Inevitably, it seems I write the column for our fall newsletter in Provincetown, where the School of Theatre and Dance sponsors 9 graduate students to join the Scholars Institute at the Tennessee Williams Festival (which we helped to create in 2012). This year, the subject is Williams, Science Fiction, and Fantasy, truly breaking boundaries in our conventional thoughts about the playwright. Not only do we meet with a variety of scholars and practitioners in sessions dedicated to dissecting a reading list that students receive mid-summer, but we also see several plays from companies from Philadelphia, South Africa, and yes, even Cyprus re-interpreting some of Williams' later and less respected plays. It's a chance for us not only to take a hard look at the later plays to re-evaluate their worth, but also to meet the artists and discuss process.
The curator, David Kaplan, remarked about Texas Tech's School of Theatre & Dance that we truly embrace both the scholarship of theatre, but also the practice as well.
It's true. Moreover, Kaplan claims that is one of the many defining factors that makes us rare among theatre and dance schools. This Institute in Provincetown attempts to examine scholarship through practice, and I am proud of how much our students contribute to the conversation. I love this trip because not only does it give my students the best sort of educational experience, but it also allows me perspective only gained from distance.
This is the first year we welcomed new students into the entirety of the new theatre and dance complex, and that's certainly a cause for celebration, as is the fact that, in spite of how few jobs exist in the industry, you will read (in this newsletter) about the success of our students who find work in the summer, and after graduation. You will also be introduced to our new faculty members, who bring to our program new perspectives in movement, lighting/projection design, and musical theatre. And, for the first time in the history of our program and because of our new visionary Dean, we have a musical theatre hire who serves both our students and those in the School of Music; in other words, our schools are beginning to work more closely together, which we love.
We are immensely proud that we found the resources to bring in Nadia Guevara to direct
our first show, Water by the Spoonful. A 2022-24 recipient of the Drama League Stage Directing Fellowship, she previously
served as Director of Arts Engagement & Education at GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington,
DC, as Associate Artistic Director at New Village Arts in San Diego (where she spearheaded
their ne program, Teatro Pueblo Nuevo), and is a 2019 fellow of the Advocacy Leadership
Institute, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures. She brings a lovely set
of new eyes from which are students are learning, again practice but rooted in scholarship.
We are also thrilled that Dr. Gelber, who recently published a book detailing his innovative work directing Bertolt Brecht, is taking on The Threepenny Opera, our first Brecht since his Mother Courage, and that, also this fall, we celebrate student choreographers in our Fall Dance Festival. We have a great season this year, one that truly pushes the education of our students and serves the community we've grown to love and appreciate in West Texas.
When I look back at my eleven years completed at Tech as Director of our program, I am reminded that, when I arrived, we were a “department” that made up a college of two other “schools.” We've grown immensely, primarily because of our astounding faculty and staff, for a number of reasons: because we try to accentuate the “&” in Theatre & Dance; because we understand the value of experiential education programs (which send our students out into the world and brings the world to our students); because we do push boundaries; and, last but certainly not least, we have embraced transparency and communication, always listening to each other's needs while privileging those of our students.
We look forward to a great 23-24 season, one that exemplifies the qualities that best define our mission, rooted in practice and informed by scholarship. The Tennessee Williams Festival is just one of the many ways in which we prepare students to understand the roots of the art forms they love.