The Department of Theatre & Dance at Gustavus Adolphus College is pleased to present a series of performances to conclude the Spring 2008 semester. Under the guiding hands of the faculty, majors and non-majors alike have taken independent strides in creating their own inspired works in theatre and dance. Performances have already begun, so act fast to take advantage of the opportunities that remain.
Thursday night, May 15, at 5:30 PM Michelle Rusinko, Melissa Rolnick, and Cynthia Garner presented Dance in the Arb, a performance of works created in collaboration with their fundamental, beginning, and intermediate modern dance classes, as well as intermediate jazz dance. The Gustavus Dance Company rounded out the event with a performance celebrating the unity and playfulness that has evolved out of their years of shared experience. The performance took place outside in the Linnaeus Arboretum with gorgeous blue skies to support the event. The progression from beginning dancers, just learning about the fundamentals of movement and dance, to the advanced dancers, with their bodies as well-tuned instruments of expression, was exactly the objective of the event. Rusinko explains, “We wanted everyone to see that dance happens at many levels, and is accessible to anyone.” Indeed, over two hundred Gusties ventured out to the Arboretum to support their friends and classmates.
Beginning Friday, May 16 at 8:00 PM, dance major Britta Peterson presented her senior dance recital, entitled What We Are. Drawing on students from the two campus dance companies, Peterson has staged new work, as well as restaging some pieces she has worked with off and on over her four years at Gustavus. This will be her last performance at Gustavus, before leaving to perform with her classmates at the National American College Dance Festival in New York City in early June. In addition to Friday’s performance, there were performances Saturday, May 17 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, May 18 at 2:00 PM in the Kresge Dance Studio.
New theatre faculty, Dr. Henry MacCarthy, will be presenting work by his intermediate and advanced acting students on Tuesday, May 20. The intermediate class takes the stage at 7:00 PM to perform The Secret Love Life of Ophelia. An epistolary drama by Steven Berkoff, this work invites the viewer to take a deeper look into the Shakespearian mindset. At 8:30 PM, four advanced acting students will perform An Evening of Monologues. These are pieces from a variety of plays, which the actors may use in the future to audition for professional work after graduating from Gustavus. Both performances take place in The Black Box theatre, with special production assistance from Micah Maatman’s Stagecraft: Light & Sound students.
On May 23, as final exams begin across the campus, Dr. Amy Seham’s Beginning Directing students will be presenting a Marathon of 10 Minute Plays. With three sets of plays split between the Anderson stage and the Black Box theatre, there will be a variety of genres to witness. From comedy to tragedy, abstract to realistic, these plays have offered students the opportunity to work collaboratively with each other and others from outside the department to design, stage, and perform independent interpretations of published work. The performance begins at 6:00 PM in the Black Box theatre.
All of these events are free and open to the general public. Come and support the work of the best and brightest the department has to offer, as they spread their creative wings in search of new ground. For further details regarding times or locations, or other general inquiries, please contact the Theatre & Dance Department Office at 507.933.7353.
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