Monthly Archives: April 2015

Experiments in Dance (Mon 5/4 @ 5PM)

Please join the Dance Program for Experiments in Dance in the Lang Performing Arts Center. Experiments in Dance is an end-of-semester showing of works (at various stages of completion) that students and faculty have been developing throughout the semester. Works are generated from a variety of technical approaches to dance, and present various questions of how to be in the theatrical space.

Performances will begin outside of the entrance to LPAC (in the alley between Kohlberg and LPAC), and continue in the Troy Studio. The showing will run for approximately 1.5 hours.

May 4, 2015

5PM – LPAC (entrance) and Troy Lab (LPAC 002)

Experiments in Dance (Mon 5/4 @ 5PM)

Performances will begin outside of the entrance to LPAC (in the alley between Kohlberg and LPAC), and continue in the Troy Studio. The showing will run for approximately 1.5 hours.

May 4, 2015

5PM – LPAC (entrance) and Troy Lab (LPAC 002)

THE ROYAL SINGER: A New Children’s Opera (5/3 @ 7PM in Lang Concert Hall)

The Swarthmore College Sesquicentennial Committee is proud to present
The Royal Singer: A New Children’s Opera

Join our dancers and musicians for a production of The Royal Singer, a new opera for children, made possible by Maurice Eldridge and the Sesquicentennial committee. With score by Professor Thomas Whitman, libretto by Professor Nathalie Anderson, and direction by Professor K. Elizabeth Stevens, this original opera transports the audience to a magical kingdom in search of a new Royal Singer. As animals and dolls gear up for a musical competition, they learn that the best harmonies come from working (and playing) together. Bring the family and witness the world-premiere of this very special new opera. This production is the result of a collaborative effort by five different academic departments at Swarthmore College and features performances by Swarthmore students and by children from Stetser Elementary School in Chester.

Sunday, May 3, 2015
7:00 PM
Swarthmore College
Lang Music Building
Lang Concert Hall

Free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required.
For more information contact Andrew Hauze at
610-690-3489 or ahauze1@swarthmore.edu

THE ROYAL SINGER: A New Children’s Opera (5/3 @ 7PM in Lang Concert Hall)

The Swarthmore College Sesquicentennial Committee is proud to present
The Royal Singer: A New Children’s Opera

Sunday, May 3, 2015
7:00 PM
Swarthmore College
Lang Music Building
Lang Concert Hall

Free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required.
For more information contact Andrew Hauze at
610-690-3489 or ahauze1@swarthmore.edu

Spring 2015 Dance Concert (5/1 + 5/2 @ 8PM)

It’s that time again! Please join the Dance Program for a celebration of dance featuring African, Ballet, Modern, Kathak, Tap and more! This show is appropriate for all ages. We will be celebrating our graduating seniors and new faculty and all the hard work of the dance performance technique classes. We look forward to seeing you there!

Spring 2015 Dance Concert (5/1 + 5/2 @ 8PM)

OUT OF NARRATIVE: New collaborative works from Directing II

The Department of Theater presents

OUT OF NARRATIVE

New Works By The Advanced Directing Workshop (THEA 055) in Collaboration with Students in Lighting Design, Integrated Media Design, and Costume Design

MOST LIKELY TO

Directed by Michaela Shuchman ‘16

HADES LADIES

Directed by Michelle Johnson ‘16

A PERPETUAL PROTEST

Directed by Aaron Matis ‘16

THE ONES THAT SLIPPED SILENTLY

Directed by Anita Castillo-Halvorssen ‘15

HAND-IN-HAND WITH FAIRIE

Direction and Costume Design by Dyan Rizzo-Busack ‘15

8 pm Saturday, May 2 & 8 pm Monday, May 4

Frear Ensemble Theater, LPAC

Free and open to the public without advance reservation

For Fall 2015! Research Seminar: Strategy and Nonviolent Struggle

PEAC 071B. Research Seminar: Strategy and Nonviolent Struggle (Cross-listed as POLS 081 / SOCI 071B) will be offered during the Spring Semester 2015.

This one-credit research seminar involves working and updating the Global Nonviolent Action Database which can be accessed by activists and scholars worldwide at http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu. The database was built at Swarthmore College and includes cases of “people power” drawn from dozens of countries. The database contains crucial information on campaigns for human rights, democracy, environmental sustainability, economic justice, national/ethnic identity, and peace.

Students will be expected to research a series of cases and write them up in two ways: within a template of fields (the database proper) and also as a 2-3 page narrative that describes the unfolding struggle. In addition to research/writing methods, students will also draw on theories in the field. Strategic implications for today will be drawn from theory and from what the group learns from the documented cases of wins and losses experienced by people’s struggles.

This writing (W) course has a limited enrollment of 12 students.

You can learn more by visiting a collection of posts about the database in the Peace and Conflict Studies blog.

In this video, Professor Lakey introduced the launch of the database in 2011.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRfjprMiySI

Fall 2015 Line-up of Peace & Conflict Studies Courses

In addition to all of the excellent courses offered across campus that may be counted toward a minor in Peace and Conflicts Studies, our own program curriculum is expanding next year!

PEAC 015. Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies

In Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies, we learn that peace and conflict are not mutually exclusive. To paraphrase Conrad Brunk, the goal of peace and conflict studies is to better understand conflict in order to find nonviolent ways of turning unjust relationships into more just ones. We examine both the prevalence of coercive and non-peaceful means of conducting conflict as well as the development of nonviolent alternatives, locally and globally, through institutions and at the grassroots. The latter include nonviolent collective action, mediation, peacekeeping, and conflict transformation work. Several theoretical and philosophical lenses will be used to explore cultural and psychological dispositions, conflict in human relations, and conceptualizations of peace. The course will take an interdisciplinary approach with significant contributions from the social sciences. U.S.-based social justice movements, such as the struggle for racial equality, and global movements, such as nonviolent activism in Israel/Palestine, and the struggle for climate justice around the world, will serve as case studies.

1 credit. Tues/Thurs. 1:15-2:30 pm

Instructor: Sa’ed Atshan

PEAC 039. Social Entrepreneurship for Social Change (NEW COURSE!)

By integrating innovative approaches with revenue-generating practices, social entrepreneurs and their ventures open compelling and impactful avenues to social change. In this course, students will learn about the pioneering individuals and novel ways that social entrepreneurship responds to social needs that are not adequately served by the market or by the state through in-depth case analysis of social change work (locally, nationally, and globally).

1 credit. Mondays 1:15-4:00 pm

Instructor: Denise Crossan, Lang Professor for Social Change

PEAC 053. Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (NEW COURSE!)

This course will examine the historical underpinnings of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how they have shaped the contemporary context in Israel/Palestine. We will approach this from a demography and population-studies framework in order to understand the trajectories and heterogeneity of Israeli and Palestinian societies and politics. For instance, how has the relationship between race and period of migration to Israel impacted Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Israeli sub-populations differently? What explains divergent voting patterns between Palestinian Christians and Muslims over time? How can we measure inequality between Israeli settlers and Palestinian natives in the West Bank in the present? The course will also synthesize competing theoretical paradigms that account for the enduring nature of this conflict. This includes—but is not limited to—the scholarly contributions of realist political scientists, US foreign policy experts, social movements theorists, security sector reformers, human rights advocates, international law experts, and negotiations and conflict resolution practitioners.

Eligible POLS and ISLM credit.

1 credit. Tues./Thurs. 2:40-3:55 pm

Instructor: Sa’ed Atshan

PEAC 071B. Research Seminar: Strategy and Nonviolent Struggle

(Cross-listed as POLS 081 and SOCI 071B)

This research seminar involves working with The Global Nonviolent Action Database built at Swarthmore College. This website is accessed by activists and scholars worldwide. The database contains crucial information on campaigns for human rights, democracy, environmental sustainability, economic justice, national/ethnic identity, and peace. Students will investigate a series of research cases and write them up in two ways: within a template of fields (the database proper) and also as a narrative describing the unfolding struggle. Strategic implications will be drawn from theory and from what the group is learning from the documented cases of wins and losses experienced by people’s struggles.

1 credit. Mondays 1:15-4:00 pm

Instructor: Lee Smithey

Honors Directing Thesis MERCURY FUR (4/24 – 4/25) up next in the Frear

The government has riddled the poor areas of the city with addictive hallucinogenic butterflies, once-habitable neighborhoods have descended into anarchy, and those remaining have bought their survival by creating a black market of goods and services catering to the dark sides of the privileged. MERCURY FUR follows two brothers and their chosen ‘family’ of outcasts as they throw a particularly vile party for a businessman.

CONTENT WARNING: This performance includes references to suicide, sexually explicit language and situations, verbal and physical violence, gun shots, and flashing lights.

LPAC Frear Ensemble Theater
4/24/15 @ 8PM
4/25/15 @ 7PM & Midnight

Starring Tyler Elliott ’15, Simon Bloch ’17, Wesley Han ’18, Swift Shuker ’14, Stefan Tuomanen-Masure ’15, Michaela Shuchman ’16, and Ben Grandis ’15

Stage Managed by Grant Torre ’17, Scenic Design and Fight Choreography by Matt Saunders, Puppet Design by Aaron Cromie, Costume Design by Fae Montgomery ’17, Lighting Design by Amanda Jensen, Sound Design by Liz Atkinson.