
understudy for Aaron Burr, George Washington, and James Madison.
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Stoney B. Mootoo
(’16 BA Theatre)
is making her Broadway debut this fall as a member of the ensemble
in The Book of Mormon.
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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES
Maria Guild (’21 BM Music Education) has been appointed chorus, orchestra, and general music teacher at Corriher-Lipe Middle School in Landis, NC.
Peter Swanson (’21 DMA Cello) released his debut CD, Anti-Compass: Masterworks for Solo Cello, through the international label Sheva Collection in August. The disc features works by Hindemith, Ligeti, Crumb, and Weinberg, which were recorded in the School of Music’s Tew Recital Hall.
Kyle Kostenko (’19 MM Performance, PBC Musicology), Robin McLaughlin (’18 MM Music Composition), Isaac Pyatt (’18 BM Performance), Jillian Storey (’21 DMA, PBC Musicology), and Peter Swanson (’21 DMA Cello), performing as the group Catchfire Collective, were selected as some of the inaugural recipients of Creative Greensboro’s Residency at the Hyers Program. The residency will allow the ensemble to present their May 2022 program “i am a shadow...the true self” featuring a choreographed performance of Eleanor Alberga’s Dancing with the Shadow in the Greensboro Cultural Center. Learn more about Catchfire Collective here.
Baraka Ongeri (’18 BFA Theatre), better known by his stage name Binki, transitioned from acting to music after graduation and was signed by the Fader Label. He released his debut EP, Motor Function, in August and recently opened for Glass Animals in Charlotte. Read the review here.
Joyce Watkins King (’17 MFA Studio Arts) has a solo exhibition, Fiasco, at the Maria V. Howard Arts Center in Rocky Mount from September 3 to December 31, 2021. A public reception will be held November 7th from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Fiasco is an extension of Joyce’s thesis exhibition, which examines the effects of the fast fashion industry and uses clothing as her material.
Daniel Skidmore (’06 DMA Violin) was featured in a recent article in the Salisbury Post, detailing his path from the UNCG School of Music to a career as violin instructor at Elon University, Associate Concertmaster for the Winston-Salem Symphony, and Concertmaster for the Salisbury Symphony. Read the article here.
Sidney Outlaw (’04 BM Voice Performance) can be seen virtually in Opera San José’s season-opening production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely seen opera Mozart and Salieri. The production is streaming through October 31st. Ticket information can be found here.
April Boyett Kocher (’02 BM Voice Performance) has published the second book in her children’s book series Geneva the Diva about a little girl who loves to sing and dance and to go on adventures. Both books, Geneva the Diva and Geneva the Diva Goes to the Opera, are available on Amazon. April has plans to add more books to the series.
Alumni News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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2021-2022 ALUMNI EVENTS
Invitations to CVPA alumni events will be forthcoming by email, so make sure we know
where to send yours! You may update your contact information using the same form
Washington, DC | November 7, 2021
Wilmington | December 2, 2021
New York City | December 5. 2021
Charlotte | January 28, 2022
Atlanta | January 30, 2022
Asheville | March 2, 2022
Los Angeles | March 6, 2022
Raleigh | Spring 2022, Date TBD
CVPA alumni events will follow all public health protocols at the time of and in the location where they take place. Adjustments to the schedule will be made as necessary.
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FACULTY/STAFF NEWS & NOTES
Teri Bickham (Assistant Professor of Voice) released her first album, The Human Heart: Voices of Women, on the Albany Records label on August 1, 2021. This album features compositions of Elaine Ross and the poetry of Sara Teasdale, the Brontë sisters, Emily Dickinson, and Elaine Ross. Information about the album can be found here.
Duane Cyrus (Professor of Dance) has been appointed by the Greensboro City Council to the newly formed Greensboro Cultural Affairs Commission. Other members of the Commission with UNC Greensboro connections include Juliette Bianco (Director of the Weatherspoon Art Museum) and artist Victoria Milstein (CVPA Board of Visitors). Read more about the commission here.
Ana Paula Höfling (Associate Professor of Dance Studies) was awarded the Dance Studies Association’s Oscar G. Brockett Prize for Dance Research for her book Staging Brazil: Choreographies of Capoeira (Wesleyan University Press, 2019). The award was granted with this citation: “With its rich interweaving of history, cultural context, archival research, movement analysis, and ethnographic insight, Staging Brazil: Choreographies of Capoeira is a model for critical dance studies in the twenty-first century. This year’s Brockett Prize committee found this book to be beautifully written, methodologically rigorous, and theoretically sophisticated—a wonderful example of sharp postcolonial critique that is also willing to challenge conventional narratives of authenticity and origin. Höfling is a scholar who takes the time to allow ideas to ripen, producing an accessible book that synthesizes arguments across chapters and provides our field with an example of the best kind of kinesthetic literacy.”
Dan Hale (Visiting Assistant Professor of Animation) is the co-director of the animation short The Boy Who Cried, which has been accepted for the Lonely Wolf London International Film Festival 2021 and nominated for the following awards: Outstanding Character Design Nomination, Outstanding Created Environment Nomination, and Best Animated Film Semi-Finalist.
Elizabeth Perrill (Professor of Art History) was recently a featured guest on the TAHC (The Art History Class) Podcast, a program designed to serve and to inspire AP and IB Art History instructors. Perrill speaks about materiality across different media and specifically in reference to her specialization of ceramics. Listen here.
Joan Titus (Associate Professor of Musicology) recently published an article on American film composer Bernard Herrmann for Oxford Bibliographies Online. It is now available through UNCG libraries.
Clarice Young (Assistant Professor of Dance) has been named inaugural recipient of the Doug Risner Professor of Dance Award, established by Risner (’01 PhD Curriculum and Teaching,
’90 MFA, and’88 BFA Dance) to support the School of Dance in the areas of faculty research,
retaining high-performance faculty, and incentivizing tenure-track faculty preparing for promotion and tenure.
Faculty/Staff News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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OCTOBER CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS
Andrew Havenhand Exhibition
October 1st–25th | Monday–Friday: 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
Gatewood Studio Art Gallery
An Evening with the Creative Class
October 15th | 7:00 PM
The Julies: A Kinda Sorta Adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie by Calley N. Anderson
October 15th–24th | Sprinkle Theatre
November 4th–6th | On-demand streaming
Women’s Wind Ensemble Concert
October 28th | 7:30 PM | Tew Recital Hall
Greensboro Dance Film Festival
October 29th and 30th | 6:00 PM | Greensboro Project Space
BOX OFFICE
1-800-514-3849
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CLOSING SPOTLIGHT
The UNCG Auditorium ghost light provides safety to those who cross the stage at night, but legend says every theatre has ghosts and that the single bulb left on at night provides illumination for the spirits to perform. Read about UNCG Auditorium ghost “Jane Aycock” here.
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The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) e-Newsletter is published eight times a year in September, October, November, December, February, March, April, and May.
The Newsletter is emailed to CVPA alumni, faculty, staff, students, patrons, and donors. Please feel free to forward your copy, and anyone who would like their name to be added to our distribution list can contact us via uncgarts@uncg.edu.
The e-Newsletter is edited by Terri Relos, Director of Marketing and Alumni Engagement. Archived issues can be found in the “News” section of the CVPA website. To submit Alumni News & Notes, please use this form. For Faculty/Staff News & Notes, use this form.
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100 McIver St, Greensboro, NC 27412-5010
Tel: 336-334-5789
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