ust weeks before crossing the stage for graduation, the senior members of the dance program at West Virginia University have one last chance to take the stage with their fellow dancers.

The Spring Student Dance Showcase is the final dance production held by the School of Theatre and Dance this season and will be held on Thursday (April 26) in two showings at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Falbo Theatre at the Creative Arts Center.

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West Virginia University School of Theatre & Dance costume design graduate student Candice Caldwell Day received two awards when she competed recently in the 2012 Southeastern Theatre Conference.

Day received third place in costume crafts and honorable mention in graduate costume design. Her costume crafts entry was a furry, pink llama mask, which took a month and a half to construct. The eye-catching mask tempted many patrons at the conference to touch the fluffy fur.

Her costume design entry was a conceptual version of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” combining Romanesque period style, Scandinavian Viking influence and the artwork of Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who was the concept artist for the film “Alien.”

Day is originally from Concord, N.C. She received her bachelor’s degree in studio fine arts with an emphasis on painting and drawing from Warren Wilson College and started in theater by co-founding and performing in the Asheville Aerial Arts. She has also been an artist-in-residence at the Rabun Gap Nacoochee School in Georgia, coaching the Cirque program and assisting in the art department. She grew up as a competitive Whitewater Slalom Kayaker and has raced in Europe while a member of the Junior National Canoe and Kayak team.

Day is inspired in her work by the passion she feels for the circus arts. The combination of athleticism, artistry and fantasy in aerial arts lead her to try her hand at costume design.

“Costume designers create characters and worlds,” Day said. “I adore any artwork that transports the viewer to a fantastically beautiful realm, or is really out there and a little creepy.”

Another huge inspiration in Day’s life comes from her late father, who was also an artist and graphic designer.

“I had an early mentor that really pushed me and he was an incredible talent and teacher that I miss dearly,” Day said.

Caldwell is also one of the students in the WVU Costume Shop who created the unique masks for the School of Theatre & Dance production of “The Visit,” by Frederich Dürrenmatt, currently playing at the Creative Arts Center through April 22.

The Southeastern Theatre Conference is the largest and most active regional theater organization in the United States. This season’s conference was hosted at the Chattanooga Convention Center in Tennessee. The Technical Design competition boasted more than 150 entrants in categories ranging from costume design to sound to props design.

This year’s judges included famous Broadway costume designer Tony Walton, lighting designer Richard Pilbrow and costume designer Jennifer Caprio.

Congratulations to the winners of our Faculty/Student Mentored Research Awards.

Undergraduate:

1st Place
Student: Zane Cupec
Faculty: Michael Vercelli
School of Music
Project Name: Velkpele (Musical Performance)

2nd Place
Student: John Kiselica
Faculty: Alan McEwen
School of Theatre & Dance
Project Name: Theatrical Dry Ice Fog Machine

3rd Place
Student: Kiy Tywoniw
Faculty: Gerald Habarth
School of Art & Design
Project Name: Alien Host/3D video game trailer

Graduate:

1st place
Student: Morgan Milders
Faculty: Dylan Collins
School of Art & Design
Project Name: Cluster flock/Cast bronze sculpture

2nd place
Student: Ben Lauer
Faculty: Steven Neuenschwander
School of Theatre & Dance
Project Name: Technical Direction of “The Crucible”

Scenes from famous operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be presented by the West Virginia University Opera Theatre during a program titled “Simply Mozart,” at the Creative Arts Center, April 13-14.

Directed by Robert Thieme, who is head of WVU opera program, performances in the Antoinette Falbo Theatre begin at 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 13, and 3:15 p.m., Saturday, April 14.

The students will perform scenes from: “Die Zauberflote” or “The Magic Flute” (in German and English), which premiered in 1791; “Cosi fan tutte” (in Italian), which premiered in 1789; and “The Impresario,” which premiered in 1786.

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Matt Webster’s Kingdom Come to be shown March 23

Sometimes people wait a lifetime for an opportunity to have their work showcased in a landmark way that can catapult them to fame and fortune. One graduate of the College of Creative Arts may be getting that opportunity.

Playwright Matt Webster (BFA Acting, 2011), the writer of the musical Kingdom Come is having his work showcased in the prestigious Downtown Urban Theatre Festival in New York City.

This thespian event features other prestigious and up-and-coming playwrights and the works that will be infiltrating Broadway.

Matt Webster’s work encompasses an interview-style feel, where individuals discuss thoughts and feelings about September 11, 2001. It is an opportunity to express the different emotions and expressions of how others felt about this tragic event in U.S. history.

He wrote the play while he was a student in the WVU School of Theatre & Dance.

It’s exciting to think how this play will be received by famous Broadway producers and how this clout will help Matt to be able to find a network in the Big Apple.

Matt’s play will be shown March 23 and WVU and the city of Morgantown will be watching his blooming career in the world of Musical Theatre.

For more info, check out:

Downtown Urban Theatre Festival Website

“Story on WTRF ”: http://www.wtrf.com/story/16400572/local-playwright-to-be-featured-in-world-renowned-theater-festival

-Courteney Tyner

When Yoav Kaddar moved to the United States from Israel 25 years ago, he had no idea that his career in performing, choreographing and teaching dance would eventually lead him to the Mountain State.

Kaddar’s resume includes membership in various modern dance companies, including the Jose Limon Dance Company in New York and dancing with numerous independent New York City choreographers. He has both national and international appointments, including the National School of Dance in Argentina and The Novosibirsk Opera Ballet in Russia. He has choreographed and restaged many notable dances featured in places such as the Smithsonian Museum of Art and has received numerous awards.

He came to West Virginia University in the fall of 2010 after 10 years of teaching in New York. At WVU, he serves as director of the dance program and an assistant professor of dance.

Kaddar has taken the university by storm, creating new programs, clubs and opportunities for students while reaching out to the community for inspiration and support.

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Well friends, this will be my last post since opening night is tonight! I have learned a lot in the process and analyzing the play was definitely more challenging than I originally anticipated. I really wanted to give you a little insight on the unspoken things in the play so you have a better understanding of what happens when you actually see the show. Buried Child is a piece of theater which depicts the fragmentation of the American nuclear family in a context of disappointment with American mythology and the American dream. In many of Sam Shepard’s plays we find ourselves right in the middle of a family struggling physically, emotionally, financially or sometimes all three. Dodge and Halie were once living the American dream: owners of a bustling farm and parents to three accomplished sons but all of this was “canceled out by this one mistake. This one weakness”. Shepard is also known for his mythic realism; he uses modern twists on ancient rituals throughout American history. In Buried Child he uses the illusion of the myth of the Corn King. Theoretically, Dodge is the current Corn King and he has come to the end of his reign. However, his reign cannot end until he has found a replacement. Dodge has managed to disturb the natural order of successors to the throne by taking care of some unwanted business. All of his sons believe they are going to become the next Corn King but none of them are suitable for the position because they are all damaged in some way: Tilden mentally, Bradley physically and Ansel isn’t even alive. Dodge stresses the importance of being independent and persistent and the only person competent enough to take the position is Vince. Vince’s symbolic “birth” back into the house is when Dodge realizes it is time to give up his crown and free his soul from the confines of his sickly body.

I hope that didn’t give away too much or ruin anything for you! I also hope you have enjoyed reading my posts throughout this process and I hope you enjoy the show!

-Mara E Nadolski

In a barren farm home, occupied by a family filled with suppressed violence and unease, there lays a dark secret nobody will admit to, until one of them finally unearths the mystery.

“Buried Child,” the 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by critically acclaimed American playwright Sam Shepard, will be presented by the WVU School of Theatre & Dance, Feb. 24-March 4, at the Creative Arts Center.

The characters are a ranting alcoholic grandfather; a sanctimonious grandmother whose mission is to keep up their “American family” façade and their sons—one a former All-American footballer now back from New Mexico for unknown reasons, and the other an amputee with a few issues.

Into their midst comes a grandson none of them recognizes or remembers, and his girlfriend, who cannot comprehend the madness she is suddenly thrown into.

Steeped in mystery, humor, and stark poetry, the play plunges the audience into the subconscious of a dysfunctional family, ultimately resulting in a bizarre regeneration and rebirth of hope and fertility.

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WVU students performing in Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child” are (left to right): Greg Holt, Will Stout, Ben Roberts and McKenna Kirchner.

It’s 9 p.m. on a school night. In a loft studio, a group of athletic young women dance, waving their arms like inflexible dolls and rolling their eyes. The song is about happiness, but they’re playing the parts of dissatisfied lovers who may have once been happy but just can’t stand the guy anymore.

Yoav Kaddar, the director of West Virginia University’s dance program, choreographed the piece, and continuously directs the students’ work both inside and outside of class to develop their art.
Kaddar is a Juilliard School graduate who has worked with some of the nation’s leading dance companies, including the Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Jose Limon Dance Company and Pilobolus Dance Theatre.

As the fairly new director of the WVU dance program, he has lots of plans.

He wants the students, now all dance minors, to have more opportunities through guest instructors, summer programs and increased performances. He also wants to spread that to the community with outreach for young dancers, connecting them with a University where they may one day study as well as bringing dance to a wider audience here on campus and in the community.

So far he’s created a summer dance academy, brought in guest instructors from “So You Think You Can Dance,” spurred the creation of a Student Dance Association and encouraged the students to pursue summer internships.

One of the WVU dance program’s most notable recent achievements under Kaddar is working toward the establishment of a dance major to be offered in 2013. This would be one more key program in the University’s performing arts offerings, raising WVU’s profile among peer institutions. It also means West Virginians won’t have to leave the state to pursue a bachelor’s degree in dance.

But the current crop of dancers continues to work as if there’s already a major.

Four nights a week, they put aside their homework, stretch and enter the warmly lit studio in an upper room of Elizabeth Moore Hall. They spend nearly two hours a night getting ready for their spring performances.
Valerie Guido, an enigmatic dancer from Clarksburg, W.Va., is one of the students who spends nearly as much of her time on her dance minor as she does her exercise physiology major. She said if they’d had the major when she began, she would have taken it.

Guido says she’s happiest when performing. You can see that’s true as you follow Guido through her last rehearsals and performance as a dance student at WVU through a new video created by WVU’s University Relations/News.

See the video here

Hi friends! Today finished up our second day of technical rehearsals and might I say, this is going swimmingly! So for today’s post I’m going to show you a few process shots from our first rehearsals up until this point!

This is just after one of our first run throughs, the entire cast getting notes.

Shelly and Dodge at the beginning of Act 3.

The same scene as above during our first technical rehearsal.

Shelly peeling carrots while Dodge and Tilden watch.

Here is Shelly peeling carrots during our second technical rehearsal.

As you can see we have made a lot of progress in the last few weeks. Since there are so many vegetables being picked in this play, I’m sure you’re wondering what we’re going to do with all of them. Cook with them, duh! So here is a little corn chowder recipe if you are so inclined to cook after you see our show!

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 cups of corn kernels
1 1/2 cups dry potato flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
3 cups water
2 cups milk
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Cook onion, red and green bell peppers, and carrots until tender.
2. Stir in corn, potato flakes, salt, ground peppers, and 3 cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in milk and half and half. Warm only. Do not boil. Serve sprinkled with grated cheese.