#fredoniatada

One last blog post for Tom Loughlin about how strange senior year was, what a truly amazing this semester has been, how I’ll miss everyone and what is happening next. Here we go.

It was a strange senior year: I was cast in The Spoon River Project at the beginning of the year. No sooner had it closed that I ended up dislocating my kneecap and spending the rest of the semester in physical therapy. Six months later though, I was going to my first stage combat workshop and I received my first recommended pass! I lost a good friend of mine this year but I know that we are leaving a better writing community here at Fredonia than what we started with. I directed, asst. stage managed, organized, performed, house managed and devised! Yes, it was a truly amazing senior year as well, especially this last semester.

One of the incredible things I got to do before I graduate was take Devising with Dr. Ivey (I hope you all saw our performance yesterday outside of Tim Hortons!). Over the semester, we developed a joke based on one of our projects, that the answer is “we don’t know”. That’s exactly how I feel right now – we don’t know but we are going to do it anyways. I don’t know what California or my job or the real world is going to be like, but I am going to go do it anyways.

What I do know is that four years in Fredonia have taught me enough that can do it anyways. More importantly, I’ve learned what kind of theatre I want to be responsible for.

All of these shows I’ve been a part of: The Spoon River Project; commedia d’ell arte, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off!; Here, And After; The Vagina Monologues; Spontaneous Productions; devising – I want to go out into that real world and I want to make theatre for an audience to experience, be become aware – theatre that speaks out. My senior capstone, The Vagina Monologues, is the show I am most proud of doing here for  those reasons. Site-specific, devised, collaborative, ensemble, combative, guerrilla, street, invisible – if it wasn’t for Fredonia, I would have never been exposed all these forms of theatre and now, I want to do the same.

What else have I learned? Tell Tom thank you– he’s sitting in his office right now and he would LOVE to sign all your papers and discuss life. Take a class with Dr. Ivey. Say yes a lot. Travel. Say to “hi” to people. If there is anything you have always wanted to do, do it. Lisa will be your best friend and you should stop by her office to see her. Practice Grip Top Sock. Get out of RAC and doing something that isn’t theatre for at least an hour every week even if it’s just running in the woods. Get acupuncture from Terry Beck. Read more, tweet less. Watch I Love Lucy often. Use sunscreen (hello 3-hour PACnic sunburn).

At this point, I will need to stop typing. I’ve had four years to blog and now, I only have two more days that I will need to finish packing before graduation – and then take a car, two planes and a bus to Santa Rosa.

Good-bye Fredonia. It’s been the best four years.

The Boil. Or, how three students and four alum road-tripped it down for the Louisiana Tech Stage Combat Workshop. Also, see my most recent hashtag #FREDBoil.

The Boil is held annually every Easter weekend and for the second year in a row, we had a group of fighting Fredonians meet at the loading dock of RAC to drive for twenty-four straight hours south all the way to Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana with only a quick stop in Erie to pick up one more member of our road-trip gang along the way.

A whole day later, we were in Louisiana, re-united with alum Sarah Flanagan (currently a graduate student at Louisiana Tech) and ready for two days of stage combat classes. They were offering all the stage combat classes that I couldn’t possibly imagine being available it’s my first stage combat workshop: whip-cracking, tai chi and sword, knife and tomahawk throwing, fighting with handcuffs, intimacy, sword and shield, mismatched weapons, etc. Some of the hardest things I did this weekend was just choosing what class I should take.

We Fredonians did good at The Boil – I know for myself, I got to even learn some basic smallsword and fighting with handcuffs, which was really neat. I’m also happy that even in the advanced classes offered, I found that I was able to handle whatever the instructors taught us. Especially considering the knee situation from last semester, this was a nice realization of how I’ve improved in the past year as a combatant. I'd also like to say congratulations to Thomas Buckley, for coming in second in the fencing tournament, and to Hannah Roccisano, for receiving a recommended pass on her sword and shield renewal (#worththerec). Plus, our own Steve Vaughn was there teaching broadsword and quarterstaff classes. Just goes to show how strong our stage combat program is here in Fredonia!

All in all, it was a great weekend away from campus and with friends, some of whom I haven’t seen since graduation. When we weren’t in classes, it seemed that we always had a birthday to celebrate or something else was going on. Our last day in Louisiana was spent at The Boil – the boiling of crawfish that is. A big crawfish barbeque in the backyard, with aerial silks hanging for anyone to try, a throwing range was set up for the knife-throw contest, a piñata for the kids and one big fight family to share it with.

Even the late-night drive back to Fredonia was okay, knowing that I was leaving with new bruises, new weapons, and new friends. Here’s to hoping that we can make The Boil a Fredonia tradition!

With less than a month until the end of the year (and graduation!) students in the department are lining up summerstock and year-round theatre jobs all across the country!  Many are still in the process of callbacks, contract negotiations, and weighing some options, but here are some of the places and positions TADA members are headed for next!!!

Cassandra Giovine (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Actor and Stage Combatant - Point Sebago

Steven Russell (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Marius in Les Miserables, Ensemble in Shrek, Swing in Hands on a Hardbody - Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre

  Theresa Egloff (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Touring Actor in Wizard of Oz - Missoula Children's Theatre

  Allison McCarthy (Senior BFA Acting)

Touring Actor in Pied Piper - Missoula Children's Theatre

  Brittany Bassett (Junior BFA Acting)

Luciana in The Comedy of Errors - Shakespeare in Delaware Park

  Pablo Vasquez (Sophomore BFA Acting)

Ensemble in The Comedy of Errors – Shakespeare in Delaware Park

  Anthony Ward (Freshman BA Theatre)

Choreographer for two musicals - In Good Company Productions.

  Colin Braeger (Junior BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Touring Production Manager and guitar tech with 10,000 Maniacs.

Audio Tech - Raven Sound

Working summer dance shows with Eric Hadley – SUNY Fredonia

  Noel O Day (Sophomore BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Stitcher/Wardrobe - Heartland Festival

  Chris Dake (Junior BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Master Carpenter - Hangar Theatre

  Lindsay Zimmerman (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Management Internship in Theme Park Operations -The Walt Disney Company

  BJ Hylton (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Merchandise Internship – The Walt Disney Company

  Jessica Ames (Senior BA Theatre)

Assistant Director of Shrek - ACCORD summer program

  David Rivera (Sophomore BFA Musical Theatre)

Actor, Indian man named "Stand-in- Water" - Tecumseh Outdoor Drama

  Jacob Brinkman (Senior BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Assistant Master Electrician - Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival

Lighting Designer for Pinkalicious – Theatre of Youth

  Tim Neggie (Sophomore BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Electrics Internship - the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. 

  Miranda Bashwinger (Sophomore BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Hair and Makeup Intern - Central City Opera

  Kevin Stevens (Sophomore BFA Acting)

Company Actor - The Huron Playhouse

  Shelby Converse (Senior BA Theatre)

Company Manager/House Manager -Summer Repertory Theatre of Santa Rosa

  Ryan Glynn (Senior BFA Acting)

Touchstone in As You Like It -  Camden Shakespeare Festival

Touring Actor in Pinocchio & Romeo and Juliet– The Hampstead Stage Company

  Kiernan Matts (Sophomore BFA Musical Theatre)

Company Actor - Trumpet in the Land

  Jaclyn Rahmlow (Senior BFA Musical Theatre)

Laurey in Oklahoma, Pauline in One Man Two Governers, & Lucrece in The Liar – Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre

  Josh Carey (Freshman BFA Musical Theatre)

Lead Actor in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Geva Theatre Center

  Jordan Fischer (Junior BFA Musical Theatre)

Producing a production of his original musical “Natalie: A New Musical!”

  Cailey Patano (Freshman BA Theatre)

Education Specialist – Allusions Productions

  Justin Petito (Junior BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Assistant Master Electrician - Bay Street Theatre

  Allen Wheaton (Junior BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Electrics Intern - Bay Street Theatre

  Justin Michel (December Graduate BFA Theatrical Production and Design)

Lighting Technician - Norwegian Cruise Lines.

  Adelia Gueli (Sophomore BFA Musical Theatre)

Theatre Improv Director - Camp Starlight

(But first, let us recap from pre-spring break)

 --Dancers involved in Angelika Summerton’s FDE piece as well as Sydney Thomas’s senior recital traveled to Ohio the week before break to participate in the annual ACDFA Dance conference.  They took classes, performed on the mainstage, and had a great time working with new teachers and choreographers.  To read more about their adventures, check out #acdfa2014 #donutshirt on twitter!  

Just finished my last class at ACDFA...finally felt like a confident dancer for the first time in over 2 years and it felt great #donutshirt Abby Donegan (@done_eegan) March 5, 2014

The best part of this Monday is that I get to take awesome dance classes all day. Next up: 1970s Broadway Jazz! #donutshirt #ACDFA Steve Russell (@UncleSteepen) March 3, 2014

--Audiences were thrilled to watch students from the Department of Theatre and Dance as well as the School of Music perform in Opera scenes at the Fredonia Opera House.  Some of the backstage technicians were also students in the technical theatre program here at Fredonia!

--Students in the B.A. program must complete a capstone project of their own design when they become seniors.  Many of these projects are underway!  I will share two with you in this post.  Jessica Ames now has a cast for her presentation of 6 All in the Timing one act plays by David Ives.  Tom Sullivan will soon be auditioning for his production of Krapp's Last Tape, which he is excited to direct this spring.

--The Performing Arts Company's Comedy of Errors had their first full run through the day before break, and the cast is ready for the weather to warm up so they can bring this "Shakespeare-in-the-park" style show outdoors!  The show goes up April 25th and 26th with tickets available in the SUNY Fredonia Central Ticket Office.  

--Sophomore BFA students are beginning to prepare for their barrier performances in which they will be asked to sing, act, and dance for the entire TADA faculty.  What an excellent opportunity to showcase all they have learned in their first 2 years at Fredonia.  It also marks the halfway point in their college experience - time flies!

--Can you believe that production meetings are already underway for NEXT YEAR'S SEASON?  It's true!  A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tom Loughlin, began meeting several weeks ago to begin conceptual conversations for what is sure to be a marvelous production.  

--TADA students from the freshman through senior classes traveled to NYC and Boston this past weekend to attend Strawhat and NETC audition conferences in pursuit of summer and year-round theatre jobs.  There were lots of callbacks and even some job offers, so stay tuned for more information once everyone begins making decisions about where they want to work!  

--Film majors are hard at work on their capstone movies to be shown this spring.  Many of our actors are involved in the projects and are exited to be working on the big screen, some for the first time.  

--The Student Dance Organization is hosting a mock audition workshop for Cruise Line auditions this coming Friday.  It should be a great experience - check out their page for details!

--Bob Rusch, a successful film actor from L.A. as well as the owner of SkyPilot Theatre is coming to Fredonia this weekend to give 3 workshops to students about Film Acting, Playwriting, and Managing a production company.  Workshops are open to everyone, so come join us if you are in town!

--Finally, the most important news of the day, RENT!!  Check out this article on the university's home page, and get your tickets ASAP!  The actors, musicians, technicians, creative staff have all been working tremendously hard on this great musical and we would hat for you to miss out!

'1969'

Choreography by Fredonia Alum: Kyla Piscopink.  

Featuring Dancers: Jordan Fife Hunt, Carolyn Cooper, Angela Harriell (Fredonia Alum), Christina Johnson, Mary Kay Lee, Denis Hyland & Leigh Pujado

www.DanceKeyWest.org

Aargh. I hate tumblr. But TADA-land deserves an update, especially a busy, good news update.

  1.      I am currently running back and forth between ASM-ing for Fredonia Dance Ensemble that is coming up very quickly, and my senior capstone – as one of the organizers for this year’s production of The Vagina Monologues. February is going to be a huge month for me!

The Vagina Monologues is a cause near and dear to my heart. I’m all for embracing my body for its gender and sexuality, but more importantly, our annual production is a majorly focused fund-raiser for a local woman’s shelter dedicated to helping those abused. I am so proud of all the girls involved in our show and very excited: aside from my behind the scenes work, I’m also performing in one of the spotlight monologues ‘One Billion Will Rise for Justice’.

2.      As of the end of last semester, I got the thumbs up from the doctor – I made a full recovery from a dislocated kneecap and am back in my dance and stage combat classes!

3.      Immediately following graduation in May, I will be flying west to join the Summer Repertory Theatre as their Company Manager, following the footsteps of many other Fredonia alum and professors, out to Santa Rosa, California.

  Yeah, it’s all really exciting for me. Dance! California! Vaginas! But until May 17th, I intend to enjoy this last semester here in Fredonia (in New York State…) with my classes in stage combat and devising. Woo! Let's do this semester!