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The
management behind the arts
There was a time when arts management sounded like
an oxymoron.
That’s what Sherburne Laughlin was told when
she mentioned, in the early 1980s, that she wanted to pursue a career
in the field.
Arts management? What could that be? How could someone
manage the arts—that creative, inspiration-driven, out-of-the-box
world of artists, actors, and dancers?
The notion that management and the arts were once
seen as incompatible is itself a quaint idea in 2008. In today’s
climate, it’s clear that running a successful arts organization
takes business savvy as well as inspiration. Without grants, marketing
campaigns, permanent staff, boards of directors, and long-term strategies,
the show can’t go on.
Laughlin did, indeed, go on to a successful career
in the field that some people thought was an oxymoron. Now she’s
head of AU’s master’s program in arts management, which
may well be the oldest in the country, and is certainly among the best
known. It was founded in 1974, when the National Endowment for the Arts
itself had just been founded and theatres, dance companies, and arts
institutions were starting up around the country. read
more...
" The Management Behind
the Arts'"
American Weekly, 15 April 2008, by Sally Acharya
Snyder
joins DPA Hall of Fame inductees
Michele Snyder is a star behind the scenes. Now she’s
recognized with the type of honor that usually goes to those in the
spotlight; she’s in the Hall of Fame.
Snyder was inducted into AU’s Department of
Performing Arts’ Hall of Fame during the recent symposium, “Emerging
Arts Management Leaders.”
She’s made enormous contributions to the arts,
and she’s an exemplary role model,” says DPA chair Gail
Humphries Mardirosian. “She is an extraordinary woman and a true
leader.”
Snyder earned her degree in arts management in 1998
and has become a strong voice for the arts, working in development and
public relations and lobbying Congress to increase funding for the National
Endowment for the Arts and other arts organizations. She is director
of development for the College Arts Association, an international nonprofit
based in New York.
“I was really honored when I heard,”
Snyder said of the honor. “I got a great foundation at AU. I really
got an understanding of what a nonprofit is and how it works in every
aspect from public relations to fund raising.” read
more...
"Snyder
joins DPA Hall of Fame inductees" American Weekly,
15 April 2008, by Sally Acharya
Alumna
returns to Katzen for New Works reading
A staged reading of The King is Dead
was a homecoming of sorts for Caroline Angell, CAS/BA ’05, who
returned to her alma mater to direct the reading of the new play by
Caroline McGraw.
“The teachers in the Department of Performing
Arts have always been extremely supportive of my artistic endeavors,
and I’ve always felt a great spirit of collaboration while working
at AU,” said Angell. “Returning to do this project was a
lot like coming back home.”
The King is Dead—staged Jan. 24–26
at the Katzen Arts Center’s Studio Theatre as part of the New
Works series—chronicles a class trip to Graceland, during which
five teenagers discover the bonds of friendship. Angell learned of the
project after her mentor and former professor, Carl Menninger, put her
in touch with another former student, Jill Landaker, the artistic director
of New York City’s Highwire Theatre.
“[Highwire] is mounting a full-length production
in June, and they wanted to do a workshop of the script before they
put it into production,” said Angell. “Carl gave me the
script to see if I was interested in directing a staged reading of it,
and thus began my relationship with Highwire and Caroline McGraw.”
read
more...
Caroline McGraw,
left, author of The King is Dead, with CarolineAngell ’05, who
directed a reading of McGraw’s play
"Alumna
returns to Katzen for New Works reading'"
American Weekly, 5 February 2007, by Adrienne Frank
'Wow'
Factor Key to Staging an Event
There’s more to the perfect party
than finger foods and a band.
“People these days are looking for that ‘wow’ factor,”
said certified special events professional Alice Conway, who spoke to
graduate students in AU’s Arts Management Program on Nov. 16.
Conway, director of the Event Management Program at Stratford University
in Falls Church, Va., and organizer of big bashes around the globe,
identified several key trends in the industry.
Today’s events focus more on healthy living, from the activities—yoga,
massages, and aromatherapy—to the heart-healthy buffet table.
“You can’t organize an event for the American Cancer Society
or the American Heart Association and serve food that’s totally
against the principles they’re working toward,” Conway said.
A professional harpist, Conway also encouraged the students to find
their own creative outlet—“be it, pottery, dance, or the
piano”—and to take classes in public relations, advertising,
business law, and accounting in order to become more well rounded. She
also reminded them of the importance of ethical business practices.
“You have every right to make money, but you don’t need
to gouge people,” she said. “Full disclosure is very important.”
read
more...
"'Wow'
Factor Key to Staging and Event'" American
Weekly, 4 December 2007,
Singers
Treat Lunchtime Crowd to Concert
The Department of Performing Arts’ semester-long
Atrium Series ended on a high note last Thursday, with an informal concert
by The Three Musketeers in the Battelle-Tompkins atrium.
Lauren Bernhardt, Rosie Haimm, and Katie Labarre,
students from the voice studio of Barbara Hollinshead, performed eight
tunes, including “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Loveliest
of Trees.” The audience, including several proud parents, also
enjoyed pieces by Johannes Brahms and Charles Ives. —AF
"Singers
Treat Lunchtime Crowd to Concert'" American
Weekly, 4 December 2007,
Reception
Celebrates Growing Fulbright Community
Natalia Grincheva came to strengthen the arts in
Russia, Amine Goulidi came to keep the peace with separatists in Morocco,
and Clarice Sandoval came to bolster environmental efforts in El Salvador.
Though they each followed a separate path to AU, the three international
scholars recently celebrated the thing they have in common—the
Fulbright Scholarship.
Grincheva, Goulidi, Sandoval, and 12 other scholars from more than a
dozen countries gathered in the Mary Graydon Center Friday, Oct. 12,
for a reception honoring AU’s Fulbright scholars. More than a
chance to chat with students from around the world, the event took a
first step toward establishing a more formal Fulbright community on
campus.
“We’re trying to build a Fulbright network at AU,”
said International Student and Scholar Services director Fanta Aw. “We
have the people here to form that network. It’s just a matter
of connecting those dots.”
Other ‘dots’ at the reception included AU Fulbright scholars
headed to study abroad, AU Fulbright alumni who’ve recently returned,
and faculty who’ve been Fulbright professors or scholars. read
more...
"Reception
Celebrates Growing Fulbright Community'" American
Weekly, 23 October 2007, by Matt Getty
Prominent
Washingtonians say music education is not a cuttable ‘extra’
Music education is fading from the public schools.
Leonard Slatkin has a plan to save it, but it doesn’t involve
music teachers.
His plan, ultimately, is not about creating more people like himself,
a famed music director and conductor who is the best-known face of the
National Symphony Orchestra, and is also distinguished artist in residence
at AU.
It’s about fostering a love of music in people who won’t
become professional musicians, like most of those who shared the stage
with him at the Abramson Recital Hall, Katzen Arts Center.
“It’s a little hard to tell exactly what all of us have
in common,” said Slatkin as he scanned the panelists. There was
financial journalist and editor Knight Kiplinger, singer-songwriter
Mary Chapin Carpenter, and radio host Diane Rehm. Eric Motley of the
Aspen Institute was there, a former special assistant to George Bush;
so was Rhonda Buckley, founder of the Sitar Arts Center; and Bessy Guevara,
a former Sitar student who now works in public relations for Metro.
Most were not musicians. Yet all of them shared the bond of music. “Sound
Investment: How Music Shapes Our Lives” was a discussion on the
topic of music, its importance, and how to counteract its shrinking
presence in the nation’s schools. read
more...
"Prominent
Washingtonians say music education is not a cuttable 'extra'"
American Weekly, 16 October 2007, by Sally Acharya
Chinese
delegation hears about arts management
China has been changing dramatically, and so has it’s cultural policy. That’s why an 18-person Chinese delegation came to AU’s arts management program last week. The group from Xiamen, a city of 5 million that was one of China’s earliest special economic zones, have been on a study tour of the United States to learn about arts management.
China is beginning to privatize some of its cultural institutions, so
they were here to see how some aspects of the American system work,”
said Sherburne Laughlin, director of the arts management program.
The visitors learned about cultural advocacy and arts education at an AU presentation called “Aspects of Cultural Policy in the United States and China” and participated in a panel on comparative policies.
The delegation included Chinese journalists, academics, and government representatives, including the deputy director of Xiamen’s Office of Promoting Cultural and Ideological Progress and two chiefs of the Municipal Propagandizing Department. Laughlin said they were surprised to hear that the United States has neither a cultural ministry nor a national cultural policy. read more...
"Chinese delegation hears about arts management " American Weekly, 28 August 2007
Dance, collaborative drama signal new direction
It’s not often that students in the performing arts get to see their own professors perform—outside the classroom, at least.
And it’s not often that faculty from different disciplines can be found together, in the same production.
This fall, though, the Department of Performing Arts will launch the academic year with a collaborative production of Ariel Dorfman’s wrenching drama of human rights abuse, Death and the Maiden, that features faculty in the key roles and a dance segment choreographed by artist-in-residence Vladimir Angelov, CAS/MA ’96.
The play is about a woman who was raped and tortured as a political prisoner, and many years later puts her torturer on trial in her isolated country house.
The dance segment, added for the AU production, is included to reflect the protagonist’s emotional state, and to show the abstract power of dance in theatre. “Much of this play is extraordinarily confrontational, but it has overtones of poetry at the same time,” said department chair Gail Mardirosian. “As you see the actor and dancer, you see multiple aspects simultaneously.”
While most parts will be performed by faculty members, the dancer is student Leah Rothschild who spent several years with the Joffrey Ballet before coming to AU. read more ...
"Dance, collaborative drama signal new direction" American Weekly, 24 July 2007, by Sally Acharya
Practice
makes perfect . . . fund raiser: Student musicians hold 24-hour ‘Practice-a-Thon’ for D.C. youth music center
The gently weeping notes that spilled from Adam Hansen’s
cello never sounded better. The junior music major had worked hard to
perfect the Shostakovich Cello Sonata. He’d practiced nearly three
hours a day. He’d taken numerous lessons from his instructor and
fellow cellist, AU music professor Nancy Snider. And now, as he played
in the middle of the Mary Graydon Center, he finally nailed it.
“That was awesome,” he recalls. “It sounded just how
I wanted it to sound.”
Too bad no one else heard it—he was playing in a virtually soundproof
booth.
That kind of perfection in isolation is nothing new for most music majors,
who spend more than 15 hours each week honing their craft alone in the
Katzen Arts Center’s practice rooms. But for Hansen and the two
dozen other students who played their cellos, violins, and guitars in
that booth during the last week of March, perfection in isolation actually
reached out to the larger community. read
more...
"Practice
makes perfect...fund raiser" American
Weekly, 19 April 2007, by Matt Getty
Much
ado about Shakespeare
When Shakespeare observed that “all the world’s a stage,” he wasn’t, of course, talking about a literal stage. But this year, much of Washington has indeed become a stage for Shakespeare.
The bard is everywhere in Washington during the six-month Shakespeare in Washington festival: the Kennedy Center, the Folger, the Washington Ballet, the Smithsonian.
And, of course, AU.
The university has been exploring the work and impact of Shakespeare with a series of performances titled Shakespeare at AU, most of them based around what is arguably the most canonical play of English literature’s most canonical writer: Hamlet. read more...
"Much Ado About Shakespeare" American Weekly, 22 March 2007, by Sally Acharya
High Stakes on a Russian Stage: Festival puts students to the test
They were 5,000 miles from home, bleary with jet lag and running on adrenalin, standing on an unfamiliar stage in front of a thousand people who didn’t understand their language.
A seasoned troop of actors would have found it daunting. But these were undergraduates. They had never performed on such a vast stage, and certainly not to a sold-out house at an international theatre festival.
No AU students had ever done it before. No production from the Department of Performing Arts had even toured outside of Washington, D.C., let alone eight time zones away. In fact, no U.S. university had ever participated in the festival held at Russia’s oldest professional theatre.
The cast and crew of AU’s fall production, the gritty musical They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? had come to Yaroslavl, Russia, to perform at the Seventh International Theatre Festival at the famed Volkov Theatre. They’d be presenting a deeply American story about desperation during the Depression to an audience of Russians accustomed to seeing some of the best acting in their country. read more...
"High Stakes on a Russian Stage: festival puts students to the test" American Weekly, 23 January 2007, by Sally Acharya
To Russia, With Music and Drama
On Dec. 3, Ben Naramore will stand on the stage of a vast 1,000-seat theatre and make an announcement. “This is America, folks,” he’ll promise in a voice as slick as his 1930s hairstyle. “Anyone can win here.” He will not, however, be in America. The AU senior, in the role of the callous emcee of a Depression-era dance marathon, will be performing with 17 other student actors at a theatre festival in the heart of Russia. And they won’t just be performing. They’ll be making history.
AU will be the first American university to participate in the Seventh International Theatre Festival in Yaroslavl, Russia, home of the country’s oldest professional theatre, the 256-year-old Volkov Theatre. The trip will also mark the first time an AU theatre production has toured outside the Washington area, says director Gail Humphries Mardirosian, chair of performing arts in the College of Arts and Sciences. The show they’ll bring to Russian audiences is a dark musical about money, fame, and desperation during the Depression, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? The action is set on the floor of a dance marathon in which couples dance for months on the promise that the last pair standing will win $2,000. read more...
"To Russia, With Music and Drama: AU students set to take play to international festival" American Weekly, 24 October 2006, by Sally Acharya (PDF)
Freedom of Expression: Katzen kicks of art season with 5 shows
Fifty years ago this autumn, at the height of the Cold War, came a moment that transfixed the world. For two weeks in 1956, Hungarians stood up to the power of the Soviet Union when they took to the streets by the thousands with their anger and their dreams of freedom.
They also had cameras. So when protesters destroyed a statue of Stalin, or beat and hanged a Communist sympathizer, or battled with the Soviet tanks that rolled in to crush the revolt, the cameras were clicking. Some were in the hands of photojournalists and internationally acclaimed photographers. Others were in the hands of ordinary citizens, like the grandmother who heard fighting outside her home and picked up her son’s camera, which she had never used before.
Now more than 100 of these photographs are on view at the AU Museum of the Katzen Arts Center. The photographs from the Hungarian Revolution, some on view for the first time and others only recently rediscovered, range from protests to armed battles to lynchings to refugees. read more...
"Freedon of Expression: Katzen Kicks off art season with 5 shows " American Weekly, 19 September 2006, by Sally Acharya (PDF)
Students the first to stage Chicago playwright's dark comedy
Fifty years ago this autumn, at the height of the Cold War, came a moment that transfixed the world. For two weeks in 1956, Hungarians stood up to the power of the Soviet Union when they took to the streets by the thousands with their anger and their dreams of freedom.
They also had cameras. So when protesters destroyed a statue of Stalin, or beat and hanged a Communist sympathizer, or battled with the Soviet tanks that rolled in to crush the revolt, the cameras were clicking. Some were in the hands of photojournalists and internationally acclaimed photographers. Others were in the hands of ordinary citizens, like the grandmother who heard fighting outside her home and picked up her son’s camera, which she had never used before.
Now more than 100 of these photographs are on view at the AU Museum of the Katzen Arts Center. The photographs from the Hungarian Revolution, some on view for the first time and others only recently rediscovered, range from protests to armed battles to lynchings to refugees. read more...
"Students the first to stage Chicago playwright's dark comedy , 24 January 2006, by Adrienne Frank (PDF)
ANTIGONE Challenges Boundaries
There is a lot about Antigone that goes beyond boundaries, both as a play and as an honors colloquium. As a performance, it raises still-tantalizing questions about the relationship between the individual and the state. As an honors colloquium, it aims to explore the enduring human effort to balance reason and passion. This semester, the Department of Performing Arts, Department of History, and the University Honors Program have collaborated to offer a team-taught course synthesizing both performance and humanities inquiry in "Antigone and Athens." The focus is on ancient Greece, but the approach is interdisciplinary and the goal is partly to give students experience in reading humanities texts from the perspective of both humanities scholars and performing artists. read more . . .
"ANTIGONE Challenges Boundaries: Campus Production Brings Dramatic Focus to Honors Class," American Weekly, 1 February 2005, by Sally Acharya (PDF)
Arts
Management Degree Celebrates 30 Years
Founded in 1974, AU’s arts management program
was one of the first master’s degrees in the field, born just
after the National Endowment for the Arts was founded and the arts had
begun to blossom. New theatres and art spaces were cropping up everywhere,
but skilled professionals to manage them were in short supply. AU stepped
in to fill the need. Now in its 30th year, the master’s program
in Arts Management is widely recognized as one of the leading programs
in its rapidly growing field, attracting students who dream of starting
their own theatres, working in museums, and having a life in the arts.
"The
Business of Art: The Arts Management Degree Celebrates 30 Years,"
American Weekly, 18 January 2005, by Sally Acharya (PDF)
Joy
Bailey -- Creating a Cultural Renaissance
It’s rare that you meet someone as passionate
about their job as Joy Bailey (MA Arts Management). Being a museum consultant
and curator is more than just a career for her, it’s a calling.
“I think it’s my purpose to get African American culture,
history and art seen by the public,” says Bailey, who has worked
for the world’s largest museum consulting firm, Lord Cultural
Resources, for the past two and a half years. Read more by clicking
below . . .
"Joy Bailey
- Creating a Cultural Renaissance," rollingout.com, 18
November 2004 (PDF)
Nonprofit
Fridays Unites Future Nonprofit Leaders
The future owner of an independent movie house
could learn a lot from an aspiring human rights organization director.
At least that’s what public administration professor Margo Bailey
and arts management professor Robert Goler are banking on with their
new Nonprofit Fridays program, a series of monthly Friday afternoon
discussions aimed at uniting students who share the goal of working
in the nonprofit sector but have a wide variance in their areas of study.
"Nonprofit
Fridays Unites Future Nonprofit Leaders," American Weekly,
14 December 2004, by Matt Getty (PDF)
Smith
Jazzes Up Music Program
William Smith, assistant professor of music, is
many things: a well-regarded jazz musician, an ethnomusicologist, a
scholar with a dissertation on hip-hop, a conductor, even the composer
of an Episcopalian mass. He is also bringing a new excitement to AU’s
music program, where he not only teaches music appreciation and the
history of rock and jazz, but leads the AU Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combo,
and Jazz Vocal Workshop. >
read more . . .
"Smith
Jazzes Up Music Department," American Weekly, 7 December
2004, by Sally Acharya (PDF)
AU's
Arts Management Program Hosts Emerging Arts Leaders in Washington, D.C.
In conjunction with National Arts and Humanities
Month and Americans for the Arts, join Emerging Arts Leaders in Washington,
D.C. in creative conversations!
American University: creative conversation on Thursday, October 28,
from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. at Kay Spiritual Life Center (parking
available at Nebraska & New Mexico Avenues). Discussion topics will
include support for emerging leaders and emerging leaders’ roles
in community issues. Presented by the Arts Management graduate program
in the Department of Performing Arts at American University.
Please register for this creative conversation
at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/emergingleaders/creativeconversations
AU Chamber Singers Prepare for US/Canada Tour
Two days before embarking on a whirdwind tour of
the eastern United States and Canada, the AU Chamber Singers gave a
large audience a sneak preview of the show in the Kay Spiritual Life
Center. Under the direction of Daniel Abraham, the 24-member ensemble
will be performing a variety of contemporary, traditional, and folk
works on their tour. The week-long tourduring October 6-12 -- the first
AU choral tour in nearly 20 years -- will take students to seven cities
across the eastern United States and Canada: Toronto, Stratford, and
Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada, and Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh,
and Harrisburg in the U.S. Please contact chorus@american.edu
for more information.
Arts
Management Graduate Student Internship Featured
Not everyone is grumbling over having to work through
the sunny days of summer. Tamika Washington is happy to shuffle papers
at the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts. Oftentimes, nabbing the best internships
can be as competitive as getting into college. Such was the case for
Washington. After competing with 350 applicants for one of 20 openings,
the Upper Marlboro resident landed the arts education outreach job in
the Kennedy
Center's Vilar Institute for Arts Management.
"Locals
Land Coveted Internships," The Gazette, 5 August 2004, by Tiesha
Higgins (PDF)
Update
on Ya-Wen Su
Using only a cane, Ya-Wen Su crossed the stage
at American University in May to receive a graduate degree diploma.
It was a hard-won victory. Not just earning the degree in art management,
but being able to walk again. The 29-year-old Taiwan native lost both
legs last year after a drunk driver struck her as she rode a bicycle
in Reston.
"Update
on the News ," Washington Post, 8 August 2004, by Leef Smith
(PDF)
Russia's
Volkov Theatre to Perform at Greenberg Theatre
In its first U.S. appearance since 1993, the famed
Volkov Theatre of Yaroslavl, Russia performed three classic Russian
plays at American University's Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre.
Even a Wise Man Stumbles, a comedy in two acts, The Coriscan
Fury, and The General Inspector, a classic comedy about Russian
provincial life. While the troupe has not
been to the United States since 1993 when they performed in Burlington,
VT, Yaroslavl's sister city, the theatre often goes on tour. In 1998,
The Volkov Theatre Troupe, led by chief manager, Valery Sergeyev, performed
in Paris, Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and Berlin. From 1999 to 2002
the troupe performed in Finland, Denmark and Norway, and in 2003 they
toured Egypt.
Photos courtesy of Volkov Theatre;
Sergey Metelitsa, photographer.
Download
the press release by clicking here <<<<<
"Volkov and AU Performers
Share Pride of the Stage," American Weekly, 27 May 2004, by
Kenny Lucas (PDF)
Liz
Lerman Dance Exchange at the Greenberg Theatre
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange graced American University's
Greenberg Theatre with "Scores for Salt and Snow: Dances Since
2002," which Washington Post dance critic Barbara Allen praised
as "possessing a depth and maturity of vision."
"A Visit Home,"
Washington Post, 21 May 2004, by Nicole Arthur (PDF)
"Review: Dance Exchange At
Home," Dance View Times, 24 May 2004, by Lisa Traiger
(PDF)
"AU Partners with Nationally
Acclaimed Dance Company," American Weekly, 27 May 2004, by
Emily Johnson (PDF)
AU
Student Playwrights Honored by Arts Club of Washington
The Arts Club of Washington honored two AU
playwrights at last night's DPA Awards Night. Caroline Jane Angell,
a music theatre major in her junior year at AU, took home first prize
in the Arts Club of Washington Scholarship Competition and received
a check for $1,500 for “Tempted,” a surreal and darkly humorous
play centered on the themes of love, art, and mystery. Becca Coren,
a senior in the music theatre program, won an honorable mention in the
same competition. Both students will be recognized again at an Arts
Club dinner in May.
American
University will host U.S. Performing Arts Camp during Summer 2004
This summer, American University and the Department
of Performing Arts will be hosting the U.S. Performing Arts Camp, July
5-10 and July 12-17, 2004. The camp will focus on musical theater, offering
intensive workshops in acting, singing, and dancing taught by Broadway
artists and American University faculty. Curriculum will include improvisation,
scene study, vocal instruction, audition techniques, and dance workshops
for all levels. Both resident and day programs are available to students
between the ages of 11 and 18. As a special offer, children of American
University faculty and staff will receive a 5% discount on the cost
of the camp.
For more information please contact Robert Pullen,
Director of U.S. Performing Arts Camps, at rcpullen@kennedy-center.org
or visit their website at www.usperformingarts.com.
AU
singers are among region’s most talented
In early February an all-star choir put on a performance
in Boston’s historic Old South Church, and the music had a distinct
American University sound. The voices of twenty-nine students from Maine
to D.C. made up the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) College
and University Chamber Choir, and five of those soaring singers hailed
from AU. The honorees— Namwoong Cho, Emily Ann Formica, Michael
Gale, Anne Ganster, and Laura Petravage—all members of the American
University Chamber Singers, submitted performance reels in the fall
and were notified of their acceptance to the choir early this semester.
Not only did AU land more singers on the prestigious choir than any
other school, but they also sent the only nonmusic majors represented.
The honorees were sent the music the choir would
be singing at the ACDA Eastern Division Convention and prepared for
the big weekend with the help of AU’s director of choral activities
Daniel Abraham. “They’re expected to come with the music completely
learned,” Abraham said. “So when they get there, it’s
not about learning music, it’s about making the music.” The
convention took place in Boston, Feb. 12–14, and the University
Chamber Choir was given three days to rehearse, a mere tick of the clock
by normal preparation standards. Still, under the direction of Simon
Carrington, professor of music at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music,
the voices of AU’s singers melded perfectly with those of students
from across the region. “It’s an amazing experience,”
Abraham said. “It’s always nice for the director, but it’s
really incredible for the students because they are singing with the
best of the Eastern Seaboard in a situation where everyone is playing
a very important role.” -- Kenny Lucas, American
Weekly, 2 March 2004
Greenberg
Theatre Architecture Declared Excellent
AU’s Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre
and the architectural firm that designed it were one of four 2003 D.C.
chapter excellence award winners for interior architecture by the American
Institute of Architects (AIA). The AIA described the Greenberg Theatre
as “a delightful project,” in which the architects used “a
sophisticated palette [to] augment vivid red and gold tones with warm
wood panels.” The award of excellence was given at a banquet held
at the new D.C. Convention Center to Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott Architecture
and Engineering, who also designed the Katzen Arts Center.
Robert
Bettman, graduate dance student,
has published an article entitled "This Body of Death: Embodiment
in the Romantic Ballet" in The Mid-Atlantic Almanack, the Journal
of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association.
Lorraine Spiegler, dance
alumna, produced "Music that Moves" at the Kennedy Center on
November 9, which included two performances with the National Symphony.
With sold out audiences and ovations, she choreographed and assembled
a peformance with live music that was both beautiful and original. This
is the second such commission Speigler has received.
Student
Spotlight: 5 Students Selected for ACDA Eastern Division Chamber Choir!
American
Choral Director's Association has accepted five American University
students to the Eastern Division College Chamber Choir. AU placed 5
students in this ensemble of 28 - more than any other institution selected
to participate this year. The
ensemble will prepare and perform as part of this year's ACDA festival
in Boston (February 12-14, 2004). Students were selected by blind committee
via a fairly extensive taped audition process. Seven student members
of the AU Chamber Singers prepared tapes and five were selected. Students
selected are: Emily Formica, Laura Petravage, Michael Gale, Namwoong
Cho, and Anne Ganster.
CABARET
begins the 2003-04 performing arts season in the new Harold and Sylvia
Greenberg Theatre!
American University's Department of Performing
Arts kicks off its first fall season in the new Harold and Sylvia Greenberg
Theatre with a performance of Cabaret directed by Dr. Gail Humphries
Mardirosian. After World War I, German culture provided the perfect
setting for a modernist group of individuals to question notions of
morality and explore the decadence that gave way to the weakening of
the German state. The provocative production brings the audience into
that smoldering world: Berlin, 1929. The best of American University's
musical theatre talents immersed themselves in this world, and now welcome
you do the same in this socio-political drama. Tickets can be purchased
online at http://american.tix.com.
The October 17th showing of Cabaret will
be followed by the First Friday series "From Page to Stage to Screen:
The Cabaret." This dialogue session between artists, scholars,
and the audience will explore core ideas related to the production,
creating new connections between the audience and the performance they
have just seen. The October 23rd showing of Cabaret will be followed
by "Talk Back: The Many Roles of Women in Theatre." This dialogue
session, sponsored by the Student Confederation's Women's Initiative,
will discuss the different roles for women in theatre.
Student
Spotlight: Students Take Act to the Kennedy Center
Two
one-act plays written by two AU students were staged on Labor Day at
the Kennedy Center's second annual Page-to-Stage New Play Festival.
Liz Chomko's "Yield" and Caroline Angell's "Tempted"
were performed by fourteen AU students who practiced all summer for
their Kennedy Center gig. The opportunity to have Chomko and Angell's
works produced at the Kennedy Center affirmed the view of Caleen Sinnette
Jennings, Professor of Theatre in the Department of Performing Arts,
that the AU playwrights has written "bold and thought-provoking
plays." In all, 10 new plays were performed at the festival, most
submitted by regional professional theatres from the Washington Metro
area. -- American Weekly, 9
Sept. 2003
Greenberg
Theatre Opens with Inaugural Gala
American
University and the Department of Performing Arts celebrated the grand-opening
of the new Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre with a series of inaugural
events in the spring of 2003, including magnificent performances of
music, theatre, music theatre, and dance. At the first of three nights
of performances that opened the space, AU President Benjamin Ladner
affirmed that "we're very, very proud, and so happy for the performing
arts. It's been a lot of work." The future of the performing arts
at AU has never looked brighter, and the generous gift of Harold and
Sylvia Greenberg has propelled us into this future.
To
read more about the grand opening of the Greenberg Theatre, click on
the following article links:
"A
'Little Jewel' Opens with Song, Dance and Cheers"
by Sally Acharya
"Greenberg
Theatre Opens in Inaugural Gala" by
Emily Zemler
Spotlight
on the Arts: Katzen Breaks Ground
The
Cassell building, a 59-year-old structure located just outside the front
gates of American University, on Massachusetts Avenue, has been demolished
to make way for the Katzen Arts Center,
the future home of AU's art collection and the Departments of Performing
Arts and Art. While preparations for the demolition have been extensive,
with close oversight by the District of Columbia, the process itself
will only take a few weeks, highlighted by a groundbreaking ceremony
on November 14, 2002. The Katzen Arts Center was made possible by a
generous donation from Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen and is expected to be
completed in 2004.
To
read more about the center, click on the following link:
http://alumni.american.edu/contentviewer.asp?breadcrumb=27,17,98,123
To
read more about the groundbreaking of the Katzen Arts Center, click
on the following article links:
"Style
and Sparkle Mark Katzen Arts Center Groundbreaking" by
Linda McHugh
Cyrus
Katzen's Speech at the Katzen
Center Groundbreaking Ceremony
Student
Spotlight: The Performing Arts Department at the Kennedy Center
The
students in the Department of Performing Arts appeared as part of the
Kennedy Center’s “Page to Stage” festival, which showcased
D.C.-area theatrical works in progress. Among them was Streets of America,
a musical set in the Vietnam era, brought to life by renowned writer
and lyricist Matthew Riopelle, Tony Award winner and composer Michael
Rupert, director and CAS alumnus Brett Smock ‘92, and a talented
cast of AU student actors, who impressed a packed-to-capacity audience
at the Millennium Stage September 1. On another Kennedy Center stage
the following night, senior David Cahill and alumna April Donahower
‘02 presented their plays, Trampoline, written by Cahill,
and We Only Eat the Homegrown, by Donahower. Both pieces were
inspired by Professor Caleen Jennings, who urged the students to submit
these plays, which had been written during her Playwriting class in
fall 2001.
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