Chair
Jayna Brown Chair, Professor
Department Faculty
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly Senior Lecturer
Constance Crawford Adjunct Lecturer
Sarah dAngelo Assistant Professor, DUS
Lisa D’Amour Visiting Assistant Professor
J Dellecave Assistant Professor of the Practice
Nancy Dunbar Senior Lecturer Emerita
John Emigh Professor Emeritus
Becky Gibel Adjunct Lecturer
Spencer Golub Professor Emeritus
Renee Surprenant Fitzgerald Lecturer
Leon Hilton Assistant Professor
Avery Willis Hoffman Professor of the Practice
Julia Jarcho Associate Professor, Head of Playwriting
Melissa Kievman Artistic Producer of Writing is Live Festival, Adjunct Lecturer
Lowry Marshall Professor Emerita
Kym Moore Professor
Iván Ramos Assistant Professor
Stacey Karen Robinson Adjunct Lecturer
Patricia Seto-Weiss Assistant Professor of the Practice
Sydney Skybetter Senior Lecturer
Deborah Salem Smith Adjunct Lecturer
Julie Adams Strandberg Distinguished Senior Lecturer Emerita
Barbara Tannenbaum Distinguished Senior Lecturer
Elmo Terry-Morgan Associate Professor
Paula Vogel Professor Emerita
Richard Waterhouse Adjunct Lecturer
Patricia Ybarra Professor, DGS
Department Staff
Jo Bynum Student Affairs Manager
Ron Cesario Costume Shop Manager, Lecturer
Alexander Eizenberg Sound Designer, Audio-& Video Engineer
Alex Haynes John Street Studio Technical Director, Lecturer
Timothy Hett Technical Director, Lighting Designer, Lecturer
Alex Nurkin Academic Events and Facilities Manager
Max Ramirez Associate Technical Director
Chris Redihan Academic Department Manager
Barbara Reo Production Director, Stage Manager, Lecturer
Fran Romasco Costume Shop Coordinator
Brianne Shaw Communications and Audience Services Manager
Laura Stokes Performing Arts Librarian, University Library
Brown/Trinity Program Faculty
Shura Baryshnikov Head of Movement, DGS, Assistant Professor of the Practice
Angela Brazil Associate Professor of the Practice, Director of MFA Programs
Rachel Christopher Assistant Professor of the Practice
Grant Chapman Adjunct Lecturer, Voice & Speech
Curt Columbus Artistic Director of Trinity Rep, Professor of the Practice
Brian Mertes Head of Directing, Professor of the Practice
Sophia Skiles Head of Acting, Associate Professor of the Practice
Brown/ Trinity Program Staff
Jeremy Chiang Technical Director
Michael Cline Technical Supervisor
Anne Harrigan Production Manager
Sammi Haskell Program Coordinator
Jill Jann MFA Academic Coordinator
Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts & Performance Studies presents
Festival of Dance 2023
May 4 - 7, 2023
Produced by Patricia Seto-Weiss
Producer’s Note
Welcome to the Spring Festival of Dance 2023!
This is the first dance concert after Julie Adams Strandberg’s remarkable tenure at Brown, and it marks my first departmental show as a producer. Julie Adams Strandberg left big shoes to fill after initiating the dance program over 50 years ago, producing over 150 concerts and events, and fostering a love for dance on Brown’s campus and beyond. Without her tenacity and dedication, Dance at Brown would not be where it is today. It was an absolute honor to work with Julie when I first came to campus in 2018. Julie’s support and encouragement for my work helped me grow as a professional, and I am thankful for the opportunities that followed. Many students and alumni will agree with me that her legacy will be carried on for decades to come by anyone who learned from her.
As we try to carry on this legacy, we are launching into the future of Dance at Brown. This year’s Spring Festival of Dance presents two different programs that highlight the breadth and vitality of our departmental offerings. The first, Program A, showcases works created and performed by Theatre Arts and Performance Studies faculty Shura Baryshnikov and J Dellecave and their respective collaborators. The second, Program B, presents newly created pieces which originated from TAPS courses and cover a range of movement styles, from postmodern contemporary forms to ballet and FlexN. It features over 60 student performers and choreographies by Deidra Braz, J Dellecave, Maree Remalia, Elias Schwartz ’23, Paul Singh, Marc Spielberger, and myself.
It has been a real pleasure to work with such a wonderful group of highly esteemed dance makers; passionate, dedicated and inspiring students; and an extraordinary production team. This festival would not be possible without such talented collaborators.
Enjoy the show!
Patricia Seto-Weiss
Production Staff
Production Director ...................................................... Barbara Reo
Communications/Audience Services Manager . Brianne Shaw
Festival Lighting Designer ................................................. Tim Hett
Festival Sound & Video Engineer ........................ Alex Eizenberg
Stage Manager ................................................. Sophie Rockwell ‘26 Photographer .......................................................... Erin X. Smithers
Teaching Associate, TAPS 1348 .......................... Marissa Molinar
Run Crew
Meadow Carman ‘xx, Patrick Faherty ‘23, En-Hua Holtz ‘24, Terrance Mishoe ‘23
Special Thanks
Brown Arts Institute
The Festival of Dance is generously supported by The Julie Adams Strandberg Fund for Dance at Brown and The Sue E. Perlmutter Fund for Dance.
Please take a moment to note the fire exits. There are three exits on the south side of the theatre. Use of recording devices, cameras, and cell phones is not permitted. As a courtesy to patrons and performers, please silence all electronic devices. The video taping or other video or audio recording of this production by any individual not expressly directed to do so by Brown University is strictly prohibited. All or portions of Brown University events and their participants may be captured by photography or video and used for news or Brown promotional purposes.
Sue E. Perlmutter Fund for Dance
The dance program is honored and grateful for the support of the Sue E. Perlmutter Fund for Dance. Festival of Dance 2023 features work by rosza daniel lang/levitsky, zavé martohardjono, Adrienne Taylor, Paul Singh, Marc Spielberger and Maree ReMalia, whose residencies were made possible because of the generosity of the Perlmutter Family and friends of Sue Perlmutter.
The Sue E. Perlmutter Fund brings visiting choreographers, dancers, and musicians to Brown University annually for the benefit of dance scholarship and for the enjoyment of students, faculty, and the general public. The Fund was established in loving memory of Sue E. Perlmutter P’06 by her husband, Marc E. Perlmutter ’74, P’06, as a lasting legacy to Sue, her love of dance, and her commitment to the joyful celebration of life through movement.
Sue Perlmutter (1952-2015) was born in Philadelphia and earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Connecticut before obtaining a Masters degree in Education at Tufts University in 1975. She loved music and the arts and had a particular passion for Jazz Dance throughout her adult life, both as a student and a performer. “She had a smile that lit up the studio and a contagious zest for life,” one of her instructors has observed, and “flew into class like Tinkerbell, sprinkling her positive fairy dust amongst us all.” Trained as a teacher, Sue taught Jazz Dance to American, Japanese and Southeast Asian students at several schools, including The American School in Japan, while living as an expatriate with her family in Hong Kong and Tokyo for seven years. Sue also valued diversity and, after returning to New York in 1993, she pursued her interest in learning and teaching about different world cultures while working as a cross-cultural acclimation specialist with clients moving to and from the US. The Sue E. Perlmutter Fund for Dance was established by her husband of forty years, Marc ’74, and her children Dara and Eric ‘06 in loving memory of Sue and as a lasting legacy to her lifelong study of dance.
Program A
May 4
Connect Four or Railroad Legacy (work in progress)
Conceived and directed by J Dellecave
In collaboration with rosza daniel lang/levitsky and zavé martohardjono
INTERMISSION
Two Creation and Performance by Adrienne Taylor and Shura
Baryshnikov
Followed by Artist Talkback
Program B
May 5 - 7
endlessly up through us
Choreography by Maree ReMalia
in collaboration with performers from TAPS 1348
The Loudest Silence
Choreography by Elias Schwartz ‘23
FlexN Immortal
Choreography by Deidra Braz
And Now?
Choreography by Patricia Seto-Weiss
--INTERMISSION --
Octadecagon
Choreography by J Dellecave in collaboration with performers from TAPS 1000
Just Your Ambition
Choreography by Paul Singh
Intermezzo
Choreography by Marc Spielberger
Connect Four or Railroad Legacy
(work in progress)
Conceived and directed by J Dellecave
in collaboration with rosza daniel lang/levitsky and zavé martohardjono
Performers
J Dellecave, rosza daniel lang/levitsky and zavé martohardjono
Run time
Approximately 20 minutes
For upwards of ten years Dellecave, lang/levitsky, and martohardjono have collaborated in various configurations and on multiple projects. We gathered for this project as a point of departure for reconnection and as a practice of embodying connection through dance and studio practice. We are excited for you to witness and look forward to your thoughts and impressions. In its final form, this work will premiere as a gallery installation, slated for September 2023. Stay tuned for details.
Two
Created and performed by Adrienne Taylor and Shura Baryshnikov
Costume Design
Heidi Henderson
Run time
Approximately 30 minutes
We have worked together on various projects since 2015. Emerging from pandemic isolation, we returned to the studio to develop this new work because we were both hungry for an in-depth, in-person, collaborative studio process. The work that has resulted, Two, is a point on a line in our research together. It has provided the opportunity to further uncover our dancer/musician and composer/ choreographer relationship and to pursue the fragile-powerful-tender-wondrous-curious-energizing passage between composed and improvised (i.e. spontaneously composed) material. This work premiered at the Bates Dance Festival in July 2022.
endlessly up through us
originated out of TAPS 1348 - Contemporary Dance Studio Project
Choreography
Maree ReMalia in collaboration with performers and collaborators from TAPS 1348
Costume Design
Frances Romasco
Music
“Ode to Joy” performed by David Bernabo
“Aliveness” composed by Olivia Bendich ‘25 with contributions from Wendy Amador ‘26
Billie Miró Breskin ‘25, Maya Silver-Lewis ‘25, and Catherine Winger ‘24
Performers & Collaborators: TAPS 1348
Wendy Amador ‘26, Olivia Bendich ‘25, Billie Miró Breskin ‘25, Clara Cantor ‘26, Ailey Costantino ‘25, Edie B Fine ‘25, Rachel Hemmer ’23, Simon/e Klein ‘24.5, Natalie Mitchell ‘25, Gabriella Blake Nightingale ‘24, Maya Silver-Lewis ‘25, Autumn Tilley ‘26, Zoe Ubamadu ‘24, Catherine Winger ‘24, and Tema Zeldes-Roth ‘24
Run Time
Approximately 13 minutes
Ode to Joy and accompanying choreography draws from ReMalia’s solo work-in-progress, with ourselves, with each other (working title).
The Loudest Silence
Capstone Choreography
Elias Schwartz ‘23
Music
“November” composed by Max Richter
Performers
Emma Berman ‘24, Erin Chang ‘23, Camille Donoho ‘24, Bella Magee ‘23, Elise Petit ‘25, Smita Rajan ‘24, Claudia Spelman ‘24, Elias Schwartz ‘23
Run Time
Approximately 6 minutes
FlexN Immortal
originated out of TAPS 1340 - Dance Styles
Choreography
Deidra Braz
Costume Coordinator
Jessie Darrell-Jarbadan
Music
“I Got Five On It - Remix” by Luniz and Michael Marshall
“Lovely” by Billie Eilish
“Chasing Cars - Instrumental” by Snow Patrol
“Dumpling - Remix” by Sean Paul
“Hello” by Chinx
“Ghost Town Tune” by DJ Aaron
Performers: TAPS 1340
Ahmya Clayton ‘24, Julia Cook ‘26, Elise Curtin ‘23
Fiona Dunn ‘23, Riki Fameli ‘23, Alexalee Gonzalez ‘23, Jordan Gracia ‘24, Chang He ‘27 PhD, Arun Kavishwar ‘23, Anna Keis, Taylor Matthews ‘24, Priya Mosher 23.5, Tosin Omolola ‘23, She’Kyra Paige, Mia Reiland ‘25, Satch Sumner-Waldman ‘23
Run Time
Approximately 10 minutes
This is the 1st time the style of Flexn has been taught as a course at a university, we present to you a blend of the street dance style Flexn with a touch of other genres of dance.
And Now?
originated out of TAPS 1344 - Advanced Ballet with Repertory
Choreography
Patricia Seto-Weiss
Costume Design
Jessie Darrell-Jarbadan
Music
“And Now” and “End Credits” from Fleishman Is in Trouble (Original Soundtrack) composed by Caroline Shaw
Performers: TAPS 1344
Lucy Anderson ‘24, Emma Berman ‘24, Erin Chang ‘23, Isabella Delionado ‘26, Camille Donoho ‘24, Rachel Hemmer ‘23, Natalia Ibarra ‘24, Wen Jian PhD ‘28, Bella Magee ‘23, Hannah Park ‘23, Elise Petit ‘25, Smita Rajan ‘24, Tegan Rich ‘23, Gili Schor ‘23, Elias Schwartz ‘23, Claudia Spelman ‘24, Elina Yu ‘26
Run Time
Approximately 5 minutes
A reflection on dating in the time of Tinder and Bumble and the brief encounters with each other in search of physical connection and love. Inspired by the opening chapter of Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
Octadecagon
originated out of TAPS 1000 - Intermediate
Dance
Choreography
J Dellecave in collaboration with performers from TAPS
1000
Costume Design
Frances Romasco
Music
“Walking wih Elephants” by Ten Walls
“A Day a Gorilla Gives a Banana” by Ryuichi Sakamoto
“America” by Funkin Matt
Performers: TAPS 1000
Soeun Bae ’23 RISD, Marina Benson ‘24, Tessa Devoe ‘24, Riki Fameli ‘23, Chang He PhD ‘27, Ji He MA ’23, Alicia Joo ‘26, Joelle Gregoire Lincoln ‘25, Claire Lopez ‘26, Madison McTaggart ‘23, Eliza Noxon ’23.5, Bryanna Pajotte ‘24, Natsinee Polvipart (Beam) ‘25, Leelya Sakka ‘25, Kamari Smalls MFA ’23 RISD, Zoe Ubamadu ‘24, Morgan Valentine ‘23, Kamryn Walker ‘26, Linxi (Lena) Wu ‘26
Run Time
Approximately 10 minutes
As part of J Dellecave’s Intermediate Dance, we have been gathering, dancing, learning, and practicing together throughout the course of the semester. Octadecagon emerges as the culmination of our collaborations, explorations, choreographies, and improvisations.
Just Your Ambition
originated out of TAPS 1348 - Contemporary
Dance Studio Project
Choreography
Paul Singh
Costume Design
Frances Romasco
Music
“Just (After Songs of Songs)” composed by David Lang performed by Trio Mediaeval
Performers: TAPS 1348
Billie Miró Breskin ‘25, Ailey Costantino ‘25, Simon/e Klein ‘24.5, Autumn Tilley ‘26
Run Time Approximately 8 minutes
Four people navigating their limbs in a space that asks them to put forth every last miraculous spec of themselves. Just their mouths. Just their hair. Just their laughter. Just their ambition.
Intermezzo
originated out of TAPS 1344 - Advanced Ballet with Repertory
Choreography
Marc Spielberger
Costume Design
Jessie Darrell-Jarbadan
Music
“Intermezzo” from Tänzerische Suite (1929) composed by Eduard Künneke
Performers: TAPS 1344
Lucy Anderson ‘24, Emma Berman ‘24, Erin Chang ‘23, Isabella Delionado ‘26, Camille Donoho ‘24, Rachel Hemmer ‘23, Natalia Ibarra ‘24, Wen Jian PhD ‘28, Bella Magee ‘23, Hannah Park ‘23, Elise Petit ‘25, Smita Rajan ‘24, Tegan Rich ‘23, Gili Schor ‘23, Elias Schwartz ‘23, Claudia Spelman ‘24, Elina Yu ‘26
Run Time
Approximately 5 minutes
A divertissement of sorts, fun and high energy. Nostalgic to the great era of shows in the 1920s and 1940s and a bow to grand entertainment. I wanted to create a piece where all levels of proficiency can flourish in a performance. I wanted it to be life affirming, like the music, fast paced and with ample challenges for every dancer involved. Künneke was known for his style of operetta and later Broadway shows, his music is always fun and easy to listen to. This piece is not deep, just positive and dynamic.
Choreographer Bios
J Dellecave (Connect Four or Railroad Legacy and Octadecagon) is an interdisciplinary performancemaker, scholar, and educator concerned with how bodily experience intersects with external fields of social, cultural, and political knowledge. J has been dancing since they were two years old and has had a lifelong career in dance and experimental performance. J holds a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from the University of California, Riverside; MA in Performance Studies from New York University; and BFA in Dance from Temple University. J’s evening length and endurance performances have been presented at The Brick, AUNTS Rockaway Edition, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, University at Buffalo, San Diego State University, Tucson Fringe Festival, Pieter Performance Space, and MIX Queer Experimental Film Festival. J’s professional production credits include work with New York City based performers KJ Holmes, Jen Abrams, Julie Mayo, Jenny Romaine (Great Small Works Visual Theater Company) and Philadelphia theater provocateur Greg Giovanni (Big Mess Theater and Big Mess Cabaret). J’s writing has appeared in Dance Chronicle, Routledge Companion to Butoh Performance, Women & Performance and itch Dance Journal and is forthcoming in Radical Teacher and Performance Matters. J is currently Assistant Professor of the Practice of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University.
zavé martohardjono (Connect Four or Railroad Legacy) has been performing for and collaborating with J Dellecave since 2013. zavé is a 2022 Bessie-nominated performer and multidisciplinary artist. A queer, trans, Indonesian-American artist who dwells in their ancestors’ mythologies, zavé’s works contend with the political histories our bodies carry and dream up more just futures. zavé has been written about in the New York Times, BOMB Magazine, CultureBot and Hyperallergic. Their performances have been presented at the 92Y, BAAD!, Boston Center for the Arts, Bronx
Museum of the Arts, Center for Performance Research, El Museo del Barrio, Gibney Center, HERE Arts, Issue Project Room, The Kennedy Center, and Storm King Art Center. zavé has exhibited at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Asian Arts Initiative, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Bronx River Art Center Gallery, Glasgow Center for Contemporary Arts, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, SOMArts Gallery and Winslow Garage. Find out more about their work at zavemartohardjono.com | @zavozavito
rosza daniel lang/levitsky (Connect Four or Railroad Legacy) is a cultural worker and organizer based at brooklyn’s Glitter House. Never learned how to make art for art’s sake; rarely likes working alone. Third-generation radical; second-generation queer. Just another diesel fem diasporist gendertreyf mischling who identifies with, not as. Active with Survived & Punished NY (abolition feminist work supporting criminalized survivors of gendered violence) and elsewhere. Current projects include: Critical Reperformance (re-bodying classic performance scores); JUST LIKE THAT (militant research applying embodied dancing knowledge to justice movement work); Real Life Experience (collecting trans women’s political & cultural writing, 1974-1999); the Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee (making NYC’s largest non-hasidic purimshpil performances for almost two decades); Koyt Far Dayn Fardakht (punk band playing the yiddish revolutionary repertoire). Writing on culture and politics has appeared through e-flux, HowlRound, Visual AIDS, Eyshet Chayil, Monthly Review, and in the anthologies Glitter and Grit: Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Femme Galaxy, HONK!: A Street Band Renaissance of Music and Activism, and There Is Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart: Mending the World as Jewish Anarchists. Much more at https://meansof.org
Adrienne Taylor (Two) has cultivated a unique musical voice through collaborations with artists in music, theater and dance. Performance collaborations include Trinity Repertory Company, Newport Contemporary Ballet, the Kronos Quartet, the Sphinx Virtuosi and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk
Road Ensemble. She also writes and performs her own music, and she recorded SoLa, her first album of original songs for cello, in 2018. As a MacColl Johnson Composition Fellow, she created a set of musical images inspired by her love of the natural world and the devastating impact of climate change.
Driven by the belief that music can make meaningful change in people and communities, Taylor founded the Daily Orchestra Program at Community MusicWorks following her experience as a Sistema Fellow at New England Conservatory. She currently serves on the faculty at Providence College and Wheaton College and is a Resident Musician at Community MusicWorks.
Shura Baryshnikov (Two) is a Rhode Island-based multimodal artist who works broadly across dance, theatre, and opera. Recent performance, choreography, and directorial credits include projects with Emmanuel Music, Trinity Repertory Company, Boston Lyric Opera, Khambatta Dance Company, Urbanity Dance, Odyssey Opera, The Gamm Theatre, and Betsy Miller Dance Projects, among others. Shura has co-founded a number of dance projects, including the Contact Improvisation research and performance ensemble Set Go and the contemporary dance project, Doppelgänger Dance Collective. She is Head of Physical Theatre for the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs in Acting and Directing in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University and maintains an active international teaching practice at dance festivals and training institutions. Shura is a member of both Actors’ Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Maree ReMalia (endlessly up through) is a dance artist and certified Gaga instructor. An adoptee born in South Korea and raised in Ohio, movement supports her in an ongoing process of self-discovery, expression, and liberation. She welcomes folks from across disciplines and identities into these unfolding processes with a focus on care and connection in settings ranging from professional
and community-based to academic and conservatory. Her collaborative performance projects have been presented at venues such as Cleveland Public Theatre, Dance Place, Gibney DoublePlus Festival, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, Movement Research at the Judson Church, New Hazlett Theater, and Daegu International Dance Festival. She has performed in the work of Gabriel Forestieri, Bebe Miller, Michael J. Morris, Christopher Williams, and Lida Winfield and was previously a member of MegLouise Dance, MorrisonDance, and STAYCEE PEARL dance project. Since earning her MFA at The Ohio State University, she was selected as the Andrew W. Mellon Interdisciplinary Choreographer for Middlebury College Movement Matters Residency and has been a guest artist and faculty member with institutions and organizations such as Bates Dance Festival, Dreams of Hope Queer Youth Arts, Point Park University, University of Florida, and University of Wisconsin.
Elias Schwartz ‘23 (The Loudest Silence) is a senior studying Biology ScB and Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. He created The Loudest Silence for his capstone graduation project in the TAPS Department. Elias was born in Baltimore, Maryland where he began his dance career at Peabody Dance Institute and the Baltimore School for the Arts. Elias has trained in classical dance styles including ballet, modern, and contemporary for 13 years at dance academies across the country including Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Miami City Ballet, among others. Most recently, he has performed professionally as a guest artist at The Festival Ballet of Providence. Elias aspires to stay involved in the arts and dance post-graduation as an orthopedic surgeon for dancers and other athletes.
Deidra Braz (FlexN Immortal) was born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. Dance has been an integral part of her life since the age of 6, introducing her to the meaning and feeling of passion, artistic expression, and allowing her the opportunity to travel across the world
to perform and teach. Performing most recently in shows at the Park Avenue Armory under the direction of Peter Sellars and touring to places such as Australia, Romania, New Zealand, & Paris to name a few.
Deidra is known for her “Waving” style, her Flexn solos and incorporates aspects of other dance genres she learned as a student in college. Deidra has personally traveled to Africa in particular to Johannesburg, South Africa and more recently Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya using the opportunities to witness the most beautiful aspects of the roots of African dance culture and has been inspired to bridge the gaps of New York street dance and African dance. Over the last few years, she has continued to grow in her artistry, collaborating with other artists to create in different ways and is currently teaching Dance Styles at Brown University within the Theater Arts and Performance Studies Department.
Patricia Seto-Weiss (And Now?) is Assistant Professor of the Practice in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University, where she has taught since 2018. Originally from Germany, she received her diploma in dance performance and pedagogy from Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in Munich. While still a student, Patricia made her professional debut in the Bavarian State Opera’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff. Upon graduation, she continued her studies at The Ailey School in New York City. As a choreographer, Patricia has presented work at the Juilliard School, Columbia University, and The Ailey Citigroup Theater. More broadly, her work often explores connections with visual art and architecture. She has collaborated with painter Annegret Hoch and sculptor Susanne Thiemann in New York and Germany, and has published several articles for the Society of Architectural Historians’ Archipedia.
Paul Singh (Just Your Ambition) is a dance artist, choreographer, and educator living in New York City. He earned his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, USA. He has danced for Gerald Casel, Risa Jaroslow, Will Rawls,
Phantom Limb Company, Stephanie Batten Bland, Douglas Dunn, Christopher Williams, Kathy Westwater, Faye Driscoll, and was featured in the inaugural cast of Punchdrunk’s NYC debut of Sleep No More. While abroad, he was a dancer in Peter Sellars’ opera The Indian Queen (Madrid), as well as Peter Pleyer’s large-scale improvisation work Visible Undercurrent (Berlin). Paul has had his own work shown at multiple venues in NYC, Berlin, and in 2004 his solo piece Stutter was presented at the Kennedy Center. Paul has taught contact improvisation (CI) around the world, and currently teaches varied technique classes (floorwork, CI, contemporary partnering) for Movement Research, Sarah Lawrence College, and The Juilliard School. In 2021, he began his role as Artistic Associate at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Marc Spielberger (Intermezzo) received his formal training at the Ballet Academy Munich, Heinz-Bosl Foundation, under Artistic Director Konstanze Vernon, graduating in 1997. He danced with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich and then the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin before joining Miami City Ballet in 1999. There he performed as a Soloist under the direction of Edward Villella. Marc has danced at the Kennedy Center, the Music Center/L.A., New York City Center, the Chicago Auditorium, and the famous Théatre du Châtelet in Paris. He performed throughout Europe, China and Russia, performing works by Béjart, Petit, Robbins, Balanchine, Tharp, Forsythe, Neumeier, Taylor, Kylián, Duato, Villella, Bart, Baldwin, Martins, and others.
Since his retirement, he has taught for schools in Japan, Germany, France, Austria and ballet companies throughout the United States and Germany. Marc Spielberger has choreographed several works for Miami City Ballet and other companies. His ballet “Sanctuary” won the Prix Noveau at the American Ballet Competition. In 2020 he took part in Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s teacher workshop, learning Marcia Dale Weary’s syllabus under Darla Hoover’s direction. Marc currently teaches at Eastern Connecticut Ballet under the artistic leadership of Gloria Govrin, company classes at Hartford Ballet, and for Yale University.
In Memoriam:
James O. Barnhill ,Professor Emeritus
James Orris Barnhill, born on May 23, 1922 and died October 16, 2021. Born in Sumner, Mississippi, a son of the late Reverend James A. and Louise (Sullivan) Barnhill, and brother of the late Joseph M. Barnhill. He was a Providence resident for over 60 years. He was educated at Mississippi College, Yale University (B.A. 1947), and New York University (M.A. 1949) before returning to Yale for School of Drama (M.F.A. 1954). He taught for one year at Dubuque University in Iowa and started as an Instructor at Brown University in Providence in 1954, where he became an Assistant Professor of English in 1958 and Professor in 1975. He was appointed Professor of Theater Arts in 1978 and was one of the founding members of Brown’s Theatre, Speech, and Dance Department, serving as its first Chairperson and facilitating the founding of the Rites and Reason Theatre of the Africana Studies Department. He remained active with the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies after his retirement in 1987. He was instrumental in setting up Brown’s joint programs with Tougaloo College in Jackson, MS and taught there in 1979-1980 and 1984-1985. He was also a Fulbright Professor of English at Calicut University, Baroda, Gujarat, India in 1983-84, taught at RI School of Design 1986-1994, and taught at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan from 1995 to 1997.
During WWII, he was in the US Navy in the Pacific Theatre and was the Executive Officer of a landing craft participating in the Okinawa campaign and in the Occupation of Japan.
In Providence, he was one of the founders of Trinity Square Repertory Theatre, working for 3 seasons with the company and serving in a variety of positions, including stage manager and actor. During his time at Brown, he directed over 200 plays and at RISD he started a cabaret with Visiting Professor Szymon Bojko and Agnieszka Taborska from Poland.
At Brown, Barnhill had many students who became well-known actors and theatre practitioners, including James Naughton, Kate Burton, Aunjanue Ellis, Jobeth Williams, Laura Linney, John Lee Beatty, Richard Foreman, and many others.
Don B. Wilmeth, Professor Emeritus
Don B. Wilmeth (Ph.D., U. of Illinois, 1964), born in Houston, Texas, in 1939, was an Asa Messer Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Professor of Theatre and of English, Brown University, retiring in 2003 after thirty-six years there, sixteen as chair of the theatre department. He was the author, editor, coeditor, or series editor of over four dozen books, including the award-winning three-volume Cambridge History of American Theatre, which has been issued in a paperback edition. In 2007 he completed a new edition of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. In addition to Brown, he taught at Smith College, Tufts University, and Trinity University (Texas), and was a distinguished speaker at various universities and professional meetings, including the Universities of Indiana, Washington, and Wisconsin, and the Mid-American Theatre Conference where he served as respondent. He is considered a pioneer in the serious study of American popular entertainment and an established authority on the history of American theatre and drama. A former president of the American Society for Theatre Research and dean emeritus of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, Don Wilmeth served as vice president of the International Shaw Society, hosting an international Bernard Shaw conference at Brown, June 2006. He was the recipient of career and research recognitions from the New England Theatre Conference, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Society for Theatre Research (UK), the American Society for Theatre Research, and the Theatre Library Association. ATHE also honored him for his work as an editor. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Wilmeth was an actor and director, and an ardent collector of theatre and entertainment ephemera and memorabilia, as well as books on the history of the theatre (over 5,000). He was a proud member of the local (Keene) Hourglass Readers. He mounted exhibits drawn from his collection at Franklin Pierce University as well as one at the Cheshire County (NH) Historical Society. During the Brown University commencement in 2008 he received the William Williams Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Brown University Library.
