Stephanie Heine

Stephanie Heine is a senior in the BFA Theatre Management/Promotions major with a Dance minor. As part of this program she is required to do a senior project. She decided that she wanted to be the Marketing Director of DanceScapes ‘10. She wanted to do this because she enjoys dance, working with dancers, and would like to someday work with a professional dance company. “I thought this would be a great way to start along that future career path.”

As the Marketing Director for DanceScapes she had to do work such as write press releases for local newspapers as well as our campus newspaper. She created marketing materials such as a postcard, and poster. The postcard was mailed out to previous attendees and the poster put up around campus and the Whitewater community. Another major part of her project was to create a promotional package. This meant writing a professional letter describing what and when DanceScapes is, along with offering group discounts as well as a backstage tour, and marketing materials. She targeted dance studios within a fifty mile radius of Whitewater as well as those studios that have alumni involved in DanceScapes ‘10. Other activities for Stephanie included making the program, taking rehearsal photo’s, creating lobby displays, and working with the Royal Purple to have a feature story on DanceScapes.

Stephanie said she learned a lot from her experience as Marketing Director and that it was valuable in continuing towards the professional world. Among the things she learned was time management, communication skills, and the collaborative process between the production and creative team members.

Stephanie said, “I want to say a big thank you to my advisor as well as mentor, Sarah Altermatt. She gave me the guidance I needed to succeed while letting me be independent.” Stephanie’s future plans included graduating in December of ‘10 and joining Americorps to help rebuild houses around America. When asked about her hopes for future DanceScapes she said, “I’d like to see an extended run since we get a lot of community and student support. I’d also like to see more recognition for the accomplishments our student choreographers make and the milestones they reach.”

DanceScapes ‘10 is in the Barnett Theatre located at the Greenhill Center of the Arts on Sunday, March 14th at 2:00 p.m., Monday, March 15th at 7:30 p.m., and Tuesday, March 16th at 7:30 p.m.

“Hope to see you there!”

Barbara Grubel

Barbara Grubel is in her 7^th year as a member of our Theatre/Dance Faculty at UW-Whitewater, and is also serving as Artistic Director for DanceScapes ’10 this year. Barbara’s professional history can be found here.

While being Artistic Director is part of her job at UW-Whitewater she is happy to say it is definitely part of her job that she enjoys. Out of her 7 years at UW-Whitewater, this has been her 5^th experience as Artistic Director. However, this is not her first time serving in this position. She has been Artistic Director at other universities as well as  her own project company in New York. She talked about her position as Artistic Director and gave some advice: “Plan ahead, problem solve, be patient, delegate, check in, and double check.” All of these things are key to managing the amount of people involved in DanceScapes. She said the most important part for everyone involved is to realize the standards and responsibilities to students and production teams, and that everyone needs to work collaboratively.

She said that as Artistic Director she can serve anywhere from 10 hours/week during non crunch times, to being at school constantly during crunch times. “You are the fabric of the umbrella. You need to be strong for everyone else.” Working with an art form such as dance means running into a lot of passionate people. This is where Barbara learned to keep it about the work itself so she can focus on getting something to happen with all the dance pieces involved, and uphold her responsibilities.

Barbara, as Artistic Director, is in charge of managing 70+ people, adjudication,  bringing in a guest adjudicator and responder, and also a guest artist every year. This year she chose to bring in Joe Chvala with the Flying Foot Forum located in Minneapolis, MN. He came and created a brand new work which will be used by his professional company in upcoming years. It is titled “Curioser and Curioser” and is loosely based on Alice in Wonderland. This work involves students from the Theatre/Dance department as well as the Music Department. It’s a really exciting opportunity for students to work with an outside professional, and exciting for our college of Arts & Communications to support professional artists who are doing what our students aspire to do.

She has created her own work for DanceScapes ‘10 and has been working on it for over a year. It is a collaboration with her dancers and The Chamber Singers, directed by Robert Gehrenbeck. “Bob is one of the most incredible artists and human beings I’ve ever worked with.” They are keen on each other’s creativity and want to capitalize on the fact that in the professional world live music is rare, and even rarer will be the work which involved 26 choir members and 9 dancers. They collaborated when Robert Gehrenbeck came to Barb with a CD of music by Steven Chapman. From there Barbara chose 3 pieces of music to work with and created her piece “Remember.”  Barbara let me know that the process has been amazing so far and also that it is not really her piece anymore, but her dancers and the choir. “Bob has incredible ability in bringing emotion out of the vocals, and there is a great charged energy between the dancers and the choir.”

“The exciting thing to me is that everyone is finding their creativity and artistic voice.” Barb speaks of the dance program at UWW only being a minor, but you can see from the wide variety of works that it is a program that demands dedicated faculty, choreographers, dancers, and production members. Every year she is really proud of the emotional, professional, and creative growth from everyone involved and that’s why she is very happy to be DanceScapes ‘10 Artistic Director.

Alyssa Windell

Alyssa Windell, a junior in BFA Theatre Design/Technologies, was chosen to create a lighting design for “Playful Sigh”, a piece choreographed by Stephanie Heine. This is her second year designing for DanceScapes, last year she designed “Diametric Defiance” by Kayla Punzel. Alyssa really likes designing for DanceScapes because of the huge collaborative process that brings together a lot of designers and choreographers from a great range of backgrounds and skill levels. Her interest is slowly moving over to lighting in the dance world because the design is there to help sculpt the body and show off the movement.

Alyssa starts her design work by considering basic themes and emotions expressed in the piece. She looks at artwork and Google images to help pick colors for the lights. She then looks at key moments in the piece to highlight in the design. At this point for her it’s a lot of trial and error in the light lab. She works with the colors and special elements to create her basic design. From that point it’s a matter of seeing it onstage and setting it in stone.

She let me know that, “Stephanie Heine is fantastic to work with! I absolutely love the dance she has choreographed. She’s professional but fun to work with and bounce ideas back and forth with.” Alyssa’s design will go to ACDFA with Stephanie’s work. Her previous designs were DanceScapes 2009, “Nunsense Jamboree 3” and “The Ladies of the Camellias.”

Andrew Claude

Andrew Claude, a third year BSE Theatre and English Education, is also designing. His work is done in the costume design area, and he is working with Erin Othrow’s piece “Somewhere In Between.” Andrew previously did a costume design for the piece “She Knows Best” by Colleen King in DanceScapes 2009. He made the choice to design again based on the fact that “the experience in invaluable and employs a different set of skills than designing for a play or musical.”

Andrew’s process began with contacting the choreographer. They discussed her intentions for the piece and any feelings or special requests concerning the design. He watched a recording of the piece and began to create a few initial ideas based on their discussion. He created sketches and worked with the choreographer to collaboratively create a design that would represent the piece well. The fabric chosen needed to be moveable as dance costume design needs to be focused on the movement of the dancer. Andrew let me know that “Working with Erin has been a dream. She had a strong vision of what she wanted the piece to look like and was able to direct me towards that vision while allowing me artistic freedom to be a true collaborator.”

Both Alyssa’s lighting design and Andrew’s costume design will be seen in DanceScapes ‘10 on March 14th at 2p.m., and also the 15th and 16th at 7:30 p.m.

Danielle Sanford

Danielle Sanford is House Managing for the musical Urinetown this week for academic credit. She wanted to get the experience of House Manager because she likes working with people, and wanted more experience having to deal with “thinking on her feet.” In order to do this for credit she shadowed a previous student House Manager, and has also ushered for past shows. She also met with Sarah Altermatt, Director of Public Events for UWW, to talk about different situations and how to best deal with them. She said the experience so far has been different with every night of the show because it depends on the crowd. So far there haven’t been too many problems with issues such as texting, flash photography, or people being late. Her duties range from opening the theatre, having programs available, managing her assistant and the six volunteer ushers per show, answering questions, communicating with the Stage Manager, making sure the show gets started, and closing up the theatre. She said that as of right now she is enjoying it, but is looking forward to her upcoming experiences this semester to decide if House Management is part of her future career plans.

She said, “Being a House Manager has definitely opened my eyes to the responsibilities for the Front of House Staff because I’ve never really payed attention before. I can definitely appreciate their work now.”

As for Urinetown itself, the show has been very well received by the audiences. Its outstanding humor and atmosphere has exceeded expectations. The design elements work together to help pull the audience into the story of Urinetown. The cast has a great energy and they look like they’re having a lot of fun onstage.

A major part of Urinetown are the chorus members. In this production they stay onstage or off in the wings a lot of the time so the vocal intensity is phenomenal . Danielle said her favorite character is Mr. Cladwell, performed by Chris Gonyo. “He definitely exceeded my expectations of the character and is an outstanding performer.” Danielle also said her favorite number in the musical is “The Cop Song.” It has a great beat and the choreography, done by Guest Artist Karl Miller, was fabulous.

Urinetown has been showing all week at 7:30 p.m. Greenhill Center of the Arts, Barnett Theatre. It shows tonight and tommorow at 7:30p.m. as well. We hope to see you there!

She began working on this show three months before rehearsals even started. She prepared herself by reading through the script, listening to the soundtrack, and making lists of props, costumes, and lighting needed for the show, and also attending every production meeting.

For Becky, a three hour rehearsal means about five hours of work. She needs to be there to open the rehearsal space,check that everything is in place, sit through rehearsal, and then close everything up. Once rehearsal is over she also has to write up rehearsal reports and send emails to the production team with any questions or concerns.

In order for this to be her senior project she needs to not only stage manage Urinetown, but another part of the process is to present her prompt books, call board, pictures of rehearsal setup, and write an in depth paper about her experience and methods.

When talking about her college career she mentioned that her advisor, Steve Chene, has been a great help to her. She said, “Although we have not always seen eye-to-eye on things, he has always been there to answer questions and give me advice on situations. I am very grateful to have worked with him for as long as I have; he has taught me most of what I know as a stage manager.” She also credited the stage manager, Hannah Woodward, at her previous internship in Center Valley, PA at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.  She said “I can’t imagine how I ever stage managed without them!”

Her future career goals include becoming an Actors Equity Association member sometime in the next five years. She would also like to be able to settle down and stage manage primarily for one theatre in the next ten to fifteen years. For now, however, Becky is looking forward to the production of Urinetown. Her favorite song from the show is “Run Freedom Run.” She said, “I don’t think there has been a single time I have heard it when I haven’t been smiling like a fool, ha.” Becky is graduating in May 2010 and she feels that this is a great, strong end to her stage management career at UW-Whitewater.

Karl Miller working with the cast

Urinetown rehearsals are now full force moving into February. There are three main Directors for this musical and among Director Skip Grover and Music Director Ken Harned, is the Choreographer Karl Miller. Karl has been working the cast very hard, and they are doing really well; learning up to a number or two per night. Karl said that he’s had a blast coming in and working with the college students. He let me know they are smart, have the passion, and that he’s seen a great variety of talent. As this is his first time working at UW-Whitewater he has been very impressed. Karl let the world know through a Facebook post that, “doing Urinetown has been a great blessing to start 2010.”

The directors said that working with the students has been great, but they’re also really enjoying the design elements. Skip Grover said that, “Eric Appleton (scenic designer), has done a great job of capturing the feel of the play in his designs.” The scenic design has also been very collaborative with the other elements of design, where Marshall Anderson is costume designer, Steve Chene with lighting design, and Cassy Schillo with props and sound design. All of these elements will work together to showcase the plotline and characters.

A few of the numbers from the show that will humor you are “Run Freedom Run,” “Snuff that girl,” and “Don’t be a bunny.” Skip Grover said, “it’s the classic melodrama and that makes Urinetown really fun to work with.” The content in Urinetown is not only hilarious, but relevant to our society today. The musical is based on a twenty year drought in Urinetown, and people have to start paying to use the bathroom because of the water shortage. Though the musical may have a funny spin on the situation, water shortage can be a serious matter and there will be an insert on the issue within the program. This musical makes fun of everything from the goofy hero, the government, and theatre itself and is sure to have you in a stitch!

Cast performing "I see a River"

Shantelle Szyper

American College Theatre Festival, connected to the Kennedy Center where the national festival is held, took place in January of this year. Regional ACTF is a competition of the various theatrical elements. It also offers a lot of different theatrical workshops including those on Shakespeare, Auditioning, and what to look for in a graduate program. Thanks to funding from Undergraduate Research Grants the students are able to attend. Two of our own students were given awards for their work: Shantelle Szyper and Matt Norby.

Shantelle is a junior student working toward a degree in BFA Performance. She was nominated for ACTF this year through the fall show “The Skin of our Teeth” for her role as Sabina. Shantelle said, “ACTF is very important to our department because we get exposed to other schools, teachers, performances, presentations, processes, and are given the opportunity to network with students from all over the region.”

Through the nomination she was able to pick two contrasting scenes as well as a monologue to perform. The two scenes were from “As you Like It” by William Shakespeare, and “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire. She collaborated with James Howe on the scenes as well as Jim Butchart. Her monologue was from “Henry VI Part One” as Joan. The acting performance was very competitive and though the pieces were strong, they did not move into the next round.

When she arrived at ACTF she was also entered into a Design Storm Team. The teams, eight in all, are made up of 7 students from different schools in the region that are given a play to work with. From there they have six collaborative hours to create all the production elements. Her role in Design Storm was as Director. She said, “We all worked really hard and our initial idea was very strong; we had a lot of great collaboration.”Not only was Shantelle at ACTF for acting performance and design storm, but she also took a presentation of her unrealized costume design for “Othello.” Overall, she received a lot of constructive criticism and took a lot of great information away from her experience.

Matt Norby was the other of the UW-Whitewater students to win an award. He recently graduated this past December, but attended the festival for his work as Stage Manager on the fall show “The Ladies of the Camellias.” This was his first year attending and he said the process was terrifying.  There is a lot of organization that needs to happen for the materials students take for presentations. Matt took two foam board displays as well as his prompt book. He double checked everything to make sure his work could be properly showcased. When he arrived and had his presentation for the first round, he had three minutes to discuss over six months of work. Once he made it to round two he was interviewed by two judges who asked him about his experience and how he would hypothetically solve problems in a given situation. Matt replied honestly and kept his personality throughout the entire process. He said, “attending this Festival helped me discover some new and exciting ideas that I plan to add to my process. I got a lot of feedback on how to better market myself so I can find a job and begin to network. The best part for me was not only seeing other students work and appreciating their accomplishments, but also seeing their capabilities so that I can be inspired to achieve more.”

Below are some rehearsal photos from the pieces created by faculty members Barbara Grubel and Robin Pettersen.

Can you briefly describe the position of assistant director?

Besides the obvious of assisting the director, I was the dramaturge for this production as well as there to bounce ideas off of for Jim, take notes of things that drew me out of the play and be able to clearly articulate why.  I was able to block two scenes and in general shadow Jim in learning why he makes the decisions he makes.

Were there any new challenges when you took on this new role?

Always.  For a start, I had never given direction to such as large cast, when to hone down and pay attention to the details was tricky.  At least in this production, it worked well to iron such things out after the foundation was laid.

How has this differenced from your past roles in shows here at UW-W?

It was a change to have to look at the show in all its parts but also the amount of time I spent diving into the ideas and the world of the play.  Normally I am focused as an Actor on the Acting of my part or as the Stage Manager on the facilitation and the production as a whole, but this really was multitasking to the extreme.  Really the difference in directing and designing, stage managing or acting really is just in that once the idea is initiated and conveyed, really it is trusting the all involved in the production to create all the concepts that were discussed.

What has been the most exciting part of your role as assistant director?

It was a pleasure to work with someone as experienced, eager and patient as Jim.  I could say it was  the opportunity to help with blocking the play, but really it was in learning ways to more clearly communicate with Designers and Actors as to what I am looking for and what is the more productive beneficial way to solve any problems that arise.

The director chose to do an adaptation of the show, did you enjoy this aspect? Do you feel like it helps the show?

For any Audience it always helps to tie a play into things, places and references they know and connect to.  Such adapting really is to contribute to how the audience sympathizes with what they see onstage.  What Jim did by editing the script, updating jokes or ideas and tying in Whitewater, was to transfer what we as an audience here might not be able to fully appreciate as the original 1942’s audience would.  To me, it jumped the time gap that was present in the original version had we presented it as it was written and allowed Wilders themes and ideas to be conveyed more clearly.

If there was one message you’d like the audience to get from The Skin of Our Teeth, what would it be and why?

As is repeated through out the play by Sabina, the Hours of the Night and Mr. Antrobus, we are all human and make mistakes.  It is what you choose to do after and how you do it that matters.