Monthly Archives: November 2010

George Lakey Named “Peace Educator of the Year”

Visiting Professor and Research Fellow George Lakey was honored on October 2 by the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) in its conference in Winnipeg, Canada.

The PJSA is the professional association of scholars and teachers in the U.S. and Canada, and is part of the International Peace Research Association. Its annual conference is held on university campuses in North America and this time was at the University of Winnipeg and Canadian Mennonite University.

George Lakey is in his fifth year at Swarthmore, the first three of which he served as Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues in Social Change. His Peace and Conflict Studies courses at Swarthmore have included “Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism” and “Research Seminar in Nonviolent Struggle and Strategy.” In the latter course students create case studies which will be mounted on an internet website in the Global Nonviolent Action Database Project. The project, initiated by Lakey, aims to include all countries in the thousands of cases of “people power” aiming for human rights, peace, environmental sustainability, democracy, and economic justice. The web-based database will, in addition to a standardized database format, include 2-3 page narratives for each case.

The PJSA gave its “Peace Educator of the Year” award “for excellence in scholarship and dedication to peace education.” In addition to a teaching career that has included Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania, Lakey has led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents. He is author of eight books and many articles both scholarly and popular. In his activist role he has led campaigns for social change on neighborhood, city-wide, state, national, and international levels, and was a founder of the Movement for a New Society and the Jobs with Peace Campaign. Lakey’s first arrest was for a civil rights sit-in in Chester, PA, and his first book was for the civil rights movement, A Manual for Direct Action, co-authored with fellow sociologist Martin Oppenheimer. At Swarthmore Lakey is based at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and the Peace and Conflict Studies program of the College.

JOIN the Dance Program in Spring 2011!

We have several exciting dance classes coming up in the Spring. Please check out our course schedule available on our website. Many of our repertory classes offer opportunities for performance in the Student Dance Concert in April. More information is available on the LPAC Lobby Monitor or in the Dance Office located in the basement of the LPAC (004) or you can contact Susan Grossi, the Administrative Assistant for the Dance Program for more information at sgrossi1@swarthmore.edu or X2019. Come dance with us!

JOIN the Dance Program in Spring 2011!

Lecture/Demo 11/17/10 with idiosynCrazy

Discovering the Dimensions of Flatness

The world is huge and, in a given moment, only a fraction of it is available to each of us. We organize our fractions into systems and patterns that we can process, that make sense to us. We make decisions about what is essential, and we allow ourselves to focus on those things. And sometimes, we have to limit our focus even more, to just the essential of the essential: a fraction of a fraction – reality flattened into a more manageable size. What does this “essential” look like when it is all we know?

FLATLAND 2010 is dance/theater company idiosynCrazy productions’ latest production. FLATLAND explores the difficulty of human communication in a world where the sound byte supersedes substance, the instant message overpowers the intimate one. This lecture/demonstration will allow the audience into the creation process of FLATLAND, exposing the process of movement invention and how that is linked to theatrical expression. FLATLAND is directed by Jumatatu Poe (Swarthmore professor and alum), with lighting design by Catherine Lee, and performances by Kristel Baldoz, Justin Bryant, Danielle Currica, Christine Gerena, Gregory Holt (Swarthmore alum), Maya Johnson, Shannon Murphy, Shavon Norris, Gabrielle Revlock, William Robinson, and Michele Tantoco. Movement designed by Poe and the performers.
Come get a sneak peek of this work and this creative process before the work has its official premiere at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia on January 15, 2011.
Lecture/Demo Wednesday November 17 at 4:30PM in the LPAC Troy Dance Studio. Please join us!

Lecture/Demo 11/17/10 with idiosynCrazy

Discovering the Dimensions of Flatness

Senior Company presents METAMORPHOSES by Mary Zimmerman

The Department of Theater at Swarthmore College will present Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Frear Ensemble Theatre on Friday, December 3rd at 4:30pm and 9:00pm and Saturday, December 4th at 3:00pm and 8:00pm. The Senior Company includes Eva Amessé ‘11, Nell Bang-Jensen ‘11, Emily Letts ‘11, Joshua Lipman ‘11, Isa St. Clair ‘11, and Brian Willis ‘11, with guest performers Ben Hattem ‘12, Thomas Powers ‘13 and Brian Ratcliffe ’11. The production also includes set design by Professor Laila Swanson, lighting design by Jessie Bear ’09, sound design by Louis Jargow ’10, costume consultation by Tara Webb ’94 and props design by Vianca Masucci ’13 and Logan Tiberi-Warner ‘11. The event will be free and open to the public without reservations.

Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses is a non-naturalistic play that uses mythic elements to tell stories about human transformation. The play is based on the myths of Ovid as translated by David Slavitt, along with several other fables as interpreted by the playwright, and includes words from a poem by Rainer Marie Rilke. After initially premiering in 1996 at Northwestern University, it was picked up in 1998 by the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago and then premiered off-Broadway in October 2001 at the Second Stage Theater in New York. Metamorphoses opened on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theater in 2002, was nominated for Best Play and won a Tony Award for Best Direction.

The play builds a foundation of striking images that examines human behavior and emotions from different viewpoints. Senior Company has staged the production as a series of fantastical, Greek vignettes in an abstract and thought-provoking environment. Senior Company’s collective design and collaborative process focuses this production on the storytelling, explores the relationships of the multitude of characters present in its world, and showcases the central idea of the play. The characters are not the actors themselves, but various storytelling personas that the actors manifest using props, physicality, and costumes. The goal is to offer tales to ponder and wonder about, not to make the audience choose sides between story and storyteller. As Mary Zimmerman states, “the Greek gods, I believe, are twelve different names for feelings inside ourselves….”

For further information about these events, contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu

Coming soon the FALL 2010 Student Dance Concert!

The Department of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College will present the Fall 2010 Student Dance Concert on Friday, December 3^rd, 2010 at 8PM and Saturday, December 4^th, 2010 at 8PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Pearson-Hall Theater. The event will be free and open to the public without reservations.

The Dance Program of the Dept. of Music and Dance sends a warm invitation for the Fall Student Dance Concert. This term’s concert will feature dances and music in a variety of styles and from various cultural traditions. West African, Brazilian, Ballet, Tap, and Taiko pieces will all be included. Guest choreographer Meredith Rainey (former principal dance with Pennsylvania Ballet and current artistic director for his own company, Carbon Dance Theatre) has choreographed a new work for participants in the ballet repertory class. Senior Amelia Kidd will present two sections of a contemporary ballet that is part of her honors dance minor course work among many other exciting performances in the show. Families with children are especially welcome to attend.

For further information about these events, you may also contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu.

Coming soon the FALL 2010 Student Dance Concert!

For further information about these events, you may also contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu.

War News Radio Gets New Mentor

See this piece about Jim MacMillan and War News Radio in the latest issue of Swarthmore College Bulletin.

Jim MacMillan, journalist in residence

By Jeffrey Lott

Contrary to popular opinion—or at least the opinion of a lot of other journalists—Jim MacMillan says it’s a “great time to be a journalist.” The new journalist in residence at War News Radio. (WNR) sees great promise in new and emerging media and is eager to share his perspective with the Swarthmore students who produce weekly radio programs that aim to fill the gaps in the media’s coverage of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read More …

AUDITION FOR PRODUCTION ENSEMBLE (Thea 022) SPRING 2011!!!

AUDITIONS FOR PRODUCTION ENSEMBLE (THEA 022; Spring 2011):

SATURDAY, NOV. 20

ROOM 115 KOHLBERG

Script: George Bernard Shaw’s FARFETCHED FABLES (1950)

Concept: This adaptation of FARFETCHED FABLES is the rehearsal of several censored television broadcasts that were produced back in the days when television was almost always live. Created in the era spanning I LOVE LUCY and Joseph McCarthy, this production of FABLES will draw on these and other sources to create a framework around George Bernard Shaw’s off-kilter text. Acting for both the camera and stage space will be emphasized, and characters comprising the television production crew in the 50’s (not in the original script) will be developed by the acting team through improvisation.

Director/Professor: Lars Jan ‘00

SCHEDULE
12:30-3:00 pm: Individual auditions

(sign up sheet outside Theater Department Office, 13 LPAC)

3:00-4:00 pm: Break

4:00-6:00 pm: Group Callback Session

(will be done in 1-2 groups for at least an hour each)

Everyone auditioning should come prepared to perform two monologues totaling no more than 4 minutes in length.

Audition material can include non-text-based movement, physical theater pieces, and/or text from any genre.

ADDITIONAL CALLBACKS ON SUNDAY ONLY IF NEEDED

CAST LIST WILL BE POSTED ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, OUTSIDE 13 LPAC

THOSE ON THE LIST SHOULD PRE-ENROLL FOR THEA 022, 042, or 062

Auditions are open to all students that have taken Acting I (THEA 002A)

THEA 022 fulfills a requirement for all Theater majors and minors

Students that have previously done Production Ensemble may audition and be cast again for academic credit, registering for THEA 042 or THEA 06.

Copies of the script for the production will be made available through the Theater Department Office (15 LPAC) starting Monday, Nov. 15

REHEARSAL SCHEDULE:

Production Ensemble rehearses weekly on the following schedule:

Thursdays: 4:10-6:40 pm & 7:30-10:30 pm

Fridays: 1:00-5:00 pm

Sundays: 12 noon-6:00 pm

This schedule will be expanded for tech/dress rehearsals and performances March 20-27, 2011. Performances will take place the weekend of March 25-27.

Other than for a post-mortem meeting for the students and faculty involved, the work for the production will be finished by March 27.

The production team includes Laila Swanson as set and costume designer, Jim Murphy as lighting designer, Lars Jan as digital media designer, and Louis Jargow ’10 as sound designer.

Questions: contact Allen Kuharski (akuhars1@swarthmore.edu)