Alumni News
Theatre Guest Artists on Campus Theatre students had the chance to be critiqued, hear from an original cast member of Urinetown, The Musical, and learn about the Chekov method—all in the space of 4 days.
Theatre and Dance hosted former WIU student Landon Shaw and
Nicole Trueman-Shaw of ColeBeanBay Theatre Company on Friday and Saturday, January 30-31. Landon and Nicole did an "audition" workshop — they critiqued the audition pieces of several students — giving the best advice in a very hands-on workshop. All the students in the workshop benefited from hearing the Shaws' excellent comments.
The same weekend Todd Horman, original cast member of Urinetown, The Musical, met with the WIU cast of Urinetown and shared his experiences in the show. He also met with the BFA students at a noon pizza party and answered questions from the students about what it's like to be an actor in NYC.
His advice was thoughtful. Perhaps his most helpful advice to the students was to audition, audition, audition—every opportunity to audition gets you in front of casting directors and improves your auditioning "chops."
And finally on Monday, February 2, theatre students had the opportunity to work with Lionel Walsh, Director of the School of Dramatic Art, University of Windsor, in a Checkov method workshop. Walsh "is a certified Master Teacher of the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique (Michael Chekhov Association), specializing in using the technique to facilitate the development of original solo productions based on life studies."
Western Theatre Grads in And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers Western Theatre alums Nathan Robbel (BA 2000) and Tony Ingram (BA 2002) along with former theatre student Chad Fess (last attended 2002) are getting very good reviews in the Chicago's Right Brain Project theatre production of the edgy And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers. Robbel is directing the production and Ingram has done production design. Chad Fess is acting in the production. Read more about the production. And read the review in Time Out Chicago.
News from Dennis Mayer We love hearing from alums, so you can imagine how pleased we were when we got this very interesting message from Deni Mayer (BA, Theatre, 1994). Read on.
Hi there, I'm dropping you this quick note to share some news that might be of interest to the alumni association and paper. I'm a 1994 graduate of the theatre department, I have a BA in directing. I retired from my fledgling theatre career a few years ago. I have, since 2001, turned my theatre degree and experience into another profession, that of a standardized patient educator. Standardized patient education uses actors to play patients for both testing and training of medical students. I work in New York at a company called C3NY that runs programs for several medical schools in the area and helps prepare foreign medical graduates. In my position as program manager I help write cases, train actors on portraying the patient, train both actors and students on physical exam techniques, critique performances on an ongoing basis and manage projects for several of our medical schools. It is in this role that I was invited to Taiwan in August to lecture and workshop at three different medical schools in the country (Buddhist Tzu Chi Hospital in Hualien, Chung Shan Medical University in Taichung and Taipei Medical University at Wan Fang Hospital in Taipei). I got to present a lecture on how to train actors to play patients while judging a student's physical exam skills at all three locations. In Hualien, which was a part of a two-day international conference, I also ran workshops with medical professionals for a hands-on experience in training lay people in this kind of work. I owe all of this success to my education in WIU's theatre department under Gene Kozlowski. Anyway, I thought it might be an interesting experience to share with fellow alumni, as it is something of a unique way to use my training at WIU. I'd be glad to share more if interested. I've attached a couple of pictures form the lectures/workshops. Thanks, Dennis (Deni) Mayer (BA, 1994)
Student News Johnathan Self, Jillian Weingart, Colin Wasmund, and Glen Wall all advanced to the semi-finals for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition at Region III ACTF January 6 to 10 at Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw, MI.
Faculty News Bill Kincaid and Jonathan Self get kudos for A Few Good Men.
Cortland Repertory Theatre. Ever-youthful Kerby Thompson has made himself a revered public figure in Cortland County with a winning mix of the reassuring, the quirkily offbeat and the gutsy. Audiences know that even if they never have heard of the show, they're going to have a good time . . . But with Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men (August), whose large cast must have broken the bank, [Producing Director Kerby] Thompson proved that his company is about more than parfaits and marzipan. Bill Kincaid's hard-hitting direction erased memories of film actors in the same roles, even if we know the story. Jonathan Self as Lt. Kaffee was a playboy prosecutor educated into maturity by pursuing the case, and Kyle Kennedy shook the timbers with the speech that begins, "You can't handle the truth!" as the initially charming but compromised Lt. Col. Jessup. Packed houses stood in ovation night after night. Read the review in the Syracuse New Times.
Department of Theatre and Dance Website.