Ongoing projects
Alaska Native Studies/Theatre 161 - Introduction to Alaska Native Performance
The Collaborative Arts Council is pleased to announce the revival of the collaborative,
interdisciplinary course, Alaska Native Studies/Theatre 161 - Introduction to Alaska Native Performance. It has been over a decade since the course» has been offered. Thanks in part to
the encouragement of members of the Center for the Arts, Maya Salganek (Asst. Professor,
Theatre/Film Studies) and Erica Lord (Performance Artist) will join together to revive
the class once known for creating works for the TUMA Theatre Company (pronounced DO-Mah).
TUMA regularly featured performances featuring Alaska Native stories, elders, actors,
song and dance into original new works for the stage. Maya and Erica envision the
new "Digital Tuma" to take these same elements into new media forms, as well as direct
performances.
ANS/THR 161: For Native and non-Native students with no prior acting or theatre experience.
Includes both academic and practical components to examine traditional Alaska Native
theatre mythology, ritual, ceremony and performance method. Application of exercises
and developmental scenes drawn from the Alaska Native heritage. Offered Spring 2010
Mondays and Wednesdays 1-3PM. CRNs: Alaska Native Studies, 38251; Theatre 39560.
Chlorophyll Photographic Artworks
*There will be an opening reception on Monday, May 10 from 5-7PM at the Woodcenter* and the show will run through May 31.
Student awards updates
and the entrance to the BioScience library.
Heidi Morel (Art/ceramics) and Kimberley Maher (Natural Resources Management) for their installation that will bring together art and science through an installation using clay pots to serve as a practical and aesthetically pleasing medium in which to grow plants
UAF grad’s play to receive staged reading
FAIRBANKS – A full-length play written by local playwright Tom Moran will have a free staged reading at Fairbanks’ Empress Theatre on May 1.
“Boundary” is a two-act psychological drama set in a Yukon River trapping cabin in 1972. Moran wrote the work as his master’s thesis for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, from where he will graduate next month. The reading is being funded by a grant from the Collaborative Arts Council, a new organization in UAF’s College of Liberal Arts which facilitates interdisciplinary arts projects.
“Staged readings are an important part of the play production process,” said Moran. “I wrote this thesis with the goal of having it produced, and this is a big step in that direction.”
The reading will take place at the Empress Theatre, located above the Co-Op Plaza in downtown Fairbanks (entrance on Third Avenue) at 8:15 pm. Admission will be free. The reading will be directed by Rachel Blackwell and will feature a cast drawn from the ranks of Fairbanks actors. UAF Theatre major Jenny Schlotfeldt and the UAF Student Drama Association have also contributed heavily to the effort.
“Boundary” is Moran’s first full-length play and also his first stab at drama. He’s been a prolific writer of short comedies, and has had plays produced in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Valdez, as well as in Los Angeles; Seattle; Long Island; the Cleveland area; and Bloomington, Indiana. He also has an upcoming production in the Minneapolis area.
Moran will be receiving his Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from UAF next month. He will be the first student to graduate from the program with an emphasis in dramatic writing.
“Boundary” will also have a staged reading later in May at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, and the Fairbanks Drama Association has tentatively penciled it in for another reading next season.
For more information contact Moran at (907)474-5581(w) or (907)328-0994(h) or email him at thomasmmoran@gmail.com. More information about the Collaborative Arts Council can be found here.
