UC San Diego Theatre and Dance
Alumni Newsletter

 

Fall Quarter 2008

 

DEPARTMENT NEWS

Desperate Housewives actor Ricardo Chavira, Tony-award winner Jefferson Mays of I Am My Own Wife and Broadway star Danny Burstein are among many theatre and dance professionals who owe their success to their mentor Arthur Wagner, founder of UC San Diego's highly acclaimed Department of Theatre and Dance. Wagner was recognized by the campus on Friday, November 21st, for his service and support to the Department at of Theatre and Dance at a 4:00pm reception at Galbraith Hall, Room 157. The event also celebrated the dedication of the 99-seat Arthur Wagner Theatre which features a full sound/light/stage management booth and dressing rooms

 

 

 

Congratulations to PhD student Zack Gill, who won the 2008 TDR Student Essay Contest for his essay, "Rehearsing the War Away: Perpetual Warrior Training in Contemporary U.S. Army Policy." The winner is selected by the editors of The Drama Review in consultation with their advisory editors - altogether, a very high-profile bunch. Zack's article is scheduled to appear in print in winter of 2009.

 

Another ASTR Winner - At this month’s [November]American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) meeting the Gerald Kahan Scholar's Prize (the best essay written and published in English in a refereed scholarly journal) went to Professor Emily Colborn-Roxworthy, for her paper Manzanar, the eyes of the World are upon You: Performance and Archival Ambivalence at a Japanese Internment. Emily also presented a plenary talk at this conference, which was well-attended and well-received. The speech was titled Kabuki Girls in Arkansas: Transnational Performance and Segregation at Two Internment Camps. Additionally, Emily’s first book has also at last appeared in print: The Spectacle of Japanese American Trauma: Racial Performativity and World War II (2008) is available from University of Hawaii Press.

 

 

James Newcomb directed Midsummer Night's Dream at The Old Globe recently.

 

The new Charles Busch play, The Third Story (produced by the La Jolla Playhouse this past summer) will be presented at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York by Manhattan Class Company (MCC).  Kathleen Turner and Charles Busch are featured in the production. Professor Lisa Porter will be the Production Stage Manager and Kelly Glasow (MFA '08) will be the Assistant Stage Manager.  Current students Erin Albrecht, Tom George, and Chris Luessman, who did their residencies on the production at the La Jolla Playhouse, will remain involved with the MCC production.

 

Dance Instructor Tony Caligagan was just contracted to choreograph for a new musical, Kingdom, at the Old Globe Theater in February. Earlier developmental versions have garnered numerous accolades, including a 2008 Richard Rodgers Award, the "Most Promising New Musical" award at the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival and the "Outstanding New Musical" of the 2006 summer season designation by Talkin’ Broadway. This production of is part of The Old Globe’s first year of artistic programs in southeastern an Diego in their new workshop/performance space on Market Street. The Old Globe will be offering eight free student and public performances of Kingdom and a series of workshops in classrooms and in the community for students and area hip-hop artists where they will be given the opportunity to work with the author and Old Globe teaching artists to explore the art and story of Kingdom and to explore elements of playwriting as hip-hop poetry, monologues and scenes. Students will also have the opportunity to create and perform their own original work. Click for more info.

 

Laramie Project Protest - Department of Theatre and Dance Response   For the first time in the history of our department we became the focus of a protest for one of our undergraduate productions, The Laramie Project. We are saddened by this action initiated by an organization outside the San Diego community. We believe it is the role of artists to ask questions about complex issues that cannot be answered in absolute dogmatic ways. The Laramie Project was created to address the brutal killing of Matthew Shepherd, a twenty-two year young openly gay human being who was savagely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence for eighteen hours in Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998. With the 10th year anniversary of this murder, it is tragic that the play addresses topics that are still relevant to this day. Topics like tolerance, compassion, fear, and accountability for actions. As a character states in the play: "We are like this. WE are like THIS." Audiences have been profoundly affected by the performances created by our undergraduate UCSD actors and designers. The director, stage manager and students have worked hard to present a fair conversation on a painful and difficult topic. If these protestors watched the play, rather than protest the work of these brave young artists, they would see that their production fairly addresses all sides of a dark, painful moment in our nation's history. We believe it is crucial for a great theater department to take on the controversial topics of the day. The outpouring of reaction regarding the recent passing of Proposition 8 in California, and the recent lynching of a young immigrant Ecuadorian boy in Long Island, makes these conversations even more relevant. We acknowledge that our society carries historical and divisive biases based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political beliefs. Therefore, we seek to foster understanding and tolerance among individuals and groups, and we promote awareness through education and constructive strategies for resolving conflict. The Department of Theater and Dance provides an important safe haven for all voices to be heard. As part of our educational mission, we believe in the power of art to transform, to activate, and to heal. We invite all to witness this important work and to join in a conversation for change, rather than a shouting match.   Allyson Green, Chair

 

Jorge Huerta was named the 2008 ASTR Distinguished Scholar at the recent meeting of the American Society for Theatre Research in Boston. He was cited for his lifetime of contributions to Latino/a theatre in particular and American theatre studies generally. From the introductory comments as the honor was announced: “…We recognize his role in not only breaking the path but setting a direction for it, literally and ethically, and continuing both to lay paving stones on its course, step by step, through his own articles, biographical entries in encyclopedias, and monographs, but also to travel with others on what has become a busy highway. For nearly forty years, since he founded El Teatro de la Esperanza in Santa Barbara, Jorge has demonstrated unflagging commitment to developing a field, and along with it, a younger generation

 

 

 

 

Professor Marianne McDonald’s translations of Prometheus Bound, Cyclops, and Helen were staged recently at The Theatre Inc. (the former ARK Theatre), 899 C Street in downtown San Diego. Critics lauded Professor McDonald’s translations as “faithful but contemporary, making the stories accessible to audiences of most ages.” Prometheus Bound and Cyclops are presented together without an intermission.

 

Dance faculty Jean Isaacs’ San Diego Dance Theater presents the 8th annual Cabaret Dances at Anthology, a San Diego dining and jazz supper club. The program this year “takes its cue from the sultry nightclub atmosphere and includes the premiere of “Eyes of Love,” a collection of duets and trios created by Artistic Director Isaacs and danced to jazz standards by Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, Irving Berlin and Cassandra Wilson. The program also includes “Sippie,” a suite of five blues songs by the legendary singer from the 20’s Sippie Wallace, played and sung by Steve Baker. Opens January 4th.

 

Luis Valdez on campus - Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall Colleges presented a powerful and timely week-long symposium of free public events in November at UC San Diego on the interlocking themes of Human Rights and Global Citizenship. As part of the symposium, playwright, filmmaker and activist Luis Valdez discussed the problems of citizenship in the U.S., and the blending of cultures in the dynamic California landscape. Known as the Father of Chicano Theater, Valdez, a member of the National Endowment for the Arts Council, is best known for his Broadway production, Zoot Suit, the international hit film, La Bamba. A panel of experts discussed the themes of citizenship and diversity matters following the lecture. Associate Chancellor Emeritus Jorge Huerta introduced Mr. Valdez.

 

Quinn Martin Director Announced - The Quinn Martin Guest Chair in Directing for this season will be Dominique Serrand. Mr. Serrand will be directing Danton's Death by Georg Büchner. The play follows the story of Georges Danton, a leader of the French Revolution, during the lull between the first and second terrors. It deals with great social moments-myths in our history, overwhelming pursuits, and offers passionate characters, tied to the romantic movement. It offers a renewal of the theatrical form, taking place in epic spaces. Mr. Serrand intends to apply his background in design, set, lights, costumes, to guide the Designers as an ensemble of artists working together to achieve a world (he started his career in architectural school), and to work with the performers (Actors, Dancers, etc..) as an ensemble.

Paris native Dominique Serrand was Artistic Director and co-founder of Theatre de la Jeune Lune. He studied at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Serrand has acted, conceived, directed and designed for most Jeune Lune productions for more than twenty-five years, concentrating more on directing. His directing credits include The Kitchen, Lulu, The Bourgeois Gentleman, Romeo and Juliet, Red Noses, 1789, Children of Paradise: Shooting a Dream, Three Musketeers, The Pursuit of Happiness, Queen Elizabeth, Tartuffe, Gulliver, The Seagull, The Miser, The Little Prince and Amerika or The Disappearance. He staged several operas including The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Juan Giovanni, Figaro, and Carmen. Serrand’s directing stages include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Actors theatre of Louisville, The Alley Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, and the Children’s Theatre Company, amongst others. Dominique has been knighted by the French Government in the Order of Arts and Letters.

 

Singing Cabaret! - Linda Vickerman’s Singing Cabaret was at 11:00am on Thursday, December 11th, in the Wagner Theater (formerly known as 157 Galbraith Hall). Visitors heard a very eclectic mix of styles and instrumental combos, most fielded by our amazingly talented pool of grad and undergrad musicians.

 

 

Judy Dolan has work represented in Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designing for Live Performance, a design exhibition at the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Her costume renderings from Parade, Lovemusik, and Arsenic and Old Lace, as well as costumes from Candide (Pink Sheep) and Dixie Carter's costume from the Alley Theater production are included. Curtain Call will be open until May, 2009.

 

Jim Ingalls recently designed the lighting for the well-received Kafka Fragments, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and violinist Geoff Nutall, directed by Peter Sellars, at the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Berkeley's Cal Performances/Zellerbach Playhouse. Faculty member Robert Castro saw it in LA. Alum Tom Ontiveros also came down from Chico, where he is teaching, to catch the production. Jim is now lighting Caroline, or Change at Baltimore's CenterStage (opens 12/17). In January he returns to LA for Kaija Aaariaho's La Passion de Simone, also directed by Peter Sellars.

 

The Winter Undergraduate Production will be directed by guest director Johanna Gruenhut. Ms. Gruenhut will be directing Elizabeth Meriwether's The Mistakes Madeline Made. She writes: "I fall in love with this play more and more with each read. It is about how the outside world and our extended lives seep into our present moments. It is at once deeply funny, and deeply sad." Critics described it as a "twisted, hilarious" comedy about the horrors of low-level bureaucracy, pretentious writers and, more seriously, the death of a family member, "...and reveals some compelling theatrical moments." The cast break down is three men, two women, and all the parts are "extremely juicy." Johanna is currently working on Aracdia with the Johns Hopkins Barnstormers. Recently she directed No Child... for the Weston Playhouse. She directed BillyJoelTookMeToTheProm.Com for American Globe Theatre's Short-Play-Festival. The production took home awards for best play and best director. Her short-film Thanksgiving 2001 was a finalist at the Redstone Film Festival in Boston. Gruenhut has directed new plays for Andy's Summer Playhouse, Bright Young Things, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Tank, and Dock-Street Project. Associate director credits include collaborations with Hal Brooks (What Then, Widows), Daniel Kramer (Angels in America UK tour and in London, England), and Kim Rubinstein (The American Plan, The Incredible Design of Jenny Chow, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Guys and Dolls). As assistant to associate artistic director of the Long Wharf Theatre, Kim Rubinstein, Gruenhut produced six short films for the theatre's education department. She has served as assistant director to Max Stafford-Clark (The Overwhelming), Gordon Edelstein (BFE, A New War), and Oskar Eustis (The Ruby Sunrise, The Long Christmas Ride Home). Upcoming projects: a workshop with Israeli playwright Yosef Bar-Yosef on his new play, This Wide-Winged Sea.

 

 

ONSTAGE

Recent Productions

 

As You Like It - We begin in ruins. Families are at war. One brother has overthrown another, seizing control of the government and installing himself as dictator. From this dark beginning, Rosalind, Orlando, and others escape into the Forest of Arden, a mystical place with all the logic of a dream. Those who enter Arden find love, transformation, renewal: their journey through the forest is their dream of a new world rebuilt upon the ashes.

 

Director Tom Dugdale is a graduate of Dartmouth college and a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts in Directing at UCSD. His department credits include A Cure for Pain, Vaudeveaux Nouville, and The Heliotropic Man, an original performance piece conceived with Joel Gelman. He directed Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia for the Manhattan School of Music in New York and also staged the incidental vocal music from Stravinsky's ballet Pulcinella. In the summer of 2008, at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Dugdale was assistant director of A Wedding, an opera based on the Robert Altman film of the same name. He has assisted or observed the work of Robert Woodruff, Anne Bogart, and the Romanian director, Gábor Tompa, his teacher at UCSD.

 

 

The Laramie Project. Moisés Kaufman’s and The Tectonic Project’s reality-based, hate-crime docudrama of a young gay student’s brutal murder searches for answers about our nation’s responsibility and values. In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay student from the University of Wyoming was severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence just outside the small town of Laramie Wyoming. Shepard’s brutal attack and consequential death because of his homosexuality led the national media to portray Laramie as a breeding ground for ignorance and intolerance. Moisés Kaufman and his Tectonic Theatre Project journeyed to Laramie to discover for themselves Laramie’s true identity. Through the voices of the townspeople, The Laramie Project deconstructs the monolithic, media-assembled image of Laramie, revealing a complicated and complex character, not just of the small Wyoming town, but also of America itself.

Director Raimondo Genna is a PhD candidate who received his M.A. in Theatre at San Diego State University. His directorial credits include All My Sons (UCSD), N. Richard Nash’s Echoes and Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden (Stone Soup Theatre Company). Other directing credits include: (SDSU) Macbeth, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Deep and One for the Road, and Associate Director on The Kentucky Cycle (Nick Reid, Director); Talk to Me Like the Rain, Let Me Listen, and A Thing of Beauty (Mesa College); and assistant director for The Weir with Joe Hardy (Old Globe Theatre).

Fall for Dance - True Possessions. Using both contemporary and hip hop movement, True Possessions examines the nature of the deeply personal, genuine needs of our communities. Live music, poetry, set designs and full-bodied movement seek to spin a journey both touching and enjoyable. This evening also featured the inspiring talent of three of UCSD's dance alumni.

Choreographer/Director Terry Wilson has been performing, teaching and choreographing in San Diego for the past 22 years. She has enjoyed a long performing career with Jean Isaacs' dance companies: Three's Company and Dancers, Isaacs, McCaleb and Dancers, and Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater, as well as many other local, national and international choreographers. Terry's teaching experience includes many years of teaching in the community and throughout Europe and Mexico. She is currently teaching at UC, San Diego, and is an assistant Professor of Dance at San Diego City College. grace shinhae jun is a choreographer, educator, and performer. The need for movement and the love of hip hop culture inspired her to begin bkSOUL , a performance company that shares culture, language, and soul. In addition to bkSOUL, grace has performed with several companies such as Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater, tammy l. wong dance company, Allyson Green Dance, and Gabe Masson Dance. She currently teaches at UC San Diego, Southwestern College, San Diego City College and also with transcenDANCE Youth Arts Project.

 

Coming Soon

 

January 29th - February 7th: The Misanthrope, by Molière. Directed by James Winker in the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre.

February 19th - February 28th: Danton's Death, by Georg Büchner. Directed by Dominique Serrand in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

February 25th - February 28th: The Mistakes Madeline Made, by Elizabeth Meriwether. Directed by Johanna Gruenhut in the The Arthur Wagner Theatre (GH 157)

February 26th - March 7th: 1001, by Jason Grote. Directed by Kim Rubinstein in the Mandell Weiss FORUM STUDIO.

March 12th - March 15th: winterWorks! created by Faculty Choreographers featuring guest choreographer, Miguel Gutierrez. Directed by Eric Geiger in the Mandell Weiss FORUM Theatre.

Tickets to all productions are available for purchase by calling the Box Office at (858) 534-4574 or in person at the Theatre District’s Central Box Office at the Sheila & Hughes Potiker Theatre or click HERE.

Visit the Theatre Department website for complete season information.

 

 

ALUMNI

 

Makela Spielman (MFA '04) sent us this news: ";I'm writing to let you know about my latest project. I'm performing in Radio MacBeth at the Court Theatre in Chicago. It's a SITI Company piece, directed by Anne Bogart. I play, among other characters, all the Witches and Lady Macduff ..."

 

 

 

 

Michael Bakkensen (MFA '00) wrote that he was performing with Ian Bedford (MFA '02) in The School of Night at the Mark Taper Forum in LA.

Scott Stein (MFA '99) checked in to let us all know that he's "married to a wonderful wife, Joanna Desmond-Stein, and we live on the Upper West Side in NYC. We also just had our first child, Alexander Sebastian, who just turned one month. I'm currently a freelance journalist and am working on my first novel."

The Internationalists did a live webcast of Around the World in 24 Hours on November 15th and 16th, featuring keynote reading of Julio Cortazar's The Kings in new translation by Caridad Svich (MFA '88). Caridad participated in a panel discussion on the 15th. Her translation of Dance of Desire, a music theatre piece based on Federico Garcia Lorca's Yerma and some of his poems, was staged at the Lark Play Development Center in New York recently

Tom Quaintance (MFA '93) writes: "I've been teaching and directing in Los Angeles since then, and I've recently begun to do more freelance work. I open The Little Prince at PlayMakers Rep this week - it's a remount of last year's very successful production. We've got 5 new cast members (there are 9 in the cast) including a new Little Prince and Aviator. The Aviator is actually '93 acting grad Scott Ripley, who is in his first year as a graduate acting teacher and company member here. It's been great to reconnect with him - our last production together was a '93 production of Henry V we put on in 409 Small that we moved to LA after we finished UCSD."

Tom Nelis (MFA '90) is appearing in John Doyle's production of Stephen Sondheim's Road Show at the Public Theatre in New York.

Alums Shelley Orr (MFA '92, PhD '03) and DJ Hopkins (MFA '96, PhD '03) had their baby, James Franklin, recently. Details are minimal, but all are said to be well.

 

 

 

 

Ivy Khan (BA '02) appeared in You Can't Take It With You at the Pierson Playhousein Pacific Palisades through December 14th.

Jennifer Chang (MFA '06), Amy Ellenberger (MFA '07), Larissa Kokernot (MFA '05), Ruth McKee (MFA '06) and Hilary Ward (MFA '06) are excited to announce the launch of Chalk Repertory Theatre, a brand new theatrical venture for Los Angeles. "Chalk Rep will be presenting classical and contemporary works in unconventional spaces, and we're going to be launching our first season with a holiday party on December 17. We hope that you'll join us for live music, mulled wine, and an introduction of the company of our upcoming production of Three Sisters! Wednesday, December 17, 7:30-10PM. Masonic Lodge, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038. Admission and parking are free! If you can make it, please give us a head's up by sending your RSVP to info@chalkrep.com. And if you can't make it in person, but would like to support us in spirit, please check out our website: www.chalkrep.com, and consider including Chalk Rep in your end of the year giving."

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