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Welcome to the ninth IPA newsletter! The Institute of Performing Arts at Tisch School of the Arts includes the Department of Dance, Design for Stage and Film, Graduate Acting, Department of Drama, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing, Graduate Theatre Production and Department of Performance Studies. In addition, Open Arts and the Department of Art & Public Policy are now officially part of the Institute of Performing Arts. Chairs, Associate Chairs, faculty and students from these departments are meeting on a regular basis and sharing concerns, ideas and plans for the future. This newsletter highlights Fall 2018 events sponsored by IPA and significant happenings in each of our Departments. What we’re able to share here represents only a small portion of the exciting work that is going on in all corners of the IPA in both our conservatory and academic programs. Our IPA office is in Room 267 at 715 Broadway, Second Floor. It is being run by Hali Alspach and her office hours 9:00am-5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Danny Larsen is the Program Coordinator and can be reached at 212-992-9322. Sarah Schlesinger can be reached at ss4@nyu.edu. We’re anxious to hear your ideas for collaborative programming, events, etc., so feel free to contact us at any time. Sarah Schlesinger Associate Dean, IPA
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-IPA Department Highlights-
Art & Public Policy
APP CONGRATULATES DR. LAURA HARRIS FOR HER NEW BOOK "EXPERIMENTS IN EXILE" Dr. Laura Harris' new book is here! Experiments in Exile: C. L. R. James, Hélio Oiticica, and the Aesthetic Sociality of Blackness. The book is published by Fordham University Press and is available for purchase via the publisher or Amazon.com. Description from Fordham University Press: "Comparing radical experiments undertaken by Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James and Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, Experiments in Exile charts their common desire to reconceive citizenship. Laura Harris shows how James and Oiticica gravitate toward and attempt to relay the ongoing renewal of dissident, dissonant social forms that constitute what she calls “the aesthetic sociality of blackness,” in the barrack-yards of Port-of-Spain and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the assembly lines of Detroit and the streets of the New York, ultimately challenging rather than rehabilitating normative conceptions of citizens and polities as well as authors and artworks."
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KAREN FINLEY'S "GRABBING PUSSY" Karen Finley has released a new book, Grabbing Pussy based on her praised "Unicorn. Gratitude. Mystery." Copies can be purchased via Amazon or through the publisher OR Books. In July and August, she presented a special show of the same name in conjunction with the book's release.
KATHY ENGEL & TEAM OPEN GHOST FISHING: AN ECO-JUSTICE POETRY ANTHOLOGY EXHIBITION AT NYU KIMMEL Kimmel Windows Galleries displayed excerpts of the newly released: ghost fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology, alongside living plants native to Puerto Rico for 24-hour public viewing through November 1, 2018 at W.3rd St. & LaGuardia Pl. The exhibition was developed in collaboration with student and community activist groups in New York with a focus on the legacy of environmental and climate injustice that has been borne both by the people of Puerto Rico and the diasporic Puerto Rican community in New York City, which is itself woven deeply into the NYU community. This project is co-sponsored by The Gallatin School of Individualized Study Writing Program and Art, Education & Community Practice Program, Department of Art and Art Professions at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, with support from the Tisch Insitute of Performing Arts, Tisch Initiative for Creative Research and Global Research Initiatives, Office of the Provost, NYU.
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Thursday, Nov 1 marked the closing of Kimmel Windows Gallery's exhibit featuring excerpts from Ghost Fishing: An EcoJustice Poetry Anthology (University of Georgia Press, 2017). The evening acknowledged all those who worked on the exhibition, and was also a tribute to the words of the many poets that make up the Ghost Fishing Anthology. Students from Prof. Kathy Engel's Language as Action class read poems written in response to the exhibition and the anthology.
Deborah Ni, of FARE (food and radical equity) collective NYU, planting flower mix with Ross Gay's poem 'A Small Needful Fact'; Photo credit: Kathy Engel
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BETH PICKENS WORKSHOP WITH APP GRAD STUDENTS Our APP grad students spent an afternoon working with Beth Pickens - artist consultant and author of Your Art Will Save Your Life. The students considered how gratitude can change an artist's perspective. They also brainstormed about the future and what that might mean for them creatively, professionally, financially, and with relationships. There were opportunities to engage in complex questions around a healthy arts ecosystem, personal resources, and tactics for when experiencing a creative block.
M.A. Arts Politics student Logan Stacer. Image credit Lizzy Cheshire.
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CRITICAL COLLABORATION PROJECT CULMINATES WITH WEEKLONG GATHERING IN FLORENCE In early August, the Department of Art & Public Policy (APP) partnered with NYU Florence and the Tisch Initiative for Creative Research to host a weeklong gathering at Villa La Pietra in Florence. Artists, activists, curators, scholars, educators, administrators and troublemakers from six continents came together to probe the interplay between creativity, collaboration and social change. The encounter served as the culminating gathering for Critical Collaboration, a three-year project supported by NYU's Global Institute for Advanced Study. The project was guided by faculty from NYU campuses in Abu Dhabi, Accra, Buenos Aires, New York and Shanghai, and engaged artists and change makers in these locations along with twenty APP alumni. Stay tuned for project publications which will launch in 2019!
Image Credits: Kristin Killacky & Pato Herbert
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ARTS POLITICS ALUMNI COLLABORATE TO BRING TO LIFE A SKATE PLAY IN JAYOUSS, PALESTINE Esther Chang and Noelle Ghoussaini met as M.A. Arts Politics classmates in 2009. Today, along with an incredible team, they are collaborators bringing to life A Skate Play at Skateqilya Skatepark in Jayouss, Palestine. A Skate Play engages local youth, skaters and artists in an adaptation of the fable "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". The play elevates themes of freedom, love, perseverance, and forgiveness. A goal of the production is to open public space to community dialogue.
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Dance
NYU Tisch Dance BFA First and Second Years Perform in “Oklahoma!” NYU Tisch Dance Undergraduate BFA 1 and 2 students, Savannah Gaillard, Sarina Alexia Gonzalez, Amanda Rose Labuda, Rachel Lee, Taina Lyons, Lexi Martinez, Moeka Minami, Ida Obediente, Isabella Pete, Taylor Stansfield, Orina Siphanoum, Clairisa Patton, Jordan Wynn, Makenna Isabel Wolff, and Riana Pellicane-Hart performed in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! at St. Ann’s Warehouse from September 27 to November 11, 2018.
NYU Tisch dancers perform in off-broadway production, “Oklahoma!”
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Princess Grace Grant Recipient: Aliza Russel NYU TISCH DANCE ‘19 Aliza Russell grew up in Missouri, where she trained at the Kansas City Ballet and with pre-professional company Defy Dance Project. At 16, Aliza moved to New York and studied at the Martha Graham School before attending New York University, where she's currently in her third year. In 2018, Aliza attended Springboard Danse Montreal, where she performed a new work by Maxine Doyle/Punchdrunk, and has also studied with choreographers such as Jenn Freeman, Andrea Miller, Pam Tanowitz, and David Dorfman. She has performed in spaces such as The Joyce Theater (Scottish Ballet), MMAC, Dia:Beacon (Isabel Lewis), and the Brooklyn Museum (MICHIYAYA Dance). Aliza has presented her own work at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Tisch’s Jack Crystal Theater, and Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, where she received a 'Director’s Choice' award.
Kyle Abraham NYU TISCH DANCE MFA ALUMNUS We are overjoyed to see MFA alumnus, Kyle Abraham of Abraham.in.Motion, receiving the 2018 Princess Grace Statue Award! This achievement recognizes Award winners who have made significant contributions to their chosen artistic field of theater, dance or film since receiving their initial scholarships, apprenticeships or fellowships.
Two Tisch Dance Alums Named in Dance Magazine's Annual “25 to Watch” Recent Dance alums, Paul Moreland and Stephanie Troyak, were named in Dance Magazine’s annual “25 to Watch”.
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Xiang Xu, NYU TISCH DANCE MFA ’16 ALUMNUS Xiang Xu, MFA '16 was among four winners of the The Joffrey Ballet's 2019 Ninth Annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition. The choreographers’ world premiere works will be showcased on the members of the Joffrey Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainee Program. Winning Works returns to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Edlis Neeson Theater (220 E. Chicago Avenue) for three performances, Saturday, March 9 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 10 at 2:00 PM. The Winning Works Choreographic Competition was created to recognize talented and emerging ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab and Native American) choreographers and to provide them with a platform to showcase their original and innovative work. The winning choreographers are awarded a $5,000 stipend and are given the opportunity to seek guidance from The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, Ashley Wheater, and Head of Studio Company and Trainee Program Raymond Rodriguez.
Stephanie Troyak, MFA ‘ 15 Alumnus Stephanie Troyak (Class of 2015) is the youngest member in history to join Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Since her time in the Second Avenue Dance Company, Stephanie Troyak has successfully immersed herself in the European dance scene. Originally from Ontario, Canada, Stephanie moved to the United States and where she trained at the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She accepted NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ invitation to pursue a BFA in dance, and worked with Gallim Dance while in New York. Right out of college, Stephanie joined the Batsheva Ensemble in 2015, performing work by Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eval, and Danielle Agami. In 2017, Stephanie was later offered a contract with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch company, under the direction of Adolphe Binder. She recently premiered in Alan Lucien Øyen’s creation New Piece II, and continues to pursue other freelance interests and her own choreographic endeavors.
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Halfway to Dawn by David Rousseve | Reality featuring video art by Cari Ann Shim Sham* at BAM Harvey Cari Ann Shim Sham* is a longtime collaborator with David Rousseve | Reality, having created the video art for David's last piece, Stardust, and was the Director of Cinematography on David's award-winning film Two Seconds After Laugher. Now the two are at BAM for the Next Wave Festival with Halfway to Dawn the Billy Strayhorn Project. Moving fluidly between past, present, and fantasy, Halfway to Dawn is a jubilant dance-theater celebration of the openly gay, intensely private, and fiercely political jazz composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn, perhaps best known for the inimitable standard “Take the ‘A’ Train” and as Duke Ellington’s main collaborator. Los Angeles-based choreographer David Roussève sets nine dancers to various movement styles—from modern to postmodern, from jazz to social dance—with a lively score that includes selections from Strayhorn’s oeuvre of the 1940s and 50s. Layered with video projections of text and historical footage, Roussève’s homage expands on the political urgency of Strayhorn’s narrative while channeling the spirit of the virtuoso himself.
Music by Billy Strayhorn Video design by Cari Ann Shim Sham* Dramaturgy by Lucy Burns Lighting design by Chris Kuhl Costume design by Leah Pieh Sound design by d. Sabela Grimes Commissioned by ArtPower, University of California San Diego; Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans; Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh; Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of IL Urbana-Champaign; REDCAT, Los Angeles Photos by Steve Gunther
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Faculty Highlights Sean Curran Dance Chair, Seán Curran returned to the BAM Next Wave Festival stage October 24-27, 2018 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his ensemble, Seán Curran Company, with an evening of dances performed with live music by Grammy award-winning Third Coast Percussion. Curran and ten dancers – including Assistant Arts Professor Elizabeth Coker and alumni Jack Blackmon, Evan Copeland, Benjamin Freedman, Mariel Harris, and Lauren Kravitz – looked back at the company’s history by reimagining signature works Abstract Concrete (2000), first performed at Central Park SummerStage in 2000 and remade for BAM with original music by Third Coast Percussion, andQuadrabox Redux (2001), wherein Curran joined Tigger Benford and Martha Partridge on stage for a piece The New York Times deemed a “breathtaking tour de force.” In the second half of the program, the company looked forward, expanding its focus on human relationships to contemplate the essential yet conflicted relationship of humans with the world in the New York premiere of Everywhere All the Time (2018). The company’s 30th original work, Everywhere All the Time featured costumes by Liliana Casabal, set design by the late Diana Balmori, a renowned landscape architect, and Assistant Arts Professor Elizabeth Coker, Maurice Dowell, and alum Mariel Harris in Seán Curran music by celebrated Irish composer Donnacha Company's Everywhere All the Time at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Photo by Ian Douglas Dennehy. The evening included lighting by Robert Wierzel and visual designs by Mark Randall.
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Cari Ann Shim Sham: Music Video Collaboration between Cari Ann Shim Sham's Tisch Dance & Technology Students and Grad Film Alum Sheldon Chau A music video for Gold in the River by Priscilla Liang/Priska Music was shot November 13th & 14th, directed by Sheldon Chau, Grad Film Alum, choreographed by Cari Ann Shim Sham* with Angie Carmella Moon, Grad Dance Alum, & assistant choreographers and current Grad Dance students: Rafael V Canais Perez, Luca Renzi, Esther Siddiquie, Margaret Wiss and featuring dancers from the Tisch Dance & Technology courses taught by Cari Ann Shim Sham*: Sarah Amores, Meredith Boughman, Henni Boger, Owen Mosher Burnham, Rafael V Canais Perez, Austin Coats, Sammy Chapa, Sydney Shu-Yu Chow, Nini Dognier, Ori Flomin, Brandon Kazen-Maddox, Ilya Kutyrev, Chaery Moon, Hiroka Nagai, Kiara Marie Narvaez, Clairisa Patton, Luca Renzi, Aishia Lin Smpson, Raziman Bin Sarbini, Esther Siddiquie, Garet Wierdsma, Margaret Wiss and Makenna Isabel Wolff.
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Cherylyn Lavagnino Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance - held their fall salon at the Ailey Studios November 25th to a packed house. They presented current repertory and sketches of their upcoming work Tales of Hopper.
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Patricia Beaman A Room of One’s Own/ Gratitude for NYU Support A recent NPR podcast cited UC Berkeley experiments as proof that practicing gratitude has a positive effect on both body and mind. As a dancer who now does a lot more writing than performing, Virginia Woolf’s concept of the necessity of having “a room of one’s own”--a place to research and put the pen to paper--resonates within me, and I am deeply grateful for NYU’s support. This past May, a Tisch Dean’s Grant enabled me to conduct research in Paris. At three different branches of the Bibliothèque Nationale, I delved into French colonialism and “New World” influences on aristocratic Baroque ballets of Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and Louis XV. The research rooms were hardly solitary places, but it was possible to get lost in the process of unearthing factual revelations, and each venue had its own personality: the Richelieu research room, with its at once imposing and inspiring architecture by Labrouste; the elegant 19th century Paris Opera library; and the intimate, diminutive 17th century Arsenal branch, which was once an aristocratic home. There, I had the great fortune to climb the staircase and visit the jewel-box ballroom in which some of Louis XIII’s ballets had actually been performed. While it is always hard to leave Paris, this autumn I’ve continued my research as a Resident Fellow at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. Again, I’ve found a room of one’s own, but this time in a 21st century office, in which modernism manifests its unique and relevant charm. This invaluable juncture between pursuing my own research, receiving feedback, and witnessing that of my Fellows has led to collegiality, friendships, and an invitation to present a paper in Rome this July— proof that gratitude does benefit the mind. Many sincere thanks to NYU for bolstering my studies in myriad ways. The Labrouste Room at the Richelieu Branch of the Bibliotheque Nationale.
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La Bibliotheque Arsenal
Paris Opera Bibliotheque
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Design for Stage and Film
LA TRAVIATA AT THE MET La Traviata, running December 4th 2018-April 27th 2019 at the Metropolitan Opera, features the work of Susan Hilfery, arts professor, as costume designer, Christine Jones ‘92, adjunct faculty member, as set designer and Brett Banakis ‘10, adjunct faculty member, as associate set designer. Students from our Opera course, as well as other design classes, enjoyed seeing La Traviata dress rehearsal in late November.
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La Traviata model, Christine Jones, set designer
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La Traviata, Violetta (fall), design by Susan Hilferty
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La Traviata, Violetta (winter), design by Susan Hilferty
MAPS HALL DISPLAY This November, the Design Department featured maps of where all of our students are from throughout the hall display on the third floor of Tisch. We are home to students from fifteen countries/territories as well as many states in the US. We are proud to welcome students from near and far and have a vast amount of cultures, perspectives and ideas represented throughout the department.
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PRINCESS GRACE AWARDS
Congratulations to third year costume designer Ramaj Jamar, who received the Faberge Award at the prestigious Princess Grace Awards Ceremony this October! In addition, design Alumna Maria-Cristina Fuste '00 received the Pierre Cardin Award.
Ramaj Jamar and Design Chair, Susan Hilferty
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FACULTY CREDITS Brett Banakis upcoming: The Enigmatist, at the High Line Hotel and Mysterious Circumstances at the Geffen Playhouse. Brett continues working as Scenic Supervisor on all worldwide productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with set design by Christine Jones ‘92. Currently Running: The Cher Show at the Neil Simon Theatre (co-design with Christine Jones ‘92) and La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, directed by Michael Mayer, costumes by Susan Hilferty and set design by Christine Jones ‘92. Andromache Chalfant upcoming: designing for performance artist Joseph Keckler, Prototype Opera Festival, HERE, January 2019, Paul Swan is Dead and Gone, The Civilians, April 2019, sets and costumes for Blind Injustice, Cincinnati Opera, July 2019. She has also been collaborating with visual artist Dora Budor on an exhibition at 80wse Gallery, opening mid-December. ML Geiger is designing the plot of a new play Last Night and the Night Before which premieres at the Denver Center Theatre in January 2019. Prior to this, she designed lighting for Annie at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, set designed by Beowulf Borritt ’96 and Sakina’s Restaurant starring Aasif Mandvi at Minetta Lane for Audible Theatre. Sam Helfrich, opera and theater director, recently directed the world premiere of Permadeath, an interactive video game opera, produced by White Snake Projects at the Majestic Theater in Boston. Here at NYU his NYU Opera Lab project, in association with Randall Eng of the Graduate Music Theater Writing Department, moves into its fourth full year, and this year focuses on The Stonewall Uprising. Four composition teams were chosen this Fall to write Stonewall-themed short operas. The works will be developed in a workshop class all semester led by Randall and Sam, and will receive full performances next May at the Shubert Theater at NYU, as well as at the upstairs performance space at the Stonewall Inn, in collaboration with students from the department of Design for Stage and Film. Susan Hilferty is currently designing sets and costumes for Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena at the Signature Theatre. She recently designed costumes for La Traviata, directed by Michael Mayer, set design by Christine Jones ‘92 and associate set design by Brett Banakis ‘10, at the Metropolitan Opera running December 4, 2018-April 27, 2019. Earlier in the semester, she designed sets and costumes for Hamlet at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and co-designed costumes with Mark Koss ’13 for Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life in Four Acts a Hunter Theatre Project production. October marked the 15th anniversary of the opening of Wicked on Broadway. Allen Lee Hughes is working on designing How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson for the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Earlier this semester he designed the Lynn Nottage play Sweat for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Constance Hoffman is currently working on the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte, and Don Giovanni for the San Francisco Opera with alumni Erhard Rom '92 and Jane Cox '98 designing the set and the lights, respectively. Constance is also coincidentally designing a separate, very different production of The Marriage of Figaro with Paul
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Steinberg (Design Department Arts Professor) designing scenery, which will open this spring at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Also in the works is a ballet of three of the Grimm Tales, for Ballet Austin. Christine Jones recently worked on the Broadway production of The Cher Show, which she co-designed with Brett Banakis ‘10. She also designed La Traviata for the Metropolitan Opera's 2019 Season, Costume Designer, Susan Hilferty, Set Supervisor, Brett Banakis ‘10. Her work continues on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which will soon add productions in Australia, San Francisco, and Germany. Since the summer, Maggie Raywood has been drafting patterns and working on half scale mock ups of the Acton dresses she researched. She also recently collaborated with NYU and Florence colleagues Jim Calder and Jacob Oleson to create a costume for a script that Jacob is adapting. Over the winter break she plans to travel to the MFA in Boston to see Exhibition Lab: Sargent and Fashion and to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA to see the exhibit Empress of China's Forbidden City. Paul Steinberg upcoming: the transfer of The Twilight Zone to the West End, February 2019 and a staged oratorio inspired the photographs of Robert Mapplethrope, director Daniel Fish, which will be presented at BAM and other venues in the US and Europe in Spring 2019. Recent credits: The Marriage of Figaro for Opera Theater of St. Louis (costumes by Constance Hoffman), director Mark Lamos and Judgement Day for The Park Armory, director Richard Jones. Paul Hackenmueller upcoming: Carmen, with Paul Curran for Seattle Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte with James Alexander for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Ever After, a new musical with Robert Wierzel, Anna Louizos ’89 and Linda Cho and well as events for Medtronic, Boston Scientific and Target Corporation in the US, Asia and India. Recent credits: Il Bravo, L’ Oracolo, and Mala Vita for The Wexford Festival’s 67th season. Hugh Landwehr continues working on a new play, Minor Fantastical Kingdoms, for Resident Ensemble Players in Newark, Delaware, directed by Mark Lamos. He is also designing Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers for the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, directed by Mark Shanahan. Robert Wierzel upcoming: Ever After, a new musical with Paul Hackenmeuller ‘06, Anna Louizos ’89 and Linda Cho, The Alliance Theatre Company, Atlanta, January 2019. Deep Blue Sea, directed/choreographed by Bill T. Jones and the BTJ/AZ Company, Park Ave. Armory. Recent credits: Dinner At Eight, Wexford Opera, Ireland, Field, Liz Gerring Dance Company, Montclair State University, Everywhere All The Time and Abstract Concrete, choreographed by Seán Curran, Chair of Dance.
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Drama
‘Women in Theatre’ Features Panel of Artists and Designers Tisch Drama—with support from the Tisch School of the Arts' Institute of Performing Arts and in collaboration with Design for Stage & Film—continued its Women in Theatre series this fall with award-winning artists and designers who offered an in-depth look into their design process. Panelists included set designer Andromache Chalfant '02, lighting designer Jane Cox '98, and costume designer Sarita Fellows ‘08, all alumni of Tisch Design for Stage & Film, as well as stage manager Diane DiVita, sound designer Joanna Lynne Staub, and stage manager Rachel Zucker. Following an introduction by Dean Allyson Green, the program was co-hosted by Tisch Drama Chair Rubén Polendo and Design for Stage & Film Chair Susan Hilferty, who asked the invited guests to reflect on their roles as collaborators and, in particular, how they approach a rehearsal process. The panelists discussed their artistic journeys and experiences navigating the field; this was followed by a Q&A.
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Tisch Drama Chair RubĂŠn Polendo, Tisch Dean Allyson Green, Rachel Zucker, Diane DiVita, Jane Cox, Design Chair Susan Hilfery, Sarita Fellows, Joanna Lynne Staub, Andromache Chalfant, Heather Freedman, and Savannah Grinell.
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Department Welcomes Manzay and Katigbak as Artists in Residence
This fall, Tisch Drama was proud to welcome J. Kyle Manzay, a renowned actor, writer, and producer; and Mia Katigbak, co-founder and Artistic Producing Director of the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), as artists in residence in the 2018-19 TISCH DRAMA STAGE season. In September, Manzay ‘02, a Tisch alumnus, collaborated with students, faculty, and staff to direct and present the new musical Once Upon a Rhyme: A Musical Tale. The project boasts music by Jevares Myrick and Ronvé O’ Daniel, who also wrote the book and lyrics; and choreography by Stephanie Klemons, associate choreographer of Hamilton. Tisch Drama Chair Rubén Polendo noted that Manzay has been at the helm of the work for a number of years as “a driving force throughout the development of the musical,” including award-winning staged readings at the 2015 and 2016 New York Musical Theatre Festivals. As for the mounting at Tisch Drama, Manzay said it was great to collaborate with young artists—”and doing it at my alma mater is even better.” Subsequently, the department welcomed Mia Katigbak as the curator of its annual Festival of Voices, which ran November 15–20. Presented each fall, the festival serves to highlight a diverse range of potent and underrepresented voices, aesthetics, and points of view. Inspired by that mission, Katigbak said she specifically sought out material from Asian and Asian American playwrights. “It’s all about diversifying the kinds of works that students get exposed to,” she said. “Given the framework of the festival, I was very interested in highlighting Asian American playwrights in various stages of their careers—as opposed to those who have been produced regularly.” This year’s festival included new works Blood in Your Blood by A. Rey Pamatmat, directed by LA Williams; and The Late Wedding by Christopher Chen, directed by Giselle Ty. Additionally, the festival included a series of staged readings: Franklinland, written by Lloyd Suh, directed by Ralph B. Peña; and Legs, written by Leah Nanako Winkler, directed by Katigbak.
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Student Asked to Direct for Uganda National Theatre When fourth-year Tisch Drama student Karishma Bhagani traveled to Uganda this past summer, she assumed she’d mainly conduct research, learn from colleagues, and gain experience. “I had received a grant from the College of Arts and Science’s Dean's Undergraduate Research Fund and was looking at the performance of theatre and politics of performance during the regime of Idi Amin Dada (1971–1979),” Bhagani said. While there, however, the double major in history and drama met Aganza Kisaka ‘15—an alum of NYU Abu Dhabi—an encounter that led to an even greater learning experience. “Aganza mentioned she was working on a new piece called The Betrothal,” Bhagani said—in which Kisaka was a producer and actor. “And I asked to sit in on rehearsals.” Playwright Joshua Mmali consented, and at the end of a rehearsal, asked for Bhagani’s notes. “I had just written my ideas about what could be changed,” said Bhagani, who trains in Tisch Drama’s Experimental Theatre Wing. “And I guess he was impressed.” Mmali was more than that. Fourth-year Tisch Drama student Karishma Bhagani
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“After sitting through the rehearsal with Karishma, and listening to her comments, she was so convincing in her knowledge and directing skills that I decided, without a moment's hesitation, that she was absolutely fit for the director's role,” Mmali said. The Betrothal tells the story of a Ugandan woman desperate to find essential vaccines for her baby—and explores how seemingly small acts of corruption affect others. The play opened at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala on August 3 and gained national coverage. Local TV reporters interviewed Bhagani. “It was a huge learning experience,” Bhagani said. “As a student, to direct professionally before I’ve even graduated, it was a very humbling experience.” Bhagani further noted the benefits of collaborating with NYU alumni. Both she and Kisaka had trained under the same professors, notably Tisch Drama Chair Rubén Polendo, Kevin Kuhlke, and Catherine Coray. “That established a very solid vision for the production when we started rehearsing,” she explained—a point Kisaka also underscored. “We have a mutual desire to take theatre in Uganda and Kenya a notch higher,” Kisaka said. “From the moment Karishma sat with us in rehearsal and was able to envision the work the way I and the writer had hoped, it was a done deal. We look forward to having her return and embarking on new and exciting projects with her.” After its run in Uganda, the show is set to make another run in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 2019.
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The Betrothal
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Office of Career Development & Alumni Engagement Hosts Internship Fair This November, the department hosted an internship fair exclusive to Tisch Drama students, featuring casting offices, production and theatre companies, arts organizations, and more. The event, headed up by Tisch Drama’s Office of Career Development & Alumni Engagement, was attended by representatives from Williamstown Theatre Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, Upright Citizen’s Brigade (UCB), the Broadway League, BRIC, New York Theatre Workshop, Paladino Casting, Telsey & Co., Center for Arts Education, and Situation Interactive. Well over 200 Drama students participated. Each semester, the Office of Career Development & Alumni Engagement, managed by Rachel Friedman, offers department-wide events with leading artists and professionals, in-studio collaborations, and personal coaching to help students plan for the next steps in their careers.
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Brendan Bradley Innovation Lab Creates Space for Further Collaboration This fall, in its second installment, Tisch Drama students participated in the Brendan Bradley Innovation Lab, a cross-department, collaborative initiative designed to foster innovation in live performance using digital media and technologies. The project was held over the course of eight weeks at Tisch and in NYU’s Brooklyn-based MAGNET CENTER (Media and Games Network), and was made possible by a generous donation from alumnus Brendan Bradley. Students partnered with members of Game Design, Interactive Media Arts, and the Interactive Telecommunications Program in a “process-over-product� environment, according to lab facilitator Attilio Rigotti. On December 7, participating students presented a cumulative interactive performance event that included research and investigation in projection mapping, immersive environments, interactive experiences, video games, installation art, live audio mixing, and more.
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Upper-Level Theatre Studies Students Give Symposium for Entering Class On November 13, upper-level students from Associate Professor Laura Levine’s honors seminar Shakespeare and his Inter-texts gave a symposium for first-year students studying The Tempest in Introduction to Theatre Studies. The event was part of an ongoing project spearheaded by Levine to create mentoring situations in which upper-level students pursuing honors work could introduce those in their first year to the rigors and pleasures of studying Shakespeare. Upper-level students included Kristina Melsheimer, Dani Ochroch, Brock Looser, and Diana Risse, who presented papers on The Tempest and Skepticism, The Tempest and The Magic Flute, and The Tempest and Cesaire’s A Tempest. Five students studying the play in Introduction to Theatre Studies—Aaron Matthews, Hannah Berkowitz, Samantha Jane Lee, Lauren Wagner, and Mikayla Czizik—served as respondents to the papers, reading them in advance and formally responding to each one after it was read aloud. Grace Traynor moderated the evening. Tisch Drama faculty members Carol Martin and Louis Scheeder attended the event.
Tish Drama Theatre Studies students present papers. Davis’ Honors Seminar Publishes Chapter in Anthology Robert Davis’ 2015 Honors Seminar in the Department of Drama, “The Digital Nineteenth Century,” has published a book chapter in the anthology Teaching with Digital Humanities (2018) published by the University of Illinois Press. Edited by Jennifer Travis and Jessica DeSpain, the anthology is a collection of case studies about digital humanities tools and methods in relation to 19th century American literature. Davis’s courses used linguistic analysis, data visualization, and virtual mapping to understand the relationship of theatre and society in the 1800s.
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Faculty Highlights Gwendolyn Alker joined director JoAnne Akalaitis as dramaturg and member of the planning committee for the Maria Irene Fornes Marathon, which took place at the Public Theatre on August 27. The 12-hour marathon celebrated Fornes' full body of work as well as the screening of a documentary about her at the Museum of Modern Art titled The Rest I Make Up. Ana Cristina (Gigi) Buffington served as the Voice, Text and Dialect Coach for Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts, directed by Lila Neugebauer, at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre; Company Vocal Coach for Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, at the Hayes Theatre on Broadway; Performance Coach for King Kong Live On Broadway, book by Jack Thorne, directed by Drew McOnie; Voice and Text Coach for Downstate by Bruce Norris, directed by Pam McKinnon, at Steppenwolf and the National Theatre of London; for Steppenwolf Theatre: Familiar by Danai Guirira, directed by Danya Taymor; and LaRuta, written by Isaac Gomez, directed by Sandra Marquez. Byron Easley recently served as choreographer for New York Theatre Workshop's world premiere production of Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play, directed by Robert O'Hara. Carol Martin has been selected as a juror for The Paderewski Project. Taking place in four cities, the project is a competition for a new musical about the first Polish president commissioned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in collaboration with the following institutions: UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television; USC School of Dramatic Arts; Ghost Road Company; Playwrights' Arena; Wang Music International; CAC New Orleans; University of New Orleans; Tricklock Company; University of New Mexico; Philadelphia Theatre Company; MASS MoCA; the Consulate General of Poland in Los Angeles, and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York as part of the international cultural program POLSKA100 celebrating Poland's centenary of regaining independence. It is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual program NIEPODLEGŁA 2017-2022. Erin B. Mee remounted her critically acclaimed site-specific Café Play at the historic Cornelia Street Cafe this fall, and her article “Relishing Performance: Rasa as Participatory Sense-Making” appeared in the Routledge Companion to Theatre, Performance, and Cognitive Science, edited by Rick Kemp and Bruce McConachie. Rubén Polendo directed and co-authored the new interdisciplinary work Remnant, in collaboration with his company Theater Mitu. The piece, which explores how people confront death and loss, premiered in August and interjected interviews with found text, technology, and image. The New Yorker called Remnant "a sophisticated technological feat" and Theatermania noted it "testing theatrical boundaries.” This fall, Polendo and Theater Mitu opened the doors to the company's new interdisciplinary art space MITU580. In September, The New York Times published a feature profile celebrating Mitu's new Brooklyn facility. Polendo also presented a research paper at CUNY’s fall
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Arab Dramaturgy Symposium. Polendo's research explored Theater Mitu's transglobal collaborations on a range of documentary theatre works. Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew had a busy summer and fall designing for Oneohtrix Point Never’s Myriad at the Park Avenue Armory, Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Gloria: A Life with Diane Paulus at the Daryl Roth Theater NYC. On the experimental front, her lighting design for the interdisciplinary cross-genre production Soundstage was called to attention by critics who noted that “Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s lights saturate each moment with meaning.” Yew was also awarded the 2018 Henry Hewes Lighting Design Award for KPOP! (with alumni Helen Park and Max Vernon) and is featured in the December 2018 issue of American Theatre under “People to Watch.” Alisa Zhulina published her article “Performing Philanthropy from Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates” in Performance Research Vol. 23, No. 5: On Generosity, edited by Laurie Beth Clark and Michael Peterson. In September, Robert Vorlicky chaperoned his students during the inaugural festivities celebrating the opening of Africa Hall in Sharjah, UAE. The evening performance they attended featured World Music Expo winner Oumou Sangare, the internationally recognized Malian Wassoulou musician, along with dignitaries from African consulates in the UAE. Additionally, in October, Vorlicky delivered his essay, “‘Facing a Dying Nation’: Hair and the Fact of Blackness” at the American Theatre, Protest and Censorship Conference at the British Museum, London. In November, he participated in the fifth annual Kampala International Play Festival in Kampala, Uganda. And in December, he moderated the public panel “Now Africa!: Contemporary African Women Playwrights” at the Institute, NYU Abu Dhabi. On behalf of the institute and the theater program at NYUAD, he hosted both the panel and the campus visit of playwrights Asiimwe Kawe (Uganda), Dalia Basiouny (Egypt), and Celma Costa (Mozambique).
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Graduate Acting
Grad Acting’s 50th Anniversary
The Graduate Acting program celebrated its 50th Anniversary this fall with a weekend celebration culminating in an alumni gala on Monday, October 22, with over 400 alumni in attendance. The weekend included special workshops, an Open Mic Night, and a panel discussion of the historic and artistic evolution of the program. The panelists were: Olympia Dukakis, Larry Maslon, Ron Van Lieu, Beverly Wideman, Mark Wing-Davey, and Janet Zarish. The gala also marked the official launch of the Graduate Acting Patron Program, as Grad Acting embarks on the goal of full scholarships for all students.
Josh Radnor (1999) and Dion Flynn (1999) perform a Clanging set during Alumni Weekend Open Mic Night.
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Nathan Darrow (2001) and Arnell Powell (2001) go to work in the Alumni Weekend Singing Class, led by Deborah Lapidus.
New Play Project This year marks the 10th iteration of the New Play Project: two new plays are created through the Joint Stock method, beginning with a two-week workshop in the Spring Semester while the students are in their second year. During the workshop actors, directors, designers and the playwright explore a topic and develop themes and characters through a series of exercises. Students come back in the Fall to a script specifically tailored to them, written by the playwright over the summer. This year’s plays were The Book of Lucy, written by Ngozi Anyanwu and directed by Lou Moreno and Tomorrow Will Take Care of Itself , written by Stephanie Zadravec and directed by Scott Illingworth. Past New Play Project playwrights have included Lucas Hnath, Rinne Groff, Rajiv Joseph, Mona Mansour, Lucy Thurber, Adam Rapp, Keith Reddin, and Sarah Ruhl.
Book of Lucy Photo cred: Ella Bromblin
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Tomorrow Will Take Care of Itself Photo Cred: Ella Bromblin
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Alumni Highlights
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Alumnus Jason Butler Harner visited the floor to talk about LGBTQ roles in the industry, and his role in the award-winning Netflix series Ozark. Mahershala Ali (‘00) in Green Book. Jeff Wise (‘09) directs Happy Birthday, Wanda June and Alumni Matt Harrington (‘09), Kareem Lucas (‘13), and Kate MacCluggage (‘07) in a Wheelhouse Theater Company production. Carvens Lissaint (‘17) in HAMILTON on Broadway
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Graduate Musical Theatre Writing
GMTWP Brings Musical Theatre Workshop to Kenya Two of Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing faculty members, Deborah Brevoort and Fred Carl, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya this past summer to lead a new musical theatre workshop initiative for creative artists. The workshop grew out of a relationship that the Program began with Eric Wainaina, a famous musician in Kenya, who visited the Program last year. During the two-week workshop, the writing teams developed 10-15 minutes of material that was showcased in a final presentation. Musicals were written in Swahili, Dholuo, Kikuyu, and others. Some musicals had up to 3 languages in them.
Creative artists in Nairobi, Kenya assemble at the Elephant to write and present new musicals.
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“Although we went over there to give and to share, I felt like I got more out of the experience than the artists did. I guess the thing that was so powerful to me was that every single person there had an urgency that was fueling their art. That was truly inspirational. I think we can be a little slight here. People want to come and be Broadway stars, or we want careers. All sorts of things can motivate American artists. What is fueling the work in Kenya is a deep sense of urgency about the national situation or about the personal situation, and every single story had stakes that were high and artists that were telling that story because they were fighting for their lives. When you have that kind of urgency and connection fueling a story, you have really important, incredible stories that are moving, and it’s a reminder for me as a writer that you should write as though you have just been given a death sentence and you’re going to die in 5 days. So, you have to ask yourself the question “what am I going to say?”. It's going to change what you’re going to say, right? It needs to be important. Don’t waste time. There was nothing frivolous—which is not to say that people weren’t having fun, because people were having a lot of fun. But there was nothing light, nothing frivolous happening in these stories. Even though some of them were comedies. Dead serious. It was just a reminder to take this seriously. They’re taking it seriously.” -Deborah Brevoort
(Right to left) Deborah Brevoort, Eric Wainaina, Fred Carl
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The Creative Artists participating in the workshop.
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“Be More Chill” by GMTWP Alum Joe Iconic Headed to Broadway NYC is getting ready for an upgrade. On Sept. 5th, 2018 BE MORE CHILL, a new musical by GMTWP alum Joe Iconis (Cycle 14) and Joe Tracz will transfer from Pershing Square Signature Center Off-Broadway, where the production sold out, to the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway with previews beginning on February 13th, 2019. The musical was originally commissioned and produced at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ in June 2015. With music and lyrics penned by Iconis and a book by Tracz, the musical is based on the novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini.
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Alumni Highlights
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GMTWP Alums Daniel F. Levin & Jonathan Portera (both Cycle 11) received a staged reading of their musical To Paint the Earth in Southwark, London in late September. The show was selected to be featured in Aria Entertainment’s thriving festival of new musical theatre, From Page To Stage.
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Red Emma & the Mad Monk, with music by GMTWP Alum Teresa Lotz (Cycle 22) and words by Alexis Roblan with direction by Katie Lindsay was presented at The Tank in NYC as part of Ladyfest after a sold-out performance at Ars Nova's ANT Fest last June. How to Break by GMTWP Alums Aaron Jafferis (Cycle 13) & Rebecca Hart (Cycle 27) was selected for New Victory Theatre’s 20182019 LABWORKS. Two new musicals, Hansel and Gretl and Heidi and Gunter by Cycle 16 alums Will Aronson, Daniel Maté, and Cycle 18 alum Hannah Kohl, and The Homefront by Cycle 20 alums Sam Salmond & Jenny Stafford, were featured at the 18th annual Festival of New Musicals at Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington in early August, 2018. One short play and one short musical by GMTWP Alums were featured in the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival this year. Timothy Huang (Cycle 11) wrote Koi Story & Helen Park (Cycle 22) composed the music for the short musical Baked Goods, with collaborators Charlie Cohen (book) & Christyn Budzyna (lyrics). For their 2017-2018 Mainstage Production, 11th Hour Theatre Company presented the World Premiere of Big Red Sun by GMTWP Alum Georgia Stitt (Cycle 7). Stitt wrote the music and words were by collaborator John Jiler.
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Cycle 15 alum Mark Allen had his score for the new Broadway musical GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER recorded for the original Broadway cast album, produced by Sh-K-Boom Records. Renascene, a new musical about the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay by GMTWP alum Carmel Dean (Cycle 12) and book by Dick Scanlan, will received its world premiere by Transport Group Theatre Company this October and November. GMTWP alum Paul Castles (Cycle 19) will compose the music for a new play by Hansol Jung entitled Wild Goose Dreams. The play ran at The Public Theatre in NYC from October 30th-December 16th. The River is Me, by GMTWP alum Sukari Jones (Cycle 16) and her collaborator Troy Anthony, & Gun and Powder, by GMTWP alums Ross Baum & Angelica Chéri (both Cycle 24), were featured in the 2018 NAMT Conference in late October.
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Open Arts
More Student & Community Collaborations at Open Arts
Tisch Open Arts has initiated a new collaborative project with The Clinton School, working with high school juniors and seniors to develop techniques of documentary filmmaking and the art of the interview. For this year's Day of Community in October, Clinton high schoolers visited Tisch to learn some basics of lighting, camera, and sound, and they had an opportunity to conduct their own recorded interviews with each other, discussing issues of identity, creativity, and community.
Photo credit: Zhuojie Chen
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New BFA Degree in Collaborative Arts Open Arts has announced the launch of a new BFA program in Collaborative Arts -- the first of its kind -- and will be welcoming its first class of students in Fall 2019. Students in the Collaborative Arts BFA are introduced to the process of artistic collaboration on day one and they continue to experiment with collaboration as they gain skills in a variety of artistic disciplines and explore the process of working together in groups. The core Collaborative Arts curriculum combines the investigative process and the creative process, requiring students to make art; undertake research; bridge subjects, ideas and disciplines; raise awareness; address problems; and activate their communities.
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Professor Patricia Hoffbauer Recognized for Contribution to MOMA Exhibit "The Work is Never Done" The New York Times recently reviewed the MOMA exhibit, "Judson Dance Theater: The Work is Never Done," featuring our very own Professor Pat Hoffbauer. Pat performed several works as part of her collaboration with Yvonne Rainier, and the exhibit celebrated New York-based dancers and choreographers whose work revolutionized post-modern dance in the 1960s. From the article: "The Rainer style allows for both kinds of performance; it also easily includes the marvelous playfulness and fantasy expressed by Keith Sabado and the uninhibited absurdity of Patricia Hoffbauer — as well as for other highly individual figures."
Photo credit: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times
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Performance Studies
EVENTS
Fall 2018 Salon Series This student-driven initiative invites PS students from all cohorts to come together, collaborate, and learn how other PS students are applying the field of performance studies to their own work. The Salon Series offers a collaborative space all about learning new skills and ideas and includes a wide range of programming like visual artwork, performance pieces, practicum workshops and discussion panels. The current iteration of the series is organized by Department Assistants Cree Noble (MA ‘19), Isa Saldaña (M.A. ‘19), Noah Witke Mele (B.A. ‘22), Isabella Rivera (B.A. ‘21), Agnes Walsh (B.A. ‘20), and Arthur Gorlorwulu (B.A. ‘22). The Fall 2018 Salon Series took place on Saturday, December 1, and presentations included: • Manion Kuhn (B.A. ‘19) presented her workshop "I Am Optimized And So Can You!" • Melissa McDonald (B.A. ‘19) presented her workshop "Make-Up by Mel: Eyeliner & Eyeshadow" • Sol de la Ciudad (B.A. ‘20) presented their installation "Quiero Morirme" • Noah Witke Mele (B.A. ‘22) presented his workshop “Twizzler Piece” • Will Green (M.A. ‘19) and Gwen Rakotovao (M.A. ‘19) presented their workshop “Reclaiming Our Scream” • Isaac Silber (M.A. ‘19) and Jess Saldaña (M.A. ‘19) presented their workshop "Tending towards Improv; A collective collecting" • Cornelia Barber (M.A. ‘19) presented her workshop “Cruel Shampoo” • Susana Kwon (M.A. ‘19) presented her workshop "'Paper Crane Takes F-F-Flight' (2016): Sonic Gestures of Militarized Anatomopolitics" • Isa Saldaña (M.A. ‘19) presented their workshop “stealing intimacies” • David Sierra (M.A. ‘19) presented his workshop "Redressing 'Camp': Notes on Capital" • Jayel Gant (M.A. ‘19) presented her reading "Marigold: A Sibling Sketch (reading)" • Jess Saldaña (M.A. ‘19) presented her performance "Caged Aria (music set)" • Cree Noble presented her workshop "Performance Peace Circle”
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Fall 2018 Lecture Series The Department of Performance Studies Lecture Series is a series of events featuring preeminent scholars and practitioners in the fields of art and performance and is designed to create an informal and intimate setting for rich intellectual exchange among artists, students, and scholars. The Fall series, executed by Performance Studies Departmental Assistants Cree Noble (M.A. ’19), Isa Saldaña (M.A. ‘19), and Arthur Gorlorwulu (B.A., ‘22) included: • •
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The Art Of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960 Dan Callahan, the author of The Art of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960, took us through the evolution of acting for the camera: from Lillian Gish in the silent era to John Barrymore and Bette Davis in the sound era. Cultural History, Performance & Politics: A Dialogue With the aim of better understanding how memory (individual and collective) has been mobilized in a variety of political performances of the past and what this implies for the present and the future of both politics and performance, PS scholars joined with historians from the International Society for Cultural History discussed recent shifts in the theorization of performance relative to developments in transnational and "connected” histories. Courtesy The Artists: Popular Revolt Performance Studies faculty member Malik Gaines participated in the #Marx Festival at NYU Skirball during his performance in "Courtesy the Artists: Popular Revolt". Courtesy the Artists forms a working group out of theater, video and music makers to produce a contemporary, in-process variety show that includes the audience in a conversation about what we hate about today, and what we it to be like tomorrow. Using open source video technology in combination with office software, Popular Revolt addresses an increasingly distracted public with the riotous, rebellious power of liveness. The School Of The Body: Dancing Between Healing and Expression La Compañía Cuerpo de Indias (profesional nucleus of EL COLEGIO DEL CUERPO (1997) -The School of The Body in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia) directed by Álvaro Restrepo (Colombia) and Marie France Delieuvin (France) offered a “danced conference,” showing excerpts of the company's repertoire and creative/pedagogical process. Body As Archive: Body Workshop and Documentary Screening Since the 1990s, Wen Hui, China’s leading independent dancer, choreographer, performance artist and filmmaker, has been exploring the body as archive and medium for the remembering and recovery of personal and collective history, especially women’s history. This event kicked off with a body workshop that was followed by screenings of documentaries by the three performers/filmmakers. The event concluded with a roundtable discussion.
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Fall 2018 Alumni Lecture Series The Performance Studies Alumni Lecture Series invites alumni to share their work and wisdom with the Performance Studies community. This series seeks to continue building relationships between alumni, current students and faculty, foster professional networks, and help students think about the transition after graduation. The Fall 2018 Alumni Lecture Series included: •
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The Joker Runs Wild Mady Schutzman (Ph.D. ‘94) returned to the Department of Performance Studies to discuss her recent book “Radical Doubt: the Joker System, after Boal.” Schutzman proposes an approach to community building based on joke logic, strange loops, trickster tactics, irony, and even chaos. Day Of Community Symposium: Queer New York and Urban Performance In The 1970's And 1980's Ricardo Montez (M.A. '01, Ph.D. '07) joined a panel held in conjunction with the exhibition Rubbish and Dreams: The Genderqueer Performance Art of Stephen Varble at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. This one-day symposium explored queer performance and its relation to New York City’s public spaces in the 1970s and 1980s. Topics ranged from the street as a contested site of performance art to the urban framework of New York as performing on and for queer communities. "After the Party: A Manifesto Of Queer Of Color Life": A Decolonizing Vision Series Talk with Joshua Takano ChambersLetson Presenting material from the new book “After the Party”, Chambers-Letson (M.A. '04, Ph.D. '09) presented a eulogy and a manifesto that stakes out the life-sustaining and worldmaking powers of minoritarian performance. Choral Marx: Manifesto For the Communist Party in Eight Movements Presented at the #Marx Festival at NYU Skirball, Choral Marx is a singing adaptation of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Manifesto for the Communist Party composed by Ethan Philbrick (M.A. '12, Ph.D. '18). It is a piece for mixed chorus—mixed not just in terms of gendered voice parts but also in terms of training and ability—made up of vocalists from both the contemporary music scene and socialist organizing communities, accompanied by the composer on cello. The piece was performed in part by Gelsey Bell (M.A. ‘06, Ph.D. ‘15) and Kristen Holfeur (M.A. ’17, Ph.D.) served as Assistant Director.
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STUDENTS HIGHLIGHTS Melissa McDonald (B.A. ‘19) and Manion Kuhn (B.A. ‘19) were selected to serve as undergraduate student representatives for the Performance Studies undergraduate major cohort. Manion Kuhn was also selected to serve on the IPA Student Committee. Masha Koblyakova (B.A. ‘20) and Megan Man (B.A. ‘21) are currently serving as Department of Performance Studies Arts Reps. A special thanks to Masha for her dedication and service to the department over the past four years! Gwen Rakotavao (M.A. ‘19), Isa Saldaña (M.A. ‘19), and Troizel Carr (Ph.D.) were selected to serve as graduate student representatives for the M.A. and Ph.D. Performance Studies cohorts. Performance Studies B.A. candidates Robbie Keyes (‘21), Megan Man (‘21), Melissa McDonald (‘19), Akeem Muhammad (‘20), and Isabella Rivera (‘21), published work in MORF!, a collaborative zine project produced as part of their “Performative Writing” course led by Professor Malik Gaines. Micaela Cummings Brinsley (B.A. ‘20) directed a staged reading of "To Be With You" as part of The Broke People Play Festival. Jackson Hirsh (B.A. ‘19) released his latest single, “space for you” on October 26, 2018. The release came out in Spotify’s global New Music Friday playlist. Jackson has been building his team, negotiating publishing/record deals, and planning his first touring run for 2019. His last release, Baby Blue, has reached over 1.3 million streams on Spotify alone! Kristen Holfeuer (M.A. ‘17, Ph.D.) presented "I'll Find You", a new work co-created with Matthew Keyes, at the Korean International Duo Performance Arts Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Kennedi Chanel Mayes (B.A. ‘20) is the recipient of the NYU Global Pathways Scholarship and The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students to study or intern abroad, aiming to encourage students to study and intern in a diverse array of countries and world regions. Kennedi will study at NYU Paris, investigating what it meant and means to be Black and a creative outside of the United States while exploring the spaces where this insurgence of art flourished. Kennedi will use the opportunity to network with other creatives in the city who share similar fascinations. As a Black female visionary, Kennedi feels obligated to tell her truth, reality, and share her experiences through music and art.
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Lisa Mordkovich (B.A. ‘20) and Noah Witke Mele (B.A. ‘22) served as assistant producer and scenic operator respectively for Tisch New Theatre's production of "Next to Normal." NEXT TO NORMAL is entirely produced, directed, designed, and performed by over 80 NYU students spanning across multiple schools, and the Tisch New Theatre has established itself as NYU’s premier student theatre organization. Akeem Muhammad (B.A. ‘20) presented research from his capstone project at the "Action:Arrest" conference at King’s College London and the "Queens International 2018: Volumes" event at the Queens Museum. He also lead a roundtable discussion with "The Citizens Journal." The roundtables are inter-community dialogues contributing to a better understanding of the relationship between storytelling, representation, and surveillance in the today's artistic and political climate. Aliza Shvarts (M.A. ‘10, Ph.D. ‘20) was interviewed by Artforum where she talks about her recent exhibition at Artspace in New Haven, Connecticut. David Sierra (M.A. ‘19) is an artist, scholar, and writer engaging performance, contemporary art, and critical theory by way of transgender studies and medical humanities. They're currently working as production assistant for Knot in My Name (it’s hard to transition when your escaping something)—created and performed by Ita Segev and directed by Tristan Powell—which is an evening length performance-in-progress considering anti-Zionist politics, transfeminine identity, and, in Ita's words, "facing the gap between the narratives we were told were truth and actual reality."
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ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS Masi Asare (M.A. ‘07, Ph.D. ‘18) began an Assistant Professor position at Northwestern University's School of Communication in Fall 2018. Johanna Burton (Ph.D. ‘02) was appointed director of the Wexner Center for the Arts. Joshua Chambers-Letson's (Ph.D. ‘09) latest book After the Party: A Manifesto for Queer of Color Life was published by the NYU Press. Jeongyn Lee (M.A. ‘17) performed Lost and Found Underground at the Downtown Community Television Center. Lost and Found Underground unveils stories of lost and found items and stories that are lost during the millions of daily rides in New York City. Erin B. Mee (M.A. ‘97 and Ph.D. ‘04) remounted Café Play, her site-specific play at the historic Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village. The show had a successful run in 2017, and returned for six weeks, from September 16 to October 28, 2018. Ethan Philbrick (M.A. ‘12, Ph.D. ‘18) began a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Muhlenberg College in Fall 2018. Camila Arroyo Romero (M.A. ‘17) performed in Xavier Le Roy's "Retrospective" at Museo Jumex in Mexico City. Retrospective is an exhibition that inquiries into how we use, consume or produce time. The work is conceived as a choreography of actions to be carried out by six performers in the gallery space, effectively unfolding in three time-axes: the duration of each visitor’s experience, the daily labor of the performers, and the emergence of a new composition. Rather than aiming to show the development of an artist’s work over a period of time, the exhibition employs the notion of retrospective as a mode of production. It seeks to recast and transform material from Le Roy’s solo choreographies, created between 1994 and 2014, into live actions, where the apparatuses of theatre performance and museum exhibitions intersect. Shane Vogel (Ph.D. ‘04) launched his new book "Stolen Time: Black Fad Performance and The Calypso Craze," published by the University of Chicago Press.
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FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS Professor Barbara Browning was the recipient of the Lambda Literary Award in the Bisexual Fiction category for her novel "The Gift". She was also promoted to full Professor in Fall 2018! Professor Ann Pellegrini presented an invited paper “Pink Freud 2.0: what queer theory can unteach us about sex, gender, and subjectivity” at the Western New England Psychoanalytic Society, in New Haven, CT in October. She was also the featured speaker at the inaugural event of Orlando LGBT+, an organization devoted to Mental Health Without Stigma, a 2-day symposium in Athens, Greece in November, presenting the lecture “This is not about hate: Religion, AntiLGBTQ Violence, and the Limits of Tolerance.” Department Chair André Lepecki gave a talk at e-flux as part of the launch for the New York launch of the recent publication Is the Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive?: The New Performance Turn, Its Histories and Its Institutions, edited by Cosmin Costinaș and Ana Janevski and copublished by Para Site and Sternberg Press (2017). Dedicated to the renewed encounter between dance and performance and the institutions of global contemporary art, Is the Living Body the Last Thing Left Alive? proposes that a “new performance turn” has emerged in the second decade of the century, and looks at its correlations with other shifts in practices, discourses, and broader society. Congratulations to Associate Professor Malik Gaines, who was awarded tenure in Fall 2018! Professor Gaines was also appointed Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Performance Studies.
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Congratulations to Professor Deborah Kapchan, who was promoted to full Professor in Fall 2018! Department Chair André Lepecki published his latest book Idiorítmia, o en i’esdeveniment d’una trobada or Idiorhythm: or in the event of the encounter with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcenlona (MACBA). Associate Professor Malik Gaines received the Andy Warhol Foundation Awards Grant for Arts Writing for his book Future Ruins: The Art of Abstractive Democracy. The grant will support critical writing about contemporary art.
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Institute of Performing Arts
IPA EVENTS
Artist in Residence: Eric Wainaina On October 17th, Tisch Institute of Performing Arts was joined by Artist in Residence and Kenyan Pop-Star Eric Wainaina for a rousing evening of music and dance. He was joined by his band mates Marvin Maveke, Teddy Mwangi Waruhiu, Benjamin Kabaseke Masinde. Victor Kimetto, Kendi Beverly Nkonge and Tinga Tinga Tales cast members Ezra Tetu Shani, Alvan Gatitu, Eddy Kimani, Miriam Nyokabi Macharia, Ruth Karimi Rimbui, Carol Lynn Atemi Oyungu, Chris Robert Oyoo Adwar, Ray Kibet and Elsaphan Njora. Eric established a relationship with the Tisch's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program last year and came to NYU Tisch in October as IPA's Artist in Residence to teach and perform some of his music for Tisch students. Additionally, IPA hosted a workshop of Wainaina’s musical “The Legend of DJ Wanda”. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, he stepped into the limelight as part of FIVE ALIVE, a male acapella band. His first album, SAWA SAWA, was released in 2001 and remains one of the highest selling solo albums in Kenya. His new musical, TINGA TINGA TALES, a BritishKenyan children's TV series has been adapted into a musical that is being presented at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway this month.
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His notable releases include 'Kenya Only', a song that instantly made him Kenya's favourite modern musician. After the 1998 terrorist bombing in Nairobi where over 200 Kenyans lost their lives, 'Kenya Only' was adopted as the unofficial song of mourning, receiving extensive radio and TV airplay nationwide. Wainaina returned to the top of Kenya's musical agenda after he released 'Nchi ya Kitu Kidogo' (‘Country of Bribes’) in 2001, a song that launched his crusade against rampant corruption in the country. With the chart success of 'Nchi ya Kitu Kidogo', Wainaina received international accolades. Transparency International (Kenya) supported him as an artist who would help educate people on the negativity of corruption, appointing him an ambassador. He was also appointed Ambassador for the NGO MS Kenya, Kenya Human Rights Commission and by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights for his commitment to fighting the abuses to justice through music.
Ezra Tetu Shani
Elsaphan Njora
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Eric Wainaina
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Guest Artist Jenny Tiramani - “Patterns of Fashion 5” A Book Signing and Panel Discussion On November 30 th and December 2 nd Tisch Drama, with support from Tisch Institute of Performing Arts and Design for Stage & Film, celebrated the American launch of the School of Historical Dress’ new volume in the Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion series: “Patterns of Fashion 5: The Cut and Construction of Bodies, Stays, Hoops and Rumps c.1595 –1795.” Award-winning costume and production designer Jenny Tiramani introduced the book and showed examples of clothing recreated from patterns that were modeled and followed by a panel discussion on the importance of historical patterning and the costume design process. The panel included award-winning Broadway costume designer Gregg Barnes, Tony Award-winning costume-maker, owner of Parsons-Meares Sally Ann Parsons, director of the MA Program in Costume Studies at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development Nancy Deihl and was moderated by costume designer and Tisch Drama adjunct faculty member Hilary Rosenfeld. Jenny Tiramani is an award-winning costume and production designer who received the Tony for her costumes in the Mark Rylance production of Twelfth Night on Broadway. Additionally, Ms. Tiramani ran the costume shop at the Globe Theatre in London where she also designed scenery and costumes for several of their productions. She is responsible for the creation of the School of Historical Dress in London, which offers classes on the topics of historical patterning and historical sewing practices.
Jenny Tiramani - B|HAGGERTY PHOTOGRAPHY
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Jenny Tiramani, Bernadette Banner (Tisch Drama'18), and Hilary Rosenfeld - B|HAGGERTY PHOTOGRAPHY
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Hilary Rosenfeld, Jenny Tiramani, and Bernadette Banner (Tisch Drama'18) - B|HAGGERTY PHOTOGRAPHY
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An Afternoon of Words and Music by the Faculty & Staff of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program On November 18th, the faculty and staff of Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing presented songs in the Black Box Theatre on the 2nd Floor of 715 Broadway. The songs ran the gamut in genre from hip-hop to opera to a song written in entirely in Latin. “Catch the Wind� from Catch the Wind by Danny Haengil Larsen and Michelle Elliott
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“We Can Make the Old Way New” from Clockwork by Fred Carl and Ed DuRanté
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“Nihil Sine Magno Labore Vita Mortalibus Dat.” by Joel Derfner and Nancy Llewellyn/Lucius Annaeus Seneca
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Community Forum: Come Together featuring Mariana Valencia A recent a Bessie Award winner for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer (2018), Mariana Valencia led a Tisch Dance Community Forum, Come Together on December 7, 2018 from 5:00pm - 6:30pm. Mariana’s work encompasses ethnography, memoir, and observations surrounding cultural and racial identities. A dance artist based in Brooklyn, New York, Mariana Valencia's work has been presented at Danspace Project, Roulette, the Center for Performance Research, The New Museum, The Women and Performance Journal, Ugly Duckling Presse and AUNTS as well as internationally in Serbia and Macedonia. As a performer, Valencia has worked with Lydia Okrent, Jules Gimbrone, Elizabeth Orr, Kate Brandt, AK Burns, Em Rooney, robbinschilds, Kim Brandt, Fia Backstrom and MPA. Valencia is a Bessie Award recipient for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award to Artists grant recipient (2018), a Jerome Travel and Study Grant fellow (2014-15), a Yellow House Fund of the Tides Foundation grant recipient (2010-13) and a Movement Research GPS/Global Practice Sharing artist (2016/17). She has held residencies at Chez Bushwick (2013), New York Live Arts Studio Series (2013-14), ISSUE Project Room (2015) and Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2016-18). Nationally, she’s held residencies at Show Box LA and Pieter Pasd in Los Angeles (2014); and at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Oregon (2018). Valencia is a founding member of the No Total reading group and she has been the coeditor of Movement Research’s Critical Correspondence (2016-17). As a teaching artist, Valencia has developed performance composition workshops that look at spatial improvisation and authorship through CLASSCLASSCLASS (2010-11) and the Movement Research Summer MELT program (2017). Valencia holds a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA (2006) with a concentration in dance and ethnography.
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Interactive Halloween Event On October 27th, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, with support from the Graduate Student Organization and the Institute of Performing Arts and in collaboration with Tisch Design for Stage and Film, hosted an immersive, interactive Halloween event for the Tisch community.
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Interactive Halloween Event
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Tisch Institute of Performing Arts "Students of Color Mentorship Program"
The Tisch IPA Students of Color Mentorship Program continued to meet monthly. The Fall Semester meetings included a conversation around “What I Wish my Professors/Peers Knew” led by Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives Sheril Antonio, as well as a trip to the Brooklyn Museum to see special exhibitions “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” and “Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection”. The Program is committed to providing a welcoming, forward-focused environment for mentorship, fellowship and the sharing of experiences among faculty of color, staff of color, and students of color from all departments based on a common rising passion around the intersection of race, heritage and culture within the performing arts. Each monthly event is held on a different day of the week to accommodate varying class schedules, and is planned and led by an individual faculty mentor or group of faculty mentors with an eye towards reflecting the diversity of the Tisch IPA faculty and student body. The success of any mentorship program hinges on the quality of its participants, and though the students and faculty who have attended this year have been an extraordinary group, new members are very much encouraged to join. Any students of color, faculty of color or staff of color interested in participating should feel free to contact Hali Alspach at tisch.ipa@nyu.edu.
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IPA Ticket Initiative
In its fifth successful year, the IPA Ticket Initiative has continued to send classes within the IPA to shows all over Manhattan, Brooklyn and a few outside New York! This semester alone the IPA funded the attendance of What the Constitution Means to Me, Justin Vivian Bond at Joe’s Pub, The Band’s Visit, Conduct of Life, Uncle Romeo and Vanya Juliet, Rashaun Mitchell at The Joyce, Bernhardt Hamet, Measure for Measure at BAM, Tinga Tinga Tales, The Prisoner, Call to Action! Grabbing Pussy/Parts Known, Carmen, Good Grief, Gloria, A Life, Halfway to Dawn, Alvin Ailey, King Hedley II at Two River Theatre and WTF: A Political Cabaret. Additionally, trips to The Brooklyn Museum and the New Museum were funded. Continuing IPA’s collaboration with Skirball, IPA funded the attendance of Mt. Olympus, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and Activist Mornings: feat. M.I.A, Rotana, Jennifer Mendelsohn and Suhaiymah. Tony Award-winner Ari Stachel. Hilary Rosenfeld, and Tisch Students after seeing The Band’s Visit. The class was joined the next day by Sarah Lux, the costume designer for The Band’s Visit.
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The IPA Ticket Request Initiative funded students in my course "Representing the Real" to attend” What the Constitution Means to Me” by Heidi Schreck which links the US legal system to individual (female) reality in ways that dramatize how the law shapes our daily lives. We saw the production at New York Theatre Workshop during the week of the Dr. Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh's hearings. The students were so taken with the performance and its contemporary contexts that I immediately added Unquestioned Integrity about the Anita Hill hearings to the syllabus. In class, we looked at YouTube clips of Kavanaugh, Dr. Blasey Ford, and Anita Hill’s testimony. We also looked at Matt Damon’s parody of Kavanaugh on SNL. We discussed the structures and conventions of representation relating performance, plays on the page, and parody to one another and to events they depict. This enabled students to bring their developing analytical skills to the world beyond the classroom of ideas. - Carol Martin, Professor of Drama
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Dean Allyson Green Associate Dean of the Institute of Performing Arts Sarah Schlesinger
Program Coordinator, Institute of Performing Arts Danny Larsen Program Coordinator, Institute of Performing Arts Hali Alspach
Institute of Performing Arts Tisch School of the Arts 715 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 Second Floor, Room 267 212-998-1654
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