Archives
Spring break in France
UB students, faculty to participate in French theater festival
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
A delegation of UB students and faculty will spend spring break in France, representing UB and the United States at the 12th International Festival of Theatre (Rencontres Internationales du Théâtre) at the Université de Franche-Comté in Besançon, France.
The delegation is participating in the French theater festival, being held March 11-15, under the auspices of the International Artistic & Cultural Exchange (IACE) Program of the Department of Theatre & Dance, founded and directed by Maria S. Horne, associate professor of theatre and dance.
During the festival, the Université de Franche-Comté will host about 10 different student groups from France and from around the world—a total of between 130 and 150 students. Two or three groups will perform on each day of the festival, presenting a play in their own language. "On the following day there is an open discussion of the plays performed," Horne said. "The basic aim of this festival is educational and to achieve improvement through feedback and workshops. There is also, of course, a festive aspect to it all, in that students will have the opportunity to meet others from different countries who share the same enthusiasm for the theatre."
Horne, who has been actively involved in international performing arts during the past two decades and serves as vice president of the International University Theatre Association, which is co-sponsoring the French event, said she has been invited to bring a student group to this festival on several occasions. She was forced to decline the invitation last year due to the events of Sept. 11, but jumped at the chance this year when the invitation was extended again.
"Our participation in the 12th Rencontres is both a great honor to represent our country and our university, and a unique experience that will forever change the students who benefit from it," she says.
The students agree.
"I am elated and honored to be included in the 2003 international theatre festival," says Catherine Lynch, a theatre and dance student. "I believe that art is one of the highest forms of expression. It is a universal language, as well as tool to convey uniqueness and cultural identity. I hope that through my experience at the international theatre festival in Besançon, I will be able to enlighten, as well as be enlightened."
The play the UB students will present in Besançon is an interdisciplinary, multi-media adaptation of Leonard Melfi's one-act play "Birdbath," conceived and directed by Horne. This production adds poetic text, music, dance and creative multimedia to the original material.
The original Melfi play has become a "beloved vehicle for method-acting practitioners," Horne says, calling it "a boy-meets-girl love story unlike any other."
The plot revolves around a young, unsuccessful poet who meets a young virginal girl while both are working at an all-night cafeteria in Manhattan. "When the diner closes, she waits for him outside. It is obvious that she does not want to return to her home in the Bronx where she lives with her mother," Horne says. "The poet convinces her to stay with him for a while longer at his place. It is the story of their discovery."
Students who are part of the UB delegation (left to right, top row to bottom) are Matthew Erickson, Kevin Smith, Heather Murphy, Jane Bacon, Cate Lynch, Thomas DeTrinis and Jamie Elvey.
Horne's adaptation expands the original two-character, one-act play of about 30 minutes into a full hour performance. "Our cast of seven actors is joined by several media artists and designers who share the stage, either seen or unseen by the audience. Our present production begins by incorporating the poem 'Dawn' by Federico Garcia Lorca from 'Poet in New York'—there is a direct reference to this book on the original script," Horne says. "This poem is, in turn, deconstructed on stage, not only interpretatively, but through sound and movement as well. Music, dance, art, visual projections and creative multimedia are intertwined in the actual performance."
The performance is envisioned as "experimental theater research," derived from work conducted by IACE's creative research team during the past six months, Horne says. It explores the potential interaction between method acting and new technologies across the disciplines, she adds.
"Mere repetition of long-established formulas stagnates the dynamic creation process. Even though there is immense value in theatre as entertainment, experimental theatre provides a research laboratory for new 'ways' to be born," she points out.
"Method acting is undeniably the American system of acting, developed in the 20th century by the late Lee Strasberg, with whom I had the honor to study with," Horne says. "As a researcher, I have experimented with the integration of performing arts disciplines into this method of work. The next logical step in my research—in view of the effect technology has on our current environment—is precisely to explore the fusion of new technologies into not only acting, but across the performing arts disciplines."
The purpose of this research, Horne says, is "to further the creative integration of technology in the curriculum by preparing technology-enhanced performances that will challenge the performer as well as the audience. Thus, by including 21st century technology in the educational experience, UB is fulfilling its commitment to preparing today's students to become tomorrow's professionals."
The IACE and the Melodia Jones Chair in French in the UB Department of Romance Languages are sponsoring the UB students' trip to France.
In addition to Horne, the UB delegation includes theatre and dance students Jane Bacon, Thomas DeTrinis, Jamie Elvey, Matthew Erickson, James Hergenroder, Cate Lynch, Heather Murphy, Lindsay Rogan, Dena Roncone, Kevin Smith and Chelsea Warren, and media study students: Michael Arisohn and Andrew Michaeloff. Vincent O'Neill, chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance, also will accompany the group.
The students will present preview performances of "Birdbath" at 8 p.m. March 5 and 6 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. Tickets are $5, with the net proceeds to benefit the student travel fund. Tickets may be obtained at the CFA box office from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster locations.