Download a PDF - Stage Directions Magazine

School Spotlight
By Amy Schoon
A Cradle for
New Work
This production of 14 was written and directed by John Cameron, the head of acting at UI.
Theatre Arts at Iowa stays committed to creation.
Don’t mess with tradition — that might be an unofficial
motto of the Theatre Arts Department at the
University of Iowa in Iowa City. Its theatre-training
program, the third oldest in the country, has been committed
to the same basic focus since it was founded in
1920: dedication to the creation of new work for the stage.
Students, faculty and distinguished guests are all encouraged
to develop new plays, and each year graduate and
undergraduate students produce at least 15 new works and
present another 25 as readings.
Hundreds of writers who have made a name for themselves
had their start at Iowa, including: Pulitzer Prizewinner
and playwriting legend Tennessee Williams; Tonyand
Pulitzer-nominee Lee Blessing (A Walk in the Woods);
acclaimed playwright, screenwriter and poet Naomi Wallace
(One Flea Spare); and Rebecca Gilman, who received the
Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for
New American Plays for her work, Spinning into Butter.
“For years, our productions have gone from here to regional
theatre, big cities and even Broadway,” says Alan MacVey,
professor and chair of the Theatre Arts Department,and
director of the UI Division of Performing Arts. “Being involved
in the creation of something, from the ground up, producing
it for the first time, can be frustrating. But it’s also very
rewarding and a special learning environment.”
That spirit of creation may have been borne from an overall
emphasis on and tradition of writing at The University of
Iowa. In fact, the learning community has become known
as “The Writing University” because of its world-renowned
Iowa Writers Workshop, International Writing Program, various
creative writing summer programs and the Iowa Playwrights
Workshop — also known as the UI MFA program in playwriting.
The intensive, three-year program, officially founded in
1971, is dedicated to educating playwrights for professional
theatre.
Each spring, the Iowa New Play Festival showcases new
work written by undergraduate and MFA playwrights. During
the week-long festival, five full productions and seven staged
readings are presented to an audience that includes six visiting
professional writers, dramaturges, directors and producers.
The department also brings together a team of respected
experimental writers and directors to create a new work that
is presented during the UI Mainstage season. The program,
called Partnership in the Arts, brings artists to work inresidence
for six to eight weeks, working with students on
an ambitious project. Among artists who have led projects
are Anne Bogart, Rinde Eckart, Karen Coonrod, The Gertrude
Stein Repertory Theatre and David Schweitzer.
Iowa’s undergraduate theatre arts degree is a bachelor of
arts, and those who pursue it receive a well-rounded theatre
education experience, taking classes in acting, directing,
design, stagecraft and playwriting. Those are complemented
by studies in dramatic literature, history and criticism.
Students also have opportunities to focus on performing
arts entrepreneurship and theatre management. The
department offers Master of Fine Arts programs in acting,
design, directing, dramaturgy, playwriting and stage management.
All faculty members work with both undergraduate
and graduate students and serve as advisers on student
productions, readings and workshops.
The Theatre Arts department produces about 25 productions
a year, five of which are fully supported Mainstage
shows — including new works, contemporary favorites, and
18 March 2008 • www.stage-directions.com