Feb. 2013 Spotlight

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THE SPOTLIGHTFebruary 2013

Co-Editor:Sydney Berk

[email protected]

Co-Editor:Verity Pryor-Harden

[email protected]

Ringing in the New Year with some incredible shows!

START OFF 2013 WITH QUALITY THEATRE

UPCOMING PRODUCTION: REFERENCES TO SALVADOR DALI MAKE ME HOTStudent directed by senior Sydney Berk, this contemporary, poetic drama tells of the conflict between dreams and reality.

Continued on Page 2

UPCOMING PRODUCTION: ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEADDirected by Dr. Beth Homan, the comedy by Tom Stoppard comes to life in our staged reading.

Continued on Page 4

THE LIFE OF GALILEO GOES TO KCACTFOne of six shows out of over 200 applicants invited to compete in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the cast and crew of The Life of Galileo get prepped to compete.

Continued on Page 6

ALUMNI OF THE MONTH: TAYLOR HOHMANMeet our Catawba Theatre Alumni of the Month!

Continued on Page 7

Vol 19, No. 4 www.catawba.edu/theatreartsM C E P P H O U S E :

CATAWBA COLLEGE2 3 0 0 W e s t I n n e s S t .

S a l i s b u r y , N C 2 8 1 4 4T E L E P H O N E(704) 637-4481 E M A I L THEATREARTS

@CATAWBA.EDU

Greg Stoughton & Verity Pryor-Harden in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Photography by Tracy Ratliff)

The Life of Galileo goes to KCACTF (Photography by Sean Meyers)

The Theatre Arts Management Shop at Catawba College Shuford School of Performing Arts Presents:

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern

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Kylie Beinke & Eric English as Gabriela & Benito in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Photography by Tracy Ratliff) Verity Pryor-Harden & Greg Stoughton

THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE2

References to Salvador Dali Make Me HotBeginning February 6th, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, a steamy piece of magical realism by José Rivera, will seduce audiences in true Dali Fashion. The Blue Masque will transport the audience to a new world with this spellbinding comedic drama. The production runs February 6-9, in Catawba's Florence Busby Corriher black box Theater at 7:30 pm. Be warned: it contains strong language, sexual content, and adult situations so this one is not recommended for children.

Let us set the stage: Barstow, California, Night. The moon plays the piano, something lush and sentimental. As a coyote seduces a house cat, the moon whispers night poetry and sings entrancing boleros to Gabriela who is sick with a broken heart. She spends her nights pacing her backyard, deeply missing her husband, a soldier away at war. The 14-year-old boy next door, Martin, fumbles over trying to entrance her but she is busy staring up at the stars. The play both begins and ends with this surrealist dreamscape centered around the woman everyone is lusting for, Gabriela.

But when her husband Benito returns, the mood shifts and we are transported. We

get a look into Gabriela’s struggle with her husband, who has been broken by a carnivorous war. The play becomes a domestic drama, as lovers try to understand each other and wonder if you can ever really solve the mystery of another’s heart. With 2 distinct styles in one piece, a taste of earthy realism tangled with fantastical poetry, this play has something for everyone.

Oscar nominated and Obie Award winning playwright, Jose Rivera, says that taking plays beyond realism is what makes them most special. He says, "We're bombarded by realism [in film and television] 24/7. We know it, we see it, we have it all around us. If the theatre is going to offer us anything that's different, it needs to exploit the possibilities of the theatrical. Another way to heighten reality is through language. It can be poetic, dense, full of imagery. That is why I would rather go to a play than watch TV." Come buy tickets and see what he means. In a world where so much is digital, give yourself a night of something real.

Cast & Crew

Gabriela:Benito:

Cat:Coyote:Moon:

Martin:

Director: Directing Advisor:

Stage Manager: Assistant Stage

Manager: Set Design:

Costume/Hair/Makeup Design: Lighting Design:

Sound Design: Technician:

Publicity:Technical Advisors:

Kylie Beinke*Eric EnglishVerity Pryor-HardenGreg StoughtonAdam WeinerBrandon Engelskirchen

Sydney Berk*Dayna AndersonMaggie Saunders

Cody MangumBrooke Beall*

Dee Clark*Chris SpeerGyo GambleTynia BrandonKara Procell*Christopher D. Zink, David Pulliam, Erin B. Dougherty, Joe Hernandez

* Denotes membership in the Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic Honors Society






JOSÉ RIVERA

José Rivera has gained international acc la im fo r h i s t a l e n t s a s a p l a y w r i g h t a n d screenwriter. Rivera has won countless awards and grants for his plays as well as being the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Academy Award. Among his numerous plays are The House of Ramon Iglesias, Cloud Tectonics, Marisol, Sonnets for an Old Century, Sueño, Giants Have Us in Their Books, Each Day Dies With Sleep, and of course, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot. Also having written for Film and Television, some of his best known works are The Motorcycle Diaries and On The Road.

The magic and charm ever present in Rivera’s work comes from his Puerto Rican roots. He was born in Puerto Rico in 1955, into a struggling family. When he was 4 years old, they moved to America, settling in Long Island. Rivera’s parents were uneducated and didn’t know English so job opportunities were sparse. His father was a laborer, taking on various jobs such as a gardener, a cook, a taxi driver and a janitor. These menial jobs barely supported the family and they were quite poor. It was a hard life and very isolated at first, until Long island started to grow and other Puerto Ricans came into the area. Life was not easy but they made do, Rivera’s parents were able to send him and his sister to college and the youngest siblings all went into the military. This lifestyle has been the primary inspiration for much of his work.

But Rivera’s parents often had doubts about whether or not the move to America was worth it. They had come to America to leave the material poverty of Puerto Rico, but they felt that America had a spiritual and emotional poverty. Life wasn’t as rich as it had been in Puerto Rico. Rivera says, “I think that the U.S. is a religious country in a lot of ways, but the sense of true spiritualism is missing. I think religion and spirituality are two different things.” This is a theme that permeates many of Rivera’s works as he incorporates elements of magic and spirituality, marrying his influence as an American youth with his Puerto Rican roots.

Growing up in a home with very few books, Rivera’s illiterate grandparents told many stories, inspiring the young Rivera who decided at the age of 12 that he wanted to be a writer.

Throughout his education in the New York school system, he read all the European greats such as Ibsen, Chekhov, Tolstoy. But he grew up in this household that was so different from what he read that he felt a disconnect. But when he began reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, he was inspired. Rivera says, “Reading Marquez was the first time that anything from the world of school and education came to me that reminded me of my home.” He felt that someone was finally celebrating his culture. He thought, “Someone gets it, and someone writes about it in a beautiful, amazing way. It was really a personal thing for me to read this work.” Inspired, Rivera wanted to apply the same aesthetic that one finds in Marquez’s work to the theatre, an experiment no one had yet tried.

Rivera’s primary love is poetic language, drawing inspiration from the plays of Lorca and Sam Shepard and poets like Pablo Neruda and Charles Bukowski. He said, “I tend to view the language of theatre to be of a different magnitude than the language in a song or the language in real life. There ought to be a place for language that does more work than normal speech, where people can go and hear incredible language and be entertained by language the way they used to. The way they used to with Shakespeare, for instance. That place is the theatre. You go to have your mind provoked and startled by beautiful language.”

In 1989, Rivera had the opportunity to become Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s student at the Sundance Institute. Marquez opened up Rivera’s eyes to the possibility of portraying a different vision of the word through the use of Magical Realism. He showed Rivera that fantastical events are not made up, that they come from secondhand narrations of eyewitness reports. Rather than viewing the magical events as allegorical, we must learn to read them as real experiences that are uniquely perceived. This was a concept Rivera was very familiar with having grown up listening to his grandparents’ magical stories. Magical Realism is about the bending of one’s perception of reality, giving the style a unique power.

In the marrying of these influences, José Rivera developed a style that is magical and thought provoking. It is true poetry.

MAGICAL REALISMMagical realism aims to seize the

paradox of the union of opposites, the supernatural and the natural. It differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society. The supernatural is not seen as questionable, but it is integrated within the norms of the world as we know it. As Jose Rivera says, "the human condition is so absurd, and people are so outrageous, that insane things happen on a daily basis. All you really have to do is record them." Why wouldn’t a woman in love levitate and who says mothers can’t read the minds of their disobedient children? Magical Realist writers are not limited by the confines of realism and often draw upon the energies of fable, folk tale and myth while maintaining a strong contemporary social relevance.

PAGE3THE SPOTLIGHT

References to Salvador Dali Make Me HotBy: José Rivera

Student Directed by: Sydney Berk

February 6-9, 7:30 p.m.Florence Busby Corriher Theater

$5, General Admission$4, Catawba Students & Senior

Citizens

Please call (704) 637-4481 to purchase tickets or buy online

at www.catawba.edu/theatretix

WARNING: Contains strong language, sexual content, and

adult situations. Not recommended for children.





http://www.catawba.edu/theatretix



WHY A STAGED READING?by Sydney Berk

Our goal when putting on a play is to tell a story truthfully. Actors strive to learn every nuance of their characters, directors find the dramatic action in the piece, and designers create the reality. We seek to create another world where the language, blocking, and every small detail fit. The problem, though, is that when done well, this is a very time consuming process. Fulfilling this as well as all technical needs makes putting on a play no easy task. Often analysis, ensemble building, and character work must be done outside of rehearsals, or corners must be cut if everything else is going to get done. This very dilemma is why staged readings are so wonderful. Tech is shortened, sets are simplified, and stress is managed, leaving actors and directors time to develop the meat of a play. Student actors have the time to play, take risks, and focus on language and the vocal instrument. And so for practical as well as pedagogical reasons, the Theatre Arts faculty chose the staged reading format for Catawba’s production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard.

Given the current economic state of the theatre world, staged readings are becoming more and more common. Producers and directors opt to present new plays as well as classics in order to provide entertainment and a forum for conversation without the money and labor demanded of a full production. Alumnus Amanda Lederer (NYC) has participated in several professional staged readings and says it’s a great way to get your foot in the door with companies: “If you're doing a reading of a new piece, they provide opportunities to network and meet with producers who might want to fund an actual production of the play, directors who might want to direct it, the playwright who wrote it, etc. For many companies with a resident playwright, readings are used to hear the play out loud and continue work on it as an ensemble -- figuring out what works and what doesn't. Readings are different depending on who you do them with or for, of course. Some are literally just sitting around a table and reading so the playwright can hear it out loud for the first time. Others are staged with minimal blocking and performed for a paying audience. It just depends on what the actual goal of the reading is.” Being at a college, readings also act as an excellent learning tool. Reading aloud is a skill that requires practice. Alumnus Chris Clowers (Los Angeles), has participated in and seen many professional readings and says, “I'll admit I'm more nervous doing readings than I am in a memorized performance. A reading takes a lot of stamina and focus to stay in the moment--listening, reading, and reacting. I wish I had more experience with staged readings, actually. When I listen and watch the pros, I realize how much more work I need to do. Good staged reading skills will also help actors with cold readings, which are difficult for folks like me who have a hard time sight reading. Like any craft, the more experience and practice I have doing a staged reading, the more prepared I feel I will be for the long run.”

Another Catawba Alumnus, Carolie Brekke, added that the staged reading of Seneca's Oedipus, directed by James Parker (nicknamed “Parkie”) was by far the highlight of her stage experience at Catawba. She played Coryphaeus and when I asked about her experience, she said, “Not only was it a role I probably would not have been right for physically in a fully staged version of the play (at the time I was short, plump and blonde with a baby face), but I felt much less self-conscious doing a staged reading. I could concentrate on the vocal gymnastics Parkie asked from me, rather than thinking about blocking, staging, physical appearance, a costume, possibly a mask (for those of you who know Parkie!). I got to dig into the meaning of the words, the beauty/horror of the prose, and the music/dissonance of the sounds. I believe doing a staged reading helped me understand the story of Oedipus, the artistry of Seneca's version and the voice, and ears as actor's tools much better than I ever thought possible. Perhaps other actors find that sort of understanding easily while doing a fully staged play...but for me, as a student, performing in the staged reading was an incredible learning experience, and I will be forever grateful to Parkie for casting me.”

For all of these reasons and more, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is the perfect material for a reading. The language is very challenging and cast members have time to use this as a true growth experience. S e n i o r K a t i e Jo h n s o n , wh o p l ay s Guildenstern, has said that she is spending a majority of her time on table work. She has had meetings with Junior Cody Gasque, who plays Rosencrantz, and Catawba Guest Artist Craig Kolkebeck, who plays The Player, where they pick apart every line, working through Stoppard’s complicated and circular text. The company spends rehearsals questioning the text, exploring rhetoric, and making strong, active choices. I think audiences will be amazed that rather than lacking something, staged readings are often more full of knowledge and nuance that a full-blown production.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

PAGE4THE SPOTLIGHT

In late February, Catawba College Theater Department takes you into the wings of one of the greatest and most

confrontational pieces ever written by the “Bard of Avon”. Academy Award and

Tony Award winner, Tom Stoppard, takes two small characters from

Shakespeare’s Hamlet and turns them into larger than life comics in his

hysterical and absurdist piece, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are

Dead. The production runs February 19-20 at 6:55 p.m. and February 21-23 at 7:30 p.m. in Catawba’s

Hedrick Little Theater.






TOM STOPPARD

Tom Stoppard was born "Tom Straussler" in Zlin, Czechoslovakia on July 3, 1937. His family moved to Singapore in 1939 to escape the Nazis. Then, shortly before the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1941, young Tom fled to Darjeeling, India with his mother and brother. His father, however, Eugene Straussler, remained behind and was killed during the invasion. In 1946, the family emigrated to England after Tom's mother married Kenneth Stoppard, a major in the British army.

At the age of 17, after just his second year of high school, Stoppard left school and began working as a journalist for the WESTERN DAILY PRESS (1954-58) and the BRISTOL EVENING WORLD (1958-60). He began to show a talent for dramatic criticism and served for a time as freelance drama critic for SCENE (1962-3), a British literary magazine, writing both under his own name and the pseudonym William Boot. He also started writing plays for radio and television and soon managed to secure himself a literary agent.

Stoppard's first television play, A Walk on the Water (1963) would later be adapted for the stage as Enter a Free Man (1968). Over the next few years, he wrote various works for radio, television and the theatre including "M" is for Moon Among Other Things (1964), A Separate Peace (1966), and If You're Glad I'll Be Frank (1966). He also wrote 70 episodes of A Student's Diary: An Arab in London for the BBC World Service.

His first major success came with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966) which catapulted him into the front ranks of modern playwrights overnight when it opened in London in 1967. Critics immediately hailed the play as a modern dramatic masterpiece.

Over the next ten years, Stoppard wrote a number of successful plays, the most popular of which include Jumpers (1972) and Travesties (1974). He also translated a number of plays including those of Mrozek, Nestroy, Schnitzler, and Havel and was heavily influenced by the work of the Polish and Czech absurdists.

Then, in 1977, after visiting Russia with a member of Amnesty International, Stoppard became concerned with a number of human rights issues which have manifested themselves in works such as: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977), Professional Foul (1977), Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth (1979), and Squaring the Circle (1984). Not all of Stoppard's plays, however, are political. One of his more recent works, The Invention of Love (1997), examines the relationship between famous scholar and poet A.E. Housman and the man he loved his entire life, Moses Jackson--a handsome athlete who could not return his feelings. The play opened to rave reviews at the Royal National Theatre in 1997.

In addition to his work for the stage, Stoppard has written a number of screenplays including The Human Factor (1979), Empire of the Sun (1987), and Billy Bathgate (1991). His screenplay for Brazil (1985), which he coauthored with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985, and in 1999, he won an Oscar for "Best Screenplay" for Shakespeare in Love (1998) which he coauthored with Marc Norman. Other awards include the John Whiting Award (1967), the EVENING STANDARD Award (1967, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1983), the Italia Prize for radio plays (1968), three Tony Awards (1968, 1976, 1984), the Shakespeare Prize (1979), an Outer Circle Award (1984), and a Drama Desk Award (1984).

Tom Stoppard was knighted in 1997. His latest plays are Heroes (2005), and Rock n Roll (2006), and his most recent screenplay, Ana Karenina, is an adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel, starring Keira Knightley and Jude law (2012).

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc46.html

THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE5

Rosencrantz: Guildenstern:

Leading Player:

Hamlet: Ophelia:

Claudius: Gertrude: Polonius:

Alfred: Players:

Cody GasqueKatie Johnson*Craig Kolkebeck (Guest Artist)John Millbank*Jean WhiteJerry Archer*Gabriella Bressi*Bristol Glass*Melissa TardunoSean Henderson, Daniel Brown, Ryn Crawford, Chelsea Retalic, Jamie Caputo*

Directed by:Set Design:

Costume Design:Lighting Design:

Sound/Multimedia Design:

Technical Director:Stage Manager:Assistant Stage

Manager:

Beth HomanDavid PulliamShannon O’DonnellChristopher Zink

Jeffrey SalernoChristopher ZinkAshley O’Donnell

Forest Fugate

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Are DeadBy: Tom Stoppard

Directed by: Beth Homan

February 19-20, 6:55 p.m.February 21-23, 7:30 p.m.

Hedrick Little Theater

$10, Adults$8, Students & Senior Citizens

Please call (704) 637-4481 to purchase tickets or buy online at

www.catawba.edu/theatretix

Cast & Crew










Earlier this year, we submitted our production of The Life of Galileo into the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Directed by Dayna Anderson, this Brechtian piece was truly a cutting edge production. All of the hard work of this ensemble, the many designers, and technicians paid off. This year, more plays were submitted in Region 4 than ever before: 227. From there, 50 top productions were recommended for competition. Only 6 were invited to perform and The Life of Galileo was one of them! This is a very high h o n o r f o r o u r T h e a t r e De par tment . Other inv i t ed productions from graduate and undergraduate schools include Barnum from Anderson University, Platero from the University of Puerto Rico, Crowns from Alabama State University, Ensemble from Clemson University, and Ophelia from Hollis University.

This year, the Region 4 festival will take place in Albany, Georgia, at Darton College. It takes place February 5-9 and an enormous group of students and collaborators will be attending to perform, showcase their designs, and participate in professional master classes.

Attending KCACTF is an extremely worthwhile experience as is taking a show on the road in general. The festival states these as their goals:

• “to encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs;

• t o p rov i d e o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r participants to develop their theater skills and insight; and achieve professionalism;

• to improve the quality of college and university theater in America;

• to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new

plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.

“Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF participants celebrate the creative process, see one another's work, and share experiences and insights within the community of theater artists. The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and design.”

Productions are chosen based on an analysis given by two respondents who travel to see the submitted production. These respondents also nominate student actors and designers for awards. This year, the response we received was very flattering, but also asked some challenging questions. We had a conversation about Brechtian theatre, the challenges of the piece, and the ensemble nature of the show. In response to the production, respondent Catherine Rodgers said, “The dozen students who comprised the cast are all to be commended for their outstanding work on this difficult production. It was evident that a great deal of time was

spent not only on table work and research, but on developing physicalization as well. Each actor was cast without regard to race or gender which was quite effective. They conveyed the essence of each role they played by using clearly articulated physical gesture and movement and g iv ing to ta l commitment to their characters. What these young actors lacked in voice and articulation skills they made up for in emotional honesty and energy. The actors understood who they were within the larger context of the piece and were able to change from character to character quickly and with clarity of purpose. The script demands

were great and they were able to rise to the challenge.”

These complimentary words were paired with many awards nominations. Our Irene Ryan nominees are Colette Riddle, Jura Davis, and Alicia Almodovar. To compete for a scholarship, nominees prepare an audition. With a partner, they must perform a 3-minute duet scene. In the next round, they add another 2-minute scene to their performance, and in the final round they add a monologue as well. Galileo lighting designer Jerry Archer is a Barbizon Lighting Design Award Nominee and Aaron Alderman is a Sound Award Nominee. Courtney Cowman is a National Stage Management Award Nominee. Technical award nominees prepare a presentation of their design to be displayed at the festival. Along with presenting to the masses, they are given a time to present to judges and answer questions followed by a feedback session from the judges. Being involved in a festival of this size and diversity is not only a huge honor but it is a lot of fun. It is an amazing opportunity for students to display their talents and make contacts.

WE DID IT!The Life of Galileo Goes to KCACTF

THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE6






After graduating from Catawba in 2005, I threw some clothes in an army bag, grabbed a guitar and went to Italy. After 6 weeks of learning Italian in Siena, I moved to Arezzo to study commedia dell’arte at the Accademia dell’Arte. Upon completing my studies, I interned there for a year and then tumbled into teaching English in a private language school, earning my teacher’s certificate from Cambridge University. Two years of teaching later, I was a member of the inaugural class of the MFA in Physical Theatre at the Accademia dell’Arte. After two and half years of more commedia, masque, mime, acrobatics, juggling, circus and music, I graduated in 2011. I have performed in original theatrical pieces at the FLIC Scuola di Circo in Torino, the Berliner Schule für Schauspiel in Berlin, and the Scuola di Arte Dramatica Paolo Grassi in Milan; collaborating with directors including Marcello Bartoli, Kevin Crawford, Giuseppe Emiliani, Burkhart Seideman, Andy Crook, and Raymond Peyramaure. I was also the featured actor at Les Heures Musicales de le Vallee de la Bresle’s annual Ateliers de Musique Ancienne in 2010 and 2012, performing all over Normandy, France. This past summer, I designed and ran a children’s camp teaching English through physical theatre and was a creative ensemble member of an original American musical cabaret in Arezzo. Late Summer through early Fall, I was in London assistant teaching the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat’s National Stage Combat Workshop and working as a stunt fighter for iDare Productions’ new web series Chronicles of Syntax, premiering in February on the Multiverse YouTube channel. In addition, I collaborated in writing, fight choreographing, and acting in the short independent action film Extraction with Little Extra Productions. My graduate thesis, On the Masque and the Sword, was selected for the archives of the Peter Finer Antique Arms Gallery in London, and I have recently completed an article on the role of the sword in the commedia dell’arte for The Fight Master, the journal of the Society of American Fight Directors. Finally, I formed an Italian rock n’ roll band which recorded an album and blew the roof off the local communist party’s annual cookout.

Currently, I am acting as a consultant for an American biotechnology company, integrating natural plant health and pest management solutions into wineries in Tuscany, Piemonte, and the Veneto.

What I learned at Catawba is to learn lots about everything. Not just theatre: everything. History, science, math, music, political science etc., it’s all going to come in handy. Take a business class for crying out loud! Because you’re going to need it. Many of you will be fortunate enough to get theatre work straight out of the gate, but almost all of us need another job to buy food and pay rent. In my time in Italy, I have done everything from leading bicycle tours to mucking stalls in a barn to smuggling black truffles. Theatre people in all areas have loads of applicable skills, including taking direction, working as a team, creative thinking, and improvisation. The more you know, or can act like you know and then learn about quickly, the more options you give yourself.

Heartily concurring with the advice Tiffany and Anthony have offered in previous publications, I have two pieces of advice that I firmly believe apply to everyone:

Study abroad. Not in some coddled and cosseted program where you’re isolated with a bunch of other Americans, a real program that drops you in the middle of somewhere where you are entirely out of your element. In addition to learning about another culture, you will begin to understand more about yourself and the place you come from than you would ever imagine possible. Careful though, a year abroad can wind up lasting a lot longer than you thought it would.

Learn AT LEAST one foreign language. I mean, really learn it. Fluently. The 21st century is the first truly global century in the history of humanity, and if you don’t have one or two languages under your belt, you’re going to get left behind very quickly. Conveniently, this ties in with piece of advice number 1, so go somewhere you don’t know the language. In forcing yourself to learn to speak again in an unfamiliar environment, you will significantly increase your own resourcefulness and survivor skills. And speaking another language while hanging out with non-Americans is tons of fun…if you don’t believe me, come to an Italian family meal in Tuscany, you’ll see.

In bocca al lupo a tutti voi!

Alumni of the Month: Taylor Hohman

THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE7





Just a few reminders:

Do you have a friend or loved one in a Catawba College or Blue Masque theatre production?

Do you want to show your appreciation for all of their hard work?

Then purchase a Blue Masque Break-‐a-‐Leg Gift for just $6.00!

Break-‐a-‐Legs include a beautiful mylar balloon with an equally exquisite red carnation and a

personalized note.

To have a Break-a-Leg delivered to your loved one, please send $6 in cash or check to:

The Blue Masquec/o Theatre Arts Department Catawba College

2300 West Innes St.Salisbury, NC 28144

OROn campus mail box 262

Thank you!Allison Andrews

[email protected] Blue Masque Treasurer

www.facebook.com/catawbatheatre

Have you read our student blogs?

As a way to reach out and let parents and prospective students know what it’s like to be a theatre major at Catawba, we have begun a blog with posts written by a few of our very own, very talented, very busy theatre majors. Check it out!

www.catawba.edu/gallery/2012/blog/theatre/

@CatawbaTheatre

@CatawbaTheatre

Buy tickets!www.catawba.edu/theatretix

Be sure to mark your calendars and check out our upcoming productions!

Once on this IslandBook & Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Music by Stephen FlahertyStudent Directed by Jodye

CarrollMarch 20-23, 7:30 p.m.Florence Busby Corriher

Theater

!e CrucibleBy Arthur Miller

Directed by Kurt CorriherApril 9-10, 6:55 p.m.April 11-13, 7:30 p.m.Hedrick Little Theater

Danceworks 2013Directed by Missy Barnes

April 21, 2:00 p.m.April 22, 7:30 p.m.Keppel Auditorium

One Acts FestivalDirected by Directing II

StudentsApril 25-26, 7:30 p.m.

Florence Busby Corriher Theater

Where Are the Diamonds?! Improv Troupe

Catawba’s famous Improv Troupe, Where Are the Diamonds?!, was started in 2007 and now in 2013 is still going strong. The evil masterminds behind the original project were Jordan Hunt, Paul Saylor and Aaron Ganis. They roped some other brave souls to join them--such as Catori Swan, Justin Lewis, Justin Johnson, Michael Lasris, Meg Schneider, Matt Patrick and Andy Mac--and thus, Where Are the Diamonds?! was born! Today, beneath the violent dictatorship of Sean Henderson and Sydney Berk, the troupe still practices and performs. The team includes Allison Andrews, John Millbank, Lara Williams, Katlyn Shaw, Katie Carpenter, Michelle Newburger, Jeffrey Salerno and Adam Weiner. Their motto is, “Only a Diamond can Cut a Diamond,” because they cut the sharpest humor. Last semester, Where Are the Diamonds?!’s show, Free Pizza, was a smashing success. More audience members came than ever before and once the troupe calmed down the hungry mob, improvised comedic genius insued. This semester, Where Are the Diamonds?! will be performing several shows. The first will be an epic improv duel against Now are the Foxes!, Salisbury’s own comedy improv troupe. Be sure to keep an eye out for other show announcements. Come laugh with us!

Now are the Foxes! and Where Are the Diamonds?!February 15-16, 7:30 p.m.

The Looking Glass Artist Center Black Box Theatre 405 N Lee St.

Salisbury, NC 28144Tickets $10 at the door

Call the box office at (704) 637-4481

or visitwww.catawba.edu/theatretix

to purchase tickets for any of our shows!





http://www.catawba.edu/gallery/2012/blog/theatre/

http://www.catawba.edu/gallery/2012/blog/theatre/







Documents

Feb. 2013 Spotlight