new directions in the arts - Lafayette Magazine - Lafayette College

LAFAYETTE TODAY
Exploring Theatrical Forms
Playwright Monica Flory (right) gave a workshop for students in Mary Jo Lodge’s
course on theater for young audiences. The students will stage a production of
Flory’s adaptation of The Jungle Book this spring.
A NEW INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON NON-WESTERN THEATER
aesthetics and techniques has students learning about forms such as Noh,
traditional Japanese theater; Kabuki, stylized Japanese popular drama with
singing and dancing; Bunraku, Japanese puppet theater; Kathakali, the
classical dance-drama of India; and shadow puppetry.
“The theater program embraces Lafayette’s aim to create global citizens,
and we are pleased that we can now educate students about the arts and
theater of many cultures beyond those we have examined in the past,” says
Mary Jo Lodge, assistant professor of English, who is collaborating with
Michael O’Neill, associate professor of English and director of theater,
and Suzanne Westfall, professor and head of English.
In the fall, the theater program welcomed the company responsible for the
shadow puppets used in the Broadway smash The Lion King. This spring,
College Theater’s production of As You Like It, directed by O’Neill, and a
production of The Jungle Book mounted by students in Lodge’s course on
theater for young audiences include puppets designed by theater artist Alisa
Sickora Kleckner.
Other visiting artists include the IchiFuji-kai Dance Association, presenting
a workshop on Kabuki dance, and Boris Daussa-Pastor, an internationally
recognized expert on Kathakali. It’s all aided by a grant from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation that supports faculty innovation and collaboration across
the curriculum.
“In this time when many arts organizations, both professional and academic,
are struggling to stay afloat, we appreciate that Lafayette has made global
education and the arts, specifically theater, a clear priority,” Lodge says. ■
CHUCK ZOVKO
Wilkins’
Frydlant Nights
FRYDLANT NIGHTS is
the latest CD of jazz from
Skip Wilkins, associate
professor of music. Recorded
with the International Quintet
last August at the studios of
Radio Prague during a tour
of clubs and festivals in the
Czech Republic, the disc
features original compositions
by the group, including four
by Wilkins, “Elbow Room,”
“Frydlant Nocturne,” “LGT,”
and “Waiting for Prague.”
It’s on the Czech Radio
Prague label.
The quintet includes Wilkins
on piano, fellow Americans
Neil Wetzel on alto saxophone
and Gary Rissmiller on drums,
and Czech musicians Rostislav
Fras on tenor saxophone and
Josef Feco on bass. The group
will play in Prague, Berlin, and
Bonn this August, its fourth
European summer tour.
Wilkins is a regular faculty
member in the annual
Karel Velebny Summer Jazz
Workshop at Frydlant in
the Czech Reupblic. ■
SPRING 2010 • lafayette 25