Wednesday, November 11th -- 10:00 a.m. - 10:15 Northern Auditorium
Official opening of the Symposium and Festival
Hank Dobin, Dean of the College, Professor of English, Washington and Lee University
Matthew Bailey, Chair of the Romance Language Department, Professor of Spanish, Washington and Lee University
Introductory notes - Domnica Radulescu, Professor of Romance Languages, Chair, Women's and Gender Studies, Founding Director of The National Symposium of Theater in Academe, W&L University
10:15- 12:00 Myths: Subversions and Recreations; Violence and Sexuality (20 minutes presentation)
1. "Sexuality, Violence and Hybridity: Recreations of Ariana's Thread in Les Travaux d'Ariane by Caya Makhélé," Sylvie Ngilla, University of Minnesota, Université Paris III, Sorbonne.
2. "Expelling Individual and Collective Violence in the Calderonian Auto Sacramental," Christa Bucklin, University of Connecticut.
3. Auschwitz in the Italian Imagination: The God Kurt (1968) and Without Hitler (2000), Jessica Otey, University of Virginia.
4. "Femi Osofisan: Theatre as ‘Surreptitious Insurrection,'" Kolawole Olaiya, Furman University.
12:00 - 1:15 Lunch - The Market Place, University Commons
1:30 - 3:20 Myths, History, and the Cannon; War and Violence - Subversions, Critical Recreations, (20 minutes/presentation)
1. "Progressive Politics or Reactionary Nostalgia? John Patrick Shanley's Mixed Message in "Doubt," Martha Eads, Eastern Mennonite University.
2. Oskaras Korsunovas' Interpretations of Shakespearean Drama in Post-Communist Lithuania, Kristijonas Paltanavicius, Wabash College.
3. "Dryden, Lee and the False Mathematics of Neoclassical Tragedy," Peter Byrne, Kent State University.
4. "The Representation of Militarism in American Theater between 1925 and 1935," Kevin Lawrence, National University.
4:00- 5:30 PLASTICITY. WORKSHOP: ACTION, MOVEMENT, BODY, MIND. Diana Cozma, director, acting teacher, Babes Bolyai University, Romania
Free time on your own
8:00 P.M. THE BEST OF MOMIX - DANCE, ACROBATICS, REALITY, ILLUSION The Lenfest Center for the Performing Arts. Complimentary tickets for Symposium Participants. Guests pay $15.
Thursday November 12th Northern Auditorium
9:30 - 11:20 a.m. Recreations of Myth and the Cannon; Personal, Political (20 minutes/presentation)
1. "Ilse Langner Plays the Part of Victim in Iphigenie und Orest," Lynn Marie Kutch, Kutztown University.
2. "Chekhov and Postmodern Theater," Ileana Orlich, Arizona State University.
3. "No Scapegoats! Challenging Pain in Bryony Lavery's Play Last Easter," Catalina Florescu, independent scholar.
4. "Khamsoun and the Return of Political Theater in Tunisia" Moncef Khemiri, University of Manouba. Tunisia
11:30 - 1:00 Theater from and about Eastern and Central Europe; 20 Years since the Fall of Communism.
"MORAL VIOLENCE IN TOTALITARIAN REGIMES AS EXPRESSED IN THE THEATER OF MATEI VISNIEC" - Matei Visniec, playwright, France, Romania - lecture, dramatic readings of plays; extracts performed by Paten Hughes, New York and Domnica Radulescu.
1:00 - 2:15 Lunch, The Market Place, University Commons.
Utopias, Myths, Cultures, Exiles
2:30 - 3:10 - "The Pseudo-Myths of U.S. Utopia in French Contemporary Theatre ," Less Essif, University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
3:10-3:40 -Naturalized Woman, by Domnica Radulescu Dramatic Reading by Trap Door Theater, Chicago.
3:40- 4:45 -- "NEVER SAY ADIOS TO COLUMBUS," Guillermo Schmidhuber, Mexican playwright, University of Guadalajara, Mexico. Lecture, staged reading of his play.
Free time on your own
7:00 - 10:30 The Johnson Theater
FESTIVAL OF ONE ACTS, OF ONE PERSON, AND ONE TRAIN OF ACTION SHOWS - Show case of Romanian actors and directors
Wake Up - a dream of .... With Adina Ursu and Diana Rosca, Babes Bolyai University. Created and directed by Diana Cozma
Amelia Breathes Deeply, by Alina Nelega; with Diana Turtureanu, Satu Mare National Theater, Romania.
The Open Couple, by Franca Rame and Dario Fo; with Andreea Mocan and Vlad Muresan, Babes Bolyai University and Satu Mare National Theater.
Psychosis, by Sarah Kane; with Adina Ursu; directed by Domnica Radulescu.
The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria, by Fernando Arrabal, with Ciprian Cosma, Babes Bolyai University and Satu Mare National Theater.
Friday, November 13th; 9:30-12:30 Du Pont Dance Studio
Cleavages, Phalli and Other Weapons of Love and War: Aphrodite and Ares or Commedia dell'Arte and the Battles of the Sexes
COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE WORKSHOP, led by Norma Bowles, artistic director, Fringe Benefits Theater Company, California
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE (vocal and physical support), led by Kathleen Juhl, Southwestern University, Texas
In this fast-paced, seriously fun workshop, participants will have an opportunity to explore and create their own two-person lazzi (commedia improvisations) poking fun at sexism, seduction and war, and develop physically and vocally dynamic characters using a large and diverse assortment of Italian and Balinese Commedia character masks. The exercises and techniques used are drawn from the work of Jacques Lecoq, Philippe Gaulier, Keith Johnstone and Serena Sartori. Please loose fitting clothes and bring something with which to tie your hair back. If you wear glasses, but can also wear contact lenses, the latter would be preferable.
12:30 - 1:45 Lunch, The Market Place, University Commons
CHOICE, THEATER, ACTIVISM - Northern Auditorium
1:45 - 2:15 "Maryam's Pregnancy," Play reading and discussion by Ezzat Gushedir, DePaul University, Chicago.
2:20- 3:00 "Staging Strategies around Performance and Reproductive Choices," Joan Lipkin, artistic director, That Uppity Women's Theater Company, Saint Louis, Missouri.
Examples and experiences of working on three different productions dealing with reproductive choice: He's Having Her Baby (a gender reversed pro choice musical comedy) Words of Choice (a theatrical anthology presented nationally), and Becoming Emily (a dance theatre piece about the life of abortion nurse Emily Lyons who was badly injured in a clinic bombing).
3:30- 4:45. The Johnson Theater
Theater of War - Philoctetes Project; directed by Bryan Doerries, New York, and Betsy Rudelich Tucker, University of Virginia
Staged readings from contemporary translations of scenes from Sophocles' Ajax and Philoctetes.
The project is aimed at using Greek theater as a catalyst to address the human costs of war and the reintegration of warriors into civic life.
With: Shawn Paul Evans, Washington and Lee University Alex Grubbs, University of Virginia
Satch I-Iuizenga, Live Arts, Charlottesville, Virginia
Marianne Kubik, University of Virginia
5:00 - 5:45 p.m. The Johnson Theater
SEVEN JEWISH CHILDREN, by Caryl Churchill;
SEVEN PALESTINIAN CHILDREN, by Deb Margolin; performance by Deb Margolin, playwright, Yale University, followed by discussion.
SNACKS (provided)
7:00 p.m. The Johnson Theater
HORSES AT THE WINDOW, by Matei Visniec.
Performance by Chicago based theater troupe Trap Door Theater. Discussion with playwright following the performance; Directed by Radu Alexandru Nica, Romania.
With: Holly Thomas
John Gray
Tiffany Joy Ross
John Kahara
David Holcombe
Beata Pilch
Festival of Performances, readings and discussions on the themes of war, violence, women in conditions of war and domestic violence.
10:30:11:30 a.m. The Commons outdoor Amphitheater (contingent plan in case of bad weather- The Stackhouse Theater, University Commons)
LYSISTRATA PROJECT, Reader's Theater, adapted from Aristophanes and directed by Katherine Sogolow, director, writer.
11:30 p.m. - 12:10 The Commons outdoor Amphitheater (contingent plan in case of bad weather- The Stackhouse Theater, University Commons)
TROJAN WOMEN: An Ancient Protest against Violence Revisited; directed by Robert Smith, Southern Virginia University.
12:15- 1:30 The Stackhouse Theater (University Commons)
MADOFF, A FICTIONAL MEMOIR, written by Deb Margolin; performed by Deb Margolin in the role of Bernie Madoff with Paten Hughes, actor, New York and with Hank Dobin in the role of Elie Wiesel. Discussion to follow.
1:30-2:3- LUNCH (provided)
2:30 - 3:00 The Johnson Theater
A Woman Alone, by Franca Rame, performed by Andreea Mocan, Babes Bolyai University, Romania
We All Have the Same Story, by Franca Rame, performed by Diana Rosca, Babes Bolyai University, Romania
3:00 - 3:45 The Johnson Theater
ENSEMBLE THEATER COMMUNITY SCHOOL - "Theater as a Model for Life" Owen Collins, Washington and Lee University
3:45 p.m. The Johnson Theater
BEYOND EXTRATROTICA .... WOMEN AT THE CROSSROADS, written and performed by Yasmine Beverly Rana, playwright, New York.
4:30 Closing of the Symposium and Festival - Closing Remarks by Domnica Radulescu
For those interested, transportation will be provided to the American Shakespeare Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, for the production of the riotous, outrageous Restoration play The Rehearsal. Show starts at 7:30 p.m.. Symposium Participants pay half price ($15).
