Guest Artists

Fall 2006

Tim Miller

December 1 at 2:00 pm in Winship 2.112, Lecture

"Tim Miller sings that song of the self which interrogates, with explosive, exploding, subversive joy and freedom, the constitution and borderlines of selfhood. You think you don't need to hear such singing? You do! You must!" — Tony Kushner

Tim Miller is an internationally acclaimed solo performer. Hailed for their humor and passion, Miller's solo theater works have delighted and emboldened audiences all over the world at such prestigious venues as Yale Repertory Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art (London), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is the author of the books Shirts & Skins and Body Blows, and his solo performance works have been published in the play collections O Solo Homo and Sharing the Delirium. Miller has also taught performance in the theater departments at NYU and UCLA. He is a founder of the two most influential performance spaces in the United States: Performance Space 122 on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA.

In 1990, Miller was awarded an NEA Solo Performer Fellowship, which was overturned under political pressure from the Bush White House due to the gay themes of Miller's work. He and three other artists, the so–called “NEA 4”, successfully sued the federal government with the help of the ACLU for violation of their First Amendment rights and won a settlement where the government paid them the amount of the defunded grants and all court costs. Since 1999, Miller has focused his creative and political work on civil marriage equality and addressing the injustices facing lesbian and gay couples in America. Glory Box and US are funny, sexy, and politically charged explorations of same–sex marriage and the struggle for immigration rights for lesbian and gay bi–national couples. They recount the trials Miller has been forced to undergo in trying to keep his Australian partner in the United States. Says Miller, "I want the pieces to conjure for the audience a site for the placing of memories, hopes, and dreams of gay people's extraordinary potential for love."

In 2006, University of Wisconsin Press published Miller's newest book, 1001 Beds, an anthology of his essays and performances. Miller is currently touring a performance piece of the same name, an intimate autobiographical collage of the artist's professional and personal life as one of the celebrated creators of a crucial contemporary art form and a tireless advocate for the American dream of political equality for all citizens. For more information about Miller and his work, please visit his website at http://hometown.aol.com/millertale/timmiller.html

Read the Austin Chronicle article: Finding Hope…in Bed! By Robert Faires

Sherry Kramer

October 31 – November 5, reading of her new play When Something Wonderful Ends: a history; a one–woman, one–Barbie show about oil dependency, grief, U.S. foreign relations, and the Barbie Doll.

When Something Wonderful Ends masterfully combines the history and impact of American consumerism and oil policies in the Middle East through the life of a woman, packing up her Barbie dolls and their outfits, for sale on ebay as she's closing out her parents' house after her mother's death.

Sherry Kramer's work has been seen at theaters across America and abroad, including The Yale Repertory Theater, Soho Rep, Ensemble Studio Theater, New York's Second Stage, Woolly Mammoth, The Theater of the First Amendment, Seattl's Annex Theater, Frontera at Hyde Park, Mixed Blood, and The Signature Theater in Arlington, VA.

She is a recipient of N.E.A., New York Foundation for the Arts and McKnight Fellowships, the Weissberger Playwriting Award; a New York Drama League Award, and the Marvin Taylor Award (for What a Man Weighs), the L.A. Women in Theater New Play Award (for The Wall of Water), and the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award (for David's Redhaired Death), which was published by T.C.G. in their Plays in Process Series and is included in the Vintage anthology Plays for Actresses.

Her other plays include The Ruling Passion, Napoleon's China (collaboration with Ann Haskell and Rebecca Newton), Partial Objects, The World at Absolute Zero, About Spontaneous Combustion, Nano and Nicki in Boca Raton, The Release of a Live Performance, The Law Makes Evening Fall, and a music/theater adaptation of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita with composer Margaret Pine.

Tania Pérez–Salas Compania de Danza Contemporanea

Contemporary Dance Master Class, October 31

A contemporary dance legend in Mexico, dancer and choreographer Tania Pérez–Salas presents several powerful pieces, including The Waters of Forgetfulness, reflecting the symbolic role water plays in human history as a life giving force. Known as a creator of deeply moving and emotive works with dramatic scenic and production elements, Pérez–Salas is a revelation for fans of dance, art and imagination.

Sonja Kuftinec

Lecture on October 27 in Winship 2.112

Sonja Kuftinec is Associate Professor of Theater Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota. Her research and teaching interests include performance and social change, community–based theater, and the intersection between theater and identity. She has published close to 20 articles on theater and facilitation (Theater Topics), Balkan theater (Journal of Dramatic Criticism, South East European Performance, Text and Performance Quarterly) and on Cornerstone and community–based theater (Theater Journal, Brecht Yearbook) featured in her 2003 book Staging America: Cornerstone and Community–Based Theater. She received honorable mention for the Barnard Hewitt Award for the 2003 best book in theater history. Professor Kuftinec also works professionally as a director and dramaturg. Since 1995 she has been creating original theater and leading workshops with young people across ethno–religious boundaries in Bosnia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, and Germany. Her production, Where Does the Postman Go When all the Street Names Change?, won an ensemble prize at the 1997 International Youth Theater Festival in Mostar. In 2002, her production Between The Lines, created with Balkan youth from seven countries, opened at Berlin's House of World Cultures. There is a Field, an original, collaborative production meditating on the Middle East, premiered on the University of Minnesota main stage in February 2003. Professor Kuftinec also works as a conflict resolution facilitator with Seeds of Peace, an organization bringing together youth from the Middle East and Balkan regions. Her current research derives from Boal–based workshops with youth in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Jerusalem. She is at work on a new book project Theatre, Facilitation and Nation Formation in the Balkans and Middle East under contract with Palgrave McMillan Press.

Gay Muslims and Salty Meat Pies: Cornerstone Theater and the Limits of Performing Community
Since 1986, Cornerstone Theater has been creating community–based productions that animate and complicate community. In 1991, the company began to generate bridge shows that brought together members of distinct communities, a process that further animated the limits of negotiating consensus and dissent through performance. Two recent productions—a bridge show that brought together ten faith communities in Los Angeles and a collaboration with six neighborhood communities identified by the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, offer opportunities to test the limits of community performance in/as public sphere. Both productions raise questions about what happens when communities with different beliefs, values, and epistemological positions encounter each other through the performance–making process. This presentation explores the limitations of community–based performance in serving not only as public space, but as public sphere, determining how we relate to and shape each other politically and ideologically as well as socially.

Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms

October 24 at 2:00 pm in Winship 2.112

New York born and bred Rosario Dawson is known for her roles in Larry Clark's “Kids” (1995), Spike Lee's “He Got Game” (1998), “Side Streets” (DATE), “Light It Up” (1999), “Down To You” (2000), “Sidewalks of New York” (2000), and “Josie and the Pussycats” (2001). In 2002, Dawson was involved in saving the world in the summer sequel hit “Men In Black II”. She replaced Halle Berry as the female lead of the long–delayed futuristic comedy “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” opposite Eddie Murphy and ended the year co–starring in Spike Lee's crime drama “The 25th Hour.” Her most commercial role to date came when she was cast alongside The Rock and Seann William Scott in the crowd–pleasing action–comedy–buddy flick “The Rundown” (2003), serving as the love interest for the stars' combative characters, and the actress's fiery depiction of Alexander the Great's hellcat wife Roxanne (and her erotic, if violently charged nude scenes,) were among the best elements of Oliver Stone's bloated would–be epic “Alexander” (2004).

As the niece of a professional cartoonist, Dawson was naturally drawn to appear in director Robert Rodriguez and writer–artist Frank Miller's visually arresting adaptation of Miller's crime noir comic book series “Sin City” (2005), playing the dominatrix prostitute/“warrior woman” Gail in “The Big Fat Kill” sequence, gleefully mowing down the enemies of Old Town's hookers with automatic weapons while still looking fabulous in lingerie. She then had an arresting, carnally charged turn as the alluring but heroin–addicted dancer Mimi Marquez in the 2005 big screen adaptation of the smash Broadway musical “Rent.”

Tracie Thoms is known for her role as Joanne Jefferson in the movie “Rent” (2005) and her role as Mahandra McGinty in television series “Wonderfalls,” (2004) and as Lilly in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006).

Onye Ozuzu

October 16 – 21

Onye Ozunu, a Big XII Faculty Fellow, will conduct master classes, meet with graduate students, and choreograph a new work on selected Dance Repertory Theatre students as part of her research.

Onye Ozunu, Universisty of Colorado/Boulder

M.F.A. in Dance, Florida State University; B.A. in English Literature/Economics, Florida State University.

Assistant Professor, Director of annual dance High School Day, CU faculty member since 2000.

Previous teaching: Adjunct at Florida State University, Adjunct at Florida A&M University, Director of Dance at Edison Park Creative Arts School in Ft. Myers, FL.

CU choreographic credits include: choreography and movement for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, summer 2002; “Evolution,” an evening of original choreography in conjunction with Trebian Pollard and Larry Southall, 2002; “Pastiche,” shown at the Great Lakes ACDF regional festival in 2002; “Birds of Paradise,” shown at the Central region ACDF in 2001; and seven works set on CU dance majors.

Professional experience: Choreography shown at Urban Artworks 5 (Pace University, NY), The Joyce Soho (NY), the Cultural Arts Center (New Orleans, LA), the National Dance School (Nassau, Bahamas), La Festival del Caribe (Santiago, Cuba) as well as in Florida and Colorado.

Guest Artist with Nia Love and Co. (NY), Urban Bush Women (Summer Dance Institute Tallahassee, FL), Moving Stories Dance Collective (New Orleans), African Caribbean Dance Theatre (Tallahassee, FL), Dromatala (Festival del Caribe, Santiago, Cuba).

Artistic Director: Orchesis Dance Theater (Florida A&M University)

Founder/Artistic Director: Skeleton Dance Project (NY/Boulder, CO), Guerilla Butoh Army (Boulder, CO).

Erik Ehn and Theatre of Yugen

October 20 – 28

For the past four years, Erik Ehn has been collaborating on theatrical productions with Theatre of Yugen, first in revising a literal translation of a contemporary Noh play, Mumyo no I / Down the Dark Well, then with an adaptation of Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere, where Noh style was braided with Philippine material, which was paired with an original Kyogen–style comedy, Bright and Gifted. In 2001, he worked closely with Doi and Noh composer Richard Emmert on a Noh piece honoring Crazy Horse, a fusion that blends Noh with Native American dance, singing, flute playing, and drumming. In 2003, he adapted and directed Frankenstein, which was restaged at Project Artaud in 2004.

Books include Beginner (Sun and Moon) and The Saint Plays (PAJ/Johns Hopkins). Other plays include Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Ideas of Good and Evil, and an adaptation of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. These have been produced in San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, New York, San Diego, Dallas, Chicago and elsewhere.

He is co–founder and co–artistic director of the Tenderloin Opera Company, San Francisco (with Lisa Bielawa). He is a graduate of and member of New Dramatists. He has also worked as an actor and a director, often working collaboratively with collectives of writers, with choreographers, and with musicians. He has taught at University of Iowa, Santa Clara University, CA, Colorado College, Emerson, University of San Francisco, Cal Arts in Los Angeles, and Princeton. He has directed at the Annex in Seattle and Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco.

Erik is currently Dean/Head of writing for performance, at California Institute of the Arts.

http://www.theatreofyugen.org/

Pamela Howard

October 12 – 16

Pamela Howard is a theatre designer, director, writer, educator, exhibition curator and international producer creating theatre events in many countries and languages. She was warded a Leverhulme Emeritus fellowship in 1999 to write “What is Scenography?” (published Routledge UK/USA November 2001). She is known for her work as the creator (adaptor, director and designer) of La Celestina (by Fernando de Rojas 1492) at the Hopkins Center in 2002; site specific designer of The Government Inspector in Los Angeles in 2002; creator/designer of ScenOmanifestO! at Rex Cinema Belgrade in 2002; designer of Victory for Theatre Wspolzecny Wroclaw for the International Festival 2003; producer of Opera Transatlantica's Concierto Barroco for the London International Festival of Theatre in 1999; co–creator of new production of Rondo Adafina for production in London and Caracas in 2001. Ms. Howard has also curated two major International exhibitions, Frantisek Zelenka: Stage Designer 1904–1944 shown in London, and the Ralph Koltai Retrospective in London and Southeast Asia.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Jazz Dance Master Class, October 12

Chicago's internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company brings an exuberant, athletic and innovative presentation by the company's 22 dancers, whose unparalleled versatility and virtuosity allows the company to continually expand its eclectic repertory with works by master American and international choreographers.

Harrison McEldowney

In residence September 23 – October 1

Harrison McEldowney, based in Chicago, has choreographed all over the world and is an acclaimed and awarded choreographer including the After Dark Award and Ruth Page Awards for choreography.

Harrison has choreographed for Carnegie Hall's 125 Yr. Celebration of Musical Theater, for the '92 Barcelona Olympics Closing Ceremonies, the 35th Anniversary Tour of American Bandstand, and the Australian Concert Tour of Dirty Dancing featuring Bill Medley, Eric Carmen, and the Contours. He has also worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Van Johnson, Chita Rivera, Dorothy Lamour, rap artists Salt 'n Pepa, Carol Channing, and Debbie Reynolds.

Recently he contributed choreography to the Sam Mendes film Road to Perdition. Other films include Mark Medof's Children on Their Birthdays and the Indie film Vanilla City, in which he also played a role. He was the co– choreographer of the musical Comfortable Shoes penned by Las Vegas icon Clint Holmes. He also co–choreographed the musical Hot Mikado on the London West End and has choreographed the regional premiere of Miss Saigon, the tour of Chess starring Little Mermaid Jodie Benson, the revival of Cole Porter's The New Yorkers, and numerous productions for Chicago Shakespeare Repertory.

Harrison also choreographs and directs shows for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line under the banner of the Entertainment and Communications Company he works for in Chicago—the Wilson Dow Group, where he works as a Creative Director. Most recently, they provided the theatrical productions for the launch of Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.

He has created dance pieces for special occasions such as the 97th Birthday Celebration of noted Dance Historian and critic Ann Barzel (the only choreographer of the evening bestowed with the honor of creating an original work), the finale of the Dance Chicago Festival Opening, and an original work to open the 10th Anniversary of Dance for Life, a performance of renowned Chicago Dance companies in the fight against AIDS. He was also choreographer of the Collection Rouge for Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids, featuring red dresses by 40 of the world's top fashion designers.

The companies in Chicago Harrison has choreographed for are Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Harrison was also the co–recipient of the Inaugural Prince Prize along with Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance Company), Hubbard Street 2, River North Chicago Dance Company, the Cerqua/ Rivera Art Experience, and the Civic Ballet of Chicago. Other companies include Ballet Met, Louisville Ballet, San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet, Ballet of Texas, and he is Resident Choreographer for Configurations which features acclaimed dancers from such companies as American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem. His most recent premiere of At the End of the Road for Configurations received praise from the New York Times.

Cornerstone Theatre Company

September 28 – 29

Cornerstone Theater Company is a multi–ethnic, ensemble–based theater company that commissions and produces new plays, both original works and contemporary adaptations of classics, which combine the artistry of professional and community collaborators. By making theater with and for people of many ages, cultures and levels of theatrical experience, Cornerstone builds bridges between and within diverse communities in its home city of Los Angeles and nationwide.

http://www.cornerstonetheater.org/

Lenora Inez Brown

Visiting the Department of Theatre and Dance for a Brown Bag Lunch on September 27.

Lenora Inez Brown is a full–time faculty member of the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She has been an Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism since the 2002–2003 academic year. Since coming to Chicago, she has worked at The Goodman Theatre (New Stages Series and Mariela and the Desert, a world premiere and winner of the Francesca Primus Prize), Steppenwolf Theatre (The Bluest Eye), The Court Theatre (The Glass Menagerie) Chicago Dramatists (10–minute Workshop for TYA Theatre) and with Congo Square Theatre Company (Stickfly, a world premiere). In addition, she continues to work nationally at a variety of new–play workshops including South Coast Rep's Pacific Playwright's Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Southern Writer's Festival (three festivals) and the Kennedy Center's New Visions/New Voices (four festivals). She has been active in KC/ACTF since serving as a National Team member in 2000. She advises students interested in participating in the national program and has led workshops on dramaturgy at the regional festivals.

Her relationship with the Kennedy Center Youth and Family Programs extends beyond New Visions/New Voices. She served as the dramaturg for the Dear America series, which involved six playwrights adapting Scholastic novels to the stage, including Naomi Iizuka, Jerome Hairston, Julie Jensen and Mary Hall Surface. Lenora has been a Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development for three regional theatres: Madison Repertory Theatre in Madison, WI, Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, NJ, and Syracuse Stage in Syracuse, NY. While at Madison Rep., she redesigned the theatre's newsletter and organized the first new play festival: The Fall Festival of the Future. The festival's keynote speaker that year was playwright Doug Wright, who received the Pulitzer Prize for I Am My Own Wife later that year. As the dramaturg for Crossroads Theatre Company, she worked on It Ain't Nothing But the Blues, which went to Broadway and received a Tony nomination for best Musical. That same year Crossroads received the 1999 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Lenora also worked for Theatre Communications Group, the organization dedicated to supporting not–for–profit theatres nationwide, in the publications department as an associate editor for the country's leading theatre magazine American Theatre. In 2002, she served on the NEA Theatre granting panel.

She currently sits on the ASSITEJ/USA Board and serves as Chair of the Ann Shaw Fellowship Committee. Lenora has worked on numerous world premieres and been a guest at a number of this country's leading play development workshops. She has served as dramaturg for Javon Johnson's Sanctified at the Southern Writer's Project at Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Sarah Myers' The Realm at the Bonderman; and Kirsten Greenidge's Bossa Nova at the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory Theatre. She was also a member of the artistic team for the Sundance Theatre Labs in 2000 and 2001. She has written study guides for Chicago Playworks! and the Cleveland Play House. In addition to theatre, Lenora worked as a freelance reviewer for The Chicago Sun Times. She has also worked for Cleveland's NPR affiliate WCPN as an assistant producer for Jazztracks. Her Tomato Show helped garner JazzTracks an Ohio Educational Broadcasting award in its inaugural year. Lenora holds a B.A. in art history from Dartmouth College and an M.F.A. in dramaturgy from the Yale School of Drama.

Norma Bowles

September 20 – 22

Norma Bowles is the Founder and Artistic Director of Fringe Benefits. Norma leads many of Fringe Benefits' play development and “Theatre for Social Justice” workshops and institutes, edits the plays for production and publication and facilitates school tour performances. Norma has conducted acting, commedia dell'arte and new play development residencies at theatres and universities throughout the United States, including South Coast Repertory (for nine years), the California Institute of the Arts and the Walt Disney Studios as well as with the Melody Sisters of Spain. Bowles completed a B.A. in Masked Performance at Princeton University, an M.F.A. in Directing at the California Institute of the Arts, and Lecoq actor–training with Philippe Gaulier in Paris, France. She edited Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry and Friendly Fire, both anthologies of plays, songs and poems created by Fringe Benefits. Bowles is a card–carrying member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, and the National Council of Education Activists. She is also a recipient of PFLAG/LA's Oscar Wilde Award and Cornerstone Theater Company's 2002 Bridge Award for her work building bridges within and between communities.

Caridad Svich of Salvage Vanguard

September 12

Playwright Caridad Svich's work has been produced by the Women's Project of New York, Salvage Vanguard in Austin, Intar in New York, HERE in New York, and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among others. Her plays have been developed by ACT/Hedgebrook Festival, A.S.K. Theater Projects, Mark Taper Forum Theatre, Portland Stage, Voice & Vision's Envision Retreat, PlayLabs in Minneapolis, Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, London's Royal Court Theatre, and Actors Touring Company.

During her fellowship year, Svich plans to complete The Spell of Eden, a play with music that explores the artistic and erotic relationships among poet Federico García Lorca, painter Salvador Dalí, and filmmaker Luis Buñuel. She will also edit “Trans–Global Readings: Crossing Theatrical Boundaries,” on cross–disciplinary work, global exchange, and the artistic process.

Svich is coeditor of Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century (Manchester University Press: 2002), Out of the Fringe: Contemporary Latina/o Theatre and Performance (TCG: 2000), and Conducting a Life: Reflections on the Theatre of Maria Irene Fornes (Smith & Kraus: 1999). Her critical writing has appeared in PAJ, Performance Research, Contemporary Theatre Review, and American Theatre.

A member of New Dramatists, Svich earned her B.F.A. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and her M.F.A. at the University of California at San Diego. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Theatre Communications Group, the EST/Sloan project, the California Arts Council, and Denison University. She is the founder of the performance collective NoPassport.