Spring 2016 Training News Photos: Cover: Cast of Freedom Rider. UMKC Theatre 2015 Inside Front: From Top: Joshua Gilman in The Learned Ladies. TRAINING NEWS UMKC Theatre 2015 Korrie Murphy in WRITERS: PROJECT MANAGER: EDITORS: The Rocky Horror Show. Jamie Alderiso Tom Mardikes Felicia Londré UMKC Theatre 2015 Amanda Davison Cindy Stofiel Andrew Hagerty Collin Vorbeck Alex Ritchie in Wittenberg. Dalton Pierce DESIGN/LAYOUT MANAGER: UMKC Theatre 2015 David Ruis Sarah M. Oliver DESIGNER: Inside Front Facing Page: Collin Vorbeck Kate Mott Mariem Diaz, Frank Oakley, Ethan Zogg and Aishah Ogbeh in Freedom Rider. UMKC Theatre 2015 Collective Collaboration 1 En Charrette 3 Inside Back From Left: Lightning Strikes Twice in Scenic Design 5 Cast of Wittenberg. Illuminating Projections 8 UMKC Theatre 2015 Matt Carter and the Hudson Scenic Studio 10 Frank Lillig and Korrie Professional Educators 12 Murphy in Pericles. Professors Stay Sharp 14 UMKC Theatre 2014 Working Actors 18 A Lasting Bond 20 Michael Thayer in Sound Mandala 22 The Learned Ladies. Graduate Students Strut Their Stuff 23 UMKC Theatre 2015 A National Collaboration 26 Alumni at Work 28 Back: Shaping Stage Managers 35 Cast of Caucasian Chalk Playwrighting: The Art and the Craft 36 Circle. A Vocal Homecoming 37 UMKC Theatre 2014 Fringe With Benefits 39 Above photos courtesy of Dramaturgs on the Rise 41 Brian Paulette UMKC Theatre is composed of a team of creative, educational profes- sionals who work actively in the professional theatre. We build bridg- es. We assist the creative student to make the journey to becoming a creative professional. The practice of the department is to vigorously educate students in the many arts, crafts and traditions of theatre, and to provide a basis for future careers in the creative industries. Our spe- cialties are the development of actors, designers, technicians and his- torians. We expose our students to a wide range of theatrical influences and traditions. Under the guidance of extremely experienced mentors, creativity and professional discipline are valued and developed. Our program offers intensive hands-on experience, in a conservatory train- ing tradition, while at the same time fostering the analytical and contextual skills offered by a liberal arts education. The whole of greater Kansas City is our auditorium. The practical experience of theatre-mak- ing occurs not only within the performing venues of UMKC, but also in many professional theatres in the Kansas City area. We therefore stress theatre’s role in the overall civic dialogue, as well as giving our students professional exposure, and contacts. Theatre is a passion. We seek it, train for it and embody it. Goals and Objectives - To provide our students with the skills necessary to establish rewarding careers in an expanding and rapidly changing profession. - To strengthen and develop relationships with professional theatres, artists and communities in greater Kansas City, and to devise major projects and initiatives which can make an impact on the national stage. - To expand working spaces for our productions, rehearsals and craft shops. - To enhance the network of UMKC Theatre alumni who will maintain their participation by supporting current students and new theatre-mak- ing initiatives in Kansas City - To further strengthen our national reputation as a major American the- atre training institution. The UMKC MFA program in Acting is a rigorous conservatory experience that provides advanced training for the young professional actor. Over the course of three years, the program challenges actors to develop the varied skills necessary to achieve success. Fundamental to the training is an exposure to a diverse set of performance methods from contemporary to epic, from devised work to Shakespeare, from the Greeks to new plays commissioned and premiered by us. This unique program seeks individuals who will bring their full hearts, minds, consciences and artistic souls to the discovery of personal, foundational and daring acting techniques. Our national and internationally recognized faculty is committed to partnering with such individual talents with the goal of guiding them to their fullest creative potential. University of Missouri- Kansas City Theatre Department www.umkctheatre.org Apply Online by Dalton Pierce The UMKC Theatre program has Michael Thayer (MFA Acting Thayer quickly learned that acting pro- an established tradition of working with 2016)is one of many UMKC students to fessionally is slightly different from per- professional theatres so that its actors, de- have the opportunity to work at The Uni- forming in an educational setting. “The signers, and stage managers may benefit corn. He performed in Bengal Tiger at the rehearsal time is cut in half,” Thayer said. from the experience of working on a pro- Baghdad Zoo last year, and will be the “When you work in an educational setting, fessional show. Few theatre departments understudy in the one-man show Buyer it’s like a lab. You can experiment and try grant students this opportunity, but and Cellar. new things. In the professional setting, UMKC partners with the it’s still a lab, but you have to Unicorn Theatre, The Coterie, come to it quicker.” Working on and the KC Rep. These part- these shows also allows Thay- nerships allow the future pro- er to build Equity points, which fessionals to gain experienc- can ease the process of audi- es as well as providing them tioning in a city such as New an opportunity to establish York. None of these skills could their names in Kansas City. have been obtained without The Department of the training he received from Theatre will partner with the the department. “UMKC has Unicorn theatre to perform given me so many tools. The Mr. Burns, a post-electric techniques that they give us play, written by Anne Wash- allow us to adapt them in our burn. This play tells the story own work.” of a group of people who The Coterie has long perform an episode of The been a partner of UMKC, Simpsons after surviving and past collaborations have an apocalyptic shutdown of included Oliver Twist, The electricity. Directed by UMKC Hobbit, A Village Fable: In the faculty member Theodore Suicide Mountains (a produc- Swetz, this play examines the tion that moved to the Kennedy lasting effect that popular Damron Russel Armstrong and Michael Thayer in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Center), Arthur Miller’s Playing culture can have on enter- Unicorn Theatre. Directed by Ian R. Crawford, 2014. for Time, Our Town, and Lois tainment and performance. Photo courtesy of the Unicorn Theatre Lowry’s Number The Stars. 1 www.umkctheatre.org Apply Online Last year the co-production was The The resulting court case was the driv- happening to Spencer Theatre, located Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, a ing force that got Lincoln into the White in the Olson Performing Arts Center. The play that allowed the cast of four third-year House. Directed by Jeff Church, this play construction, which began in May, adds a actors to perform multiple roles throughout engages the audience by having them act new stage floor, as well as new acoustic the 60-minute production. This year’s col- as “1858 Massachusetts State Senators and lighting designs. Spencer Theatre will laboration is And Justice For Some: The [who] discuss the themes at the end of the also get an expanded lobby, as well as Trial of Anthony Burn, written by Wendy play.” new restrooms and a second-floor lounge. Lement and Bethany Dunakin. This work The co-production with KC Rep is The construction will be finished in time tells the story of an escaped slave, who is the classical Dickens story A Christmas for the annual production of A Christmas unjustly sent back to his Southern master. Carol. There is also something exciting Carol, which will feature several of our graduate students in various roles. Spencer Christensen, Nicole Marie Green, and Emily Nan Phillips in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. The Coterie Theatre 2015. Photo courtesy of the Coterie Theatre 2 Missouri’s Campus for the Arts University of Missouri- Kansas City Theatre Department by David Ruis & Collin Vorbeck The term charrette (the French word for cart) dates back to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 19th-century Paris. It can be defined in two ways: a trip on a cart for a criminal facing the guillotine or a session during which focused design students rigorously work to beat the clock on arts projects being pulled on a cart – the final product then being critiqued by a master artist. Luckily, UMKC Theatre has been experiencing the latter since 1994, when Hall Fam- ily Foundation Professor John Ezell planted the first seed by bringing in Mary Zimmerman to work with MFA design students in this intensive format. Many award-winning guest master designers have followed over the past two decades, including David and Karen Shulz-Gropman, Fiona Shaw, Eldon Elder, Ralph Koltai, Ricardo Khan, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Willa Kim, and George Tsypin. David and Karen Shulz-Gropman, production designers for the film Life of Pi, found the UMKC charrette experience to be stimulating and reward- ing. They stated, “Professors John Ezell and Gene Friedman have organized and structured an ideal learning environment. For us, the chance to collab- Victoria Morgan critiques student designs for the ballet The Wizard of Oz. orate with the design students on the charrette was Photo by Jae Shanks so refreshing, a true gift.” 3 Missouri’s Campus for the Arts University of Missouri- Kansas City Theatre Department The charrette process is an action- Jae Shanks (MFA Sound Design was wonderful. I especially enjoyed par- packed endeavor, with students creating 2017) was impressed by how the char- ticipating in her ballet class which com- and presenting their designs to the mas- rette was able to incorporate her studies bined conservatory dancers with design ter artist within a matter of days.