2020/2021 Recap
THEATRE ARTS 2020/21 RECAP
Theatre Arts resiliency, excellence, innovation, and creativity sparkled during pandemic, both on our stages and in our classrooms.
See our highlights here:
NEW THEATRE ARTS HEADS
Dorothee Ostmeier: In the Fall of 2020, we welcomed Dorothee as our Theatre Arts Department Head. Dorothee Ostmeier is a Professor of German, and Folklore and Public Culture. She also serves as Affiliated Faculty of Comparative Literature, Women and Gender Studies, and the Center for the Studies of Women in Society (CSWS). Dorothee will be on sabbatical for the 2021/22 Academic Year.
Interim Head, Janet Rose: Theatre Arts Senior Instructor, Janet Rose will be the interim Theatre Art Heads for the 2021/22 Academic Year. Janet teaches: Lighting for the Stage, Stage Management, Theatre Production I, VectorWorks. Janet also oversees lighting design, stage management, and various other production aspects for University Theatre.
NEW INCOMING FACULTY
In Fall 2022, we’ll be welcoming Alex Meadows as our Costume Shop Manager!
AWARDS
Faculty Awards
Theresa May– Thomas F. Herman Faculty Achievement Award!
“It is my great honor and joy to cordially congratulate Theresa for being awarded the Thomas F. Herman Faculty Achievement Award. President Schill and Provost Patrick wrote in their letter to Theresa “it is a pleasure to recognize and reward your long-standing excellence in teaching and significant contributions to student learning.” The Provost’s website says: “The Thomas F. Herman Faculty Achievement Award was established in 1994 to recognize senior faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in teaching. The Thomas F. Herman Award for Excellence in Pedagogy was initiated in 2014 to recognize senior faculty members with expertise in a particular area of teaching. In 2017, a third Herman Award category, the Thomas F. Herman Award for Outstanding Online Education, was established to recognize faculty members at any stage of their career who have demonstrated innovation and creativity in implementing online and hybrid class formats.”
–Dorothee Ostmeier, Theatre Arts Department Head
*A quick congratulations to Theresa for her recent promotion to Full Professor!*
Michael Najjar- Faculty Research Mentor Award from the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE).
This is a relatively new campus-level award that CURE is hosting for just the fourth year. CURE had a robust pool of truly exceptional faculty nominated by their colleagues and current and former students. We are able to offer four awards, including one in collaboration with the Robert D. Clark Honors College honoring a faculty connected mentoring undergraduate researchers in the Clark Honors College.
The nomination letters from Michael’s former students reflect on his indefatigable dedication to helping them realize their visions for culminating academic and creative works as undergraduates. They speak to Michael’s empowering mentorship throughout the playwriting and performance processes—textual adaptation; literature reviews and background research; course recommendations, subject interviews; plot, scene, character, and dialogue development; stage directions; live readings; project proposals.
One recommender shared:
Professor Najjar encourages all his students to respect cultural differences, appreciate diversity and research historical records to find facts beyond fictions. He takes time to write detailed notes and provide feedback, framing questions that encourage students to look at their written words objectively. His guidance is never invasive and does not make the student feel at any time he is trying to rewrite the work. Most importantly, he encouraged me to find my own strong feminist voice as a playwright and successfully apply for a dramatic writing graduate school program where I will begin my M.F.A. journey this summer.
Administrative Awards
Marie Greig- Officer of Administration- Star recognition award
The award, given by the OA Council, recognizes officers of administration for making positive impacts to the university.
As an award winner, Marie met and exceeded the award criteria: nominees should make contributions that improve the institution and the university community, exhibit a spirit of collegiality and vision, and work well with peers and partners across departments. They should also strive for continuous improvement by building cross-campus relationships and offering creative solutions that improve the university.
Academic Student Awards
2021 Undergraduate Research Symposium- Theater Arts Awards, co-sponsored by the Department of Theater Arts and the Division of Undergraduate Education and Student Success:
Co-Presenters: Julianne Bodner and Amanda Henney won the Stage Design/Craft and Costume Design/Craft award.
Title of their presentation: Stories & Spaces: Updating Classic Plays for Modern Audiences Through Research-Based Ideas in Scenic Design
Watch their presentation HERE
Alisha Davison was selected to receive the Theater Arts Award honorable mention. Alisha presented “The Research Behind Costume Design” at the “Artistic Impressions” live poster session. Watch her presentation HERE. Alisha’s presentation begins around the 15 minute mark.
A special thank you to the Theatre Arts Award judges- Tara Wibrew, Joseph Gilg, and Dorothee Ostmeier.
University Theatre- Student Awards
Theatre Arts Students are given the opportunity to compete and attend the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). 2021 KCACTF was held virtually and the following Theatre Arts students won these awards:
Amanda Henney: Future Promise in Scenic Design – Honorable Mention + Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas 1-week Internship
Maxi Muessig: Scenic Design – Regional Award for Achievement
Gillian Ortega: Future Promise in Scenic Design – Honorable Mention + Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas 1-week Internship
Dara Willmarth: Tech Olympics Jeopardy, first place!
SCHOLARSHIPS
*NEW* Gilg 2021 Playwriting Scholarship
The Gilg Scholarship is a one-time scholarship for 2021. It is available to two students with interest and experience in playwriting.
This scholarship is sponsored by former TA faculty member, Joseph Gilg, who has significantly supported playwrights in our department – especially by establishing New Voices, but also through our students’ participation in KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival).
Undergraduate and Graduate Scholarships (various awards)
Thanks to the generosity of our donors support the faculty was able to award 18 undergraduate and graduate students scholarships for their 2021/22 Academic Studies!
Learn more about our scholarships here: https://theatre.uoregon.edu/scholarships/
Congratulations to the student recipients!
2020/21 FACULTY PUBLISHED WORK
Theresa May
Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theatre
“Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater tells the story of how American theater has shaped popular understandings of the environment throughout the twentieth century as it argues for theater’s potential power in the age of climate change. Using cultural and environmental history, seven chapters interrogate key moments in American theater and American environmentalism over the course of the twentieth century in the United States. It focuses, in particular, on how drama has represented environmental injustice and how inequality has become part of the American environmental landscape. . . .”
As part of the Oregon Humanities Center Books in Print talks —Theresa talked about the arc of the book and read bits from a few chapters, including ch 7 on climate change. Watch the interview on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/WYY-7djWvWY
Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater. Routledge, 2020. https://www.routledge.com/Earth-Matters-on-Stage-Ecology-and-Environment-in-American-Theater/May/p/book/9780367464622
Michael Najjar:
Heather Raffo’s Iraq Plays: The Things That Can’t Be Said
Introduction: “Heather Raffo, Chronicler of the Iraqi-American Experience” by Michael
Malek Najjar, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, University of Oregon https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/heather-raffos-iraq-plays-the-things-that-cant-be-said-9781350145184/
“The Things That Can’t Be Said: Three Plays About Iraq is a trilogy of plays by renowned Iraqi American playwright/performer Heather Raffo including 9 Parts of Desire, Fallujah: The First Opera about the Iraq War, and Noura.
In these three works Raffo explores the indelible effects of war on Iraqis, Americans, and the refugees caught between the two cultures. When considered together, these three works give voice to nearly two decades of rarely examined traumas that have reshaped cultural and national identity for both Americans and Iraqis since the events of 9/11. . . ”
Heather Raffo’s Iraq Plays: The Things That Can’t Be Said. Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2021.
Middle Eastern American Theatre: Communities, Cultures and Artists
Bloomsbury Press
https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/middle-eastern-american-theatre-9781350117051/
“Middle Eastern American Theatre explores the burgeoning Middle Eastern American theatre movement with a focus on Arab American, Jewish American, Armenian American, Iranian American, and Turkish American theatres, playwrights, directors, and actors. By exploring the rich religious and cultural heritage of this diverse group – which includes Arabs, Armenians, Iranians, Jews, and Turks – and religions that include the Baha’i faith, Christianity, Chaldean, Druze, Ishik Alevism, Judaism, Islam, Mandaeism, Samaratin, Shabakism, Yazidi, and Zoroastrianism – the rich and paradoxical nature of the term ‘Middle Eastern’ is interrogated through the dramas written and performed by those in the Diaspora. . .”
Heather Raffo’s Iraq Plays: The Things That Can’t Be Said. Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2021.
Jeanette deJong A Working Costume Designer’s Guide to Color
A Working Costume Designer’s Guide to Color provides readers with the skills and knowledge to create coherent color schemes for costumes.
Drawing on decades of experience in the costume shop, the author guides readers through every step of the process, from finding inspiration for a color scheme and successfully working with the design team to understanding how lighting design can affect costume color choices. Filled with step-by-step illustrations of how to add colors to a set of renderings and color-block samples to illustrate color theory, terminology, and usage of colors, the book covers a wide range of topics, including:
- How to add colors to a set of renderings to clarify characters and character relationships
- How color interacts with surface pattern and fabric textures
- Color theory and terminology
- How to combine colors to make a coherent color scheme using different methods, including using Dominant, Supporting, and Accent colors
- How to flatter actors while staying within an overall color scheme
- Color meanings in different cultures and for different time periods
- How to manage costume changes to preserve or extend a color scheme.
A Working Costume Designer’s Guide to Color. Routledge, 2021.
2021 GRADUATING CLASS
Undergraduate Students
Majors– 21 (11 B.A. Degrees Awarded, 10 B.S. Degrees Awarded)
Minors– 6
Undergraduate Honors– 11 students received Theatre Arts Departmental Honors, 5 students graduated Magna Cum Laude, 1 Cum Laude, 3 were elected into Phi Beta Kappa.
Robert D. Clark Honors College Students-Jessica Jaszewski (Thesis: Four Encounters: an exploration of Los Vendidos) and Jude Stone (Thesis: Racial Influence on Trans-Femme Homicide Convictions)
Graduate Students
M.A. Recipients:
Joshua Evans, Thesis: A Fundamental Disagreement: Ongoing Discussions Concerning the Adaptation of Augusto Boal’s Methods
Mica Pointer, Thesis: Interpreting the Game of History: Synthesis and Shortcomings Between Reenactment, Living History, and Roleplaying
MFA Recipient:
Ashley Baker, Final Project: Personal Game: A Costume-centered Live Event Designed during The Covid-19 Pandemic
PhD Recipients:
Ellen Kress, Dissertation: Two sides of Intelligibility: Practices and Perception of Performed Accents Onstage
Waylon Lenk, Dissertation: Durable Whiteness: Structural Settler Colonialism in California and Southern Oregon Theatre, 1849-1860 and 2018-2019
You can celebrate all our graduates by watching the TA Commencement Ceremony on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GubKew1pFT0
UNIVERSITY THEATRE 2020/21 SEASON
Even during a pandemic, University Theatre found a way to produce art and connect students, faculty, and members of the UO and broader communities through art and storytelling.
Fall 2020 Productions:
UO Theatre Arts Virtual Student Play Readings– To kick off Fall term and welcome students back to campus, we featured three short play readings, written by recent TA Graduates. The reading were student-written, directed, and performed plays; a few UO TA alumni even came back to perform!
Featured plays- ‘Til Death Do Us Part by Gabrielle Socolofsky, Ladies of Repute by Sophie Boskovich, and Cabin boy, or The Last Ballad of Dirk the Dashing by Julian Steinberg
Watch all the play readings here: Student Play Readings
Or Not To Be
Link to full production on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FZDw4uKSLRI
Shakespeare’s Hamlet, freely mistreated by John Schmor, directed by the Spring 2020 Play Direction class, performed by the cast for a production that was not to be until it was, but in a different form . . .
This version was rehearsed via Zoom and individually filmed by the actor (or their sibling, room-mate, friend) via mobile phone during Spring term, 2020. Actors made their own fake blood and were mailed zombie contact lenses, costumes, some props.
Editing progressed through five phases across the summer and right up to our Halloween 2020 release, with many thanks to lead editor, Grant Strange.
New Voices Playwriting Competition
Link to full production on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xRsnZ7KH5zw
Emerging playwrights from the University of Oregon will showcased their one-act plays during a three night YouTube premiere event!. The plays were workshopped in Michael Najjar’s Playwriting class.
Play Titles:
FREIGHT TRAIN By Wolf Morgan-Steiner, Directed by Kirk Boyd
FOR AN INCREASE IN CHARITY By Michael Jonsson, Directed by Craig Willis
STORY OF MORE WOE By Morgan James, Directed by Jen Gerould
WHEN I TELL HIM By Jude Stone, Directed by Morgan James
AUTONOMY By Dara Willmarth, Directed by Gabby Socolofsky
HEREAFTER By Zebe Loun, Directed by Michael Jonsson
A CALL FOR CHANGE By Spencer Fork, Directed by Nathan Shapiro
THE WORST CRITIC By Vidar Alexander, Directed by Joseph Gilg
HONEST INTENTIONS By Anakin Welp, Directed by Jennifer Chaney
Winter 2021 Productions:
Personal Game
Watch Personal Game Here: https://youtu.be/lRHr2VR0r8Q
Director: John Schmor
Costume Design: Ashley Baker
Scenic Design: Jerry Hooker
Lighting Design & Production Manager: Janet Rose
Music: Orchestra Next
A live theatre experience showcasing MFA candidate Ashley Baker’s costume designs, with original music by Orchestra Next. This unusual project will feature performers in costumes which abstractly express different paths people take in adapting themselves for role-playing games.
Check out the images from Personal Game on our Flickr: Personal Game Flickr
Virtual Play Reading: Personal History
By Dominic Taylor
Director: Stanley Coleman
Technical Direction, Sound Design & Video Editing & Animations, Personal History, Virtual Stream: Bradley Branam
Properties Design: Jerry Hooker
Costume Design: Jeanette deJong
Production Manager: Janet Rose
See production images on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmV1hiat
Personal History follows an African-American couple as they navigate three moments in American life, stretched out over a century in the city of Chicago. The highly educated pharmacist Eugene enters the world of the play in 1903, outraged that he is overqualified and underemployed. At an elegant parlor party hosted by his white business associate, Eugene scandalizes the other guests by challenging their comfortable liberalism. He also meets his future bride, Bethany, herself an accomplished business owner. Toying with time, the play has the couple moving into this same home in an exclusive all-white neighborhood in the early 1950s. Race and class are further jumbled as the action shifts to the 1990s — the house is now a chic restaurant where Eugene and Bethany, divorced years earlier, have their final transformative encounter
Spring 2021 Productions:
Two Virtual One-Act Plays: Watermelon Kisses, & Marisol’s Christmas
By José Cruz González
Director: Theresa May
Technical Direction, Video Editing, Sound Designer, & SFX Designer: Bradley Branam
Production Manager: Janet Rose
See production photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWdFdgX
In Watermelon Kisses two brothers tease one another about what happens when you swallow a watermelon seed, but the story is much larger than this as the boys are named for the Mayan and Aztec gods Tlāloc and Quetzal.
In Marisol’s Christmas a family flees over the border from Mexico to the United States on Christmas Eve and takes refuge under the overpass of a freeway bridge. There, Papí uses found objects to tell a story that gives the family hope and joy on this night of nights.
Watermelon Kisses and Marisol’s Christmas earned the following Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) nominations:
Irene Ryan Nominees:
Diego Millan
Analiz Wickham
Irene Ryan Alternate: Fausto Corral
Learn about the Irene Ryan Award
Meritorious Achievement:
Fausto Corral – Cultural Consultant and Language Coach
Bradley Branam – Video Editing and Sound Design
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) (Revised)
by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, Jess Winfield
Director: Liz Fairchild
Technical Director: Bradley Branam
Costume Design: Jeanette deJong
Scenic & Properties Design: Jerry Hooker
Lighting Design & Production Manager: Janet Rose
See Production Photos Here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVTxyMo
All 37 plays in 97 minutes! Six – Eight madcap folx weave their wicked way through all of Shakespeare’s comedies, histories, and tragedies in one wild ride that will leave you breathless and helpless with laughter. An irreverent, fast-paced romp through the Bard’s plays, THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) was London’s longest-running comedy.
UNIVERSITY THEATRE/THEATRE ARTS IN THE NEWS
For a deeper dive into the importance of Theatre Arts, please watch this interview: Michael Najjar and a few Theatre Arts students gave a presentation at the 2021 Student Success summit that illuminates how our department came together to still produce art and maintain human connection during the pandemic.
“Theatre In The time of a Pandemic: New Voices 2020”
https://uoregon.zoom.us/rec/share/aQzlX_u1dopZ0J6uQ0kN6BiJg19EhDOO8pPT_YZu
For another inside perspective on how University Theatre adapted to the pandemic, please read this article by Megan O’Keefe: https://hultcenter.org/university-theatre-survives-during-covid-19-pandemic-dorothee-ostmeier-head-of-uo-theatre-arts-department/
Interview with Stanley Coleman, Director of Personal History: Daily Emerald Interview
Daily Emerald article about Personal Game: UO Theatre reignites with role-play inspired showcase.
Article about Marisol’s Christmas & Watermelon Kisses: Highlighting the Latinx Community
Article: Theatre Arts Seniors Take Their Final Bow
NEW TA OFFICE DOGS
To end this recap with a flurry of fluffy cuteness, we’d love to introduce our newest doggy members of the Theatre Arts Office. These sweet faces are eager to welcome you back in the fall!
Murphy- a feisty little Ewok!
Dexter- a friendly golden retriever!
Beesly- another friendly, yet shy golden retriever!
Of course, your old favorites Sam, Holly, and Baxter will be around to greet you as well!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOMING YOU BACK NEXT YEAR. STAY TUNED FOR OUR 2021/22 UNIVERSITY THEATRE SEASON