The Green Room / November 2018

Colorado State University / THE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS / VOLUME 4 / ISSUE 30 / NOVEMBER 2018

THREE VOICES ONE SOUND

CLASSICAL CONVERGENCE CONTINUES WITH THIS BERLIN-BASED TRIO

WELCOME TO

THE GREEN ROOM At this time of year, with Colorado’s distinct change of seasons, it’s natural to reflect on myriad changes constantly taking place around us. There’s no doubt change can be overwhelming, but some recent conversations made me think about fit and the ability to thrive in new situations.

Dan Goble

Director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Jennifer Clary Jacobs

Director of Communications

Mike Solo

Creative Director

On a trip out of town this past weekend, I had a delightful conversation with the new drum major of the Michigan Marching Band. Kelly’s ability to lead that band extends beyond her adeptness for doing the famous back bend on the fifty-yard line, but encompasses her wide-eyed enthusiasm, dignity, and a dose of daring. Kelly found her fit!

Hundreds of prospective students and their parents recently attended a CSU admissions event. While some have more exploring ahead of them, one student named Colin dug deep to explain his goals. We were thrilled to receive the following note: Hey, Mike! I really appreciate you giving me a solo (no pun intended) walk through of the school during #ExploreCSU! It really inspired me to apply. My application will be finished tonight...I'm also preparing for my audition with a private teacher! I'm very excited and have a lot of ideas for the things I want to accomplish while attending school at CSU. Vocal performance will be my focus. Again, thank you for the inspiration!

Colin found his fit!

Earlier this fall, the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance welcomed Emily Morgan as our new director of dance. This month, her choreography is being showcased in the 2018 Fall Dance Concert. While talking to Emily for a story about the concert, she expressed how great it feels to be here at CSU and in Fort Collins, especially as she’s been inspired by the work ethic of those around her. Emily found her fit!

I am continually in awe of the incredible the people I meet, whether at CSU or elsewhere. I am grateful for the opportunity to interact with people at CSU, especially students and faculty at the University Center for the Arts, who are devising their own unique paths and embracing the change it takes to find their fit.

Come see what I see and join us soon!

Jennifer Clary Jacobs

Director of Communications

THIS IS YOUR UCA

TABLE OF TICKETS Online Sales: CSUArtsTickets.com Ticket Office: Griffin Lobby, University Center for the Arts (UCA) Ticket Office Hours: M–F, 3:30–5:30 p.m., and 60 minutes prior to performances Information: (970) 491-ARTS (2787) / Email: CSUArts@colostate.edu Group rate: 15% off on ten or more tickets, applied at the time of purchase Tickets may be purchased, both online and at the UCA Ticket Office until 30 minutes after curtain. Print-at-home tickets are available online. All tickets are subject to a $1 ticket fee for both online and at-the-door purchases. At-the-door and phone purchases will incur a $3 processing fee per order. Advance ticket purchase is highly recommended to avoid lines and the at-the-door fee.

Purchase Policy: All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Seating after the start of any performance is at the discretion of the house manager.

Photography and recording of performances are strictly prohibited. Food and beverages prohibited in all theatres. Parents with disruptive children may be asked to excuse themselves if the performance is disturbed without refund.

CONTENTS Quatra Duo.......................................................... 05 Faculty Friday: Madeline Harvey..................... 08 Reintroducing Sebastian Adams..................... 10 Sicong Zhou......................................................... 12 Atos Trio............................................................... 14 From Dior to Africa and Asia............................ 20 Great Conversations.......................................... 24 Something Old, Something New..................... 28 24 Hours of Fame............................................... 32

Charles L. Mee.................................................... 44 2018 Fall Dance Concert................................... 48 Name A Seat........................................................ 56

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: JENNIFER CLARY JACOBS CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MIKE SOLO STAFF WRITERS:

SOCIAL MEDIA This is your UCA! Stay connected with the University Center for the Arts by connecting with us on social media.

Facebook: facebook.com/CSU.UCA Instagram: ColoradoStateUniversity_UCA Twitter: @CSUUCA Youtube: YouTube.com/ColoradoStateUniv Flickr: flickr.com/photos/csulibarts

JENNIFER CLARY JACOBS EMILY KAISER HERMAN CHAVEZ

FOR ADVERTISING PLEASE CONTACT: JENNIFER CLARY JACOBS, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS jennifer.clary@colostate.edu / 970.491.3603

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Testing the Water................................................ 38

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SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE

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At Colorado State University, work alongside dedicated faculty and students to develop the knowledge and skills for excelling in a variety of fields. The worldclass University Center for the Arts is located in Fort Collins, consistently ranked as one of America’s top cities with a collaborative and thriving arts community.

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COLORADO STATE MUSIC PROFESSORS PERFORM THEIR FIRST CONCERT AS A NEW DUO

BY EMILY KAISER, UCA PUBLICITY INTERN

Colorado State University music professors Michelle Stanley and Jeff LaQuatra, also known as the Quatra Duo, recently debuted two new pieces at their Virtuosos Series Concert, Something New: Music for Flute – Stanley on flute, LaQuatra on guitar.

Although Stanley and LaQuatra have been performing together for many years, the October concert at the University Center for the Arts was their first official performance as a duo. The couple first crossed paths 20 years ago at a wedding gig while working for the same agency. “Since we met playing the wedding, we realized we had a real musical connection, so following that, over the years, we’ve played many recitals. He’s [LaQuatra] played with me here at CSU before working here, and we did a recording of a CD that was released in 2006, so we’ve been playing formal, classical concerts together for years and years, but never as a formal duo,” Stanley explained.

Stanley and LaQuatra mentioned how well they think guitar and flute complement each other. Although the tonality of both instruments blend well, LaQuatra stated that their biggest challenge combining guitar and flute is matching their volume because the flute is a much louder instrument.

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Michelle Stanley and Jeff LaQuatra / Photo by Rebecca Phillips

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THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS

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JAZZ COMBOS

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and

conducted by

PETER SOMMER P.M. 0 3 : 7 , 7 L BER NOVEM CONCERT HAL GRIFFIN

C S UA RTST IC K E TS . C O M

The first half of the Virtuoso Series Concert consisted of Stanley’s solo work and the remainder of the concert featured the duo’s premiering pieces. “One is a four-movement suite by a jazz and guitar composer from Minnesota, James McGuire…the second piece is a six-movement suite by Portland composer, Bryan Johanson,” LaQuatra stated.

“This is [Bryan’s] first piece for flute and guitar. All six movements are based on paintings by Paul Kleé.” he continued. The suite is called “Painted Music,” and images of Kleé’s works were projected onto a screen during the performance. What was unique about this concert is that

each of these suites were commissioned specifically for Stanley and LaQuatra.

In addition to the Virtuosos Series Concert, the recently married couple has many other events coming up. They are performing at St. John’s Cathedral in Nov., recording another CD in June, going to China with their record label, Parma Records, next Oct., and are planning a concert in California next spring. They are also releasing a new album in 2020, and although they have not named the album, they encourage supporters to be on the lookout for its release.

THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS

ERIC HOLLENBECK / PERCUSSION

NOVEMBER 1, 6 P.M.

TERRY LEAHY / TROMBONE

NOVEMBER 5, 7:30 P.M.

FACULTY CHAMBER MUSIC

NOVEMBER 12, 7:30 P.M.

JOHN MCGUIRE / HORN

FEBRUARY 20, 7:30 P.M.

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CSU’S MUSIC FACULTY AT THEIR FINEST

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MADELINE HARVEY, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BALLET SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE Why do you teach and study dance? What do you like most about it? Dance is my first language.

The capacity for movement to reach across boundaries, and to provide opportunities for expression and connection drive my research, service, and pedagogy. Becoming an artist is a never-ending pursuit. Our continued physical, mental, and emotional development as humans from one millisecond to the next means a constant re-evaluation and re-negotiation of our practice. The formula that yielded a positive outcome yesterday may not produce the same results today. The necessity to attend to the moment, to the senses, and to unknown possibilities excites, terrifies, and inspires me.

Which class is your favorite to teach and why? I most enjoy teaching dance technique courses. I love being a part of the artists’ daily journey – offering guidance through the sweat, stumbles, bruised toenails, and moments of personal discovery.

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In a special weekly series,

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the College of Liberal Arts

What did you want to be when you were little? For as long as I can remember, I dreamed of being a dancer. At age three, I announced, in less sophisticated terms, that I wanted to be a choreographer when

is featuring faculty members

I grew up. By age six, I was consumed by my love for dance. By age ten, I was training six days a week. At

from our 13 departments. We

fourteen, I began my professional performance career, and at sixteen began teaching. It was not until my

asked questions about why

own undergraduate experience that I realized I wanted to teach in higher education.

they are passionate about the

How did you get to CSU? I saw the job posting for an assistant professor specializing in Ballet and was

subjects they study and teach,

shocked by how the language in the advertisement paralleled my own teaching philosophy. During the

and how they found their path

preliminary interview process, I asked what the search committee most wished to teach their students

to CSU. Please enjoy some of

– their reply was “kindness.” I was struck by the sincerity of this reply, and upon meeting the inspiring faculty and exceptional staff, I was eager to be a part of CSU.

the responses from the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and the Department of Art and Art History.

What is one thing students would be surprised to learn about you? One of my favorite things about teaching at CSU is being able to perform alongside my students in concerts. I love cheering them on from the wings, and the vulnerability of performing with their watchful eyes on me. The moment I enter onstage I am overjoyed, but leading up to that entrance, sometimes even days before, I have terrible stage fright – heart racing, body immobilizing, panic. This performance anxiety is further exaggerated when public speaking is involved. Given that I spend every day dancing and speaking in front of my classes, I think they might be surprised to learn this.

Madeline Harvey recently spoke at the Great Conversations 2018 Kickoff event on the topic “Rigor and Imagination: the value of the liberal arts in a complex and polarized society.”

Madeline Harvey speaking at the Great Conversations 2018 kickoff event.

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NEW FACULTY

(Re)Introducing Sebastian Adams T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

BY HERMAN CHAVEZ, UCA PUBLICITY INTERN

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CSU alum Sebastian Adams has an extended relationship with Colorado State University: as a CSU master’s student, he was a graduate teaching assistant and the program coordinator of CSU’s Middle School Outreach Ensembles (MSOE) program under Dr. Erik Johnson, with whom he has studied twice (the first time as an undergrad at the University of Colorado at Boulder and again as a graduate student at CSU). Adams graduated this past spring with a Master’s in Music Education, Conducting Specialization, and is now serving as an interim instructor of music education for the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance while Dr. Johnson is on sabbatical.

Even before these connections to CSU, Adams’ formative music roadmap began at an early age.

Musical background “My first interest in music that went beyond the surface was in a road trip with my dad.”

Adams was raised in a musical household: his father was a tenor for Opera Colorado, his house had an extensive

music library, and as a young child, he regularly attended the operas. Road trips were a familiar activity for the family, but this road trip in particular started him on his musical pathway.

“There was some classical music playing in the car, and to humor my father, I asked who it was,” said Adams. “He said it was Jupiter. I said, ‘like the planet?’ and he said, ‘yes—in fact, there is a movement for each one of the planets.’

I made a connection between music and another passion of mine: astronomy.”

With a deeper interest in music, he began playing the clarinet and his time as the drum major in high school sparked an interest in music education.

“The opportunity to lead the band at Cherry Creek High School showed me that I had the capacity to lead a group of people, which I didn’t know I could do.

This gave me great joy; I could impact people, which started to show me what I could do with my life.”

Adams’ discovery led him to pursue a degree in Music Education at the University of Colorado, an important time on his path to becoming a teacher.

“My experience at CU Boulder was incredibly fulfilling because of the mentors

I had,” said Adams, who credits his band and clarinet professors with igniting his musical spirit. “Dr. Johnson talks about the promethean spirit where one flame can ignite or inflame another. This helped me in self-expression and appreciation of the arts, and the pedagogy and musicianship they demonstrated contributed to the cocktail that I consider to be my musical pedagogical profile.”

Teaching experience Even with the extensive preparation he received in his undergraduate studies, Adams’ first teaching position was strenuous as he was charged with rebuilding the school’s music program. Adams spent an enormous amount of time creating programs, conducting outreach, and rebuilding curriculum. His efforts were met with resounding support from the students as the program went from 48 to more than two hundred members. Despite the success, after three years Adams decided to leave the position and return to school.

“My initial interest—even before I’d gotten the job [in Denver]—was to pursue a degree in conducting, specifically in band conducting." While his interests in conducting are broad, Adams saw the im-

portance of combining conducting with music education, which led him to CSU. “It [started] making complete sense to me to have a fusion of music education and conducting,” said Adams who thought “if a university offers this, I can’t turn it down.”

The way he teaches was transformed Adams came to Colorado State in 2016, making the shift from teacher back to student. “I was no longer taking care of 220 high school students, but I knew I could become better in the [conducting] profession and its myriad of contexts,” said the alum who described the process as forging an entirely new relationship with music by “interpreting it through movement and facial expressions and the body.”

Upon graduating in 2017, Adams became a band teacher at Colorado Early Colleges (CEC) and at Colorado State where he implements his new tactics and teaching style.

“I intend to create positive rapport in the way I interact with students at a personal and emotional level,” said Adams. “I’m also following Dr. Johnson, and it’s like he built a van, [the students] are the passengers, and I am the driver, but I’m letting them take hold of the wheel too, as they are ready.”

Ultimately, Sebastian Adams has experienced a multitude of musical, educational, and personal experiences that comprise his teaching persona and is finding Colorado State a wonderful environment to continue developing as a teacher.

“It has been incredibly smooth,” said Adams about the semester so far. “I have all the professors and Dr. Goble [director of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance] to thank, and especially the senior, junior, and sophomore students to thank. I’ve received a lot of trust and high hopes from these people, and this semester has been a huge success.”

•

White, when it is put through a prism, because all of the rainbow colors come out.

FAVORITE COMPOSITION? •

A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms, first movement

FAVORITE MUSIC TO PERFORM? •

On solo clarinet, jazz and specifically Dixie

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In an ensemble, 20th century “ballads” such as Overture to the School for Scandal by Samuel Barber. I like exploring the unique ways composers approach lyrical melodies.

FAVORITE CONCEPTS TO TEACH? •

Teaching barbershop quartet style.

It’s a great way to develop one’s ear because of the chromatic intervals, but then you have to sing with me!

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Teaching the mechanics of throwing a frisbee. (I was a big Ultimate Frisbee competitor in high school, competing nationally, and I love passing on what I know to anyone at any level.)

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CURRENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS? •

Whether a colleague, or math teacher, or principal, everyone is on the same team. We should all be eager to collaborate because it propels student success.

•

Teach before pursuing a master’s degree. In your masters, you ask questions and your questions will be more informed by first teaching in public schools.

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“The way I’m teaching these students is completely different,” Adams said. “I’m not using strategies I used at [the high school] when I teach at CEC and CSU; much of what I learned was through being a teaching assistant and through woodwind techniques. My GTA-ships helped me become a better leader in the profession.”

FAVORITE COLOR?

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STUDENT NEWS

Sicong Zhou takes first place T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

CSU senior piano performance major Sicong Zhou (Frank) took first place in the Young Artist Division of the 2018-2019 Colorado Music Teachers National Association Competitions held at the University of Colorado Boulder on Saturday, Oct. 20.

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“Frank played beautifully and the judges' comments were wonderful,” said Zhou’s teacher, Music Professor Janet Landreth, Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Colorado State University. Dr. Landreth is founder and executive director of the International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival, U.S.A., an international keyboard competition and festival.

Zhou’s recent accomplishments also include a silver medal at the 2017 International Keyboard Odyssiad Competition and first place in the 2018 CSU Concerto Competition.

You can hear this accomplished student at his senior recital on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. in the Organ Recital Hall at the University Center for the Arts. The recital is free.

According to the Colorado State Music Teachers Association website (comusicteachers.net), forty-four students participated the performance competition, and four students took part in the composition contest.

“CSMTA congratulates all students who competed, and wishes the best for the winners, or alternates, as they compete once again in the West Central Division Competition.”

The video-only division round is determined later this year with the National Student Competitions held at the MTNA National Conference in Spokane, Washington, on March 16-20, 2019.

Janet Landreth and Sicong Zhou

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CLASSICAL CONVERGENCE

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BY HERMAN CHAVEZ, UCA PUBLICITY INTERN

“THREE VOICES – ONE SOUND.” (DETROIT FREE PRESS)

H

ailed as trailblazers in the world of chamber music, the ATOS piano trio is coming to Colorado State University on Nov. 7 to further showcase their unique fusion of classical voices.

Annette von Hehn (violin), Stefan Heinemeyer (cello), and Thomas Hoppe (piano) have been performing as the Berlin-based ATOS Trio since 2003. Together, they have built an ensemble that explores the depth and character of music unlike many other ensembles.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award, perhaps the most prestigious award for trio ensembles, recognized the ATOS trio in 2007. The trio also received the First Prize, Grand Prize, Musica Viva Tour Prize, and the Audience Prize at the 5th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, making history by being the first ensemble in the history of the competition to win the four prizes.

Among their numerous performing accolades, the ATOS Trio has performed programs in a variety of concert halls including Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London.

Wherever they perform, however, the ATOS Trio extends musicianship beyond the breadth of typical classical conventions.

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ATOS is an acronym of the performers names:

Annette ThOmas Stefan Classical Convergence Artists

Margaret Miller, special assistant professor of viola and coordinator of the Graduate Quartet Program at CSU, teaches chamber music literature and is involved with the process of selecting ensembles for the series. Miller explains that ensembles like the ATOS Trio shed new light on the performance of classical music.

“There is this wider community of music,” says Miller.

“It’s not just being pigeon-holed into thinking about only traditional, western music. This expansion of a musical presence is always beneficial, no matter where we are in the world. It’s what would be best for our students and for the community. It’s especially important to have variety and this series embodies a variety of performers.”

The ATOS Trio, much like other chamber ensembles that have taken part in the series, is giving masterclasses to student ensembles during their residency. Masterclasses

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At Colorado State, the ATOS Trio is performing as the second ensemble in the Classical Convergence concert series, following the Conspirare ensemble’s performance of Considering Matthew Shepard in Oct. Classical Convergence is a conglomeration of performances that highlight the classical music tradition with a contemporary edge and are co-produced by the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance alongside the Fort Collins Lincoln Center.

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typically consist of students playing their current chamber repertoire for masters in their field, and receiving feedback in a rehearsal-style setting. Through guest artist feedback and musical demonstrations, masterclasses offer students information that they can layer on top of their CSU instruction.

Both undergraduate and graduate students will perform for the ATOS Trio, receiving world-class commentary to integrate into their own chamber music rehearsal process and performance. Even the faculty take consideration of the expertise offered by these seasoned musicians.

Professor Miller remembers one of these sessions from last year’s Classical Convergence series where the ensemble “gave a really wonderful masterclass for string players about improvising and not even using instruments. Just to have a sense of what you can do with rhythm, what you can do with articulation and dynamics, was really quite fascinating. To see them work and to see the kind of performing they bring with their unique voice is what is great about chamber music.”

“I always learn something from these masterclasses,” concludes Miller. “I pick up interesting ways to tackle a problem that I hadn't really thought about before.

What I always find wonderful about masterclasses is how artists can help performers get music off the page and into the audience.”

Value for students These masterclasses are immensely meaningful for the students who perform, as well as for those who are witness to the rehearsal.

“The value is really priceless,” Miller stated emphatically.

“To get an opportunity to play for visiting ensembles, you get some new perspectives that can be a nice way to really kick-start a work in process and get ready for a performance.”

Miller also believes that the ATOS Trio in particular will provide string players with an angle they do not often consider: performing on an equal plane with a pianist.

“It fits in perfectly with the curriculum,” said Miller. “Even though we’ve got more quartets than we have piano trios, often students are going to play with pianists.

It’s really important for string players to understand repertoire that includes piano because it is a very valuable part of our repertoire.”

The program The ATOS Trio is performing repertoire by Russian composers: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor / SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873 – 1943) Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32 / ANTON ARENSKY (1861 – 1906) Three Folk Dances, Op.13b / ALEXANDER VEPRIK (1889 – 1958) Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67 / DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906 – 1975)

The concert is in Griffin Concert Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The masterclass is the following morning, Thursday, Nov. 8 from 9—11 a.m. and is open and free for the public.

★★★

CO-PRESENTED BY THE LINCOLN CENTER AND COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

★★★

Wednesday, November 7, 7:30 p.m. Organ Recital Hall, UCA SHOWING

NOW

BY

MOISÉS KAUFMAN AND THE MEMBERS OF TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT

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This international award-winning piano trio displays a warm, expressive, and unified sound

SEASON SPONSORS:

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT LCTIX.COM

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AVENIR

Avenir Museum presents a varied array of exhibitions

T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

BY JEFF DODGE, CSU EXTERNAL RELATIONS

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D

resses inspired by influential fashion designer Christian Dior. Textiles created by the indigenous Hmong people of Southeast Asia. Colorful khanga cloths worn primarily by women in Africa.

These are among the diverse exhibitions unveiled this semester at the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising at Colorado State University. Here’s a look at each, and at right is a rundown of some of the pieces featured in the rotating “New Threads” display at the Avenir Museum.

Dior’s New Look in the Everyday American Closet In November, the Denver Art Museum will debut “Dior: From Paris to the World,” and the Avenir Museum got into the spirit early by offering pieces in its own collection that reflect Dior’s “New Look” fashion silhouette, which debuted in 1947. The exhibition of dresses inspired by one of the most influential designers of the 20th century is on display until Jan. 4 in The Richard Blackwell Gallery.

Avenir Museum Curator Katie Knowles explains that even though Dior only headed his own atelier, “House of Dior,” for 10 years before his death in 1957, his influence was far-reaching among post-World War II stylesetters. His women’s apparel typically featured a tight waist, broad hips and smooth, sloping shoulders.

The Avenir Museum’s exhibition features several Dior-inspired styles arranged in groupings: casual, daytime wear, women’s suits, cocktail dresses and evening gowns. There’s everything from a poodle skirt to a creamcolored dress that belonged to former CSU President William Morgan’s wife, Lilla. One green cocktail dress by Marjorie Montgomery features stuffed fish appliques that give it a 3-D effect. A couple of display cases feature accessories and undergarments from the era.

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Cloth as Community: Hmong Textiles in America Many of the indigenous Hmong people from the mountain regions of southeast Asia have become dispersed refugees around the world due to conflict.

Knowles says this exhibition of textiles in the Avenir Museum Gallery until Dec. 21 tells the story of that displacement, as Hmong artists have adapted their traditional styles to the new cultures to which they have relocated, including America, where they sell their wares to make a living.

“Cloth as Community” is a traveling exhibition from ExhibitsUSA, a national division of the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s on display at CSU thanks to the generous support of The Sophie and Ted Aldrich Asian Textile Fund of the Avenir Museum. It was curated by Geraldine Craig, a professor of art at Kansas State University who will be speaking at the Avenir Museum at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8 as part of the Fall 2018 Evening Lecture Series.

Khanga cloths, used for everything from carrying goods to holding children to furnishing homes, date back to the late 1800s on the coast of East Africa, but have since spread around Africa and parts of Arabia. They each feature a saying or proverb, usually in Kiswahili, that is used as a way for women to express themselves and communicate with their partners, friends and other members of their community.

Knowles says the cloths have served as a symbol of wealth and status used in settings as disparate as weddings and funerals. In everyday life, she explains, women have used different khanga cloths to transmit messages like “I don’t care that you’re gossiping about me” or “We should always be together.” One set of the cloths on display in the UCA gallery shows the face of former President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, with the words, “Love and peace come from God.” The Avenir Museum is located at 216 E. Lake St. It is based in the Department of Design and Merchandising, which is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.

“New Threads” is a constantly revolving collection of some of the Avenir Museum’s most recent acquisitions.

The lead-off piece this fall is the military glider uniform donated by World War II veteran Jim Ingram earlier this year. Ingram, a CSU alumnus and professor emeritus in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, wore the uniform during his sole glider flight into Germany as part of the 17th Airborne Division’s Operation Varsity in 1945.

Other items in this round of “New Threads” include a poke bonnet from the 1840s, baby carriers used by the Miao people of China, a women’s brown-checked suit from the 1940s, a contemporary textile wall hanging by CSU alumna and artist Susan Iverson, and a woman’s beaded bodice from the early 1900s.

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Geometrically patterned cloths showcase the traditional format, while embroidered story cloths with rough English narration exemplify the evolution of the craft in the U.S. Some are simple colorful squares with borders of repeating triangles; others tell stories with human and animal figures.

One shows typical farm scenes, another depicts the birth of Jesus Christ. One of the largest and most complex, “Tiger Fable,” combines both figures and English text to tell the story of a tiger that eats a man, then impersonates him in order to kill his family, but is eventually trapped and killed thanks to a heroine sister-in-law.

‘Armed with Proverbs’: Khanga Cloth in Africa This exhibition, located in the Avenir Gallery in the University Center for the Arts, gets its name from a 2008 poem called “I am Khanga” by Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo (aka Khwezi) of South Africa. The piece addresses the purpose and power of khanga cloths, which are lightweight printed cotton fabrics worn primarily by women across East Africa.

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CLA DEVELOPMENT

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GREAT CONVERSATIONS:

CSU FACULTY EXPLORE RIGOR AND IMAGINATION, VALUE OF LIBERAL ARTS

By Kelly McDonnell College of Liberal Arts, Donor Relations and Operations Coordinator

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Three disciplines, three unique perspectives The panelists for the Great Conversations Kickoff represent three distinct disciplines of the Liberal Arts. Madeline Harvey is an assistant professor of dance; Sammy Zahran is an assistant professor of economics, and Dan Beachy-Quick is a professor of English. Each presenter opened with a statement that revealed their individual perspectives about what makes the liberal arts valuable.

In his opening remarks, Zahran reflected that society today is undergoing a great rupture of trust and confidence.

“Because the country is divided increasingly into distinct communities of spirit, food is no longer entirely about nutrition, clothes are not about comfort, news is not about information, and similarly our politics is not about policy.”

Zahran poses that these things are about signaling our status, our commitment to the groups we belong to and

about raising or demoting the relative status of these groups and ourselves. In such a world, Zahran believes, the liberal arts are vital.

Beachy-Quick called on the imagination of past poets to remind us that imagination is the key to having an open mind. He shares that he worries that we have an atrophied sense of what imagination is and the role imagination plays in our day to day thinking.

He explains: “That we tend to have a suspicion that the student overly given to imagination is one who is removing him or herself from the fundaments of reality.” Beachy-Quick suspects, however, that imagination is an effort of human consciousness to return back to what is “so obviously and wonderfully in front of us.”

Harvey rounded out the introduction by involving the audience in an interpretive dance activity. She showed (instead of told) the audience how imagination, expression, and movement can be critical to understanding. Harvey illuminated that through the liberal arts, we co-create our reality, we collaborate, and allow space for diverse opinions, interpretations, and ideas to come together.

“We teach and we practice mindfulness, social and emotional availability, vulnerability, and risk taking. All of which are things I find absolutely essential to navigating this complex and polarized world in which we’re living,” shared Harvey.

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e live in a time of great change, including in our politics, policies, and in some cases, even our values. To meet these challenges, CSU continues to foster learning that develops our students into deep thinkers, who have the ability to move beyond polarization and create real, positive change. During the hour and a half Great Conversations 2018 Season Kickoff, three College of Liberal Arts faculty had a conversation with community members about just that: how rigor and imagination can be used as robust tools for uniting a polarized society and shaping the future of our world.

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The Liberal Arts are not alone Toward the end of the evening, a College of Liberal Arts student proposed that it’s not entirely fair to claim that the liberal arts is the only college that has soul and imagination. She suggested, “if we are trying to work toward a less polarized society, we have to realize that all colleges on this campus embody as much soul as ours.” Her advice resonated among the audience.

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Dean Benjamin C. Withers echoed this sentiment. He shared that in the land-grant tradition on which this university was founded, there was an emphasis on three things: agricultural education, mechanical education, and the liberal arts.

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“The liberal arts were there from the birth of the university…there are elements of liberal arts in all disciplines” – from biology and math to the basics of agricultural sciences. He continued by saying that it’s through the liberal arts that we have an understanding of who we are and how we connect to the world around us, and ultimately become better thinkers and better citizens.

(TOP) Dean Withers (BOTTOM) Dan Beachy-Quick, professor of English and Madeline Harvey, assistant professor of dance

Another audience member summed up the evening with insightful eloquence: “We have to have the imagination to imagine a better world and to come up with strategies and ways of moving forward. Without imagination we are stuck where we are, and the world will never improve.”

Join in more Great Conversations

“If we are trying to work toward a less polarized society, we have to realize that all colleges on this campus embody as much soul as ours” — MADELINE HARVEY

Now entering its 23rd year, the Great Conversations program is a community of engaged learners who receive unique access to learn from liberal arts faculty about their research, explore the latest scholarship out of the College of Liberal Arts, and participate in lively discussion around topics of local, national, and global importance.

For more information about Great Conversations and upcoming events, visit: www.libarts.colostate.edu/alumni-giving/great-conversations

In celebration of the 10TH ANNIVERSARY of

THE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS you can add your name to the history of this community treasure

With a gift of $250 to a music, theatre, or dance scholarship, your name will be placed on a seat in the theatre of your choice.

NAME A SEAT today!

nameaseat.colostate.edu

NAME A SEAT IN THE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

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Your Name a Seat gift supports a School of Music, Theatre, and Dance scholarship, which helps attract the finest artistic talent to CSU and enables students to pursue their dreams of artistic and academic excellence.

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Something Old, Something New Russian pianist Yakov Kasman, 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition silver medalist will perform a duo-piano concert with his 18-year-old daughter, Dina as part of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance’s Guest Artist Series.

PROGRAM Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914

by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) —Dina Kasman

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Fantasia in F minor for Piano four-hands, D. 940

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Patrons may recall Kasman’s brilliant performance with daughter Aleksandra during the inaugural International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival, held at the University Center for the Arts in 2012. The renowned pianist returns to the UCA for a free concert in mid-November.

by Franz Schubert (1897-1828) —Dina and Yakov Kasman

Kasman, a graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and former professor of piano at the Music College of the Conservatory, is now the distinguished professor of piano and artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama (UAB). Kasman has fifteen studio CD recordings on the Calliope label. International Piano Quarterly selected his CD, Pictures at an Exhibition, as one of the 14 best classical piano recordings over the past 75 years.

Prelude in C sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2

Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14

by Sergey Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), arr. by Allan Richardson (1904-1978) —Yakov Kasman

by Sergey Rachmaninoff Prelude in G sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12 Prelude in G Minor, Op.23, No. 5 —Yakov Kasman INTERMISSION Sonata for Piano Four Hands

by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

Dina Kasman, an honors student at UAB, has won several competitions herself, including MTNA competitions and Alabama Symphony concerto competitions. She has participated in the Kiev International Music Academy in Ukraine in 2013, 2016, and 2018, performing as a soloist with the National Symphony of Ukraine.

Mäßig bewegt Lebhaft Ruhig bewegt —Dina and Yakov Kasman Etude Op. 40, No. 1, “Prelude”

by Nikolai Kapustin (b. 1937)

The Kasmans will perform works by J.S. Bach, Sergey Rachmaninaoff, Paul Hindemith, and Nikolai Kapustin, as well as duo pieces by Hindemith, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Franz Schubert.

Etude Op. 40, No. 8, “Finale” —Dina Kasman

The Something Old, Something New concert takes place on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Organ Recital Hall. The event is free and tickets are not required.

Grande Tarantelle, Op. 67

“Suite 1922,” Op. 26

by Paul Hindemith —Yakov Kasman

by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) —Dina and Yakov Kasman

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Dina and Yakov Kasman

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Stop by and see us in the Lory Student Center, next to the RamCard Office, to open a First National Free Checking Account and get your CSU Visa Debit Card on the spot.

Learn more at 1stnationalbank.com/CSU

Member FDIC

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 EVENTS STORY & STUDIO AT THE MUSEUM Thursday, NOVEMBER 1, 2018 10 A.M.

MUSIC IN THE MUSEUM CONCERT SERIES Tuesday, NOVEMBER 27, 2018 NOON and 6 P.M. Free with reservation: artmuseum.colostate.edu

Pop-up exhibition of Andy Warhol’s work in the Gregory Allicar Museum Permanent Collection with tours in English and Spanish. Art activities and giveaways all day.

SEMESTER AT SEA RECEPTION in conjunction with the exhibition CROSSING BOUNDARIES: Reflections on Semester at Sea Thursday NOVEMBER 29, 2018 5 P.M. Robert W. Hoffert Learning Center and The Griffin Foundation Gallery

STUDENT ART HOLIDAY SALE Wednesday, DECEMBER 5, 2018 10 A.M. - 6 P.M. Thursday, DECEMBER 6, 2018 10 A.M. - 7:30 P.M. Robert W. Hoffert Learning Center

THE GREGORY ALLICAR MUSEUM OF ART WILL BE CLOSED DURING CSU FALL AND WINTER RECESS

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

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SÁBADO WARHOL Saturday, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 10 A.M. - 6 P.M. Robert W. Hoffert Learning Center

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GREGORY ALLICAR

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M A F F O CSU presents Sábado Warhol for one day in November

The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University is hosting Sábado Warhol on Saturday, Nov. 10, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Centered around a one-day pop-up exhibition of works of art by Andy Warhol from the museum’s permanent collection, the program is organized by Francisco Leal, associate professor in CSU’s Department of Languages, Literature and Cultures. The one-day program features tours of the exhibition in Spanish and in English, and Warhol-related screenings, music, art activities, and giveaways.

The Sábado Warhol program is part of the ongoing commitment of Gregory Allicar Museum of Art to serve both the university and its larger community, providing a welcoming engagement with the visual arts for all. As Leal explained, “The art of Andy Warhol is universal, and promoting a bilingual event at the museum, a place that stimulates inclusiveness, is a magnificent way to emphasize that universality of art and the diversity of communities that art can create.”

Now one of the most famous artists of all time, Andy Warhol’s name has become synonymous with the artistic style known as Pop art. Developed in the 1960s and drawing on imagery from popular sources, often mass media.

Andy Warhol

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ME

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Andy Warhol Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928 – New York City, New York, 1987 Joseph Beuys, 1980–1983 Screen print on Lenox Museum Board Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 2013.8.4

“Warhol’s Soup Can has probably become a more recognizable work of art than Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.

He certainly has a special place here.”

— Dr. Lynn Boland

Andy Warhol Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928 – New York City, New York, 1987 Flowers (Yellow/Green), 1970 Screen print on paper Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, gift of Polly and Mark Addison, 2017.1.16

“We’ll show classic Warhol — brightly-colored, screen-

time when art was dominated by abstraction.

printed flowers and portraits — but we’ll also show some

“Warhol’s Soup Can has probably become a more recognizable work of art than Leonardo’s Mona Lisa,” said Dr. Lynn Boland, the director and chief curator of the museum. “He certainly has a special place here.”

Warhol visited Colorado State University in 1981 when collectors John and Kimiko Powers helped organize an exhibition of his work, which occasioned the commission of the large soup can sculpture now located in front of the University Center for the Arts, the museum’s home.

of his lesser-known styles,” said Boland. “We’ll have one of my favorite works on view: a collage of Campbell’s soup can labels that he signed repeatedly. It makes wonderful connections with the colossal soup can in front of our building, which became a work by Warhol when he signed it during his visit.”

The program also includes a special preview of a project underway at CSU by filmmaker Frank Boring, who was hired to produce a film for PBS for the 150th anniversary of the university in 2020. One-inch videotapes from Andy

The Allicar Museum has extensive holdings of Warhol’s

Warhol’s 1981 visit to CSU were among the wealth of

art, thanks to donations of his work from the Powers, from

media uncovered by Boring, featuring hours of footage

Polly and Mark Addison in Boulder, and a gift of art from

that includes interviews with the often-reclusive artist. For

the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in 2008

Sábado Warhol, Boring will introduce the project and screen

consisting of Polaroid photographs, gelatin silver photos,

never-before-seen footage of Warhol at CSU.

and screen prints. The Sábado Warhol exhibition features 18 works by the artist: six prints, six Polaroids, and six gelatin silver photos.

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Pop artists brought back recognizable subject matter at a

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Andy Warhol Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928 – New York City, New York, 1987 Soup Can, ca. 1980 Collage on paper with ink on paper Transfer from the Department of Art, CSU, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, gift of John and Kimiko Powers, 1991.1

CSU College Liaison Librarian and Assistant Professor Jimena Sagas will spin records from the university library that feature images by Warhol on their covers, along with other Warhol-related music. Visitors will be able to take Pop-art selfies and make Warhol-themed works of art of their own. Rare catalogues of Warhol’s 1981 exhibition at CSU will be given away in drawings throughout the day.

Few of these catalogues remain and none are available for sale. Even rarer, one poster from the 1981 exhibition will go

PROGRAM 10:30 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. VISITA GUIADA EN ESPAÑOL Y EN INGLÉS Guided tour in Spanish and English 11:30 A.M. – 12:0O P.M. PROYECCIÓN DE DOCUMENTAL WARHOL AT CSU Warhol at CSU, Documentary Screening 12:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.

ESTACIÓN DE AUTOFOTOS Y DJ Selfie Station and DJ

2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.

VISITA GUIADA EN ESPAÑOL Y EN INGLÉS Guided tour in Spanish and English

to a lucky visitor.

3:00 P.M. – 3:3O P.M. PROYECCIÓN DEL DOCUMENTAL WARHOL AT CSU Warhol at CSU, Documentary Screening

More information is available at bit.ly/sabadowarhol.

3:30 P.M. – 6:0O P.M. MONTAJE DE VIDEO POP Pop-video montage

The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art is always free and open to all. The museum invites individuals to engage with art and each other to inspire fresh perspectives and wonder. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and critical thinking that instills a passion for learning. The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art is located in the University Center for the Arts, just east of College Avenue. The address is 1400 Remington Street, Colorado State University, CD 1778, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1778. The museum is open Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Thursdays until 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit artmuseum.colostate.edu or call (970) 491-1989.

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Andy Warhol Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1928 – New York City, New York, 1987 Kimiko, 1981 Screen print on paper Transfer from the Department of Art, CSU, Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, gift of John and Kimiko Powers, 2009.4

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CSU THEATRE

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WATER TAKES CENTER STAGE IN CSU THEATRE’S LATEST PRODUCTION

Big Love by Charles Mee, with its three women (and 47 sisters) fleeing their homeland of Greece to escape forced marriages to men they have never met, has been called a big, beautiful, fantastic mess. Just like love.

Or perhaps like water…

November’s theatre production not only features actors and technicians from the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Colorado State University, water also plays a major role in the on-stage dynamic. Unlike the script, however, everything is being done to keep the water in check.

Creative teams have successfully incorporated both projected and actual water into theatre and opera productions at CSU for many years, from a running water pump in The Miracle Worker by William Gibson to onstage rain in The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams to projected bodies of water in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

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BY JENNIFER CLARY JACOBS

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"The physical location of the play is a patio of an Italian villa so a bathtub doesn’t make sense, unless you’re in a Cialis ad!”

— ROGER HANNA

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For the current play, where the script called for a bathtub, CSU Theatre devised an 8’ pool center stage. “The script is loosie goosey,” declared set designer Roger Hanna, assistant professor of theatre. “The playwright lets you change the music, change the lines, change the ending, whatever, it’s all fine with him. The physical location of the play is a patio of an Italian villa so a bathtub doesn’t make sense, unless you’re in a Cialis ad!”

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The oval-shaped pool also lends itself to being an attractive obstacle on an otherwise fairly bare stage. “Your job as a set designer is to create obstacles so the director can have the cast make different choices about their movement, like going left or right around the pool, or even through the pool,” explained Hanna about his dual-purpose design solution. “When you design a set, you don’t do it in the way most people organize a living room with stuff against the walls,” he added. “Basically you’re trying to arrange the furniture in the least efficient way possible and make a variety of paths.”

When water is at center stage, the key to success is collaboration between the multiple theatrical shops.

“As a technical director, two things instantly come to mind when someone says ‘water’ in a production meeting,” said Steven Workman, CSU Theatre’s

technical director, about Hanna’s idea.

“Safety and weight!”

Safety is paramount, especially in Big Love where there are multiple fights and even a murder. “It’s just a play and we don’t want anyone to get hurt, so we’re trying to be very careful about who is going in the pool, and when, and that the cast is aware of the presence of water,” Hanna said.

Workman agreed. “Water can create very slippery surfaces on the stage that actors who are focused on their performance aren’t necessarily thinking about, so it is our jobs as technicians to make it as safe and as feasible as possible.”

The region of the country determines water’s hard or softness, impacting its weight, which is approximately 8.345 pounds per gallon. At 3’ x 8’ x 2’ deep and holding 340 gallons, Big Love’s pool weighs about 3,000 pounds with an actor in it, driving the set design as well as its construction.

“You’d spend an awful lot of money to support more than a ton of water, so we dropped the pool to the floor and are building a platform around it,” explained Hanna, barely touching on the laundry list of issues the use of water created for the production team.

“Luckily for us—and probably the only time I will ever say it—the floor in the

studio theatre is half wood and half concrete, so we’ve placed the tank on the concrete portion of the floor so we will have no problem supporting all of that weight,” said Workman. “Yeah,” added Hanna, “The cement side of the floor is usually a nightmare because we can’t adhere anything [to it] without messing up the cement and having to patch it. So for once, the floor is going to help us out.”

Although the designers had a quick support solution, the tank surround presented layers of complications.

With a mind toward conservation, CSU Theatre reuses stock elements, like platforms and stairs, when making sets.

“The water can’t splash on the platform.

We don’t want to get stock platforms wet because they warp, and then have to be tossed, and then we’re not the green university,” Hanna went on.

Heidi Larson, instructor of scenic painting, had the answer—edging the pool with painted ‘tiles.’ Larson tested various waterproof paints and clearcoated the entire floor with four coats of poly urethane, protecting the tile dressing, the platform, and the studio’s partial wood floor below.

And what if the tub were to leak?

Workman ensures that It won’t, but if it were, that tricky safety element comes up again as nothing electric can be on the ground. CSU Theatre’s master

electrician, theatre alum Dan Minzer, dressed cables higher than usual, working with the lighting designer, junior theatre major Ray McGowan, on elevating those elements as well.

Director Eric Prince contributed his own complications as he envisioned the murder taking place in the pool.

While certainly dramatic, introducing theatrical blood would involve draining, cleaning, and refilling the tank every day, using vast amounts of hot water or requiring a pool heater, neither being practical or demonstrating conservation.

“The projection designer, [director of Theatre, Price Johnston], determined that he can use projected blood instead of trying to get the water to a comfortable temperature by showtime,” said Hanna, checking off one more issue, but creating another one in true whack-amole style, namely storing 340 gallons of water on stage during one week of tech and two weeks of performances without it stagnating.

“As we were talking about these challenges, Gia [Pizzichini], our hair and makeup designer, remarked that she had worked for a pool company for a year and could get advice. When you talk about problems as a group, usually someone has an idea or solution.” While pool chemicals could keep the water sufficiently clear, they created concerns for the costume shop should water splash on the clothes.

“As it pertains to water and costumes, people often forget the fundamentals of fibers and the fact that certain fabrics bleach or shrink when they get wet,” said Costume Shop Manager Elise Kulovany, highlighting this ground rule with junior theatre major Laura Myers, the show’s costume designer, advising her to source polyester dresses and avoid fibers that don’t play nicely with water, such as silk and leather, which tend to spot.

Another factor in Kulovany’s selection process, in reference to the use of water, is the vision of the director who may want someone to appear soaking wet—

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Night of the Iguana, 2014, CSU Theatre / Photo by John Eisele

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impeded when certain fabrics absorb water or wick away moisture—or want someone wet one scene and dry the next. “This is where theatre magic steps in and we practice our ideas until they create the desired effect or the vision is tweaked to accommodate what’s possible,” she said.

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For Big Love, the costume shop practiced multiple scenarios, yet water never behaves quite the same way twice. Kulovany reiterated the collaborative theme when explaining how difficult the element is to control. “As is the case with most efforts in theatre, communication is key. Talk early. Talk often. Figure out if everyone is still on the same page during the entire process. This is the only way water doesn’t become [our] worst enemy.”

While Big Love examines some of the world’s most enduring questions about love and marriage, incorporating water into the production was slightly easier to solve. “Everyone has to agree on these things,” said Hanna. “It’s a super fun project to work on as long as everyone knows about it from the beginning. We could never just add it at the end!”

Big Love, by Charles Mee Directed by Eric Prince November 9, 10, 15, 16, 7:30 p.m.; matinees on November 11, 17, 2 p.m.

Studio Theatre, University Center for the Arts Tickets: csuartstickets.com

Dan Minzer lighting the water in order to determine if projected blood was feasible.

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C H ARL E S L. MEE

N OT YO U R AV E R AG E P L AY W R I G H T

By Emily Kaiser, UCA Publicity Intern Charles L. Mee is an award-winning author and playwright from Evanston, Illinois. The Harvard graduate’s writing style spans comedies and romances to dance theatre pieces to tragedies and historical plays, and the list goes on from there. CSU Theatre will present one of the author’s most prominent plays, Big Love, on Nov. 9-17 at the University Center for the Arts.

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How it all started

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In addition to a playwright, Mee is also an established author and historian, known for reconstructing old texts and re-shaping stories into something more contemporary. Mee’s career began in 1961 when he worked for American Heritage publishing and later at Horizon: A Magazine of the Arts as an editor. He began writing books and plays in 1965, and in the following years, had many of his works published. Early in his career, Mee’s priorities heavily shifted into anti-Vietnam War politics, which led to a 20-year hiatus from theatrical writing. During his political activism, he focused on writing political history pieces for the public. When Mee returned to playwriting in ‘85, he collaborated with Martha Clarke to produce Vienna: Lusthaus as his first theatre script in two-decades. Mee’s re-found motivation directed him to become the editor-in-chief at Rebus, Inc., as well as continue writing books. As Mee’s career progressed, he wrote endless awardwinning titles in an assortment of genres. Mee currently teaches theatre and playwrighting at the Columbia University School of the Arts in New York.

Mee’s Vision A man with a variety of abstract perspectives and values, Mee gains inspiration as a playwright from a multitude of topics including history, philosophy, insanity, inattention, distractedness, judicial theory, sudden violent passion, lyricism, the National Inquirer, nostalgia, longing, aspiration, literacy criticism, anguish, confusion, and inability as mentioned online on his website (charlesmee.org).

What makes Mee so unique is his generosity and openness with his work. Each of his scripts are available online, at no charge, for directors and the public to use and mold in fresh, new ways. He encourages others to use his texts as resources to create different renditions of his stories and bring characters to life in unfamiliar ways.

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“Please feel free to take the plays from this website and use them freely as a resource for your own work: that is to say, don’t just make some cuts or rewrite a few passages…but pillage the plays as I have pillaged structures and contents of the play of Euripides and Brecht…and build your own, entirely new, piece – and then, please put your own name to the work that results,” Mee states on his organization’s site, titled “the (re)making project.”

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Because he is comfortable sharing his talent with the rest of the world, National Public Radio gave Mee the title of “Public-Domain Playwright” in 2000.

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Mee’s is a diverse approach to developing and casting his productions. “There is not a single role in anyone of my plays that must be played by a physically intact white person. And directors should go very far out of their way to avoid creating the bizarre, artificial world of all intact white people, a world that no longer exists where I live, in casting my plays,” Mee expressed.

Mee prefers his plays to be unrealistic, and not always make sense; he does this as a reflection of his real life. “I like plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable. My plays are broken, jagged, filled with things that take sudden turns, careen into each other, smash up, veer off in sickening turns,” he clarified. With such a messy vision, Mee presents his ideas in ways that are more palatable by putting them into classical, or Greek structures, or “a beautiful dance theatre piece, or some other effort at civilization,” he justified.

Achievements With more than 45 plays and 13 books, Mee has provided his fans with an extensive amount of entertainment and artistry. His work sustains generous support from Richard B. Fisher and Jeanne Donovan Fisher. He has received tremendous recognition for his work including a Lifetime Achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two Obie Awards for Vienna: Lusthaus (1986) and Big love (2002), the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, and the Fisher Award from the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

These are just a handful of Mee’s accomplishments.

CSU Theatre Presents Big Love Big Love is a modern re-make of Aeschylus’s The Danaids. The play is about 50 brides who escape on a boat to Italy from Greece in order to resist marrying their cousins. As the production progresses, a wild series of events occur that leave the audience puzzled and intrigued. In Big Love, Mee brings a traditional Greek tale into the modern world by using concepts of gender politics, love, and domestic violence as we recognize them today.

Big Love takes place at the University Center for the Arts in the University Theatre, Nov. 9, 10, 15, and 16 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 11 and 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets are free for CSU students and $10 for and can be reserved online at csuartstickets.universitytickets.com or at the UCA box office Monday–Friday from 3:30–5:30 p.m.

“I like plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable. My plays are broken, jagged, filled with things that take sudden turns, careen into each other, smash up, veer off in sickening turns” — CHARLES L. MEE

THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS A

N E W

P L A Y

B Y

C H A R L E S

L . M E E

OPENING

Love will tear us apart.

I S S UE 3 0, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8 / T H E GRE E N ROO M T HE UN IVERS ITY C ENT ER F OR T HE ARTS

Nov. 9

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2018 FALL DANCE CONCERT T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

by Jennifer Clary Jacobs

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This fall, the choreography of CSU’s new director of dance is gracing the University Dance Theatre stage for the first time. Emily Morgan’s piece, fly in elegant mobs, is being showcased alongside choreographic innovations by the late Salvatore Aiello, CSU faculty, and select students. The concert takes place on Nov. 9-10.

Inspired by the poem Migration by Bianca Stone, fly in elegant mobs captures Morgan’s interest in the movement of flocking birds. Morgan found the poet’s juxtaposition of ‘elegant’ and ‘mob’ perfectly encapsulated in words what she wanted to portray through choreography.

THE MOVEMENT OF A MOB “We think of mobs as unruly, but here, there is grace and order, and that was the driving factor,” said Morgan, who is new to Fort Collins and has been fascinated by the flight patterns of the geese that are plentiful near her home north of town. “The dancers are moving in and out of their mob or their flock and hopefully the ways they move appear unpredictable and surprising to the audience.”

Throughout the dance, dark clouds and birds pass in and out of each other representing the murmuration of starlings, where thousands of birds fly in coordinated patterns. Morgan has enjoyed watching the students experiment with movement, especially after watching videos of this phenomenon.

I S S UE 3 0, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8 / T H E GRE E N ROO M T HE UN IVERS ITY C ENT ER F OR T HE ARTS

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“I’m excited about the diversity in the program, Snow brings some holiday cheer into the production" — EMILY MORGAN.

“As the students play with their movement, they start seeing what’s happening in the dance and are excited about making the connection,” said Morgan, who went on to explain the specific impact on the dance’s lift sequences. “When it comes to the lifts where we’re trying to get the quality of flight, when they’ve made the connection, the lifts have changed and better reflect that idea.”

spanning the 60s and 70s with dance companies such as Joffrey Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Hamburg Ballet, Aiello went on to become artistic director of North Carolina Dance Theatre until his untimely death in 1995. During his tenure, he created dozens of works, some of which remain available today for performance or reconstruction.

“Sal’s work is timeless. It provides an ideal framework within which dancers can explore and develop unique artistic voices,” said Madeline Harvey, assistant professor of dance.

T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

Through movement, such as the lifts, Morgan incorporated additional captivating dichotomies from the poem as the author explores the beautiful, unexpected, and ugly aspects of nature and human coexistence.

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Morgan represented this in the piece by switching up the predictable dance functions where males lift females. “As long as we’re doing it in an efficient way, everyone can be lifted. Some of them are getting used to a new role and have never been lifted or done the lifting. Size doesn’t matter and this is exciting.”

The composition of the auditioned group has also been significant, and Morgan especially enjoys that every year (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior) is embodied in the ensemble of one male and eight female dancers. “That’s been cool to get them out of their usual relationships with each other,” said Morgan. fly in elegant mobs is set to music by Mark Lewis, a friend and former colleague of Professor Morgan’s from Winthrop University. He originally wrote the two pieces for dance and, for Morgan, “the light, somewhat incessant rhythm with the violin sort of flying over the marimba” were a perfect pairing.

A DANCE LEGACY The 2018 Fall Dance Concert also includes three works by the late Salvatore Aiello. With an illustrious performance career

Jerri Kumery, Salvatore Aiello Trust curator and repetiteur, visited CSU in Sept. for a week-long residency, setting choreography on the students. In collaboration with CSU faculty artists Madeline and Matthew Harvey, three of Aiello’s works make their Colorado debut at the concert.

Salvatore Aiello

“I’m excited about the diversity in the program,” exclaimed Morgan. “Snow brings some holiday cheer into the production and is Aiello’s version of the dance from The Nutcracker.”

Kumery also restaged two of Aiello’s works specifically for CSU Dance: Senza Freta is lively, quick, and quirky and The Waiting Room is a smaller, more serious, but equally engaging piece.

The process of incorporating guest choreography for one piece, much less three, is intense as Kumery concentrated everything she could possibly teach the students into just one week. According to Morgan, learning a dance in on week is difficult, plus there is some anxiety caused by the gap between the residency and the actual performance. “Internalizing reactions between performers in the space, the steps, everything, is extremely challenging in a week,” claimed Morgan who is grateful for the extra rehearsal time, allowing Kumery’s knowledge to be distilled.

The success of the performance is also feasible through the extensive notetaking on the part of Madeline and Matthew Harvey, who were entrusted with the rehearsals following the

DESIGN BY MIKE SOLO, 2018

THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS

2018

I S S UE 3 0, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8 / T H E GRE E N ROO M T HE UN IVERS ITY C ENT ER F OR T HE ARTS

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THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE PRESENTS S E N I O R

D A N C E

C A P S T O N E

C O N C E R T

FIVE STORIES IN MOTION DEC. 7 , 7:30 P.M. | DEC. 8, 2 P.M. & 7:30 P.M.

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M A RT I NE K M A DI S ON

T RE NCHA RD

YORK M OHA M M E D

JE NNY

DOY L E K AT E LY N

CAS S I E

T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

E RON

UNIVERSITY DANCE THEATRE | CSUARTSTICKETS.COM

photography by Jackie Nunnally

residency. “It is a great responsibility to the people rehearsing the piece to maintain the standards,” Morgan explained. “To make sure that what goes on stage is what Jerry [Kumery] intended and also what Aiello intended…it is the carrying forward of this great legacy.

“Being here the last three months, just the work ethic and performance abilities of all of our students are things that have really impressed me so far, and I’m excited to see that get pushed further. It usually does in performance and I’m excited to see how they carry themselves on stage,” said Morgan gratefully. “That will be amazing to see.”

WAIT, THERE’S MORE On the concert, Madeline and Matthew Harvey are also premiering a new pas de deux by Delia Neil, associate professor of Dance at University of North Carolina at Charlotte; five student pieces representing the best choreographic student work at CSU, round out the concert.

“There is a great range between Aiello’s contemporary work, the Harvey’s ballet, and the student pieces, which range from an emotional, serious duet to a lighthearted, less angsty modern dance piece,” described Morgan, who is excited to see the pieces come to life on stage as a fully realized concert.

CSU’s technical shops have massively contributed to making the comprehensive vision a reality and Morgan greatly appreciates the extraordinary commitment to the concert by theatre students, staff, and faculty.

DATES AND TICKETS The 2018 Fall Dance Concert takes place in the University Dance Theatre at the University Center for the Arts on Friday, Nov. 9, and Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.

Tickets for the nightly performances are no charge/CSU students, $10/ youth (under 18), $16/senior (62+), $18/adult. In celebration of the UCA 10th anniversary season, tickets for the matinee are $10/pubic, and no charge/CSU students. www.csuartstickets.com

I S S UE 3 0, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8 / T H E GRE E N ROO M T HE UN IVERS ITY C ENT ER F OR T HE ARTS

1967 from the 2018 Spring Dance Concert, Madeline and Matthew Harvey

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T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

A HOLIDAY GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING Name a Seat in the University Center for the Arts after your loved one this holiday season.

You can give a holiday gift that celebrates your loved one’s passion for the performing arts and makes a meaningful impact on the next generation of CSU students.

With a gift of $250 to a School of Music, Theatre, and Dance scholarship, your loved one’s name will be placed on a plaque on a seat in the theatre of your choice. When you Name a Seat as a holiday gift, you will receive a holiday card and envelope that you can use to announce this special gift.

Not only will your CSU fan become a part of University Center for the Arts and Colorado State University history, but your scholarship support is also a gift to future CSU students, providing access to a performing arts education.

Get ahead of your holiday shopping and

NAME A SEAT TODAY AT N A M E A S E A T . C O L O S T A T E . E D U

I S S UE 3 0, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8 / T H E GRE E N ROO M T HE UN IVERS IT Y C EN TE R FOR T HE A RTS

Looking for a unique holiday gift?

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T HE UN IVE RSI TY C ENT E R F OR T HE ARTS THE GRE E N R OOM / I S S UE 30, N OV EM B ER 2 0 1 8

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THINKING ABOUT A GIFT FOR A CSU MARCHING BAND FAN? NAME A SEAT WITH A GIFT TO THE MARCHING BAND SCHOLARSHIP! This marching band alumna honored her passion for music and her fond memories of CSU by naming a seat in the Griffin Concert Hall.

When I learned about the opportunity to Name a Seat in the University Center for the Arts, I reflected upon my time at Colorado State University and thought this would be the perfect way to honor the many fond memories that I had in music at CSU. Although I was a Pre-Med/Pre-Vet student with minors in anatomical science and music, music was a HUGE and the VERY BEST part of my college experience. I took advantage of every opportunity I could to play music including marching band, jazz band, wind ensemble, concert band, pep band, musical theater, accompanying the choir, and traveled on band trips. I LIVED for music!

Some of the best memories of my life were from musical experiences at CSU. I especially loved performing at my end of the year recitals and playing in the stands and at the tailgate event at the football games. Through the years, I have returned several times to perform with the Alumni Marching Band as part of homecoming activities and it is always great to play with the CSU drum line once again.

I thought: how cool to have someone attend a concert, sit in my seat, and wonder who was Karen Newell, where is she, and what is she doing now? I would love to come back to visit my seat and enjoy a concert. — Karen Newell (B.S. Biological Science and Zoology ’86)

T H E S C H O O L O F M U S I C , T H E A T R E , A N D D A N C E P R E S E N T S

PROCEEDS SUPPORT CSU MUSIC

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 29, 7 P.M. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 4 P.M.

GRIFFIN CONCERT HALL, UCA C S U A R T S T I C K E T S . C O M

IS S U E 30, NOV EM B ER 2 018 / THE GRE E N R OO M TH E UN IV E RS I TY CE N T E R F O R T HE A RTS

Kick off the holiday season with our family-friendly and popular annual presentation! Featuring performances from the CSU Symphony Orchestra and Choirs, faculty soloists, and a visit from Santa, this charming evening of traditional, secular, and sacred holiday music is a celebration of community, and includes something for all ages to enjoy.

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★★★

CO-PRESENTED BY THE LINCOLN CENTER AND COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

STARRING:

ROB PAULSEN / Yakko JESS HARNELL / Wakko MAURICE LAMARCHE / Brain

One of the most beloved and endearing cartoon shows comes to life!

with WES KENNEY and the CSU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Friday, February 8, 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Center TICKETS AVAILABLE AT LCTIX.COM

★★★