CLA: Theatre & Dance News

This week New York's Tony Awards committee nominated Santino Fontana (U of M '04) for his outstanding performance of a leading role in Broadway's musical revival of "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella." Mr. Fontana, was a member of the inaugural class of the Guthrie Theater/ U of M BFA Actor Training program in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.

One of his first professional roles was as Shakespeare's brooding prince Hamlet for the Guthrie Theater production directed by Joe Dowling. This week Fontana was recognized for playing yet another prince, the charming one with Cinderella's glass slipper. Besides winning Cinderella's heart, Fontana has won accolades from the press as well as the League of Broadway Theater Owners and Producers, which organizes these awards with the AmericanTheatre Wing.

Joe Price, head of the Guthrie Theater/ University of Minnesota BFA Actor Training program commented, "Everyone in the U of M Theatre Arts and Dance Department, students and faculty are very proud of Santino and this extraordinary recognition of his professional career in the theatre. We wish him the very best." The Tony Awards ceremonies take place at Radio City Music Hall on June 9 and are nationally telecast .

See the Startribune http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/celebrities/205494871.html

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Drive away Winter's darkness and welcome Spring's light. Walpurgis Nacht, an ancient festival celebrating the end of winter/darkness and the beginning of spring/light, was appropriated by the Catholic Church with the canonization of St. Wapurga in 870. In this site specific performance event directed by Michael Sommers, performers and audience move along the West Bank. There is no seating.
Audience will gather at the Amphitheater between Anderson and Ferguson Hall on the West Bank.
The festival will proceed at 8pm rain or shine.
No reservations necessary. https://events.umn.edu/025283

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Associate faculty member Tessie Bundick, costume designer and make-up artist exhibits her work at the Hennepin History Museum in "The Enchanting Picture She has Painted: A Look at the Work of Hennepin County Artist Tessie Bundick." Bundick has designed costumes and make-up for feature films, theatre, and television. Powering famous faces, combing and arranging locks, and designing costumes, Bundick has worked with wide a wide variety of stars-- River Phoenix, Emmy Lou Harris, Garrison Keillor, Chet Atkins, the Everly Brothers, Jose Ferrar and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Opening April 6 at 6:00pm, this exhibit includes costumes, original photos, and personal correspondence with the artists.
The Hennepin History Museum is located at 2303 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis.
Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for seniors and persons under 18 years of age.

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SPUNK brings new blood and revives the Penumbra Theatre, writes the StarTribune. Patdro Harris directs this sensuous and witty journey through African American life at the dawn of the twentieth century. SPUNK, based on folklore collected by literary icon Zora Neale Hurston, features Keith Jamal Downing, T. Mychael Rambo(associate faculty), Mikell Sapp, Dennis W. Spears (associate faculty), Jevetta Steele and Austene Van, who bring to life this rich mixture of storytelling, dance and the blues. Costume design is by alum Amanda McGee , a recent MFA student and set design for SPUNK is by Lance Brockman. Penumbra's Artistic Director Lou Bellamy and Brockman are both recently retired faculty of the UMTAD. Don't miss seeing SPUNK which plays March 14 - April 7. For more info or to buy tickets, visit Penumbra's website.

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Theatres and vaudeville stages were the entertainment outlets that Americans sought before the days of movies, television, and the Internet. The University of Minnesota celebrates that bygone era with a new exhibit, titled "Creating the World for the Stage: 1893-1929 - An Exhibit of Scenic Sketches."

Painted renderings of backdrops, sketches and other artifacts from the Performing Arts Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries are featured in the exhibit that explores the exotic worlds created by the scenic artists for both public theatres and private fraternal spaces of the Freemasons. The exhibit is guest curated by Professor Lance Brockman of the University's Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. Presently on view the exhibit concludes March 15, 2013 at the Elmer A. Andersen Library, West Bank of the Twin Cities Minneapolis campus and is free and open to the public.

The exhibit documents the backstage technical environment of the popular stage during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The artifacts include original renderings and materials from Twin City Scenic Company, Great Western Stage Equipment Company, and the Holak Company.

The companies used these materials to market their painted drop scenery to public theatres across the country and later to fraternal organizations, such as the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Brockman said that the Freemasons use of theatre and set design in their degree rituals helped them to boost membership.

"What had once been recitation, previously, now becomes a lively and fun theatrical presentation - you can see how attractive this would be to potential members," Brockman said. "And as public theatre became less and less of a market for these scenic studios, the Freemasons became more and more of a market."

Brockman, who is retiring after 37 years, was instrumental in acquiring the collections for the University of Minnesota, beginning in 1983. His research into this period of set design, he said, was primarily to help him teach theatre students about the nearly lost craft of painted drop scenery.

"The exhibit shows people that we have the collections and it's also a great resource for scenic artists," said Peter Baker, a theatre arts student who assisted Brockman with the design and installation of the exhibit. "The art of painting these drops was never really passed down. It sort of died off. But having the sketches and being able to look at the extant work, you can actually pick out how they did it, how they painted it. It becomes a resource, not only for the historical context, but the practice itself - the art, as well as the artifact."

Theatre arts student Nicky Rodriguez assisted Brockman with the exhibit curation.

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday; and 8:30 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, go to z.umn.edu/stage. All images are available online at lib.umn.edu/scrbm/paa/scenery.

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U of M Theatre alums Faye Price and Noel Raymond, are honored as "Art Heroes" and are featured on Minnesota Public Radio news for their spirited leadership and clear artistic vision of Pillsbury House and Theatre, located on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis.

As co-artistic directors, Price and Raymond face many challenges reports MPR. "It's in a neighborhood which has sometimes had a reputation for crime as much as creativity. It's a professional theater company in a community center that suffers from the low expectations assigned to a 'community theater.' And its budget took a beating in the recession."

Price ruminated on all three issues recently as actors ran through their lines on Pillsbury's stage for a remount of the play, Buzzer. It's a provocative piece that's typical Pillsbury fare, highlighting issues of race, class and friction related to urban gentrification. The play got rave reviews last year, and it's now remounted at the Guthrie Theater, and co-artistic director Price sees challenge ahead.

"I can't begin to tell you how many people think that, because we're in a neighborhood center, because we're in this neighborhood in particular, that if you come to see a play here your expectations shouldn't be very high," she said. "That's what people expect, and we always change their minds."

Read more of Marianne Comb's news feature on Art Heroes Faye Price and Noel Raymond.

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Theatre Arts & Dance professor, Rachmi Diyah Larasati has written Dance That Makes You Vanish: Cultural Reconstruction in Post -Genocide Indonesia. Published by the University of Minnesota Press in March, the new work explores the transformation of dance form in the highly charged political repression in her native homeland during the 1960s.

Indonesian court dance, a purportedly pure and untouched tradition, is famed throughout the world for its sublime calm and stillness. Yet this unyieldingly peaceful surface conceals a time of political repression and mass killing. Between 1965 and 1966, some one million Indonesians--including a large percentage of the country's musicians, artists, and dancers--were killed, arrested, or disappeared as Suharto established a virtual dictatorship that ruled for the next thirty years.

In The Dance That Makes You Vanish, an examination of the relationship between female dancers and the Indonesian state since 1965, Rachmi Diyah Larasati elucidates the Suharto regime's dual-edged strategy: persecuting and killing performers perceived as communist or left leaning while simultaneously producing and deploying "replicas"--new bodies trained to standardize and unify the "unruly" movements and voices of those vanished--as idealized representatives of Indonesia's cultural elegance and composure in bowing to autocratic rule. Analyzing this history, Larasati shows how the Suharto regime's obsessive attempts to control and harness Indonesian dance for its own political ends have functioned as both smoke screen and smoke signal, inadvertently drawing attention to the site of state violence and criminality by constantly pointing out the "perfection" of the mask that covers it.

Reflecting on her own experiences as an Indonesian national troupe dancer from a family of persecuted female dancers and activists, Larasati brings to life a powerful, multifaceted investigation of the pervasive use of culture as a vehicle for state repression and the global mass-marketing of national identity.

Rachmi Diyah Larasati is assistant professor of cultural theory, critical studies, and dance history in the department of Theatre Arts & Dance at the University of Minnesota. She also holds an affiliate graduate faculty position there in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and is a former guest faculty at the Brown University Critical Global Humanities Research Institute.

Get the Book!

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St. Paul, Minn. - The University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Centennial Showboat announced today plans to present SWEET REVENGE!, an action-packed tale of high adventure, June 13- August 24 to be performed aboard the famous boat that last summer drew nearly 11,000 visitors to Harriet Island, downtown St. Paul.

In SWEET REVENGE! (or No Mother to Guide Her) by Lillian Mortimer, Ralph, the repentant criminal steals the heart of a farmer's daughter only to have con man Livingstone claim her for his own. Split second escapes and skin-of-the-teeth rescues abound as criminals seasoned on the wicked streets of New York City prey on a community of country folks. Caught in a desperate web of deceit, secret lovers must battle to overcome powerful forces to escape. PETER MOORE and VERN SUTTON, the dynamic duo of that scored Showboat hits The Vampire! and The Demon Barber of Fleet Street join forces once again for this one-of-a-kind evening of family entertainment juxtaposing this classic American melodrama with song and dance routines.

When asked what can audiences expect in SWEET REVENGE!, director Moore quipped, "Crooked cops, a down-on-his-luck good guy, a big-city con artist, a killer and his side kick, a heroine caught in his evil clutches, plus a nasty whiskey-swilling granny... and oh, did I mention a raging storm complete with tornado that strikes on stage? What more could you expect from a night at the theater? And where else but on the Showboat can you cheer on the hero and hiss the bad guy?" Reviewing a recent revival of this 1905 melodrama, the New York Times commented, "If this brave tale of death, seduction, deceit, betrayal, and poetic justice cannot make you happy, you are in grave peril."

The Showboat also prides itself as home to olios, vintage musical interludes featuring song and dance. Spiced with fun gimmicks, colorful costumes and surprises, these tuneful crowd- pleasers are straight from the golden days of vaudeville. The Minnesota Opera veteran, maestro Vern Sutton returns to "direct with a sharp eye these musical vignettes...some poignant, some naughty" (St. Paul Pioneer Press) underscoring the evening's fun.

Docked on the banks of the mighty Mississippi at Harriet Island in beautiful downtown St. Paul, the Showboat offers welcoming public spaces, bars and a beautiful upper deck lounge with spectacular views of the city's skyline. Visitors stroll along embankments with wide green lawns shaded by towering cottonwoods as they step aboard. The Centennial Showboat - a floating palace with a fully air-conditioned 200 seat theater is styled after a vaudeville house, complete with painted scenery, footlights and nineteenth-century stage magic.

Owned by the University of Minnesota since 1958, the Minnesota Centennial Showboat proudly presents SWEET REVENGE for this 55th summer of fun and laughter. Visitors last year found "a perfect summer evening" for a first date or family outing. Tour groups, reunions, employee gatherings enjoy special rates. Unsolicited comments by one audience member sum up the response of many. "A talented cast of singers and actors kept me laughing and entertained the whole night...I'm going again and taking others with me." Convenient FREE parking for cars and busses is available. Arrive by bike on the Lilydale Trail or by boat and dock for FREE on the island. The University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat is completely accessible.

SWEET REVENGE! performs 2:30 pm matinees every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday: and evenings at 8:00pm Tuesday through Saturdays June 13- August 24, 2013. Thursday nights feature post-show Talk/Backs, informal Q & A sessions with cast members. Ask about Family Fun Special rates for Friday nights and Saturday matinees. Discounts for students with valid ID, seniors 62+ and groups rates for 15 or more are available. Reserve tickets ($23-$25) by calling 651.227.1100 or by visiting www.showboat.umn.edu. for more information.

FACTS
What: SWEET REVENGE! with Musical Olios aboard Minnesota Centennial Showboat
When: June 13- August 24, 2013
Where: downtown St. Paul, Minnesota Harriet Island, docked on the mighty Mississippi
Tickets: $23.00-$25.00 showboat.umn.edu or call direct 651-227-1100; ask about
rates for students, seniors, groups 15+ and Family Fun specials.

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Stephen Kanee (March 17,1941-January 18, 2013)

Born in Winnipeg, the only child of Sol and Florence Kanee, Stephen grew up in a household devoted to the arts, surrounded with love and nurtured by his aunts and uncles and grandparents, especially by his dear Bubba Rose Kanee. His father introduced him to fishing at an early age and Stephen enjoyed happy childhood summers out in the boat at their cottage in Lake of the Woods. Stephen's mother ignited in her son his lifelong passion for theater, art and music. Stephen said it was Florence, along with his Bubba Rose, who gave him the inner strength to follow his heart into the dramatic arts. His apprenticeship in the family flour milling business took him to London, where his interest in theater led to an internship at the avant-garde Royal Court Theatre.
In 1974, as a student at the University of Minnesota Theater Department, he was awarded a McKnight Fellowship in Directing, which brought him to the Guthrie Theater. At the University, he met and fell in love with MaryAnn Lippay. They married in 1981, and their life together became a celebration of love, wit, music, food, art, travel, family and friends. They were a truly devoted and joyous couple, and counted themselves lucky to find each other and the love they shared.

Stephen, who was mentored at the Guthrie by Michael Langham, scored his first success with his production of Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker.' It was followed by the first Guthrie production of 'A Christmas Carol,' which brought together for the first time playwright Barbara Field, scenic designer Jack Barkla, lighting designer Duane Schuler, costume designer Jack Edwards, and composer Hiram Titus. 'A Christmas Carol,' became a perennial Minneapolis favorite over a 35 year run. For the Guthrie, he also directed 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,' 'Rosencrantz and Guidenstern are Dead,' 'Catsplay,' 'Hamlet,' 'Great Expectations,' 'The Tavern,' 'On the Razzle,' 'The Birthday Party,' and I.B. Singer's 'Teibele and Her Demon,' which was later moved to Broadway. Elsewhere, he directed for the Cricket Theatre, the Houston Grand Opera, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Meadowbrook Theater, and Park Square Theatre, among others. Stephen was a gifted and adventurous director, highly theatrical in style, aware of the music and nuances of his texts. His use of the challenging Guthrie thrust stage was masterful. Under his direction, there never was a bad seat in the house.

When in 1980 the opportunity arose to pursue his lifelong ambition, teaching, he accepted a faculty position at New Mexico State University, which he held for five years. He then returned to the Guthrie to help steer the theater through a period of transition. In 1986, he realized his dream to join the faculty of the University of Minnesota Department of Theater Arts and Dance. As an Associate Professor and Head of the Directing Program, he directed 'Old Times,' 'Spring Awakening,' 'Restoration,' Mrozek's 'Tango,' 'Two Gentlemen of Verona,' 'The White Devil,' 'The Dybbuk,' 'The Visit' and many others, at Rarig Center and on the Showboat. His theater wisdom and advice helped guide and inspire theater professionals all over the country. He retired from the faculty in 2003. Stephen said the happiest, most stimulating times of his career were with his students. He will be deeply missed by his students and theatre colleagues, who had the priviledge of knowing him.

Donations may be made to the U of M Dept. of Theater Arts and Dance or charity of choice . A Memorial Celebration is planned for the spring. Hodroff-Epstein 612-871-1234
--Excerpted Star Tribune January 27, 2013

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University of Minnesota's Department of Theatre Arts and Dance/Theatre Latte Da co-production of Spring Awakening , the critically acclaimed show described as "a vital leap forward for the American musical" (Time Out) has been selected as the Top Play of 2012 by City Pages, the Twin Cities' weekly publication.

SEE: http://www.citypages.com/2012-12-26/arts/top-10-plays-of-2012/

Carl Flink, Chair of Theatre Arts and Dance expressed his appreciation commenting, "We are very proud of this important achievement for our department which represents a significant moment; Spring Awakening engaged over 5,000 members of the public during its run this past spring and demonstrated powerful proof of how the academy and a community partner can come together to create high quality art rooted in an educational setting and experience for students." Spring Awakening, presented on the Rarig Center's Stoll Thrust, April 12- May 6, 2012 was also honored with the Twin Cities ' Ivey Award, and Lavender Magazine's Critic's Choice for its artistic excellence.

In a related story, both Peter Rothstein, Spring Awakening's director and Carl Flink, its choreographer were named Artists of the Year for their outstanding contributions in 2012. City Pages theater critic Ed Huyck noted Rothstein's controversial production of Oklahoma! in Seattle, his production workshops for Illusion Theatre, Playwrights Center and his own Theatre Latte Da production of Company, as well as the Spring Awakening co -production with the U of M. Linda Shaprio, City Pages contributor in dance, pointed to Flink's distinguished work as dancer/ choreographer/dance company director for Black Label Movement (BLM) and frequent collaboration with scientists. She praised his choreography with BLM which "deals with everything from the sinking of an iron ore ship... to using dancers to convey catastrophic changes in human cells." Flink continues to widen the scope of dance with its "interconnectedness with science, and probes the outer limits of the body in motion," she concluded.

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Minneapolis, MN -Striking clocks, surprise midnight visitors, imagine what A Christmas Carol might look like set in a contemporary New York penthouse. Writer Steve Epp re-tools Dickens' Victorian tale as an edgy, media-saturated comic mash-up in a little one-act experiment Want and Ignorance present: Little Dickens advised and directed by Dominique Serrand and Nathan Keepers of The Moving Company. Conceived over a year ago, the original idea for this comic sketch grew from a discussion by Marcus Dilliard and his Master of Fine Arts graduate students in Design/Technology at the University of Minnesota, when they began studying the screen adaptations and twentieth century spin-offs of Dickens' text. The goal was to illuminate the "outdated" notions of Want, Ignorance and the Common Good. For this resulting production, they designed the visual environment by weaving together vintage film clips with videos excerpted from modern retellings of A Christmas Carol to sharpen the send-up. Seating is limited for this experimental dark comedy to be performed live on stage December 13-16 at the Open Eye Figure Theatre, 506 East 24th Street Minneapolis, 55404. Free parking available at S.E. corner of 24th and Portland. Recommended for ages 12 and up. This production is a Reimagining Community and Arts Partnerships Program(RiCAP) project in collaboration with The Moving Company.

For tickets and information about Little Dickens visit openeyetheatre.org/dickens or
call the Open Eye Figure Theatre ticket office at 612-874-6338. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general admission; a small ticketing fee appplies.

Epp, Keepers and Serrand are founding members of The Moving Company, a theatrical company, based in the Twin Cities. Formerly, they were company members and directors of the celebrated Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune which disbanded four years ago.
Dilliard is a long-time collaborator with both theatre companies.

Dominique Serrand (Advisor/ Director) Paris native Dominique Serrand was one of the co-founders of Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Artistic Director of the company from 1978 to 2008. He studied at the National Circus School and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Serrand has been knighted by the French Government and inducted into the Order of Arts and Letters.His directing credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, and the Guthrie Theater among others. In 2005, Theatre de la Jeune Lune received a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre.

Marcus Dilliard has designed for theater, opera and dance across North America and in Europe, including numerous productions for Theatre de la Jeune Lune, The Guthrie Theater, The Minnesota Opera and The Minnesota Orchestra. He has also designed the lighting for productions at the Children's Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, The Intiman, Penumbra Theater, Dallas Theater Center, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Athens Festival, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theater, Flying Foot Forum, Katha Dance Theater, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, The Spoleto Festival (Italy), Flanders Opera, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, The Ordway Music Theater, Pittsburgh Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Vancouver Opera, Le Opera de Montreal, Canadian Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, and Boston Lyric Opera. He is the recipient of an Ivey Award, a Sage Award and two McKnight Theater Artist Fellowships. He is the Head of the Design and Technical Theater Program at the University of Minnesota and is a member of United Scenic Artists, the U.S. Institute for Technical Theater and is a graduate of Boston University's School for the Arts.

Steve Epp (Adaptor /Playwright) - Steve Epp was an actor, writer, director and co-Artistic Director at Theatre de la Jeune Lune from 1983-2008. In his 25 years with Jeune Lune, Steve collaborated in the creation and performance of over 50 productions. He was the winner of the 1993 Outer-Critics Circle award for best new play. Most recently Epp co-authored a new one-person play, The House Can't Stand, and Come Hell and High Water for The Moving Company. Epp holds a degree in Theatre and History from Gustavus Adolphus College. He was a 1999 Fox Fellow, and a 2009 McKnight Playwrights Center Theatre Artist Fellow. He currently appears in Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters produced by the Yale Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Company now playing at the Guthrie Theater.

Nathan Keepers (Advisor/Director) is Artistic Associate of The Moving Company, where he's co-conceived, created and performed in Come Hell and High Water, Werther and Lotte and The War Within/All's Fair. Nathan was with Theatre de la Jeune Lune for 11 seasons and performed in various productions including, Fishtank, The Deception, The Miser, Tartuffe, The Little Prince and others. Locally he has been on stage at The Jungle Theater (Waiting for Godot, Fully Committed, The Swan), the Guthrie Theater and Children's Theatre Company. Nationally, Keepers has worked at Playmakers Repertory, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Alley, La Jolla Playhouse and The Folger Theatre in Washington, DC. He's studied with Pierre Byland in Switzerland, and Philippe Gaulier in London.

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Minneapolis, MN - University Dance Theatre's Dance Revolutions presents some of the most stunning work by celebrated American choreographers of the '80s and'90s: Donald Byrd, Bill T. Jones, Shapiro and Smith, and Arnie Zane. Dance Revolutions takes center stage December 6-9 at the Rarig Center's grand Whiting Proscenium Theatre on the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus. The program features four powerful pieces performed by students under the guidance of director Toni Pierce-Sands and Cowles Visiting Artists Rosalynde LeBlanc Loo, Germaul Barnes and Brian Harlan Brooks. Opening Thursday, December 6, Dance Revolutions continues December 7 and 8 nightly at 7:30pm and concludes on Sunday, December 9 with a 2:00 pm matinee performance. A question and answer session with special guest Donald Byrd and U of M's Director of Dance Ananya Chatterjea immediately follows the opening night performance.

What can audiences expect? "An evening of engaging, inspired and breath-taking pieces by
masters of modern choreography," says Dance Revolutions director Toni Pierce-Sands, "Donald Byrd's finger popping, totally hip Jazz 1 (1997) with musical accompaniment by legendary Max Roach invites you in with its beat, then Shaprio and Smith's Family (1988) explores life in and around your living room's favorite armchair-- amusing, and touching. The evening concludes with Arnie Zanes' powerful The Gift/No God Logic (1987) paired with Bill T. Jones' joyous D-Man in the Waters, Part 1 (1989)." The four-part fully produced program has been shaped and set according to the rigorous standards of the original choreographic creators by their chosen professional representatives. Through these Visiting Cowles guest artists and their exacting attention to form, content and spirit, the piece is recreated. As these artists teach, choreograph, rehearse repertory and lecture in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Twin Cities community at large, the Cowles Land Grant Chair provides support.

For tickets and information about Dance Revolutions call the U of M Arts Ticket Office at 612-624-2345 or visit dance.umn.edu Customer parking is available at the 21st Ave Parking Ramp is located across the street from the Rarig Center, on the University of Minnesota West Bank Campus.

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Part sex farce, part revenge drama, part romantic comedy, Aphra Behn's The Rover, staged by guest director Joel Sass opens the University of Minnesota's Theatre Arts & Dance season with laughter, sword play, and the provocative question "Should not women do as men do?" Presented at the Rarig Center's Stoll Thrust stage on the West Bank Campus, The Rover will be performed by the senior class of University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater's BFA Actor Training Program and play November 1 through November 11, 2012.

Director/adapter Joel Sass observes, "In The Rover, love is a bullfight - raging hormones, and the thrill of seduction edge ever so close to impending danger...that's where the glamorous gets ugly, even violent." Playwright Behn undercuts the double standard says Sass, "This is the work of a self- actualized individual willing to explore beyond women's social confines of the 1600s. Her women are caught in a clash of strict social roles, and their own recognizable modern I-want-this-now impulses." During Behn's own time she was suspected of plagiarism and accused of lewdness because of her gender. Only recently has Behn been recognized for her influence; as Virginia Woolf admonished in A Room of One's Own (1929) "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn."

The Rover opens tomorrow night! For the behind-the-scenes scoop, check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM0suBnODtc&list=UUYV2lVUpk5jmldOgAqtX4DQ&index=1&feature=plcp

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Joanie Smith, faculty member and choreographer of Shapiro and Smith Dance, was honored for Outstanding Performance recognized in a single work "Celebrating Our 25th Year," as were faculty member/artists/choreographers Toni-Pierce and Uri Sands for Outstanding Performance of "January(Part 1 and 2)" at the 2012 Sage Awards held at the Cowles Center in downtown Minneapolis. The yearly event celebrates the local dance community and highlights its top work, as judged by a panel of peers.

Dance Program alumni Andrew Lester and Eva Mohn both received Sage Awards for Outstanding Performer. Morris Johnson of UMTAD was named best dance educator for which he earned the 2012 Sage Award.

The evening was also filled with many nominees from the U of M's dance and design/tech programs and a striking performance by Ananya Dance Theatre. The awards, now in their eight year are named for Sage Cowles, arts benefactor, choreographer and dancer.
Kudos to one and all!

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MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/11/12) -Nationally known playwright Lee Blessing's new play Courting Harry will be given its first public reading on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. at the Rarig Center's Kilburn Arena Theatre, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis, on the U of M's West Bank.

Blessing, a Minneapolis native, has been on campus since Wednesday, Oct. 10 working with playwriting students and rehearsing with student performers in the U of M's Theatre Arts and Dance Department.

"We are thrilled to have a playwright of Lee Blessing's stature interacting and challenging our students," said Carl Flink, chair of the Theatre Arts and Dance Department. "We are so excited to join in this Reimagining Community Partnership with alumus Ron Peluso, of St. Paul's History Theatre, who will direct and produce Courting Harry in the spring as part of their season."

Blessing's residency will culminate in a workshop reading of Courting Harry which explores the lifelong friendship Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Harry Blackmun, both natives of St. Paul. The friendship was put to the test in one of the most contentious cases of all time: Roe v Wade.

The reading is free and open to the public, however, seating is limited and reservations are required. Please email Jenna at frank585@umn.edu.

This reading is performed by theatre students under the guidance of Dominic Taylor, U of M Professor of Playwriting and the direction of History Theater Artistic Director Ron Peluso.

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