Allegheny News and Events

Playshop Theatre to Present Bertolt Brecht’s “A Life of Galileo”

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Nov. 16, 2015 – The Playshop Theatre at Allegheny College continues its 2015-16 season with Bertolt Brecht’s iconic “A Life of Galileo,” in a translation by Mark Ravenhill. Four performances will be given in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts: at 8 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, November 19-21, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 22.

Professor of Theatre Dan Crozier directs, and Jim Hollerman, who teaches mathematics at Allegheny College, portrays Galileo.

“‘A Life of Galileo’ is a play about revolutions,” Crozier notes, “revolutions in the heavens and on earth. It’s about the orbits of the planets, the paradigm shift in cosmology proved by Galileo and the social revolution that springs from Brecht’s long study of and adherence to Marxist principles. The word revolution is also defined as consideration or reflection. ‘A Life of Galileo’ invites us to reflect on the spirit of critical inquiry as we celebrate Allegheny’s bicentennial.”

Performing in the production, in addition to Hollerman, are Simon Brown, Elizabeth Colarte, Matthias Copeland, David Crozier, Luke Davis, Rachael Ellis, Hayley Johnson, Daniel Keitel, Lee Scandinaro, Mary Lyon, Karina Mena, Christopher J. Schuchert, Nia Shuler, Chloe Spadafora, Kai Van Rosendaal, Daniel Wightkin and Emily Wilson.

Michael Mehler designed the sets and lighting, and Miriam Patterson designed the costumes.

Tickets for “A Life of Galileo” are $10 for adults and $8 for non-Allegheny students, senior citizens and Allegheny employees. Although admission is free for Allegheny students with identification, they are asked to make reservations.

For more information or to order tickets, contact the Playshop Theatre box office at 814-332-3414.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Playshop Theatre to Present Bertolt Brecht’s “A Life of Galileo”

Nov. 16, 2015 – The Playshop Theatre at Allegheny College continues its 2015-16 season with Bertolt Brecht’s iconic “A Life of Galileo,” in a translation by Mark Ravenhill. Four performances will be given in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts: at 8 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, November 19-21, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 22.

Professor of Theatre Dan Crozier directs, and Jim Hollerman, who teaches mathematics at Allegheny College, portrays Galileo.

“‘A Life of Galileo’ is a play about revolutions,” Crozier notes, “revolutions in the heavens and on earth. It’s about the orbits of the planets, the paradigm shift in cosmology proved by Galileo and the social revolution that springs from Brecht’s long study of and adherence to Marxist principles. The word revolution is also defined as consideration or reflection. ‘A Life of Galileo’ invites us to reflect on the spirit of critical inquiry as we celebrate Allegheny’s bicentennial.”

Performing in the production, in addition to Hollerman, are Simon Brown, Elizabeth Colarte, Matthias Copeland, David Crozier, Luke Davis, Rachael Ellis, Hayley Johnson, Daniel Keitel, Lee Scandinaro, Mary Lyon, Karina Mena, Christopher J. Schuchert, Nia Shuler, Chloe Spadafora, Kai Van Rosendaal, Daniel Wightkin and Emily Wilson.

Michael Mehler designed the sets and lighting, and Miriam Patterson designed the costumes.

Tickets for “A Life of Galileo” are $10 for adults and $8 for non-Allegheny students, senior citizens and Allegheny employees. Although admission is free for Allegheny students with identification, they are asked to make reservations.

For more information or to order tickets, contact the Playshop Theatre box office at 814-332-3414.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Allegheny College Student Karina Mena Named to “110 Students to Watch” List

May 6, 2015 – Allegheny College’s Karina Mena, a junior communication arts major with minors in Latin American/Caribbean studies and theater, has made the list of “110 Students to Watch” in Variety magazine.

Mena, from Portland, Ore., was named to the list, which features upcoming movers and shakers in the entertainment industry. She is a lead technician in Allegheny’s Playshop Theatre and will attend the 2015 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference in Cincinnati, the leading professional conference for theater technology and production. 

“I feel very honored and surprised to be considered one of Variety’s ‘110 Students to Watch,’” Mena says. “It was really cool to hear that I was a part of this list, though I definitely was not expecting this news.”

“Karina embodies the unique spirit and possibilities of communication arts at Allegheny,” says Julie Wilson, assistant professor of communication arts/theater. “She is a talented artist, both on and off stage, as well as a sharp and passionate critic of our media culture. I have no doubt that Karina will spend her life creating images, sets, characters and stories that will challenge and inspire all of us!”

Mena is heavily involved in Allegheny’s theater program. In addition to working as a lead technician for the Playshop Theatre, she also has been an actor in the shows, the properties master (who is in charge of collecting, purchasing and/or building all pieces that are placed on a stage set) and an assistant stage manager. In addition, she designed and constructed/welded a main set piece for a Student Experimental Theatre performance this year.

Additionally, Mena is a volunteer at the student-run coffeehouse Grounds for Change. She also is a member of the executive board for the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, where she serves as the historian who helps manage the fraternity’s social media accounts.

In the future, Mena would like to help create theater in a small company in a community where she can involve people with a variety of backgrounds, cultures and races.

See the full list of Variety “110 Students to Watch” winners.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Allegheny Comm Arts Student Takes Center Stage

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Watch out Hollywood … one of Allegheny’s own recently made the list of “110 Students to Watch” in Variety magazine.

Karina Mena ’16 was named to the list, which features upcoming movers and shakers in the entertainment industry. Karina, from Portland, Ore., is a lead technician in Allegheny’s Playshop Theatre and will attend the 2015 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference in Cincinnati, the leading professional conference for theater technology and production.

“I feel very honored and surprised to be considered one of Variety’s ‘110 Students to Watch,’” says Karina, who is a communication arts major with minors in Latin American/Caribbean studies and theater. “It was really cool to hear that I was a part of this list, though I definitely was not expecting this news.”

“Karina embodies the unique spirit and possibilities of communication arts at Allegheny,” says Julie Wilson, assistant professor of communication arts/theater. “She is a talented artist, both on and off stage, as well as a sharp and passionate critic of our media culture. I have no doubt that Karina will spend her life creating images, sets, characters and stories that will challenge and inspire all of us!”

Karina says she decided to major in communication arts at Allegheny because she loves how the classes and the themes she and her classmates are learning relate to society and culture today. “It makes me feel like I can make, if anything, a small difference in the world and my community by being understanding and aware of myself and others,” she says.

She adds that one of the biggest takeaways from her communication arts major so far has been looking at her day-to-day life and actions, and the lives and actions of others, and “seeing and learning what we do based on societal norms or traditions.”

“I have learned how to critique myself and about the way I think based on society, and have really enjoyed looking into the reasons why we do what we do, and how and if we can change that,” she says.

Karina is heavily involved in Allegheny’s theater program. In addition to working as a lead technician for the Playshop Theatre, she also has been an actor in the shows, the properties master (who is in charge of collecting, purchasing and/or building all pieces that are placed on a stage set) and an assistant stage manager. In addition, she designed and constructed/welded a main set piece for a Student Experimental Theatre comp performance this year.

Additionally, Karina is a volunteer at the student-run coffeehouse Grounds for Change. She also is a member of the executive board for the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, where she serves as the historian who helps manage the fraternity’s social media accounts.

In the future, Karina would like to help create theater in a small company in a community where she can involve people with a variety of backgrounds, cultures and races. “Within this type of theater, we would celebrate these differences, but also make audiences and communities aware of them,” she says. “I would hope that this could start discussions of race and difference that are not always talked about, while creating a safe and creative space for these discussions.”

See the full list of Variety “110 Students to Watch” winners.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Allegheny Comm Arts Student Takes Center Stage

Watch out Hollywood … one of Allegheny’s own recently made the list of “110 Students to Watch” in Variety magazine.

Karina Mena ’16 was named to the list, which features upcoming movers and shakers in the entertainment industry. Karina, from Portland, Ore., is a lead technician in Allegheny’s Playshop Theatre and will attend the 2015 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference in Cincinnati, the leading professional conference for theater technology and production.

“I feel very honored and surprised to be considered one of Variety’s ‘110 Students to Watch,’” says Karina, who is a communication arts major with minors in Latin American/Caribbean studies and theater. “It was really cool to hear that I was a part of this list, though I definitely was not expecting this news.”

“Karina embodies the unique spirit and possibilities of communication arts at Allegheny,” says Julie Wilson, assistant professor of communication arts/theater. “She is a talented artist, both on and off stage, as well as a sharp and passionate critic of our media culture. I have no doubt that Karina will spend her life creating images, sets, characters and stories that will challenge and inspire all of us!”

Karina says she decided to major in communication arts at Allegheny because she loves how the classes and the themes she and her classmates are learning relate to society and culture today. “It makes me feel like I can make, if anything, a small difference in the world and my community by being understanding and aware of myself and others,” she says.

She adds that one of the biggest takeaways from her communication arts major so far has been looking at her day-to-day life and actions, and the lives and actions of others, and “seeing and learning what we do based on societal norms or traditions.”

“I have learned how to critique myself and about the way I think based on society, and have really enjoyed looking into the reasons why we do what we do, and how and if we can change that,” she says.

Karina is heavily involved in Allegheny’s theater program. In addition to working as a lead technician for the Playshop Theatre, she also has been an actor in the shows, the properties master (who is in charge of collecting, purchasing and/or building all pieces that are placed on a stage set) and an assistant stage manager. In addition, she designed and constructed/welded a main set piece for a Student Experimental Theatre comp performance this year.

Additionally, Karina is a volunteer at the student-run coffeehouse Grounds for Change. She also is a member of the executive board for the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, where she serves as the historian who helps manage the fraternity’s social media accounts.

In the future, Karina would like to help create theater in a small company in a community where she can involve people with a variety of backgrounds, cultures and races. “Within this type of theater, we would celebrate these differences, but also make audiences and communities aware of them,” she says. “I would hope that this could start discussions of race and difference that are not always talked about, while creating a safe and creative space for these discussions.”

See the full list of Variety “110 Students to Watch” winners.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Playshop Theatre at Allegheny College To Present “A Dream Play”

April 20, 2015 — The Allegheny College Playshop Theatre closes its 85th season with August Strindberg’s “A Dream Play,” in a new version by Caryl Churchill in which she re-imagines Strindberg’s surrealist exploration of human suffering. Katherine McGerr directs. Four performances will be given in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts: at 8 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, April 23-25, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 26.

“With its contrasting scenes of beauty and terror, ‘A Dream Play’ reminds audiences both to bear witness to larger situations of inequity and injustice, as well as to appreciate the startling, wonderful things the world can do,” dramaturg Leanne Siwicki notes. “The play doesn’t offer solutions, but begins by asking us to be conscious.”

Director Katherine McGerr calls the play “both a glimpse of the world as it is and a celebration of the human imagination. It has a unique combination of serious ideas and delightful theatricality that we hope audiences will enjoy.”

Performing in the production are Itzel Ayala, Bailey Blashford, Mario Buffalini, Liz Colarte, Luke Aslanian Davis, Alexis Eldridge, Sean Gannon, Daniel Keitel, Matt Lis, Christian Lombino, Mary Lyon, Karina Mena, Lee Scandinaro, Lizzie Thompson, Audrey Trotta, Danny Wightkin and Dan Crozier.

Samantha Hoderlein designed the set, Michael Mehler designed the costumes and lighting and Jeremy Loewer is the production’s sound designer and musical arranger.

Tickets for “A Dream Play” are $10 for adults and $7.50 for non-Allegheny students, senior citizens and Allegheny employees. Although admission is free for Allegheny students with identification, they are asked to make reservations.

For more information or to order tickets, contact the Playshop Theatre box office at 814-332-3414.

Photo: clockwise from left, Alexis Eldridge, Audrey Trotta, Danny Wightkin, Itzel Ayala, Lizzie Thompson and Luke Davis. Photo by Bill Owen

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Mehler and Mena Attend Theatre Technology Conference

At the Annual Conference of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Associate Professor of Theatre Michael Mehler began his first full term as vice president for communications, which includes oversight of TD&T, the journal for entertainment design, technology, and management. While there, he co-moderated an all-conference discussion among Theatre Communications Group executive director Teresa Eyring and Broadway designers Ken Billington, Jane Greenwood, Wendall Harrington, and Douglas Schmidt. Professor Mehler also co-chaired a panel on sustainable model building given by recent Tony Award winner Donyale Werle. Karina Mena ’16 participated in USITT’s Gateway Program, which connects 12 students from across the country with 12 professional mentors. Karina was paired with Sherry Wagner-Henry, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin, and met individually with Eyring and Terrence Spivey, artistic director of Karamu House, one of the oldest African-American theatre companies in the United States.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Mehler and Mena Attend Theatre Technology Conference

At the Annual Conference of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Associate Professor of Theatre Michael Mehler began his first full term as vice president for communications, which includes oversight of TD&T, the journal for entertainment design, technology, and management. While there, he co-moderated an all-conference discussion among Theatre Communications Group executive director Teresa Eyring and Broadway designers Ken Billington, Jane Greenwood, Wendall Harrington, and Douglas Schmidt. Professor Mehler also co-chaired a panel on sustainable model building given by recent Tony Award winner Donyale Werle. Karina Mena ’16 participated in USITT’s Gateway Program, which connects 12 students from across the country with 12 professional mentors. Karina was paired with Sherry Wagner-Henry, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin, and met individually with Eyring and Terrence Spivey, artistic director of Karamu House, one of the oldest African-American theatre companies in the United States.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Picture Perfect

Students Connect Science and Humanities through Interdisciplinary Research

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Chris Schuchert ’16 stood in a semi-dark room, arms outstretched, while Laura Holesh ’16 snapped his photo.

Leanne Siwicki ’15 repeated the same pose, with Holesh capturing her image as well.

Although the two theater majors looked as if they were practicing for an upcoming performance, they actually were serving as subjects for a psychological study. Holesh and Annie Utterback ’16 are conducting this independent study with Associate Professor of Psychology Aimee Knupsky and Associate Professor of English M. Soledad Caballero.

According to Utterback, a psychology major and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies minor from Sewickley, Pa., the project came out of an interdisciplinary class she took last semester called “Cognitive Humanities – Expressions of Emotion: When Psychology and Literature Converge” with Professors Knupsky and Caballero. The course was created through the support of a New Directions Grant from the Great Lakes Colleges Association.

“The class was about the study of emotion during the 19th century to present day and the reciprocal relationship between science and the humanities,” Utterback says. “It was about how the study of emotion was shaped by literature and theater and medical records. That provided a basis for our project, where Laura and I are studying facial recognition and emotion.”

To conduct this research, Utterback and Holesh selected 20 poses from a manual on gesture and emotion written in 1806 by Henry Siddons, an English actor and theatrical manager now remembered as a writer on gesture. Each page in the book shows an actor making a gesture, with each page labeled with an emotion like “devotion,” “happiness,” anger,” “despair,” or “enthusiasm.”

Utterback and Holesh then asked theater majors Schuchert and Siwicki to recreate the gestures from Siddons’ book while they took photos of each pose.

The student researchers then will project the photos onto a screen and ask study participants to choose which emotion the actors are expressing. Utterback and Holesh will use equipment in the College’s eye-tracking lab to study where participants are looking on the photos in order to make their guesses.

“The eye-tracker will produce what is similar to a ‘heat map,’ allowing us to see where people are looking in the image and for how long,” says Holesh, a neuroscience and psychology double major and biology minor from Gibsonia, Pa. “This will help us to capture their thought process to figure out what emotion it is.”

“We’ll then be able to see if they’re guessing the emotion that the book said it was and how that’s been congruent over time. We’ll also be able to see what part of the gesture is cuing them to the emotion,” Utterback adds. “It will be interesting to see how emotion has developed over several centuries.”

One of the unique components of this study is that it allows the students to conduct interdisciplinary research, meaning the study involves both science (psychology) and humanities (English and theater).

“The wave of the future is really interdisciplinary research, and Allegheny is leading the way by offering research with interdisciplinary courses,” Professor Knupsky says. “It’s about getting students to realize that humanities and natural sciences really are asking the same questions.”

“I’m very interested in the sciences, but I’m also interested in English and theater. So I really like the interdisciplinary focus,” Utterback says. “I like connecting all these subjects. It requires critical thinking and being creative to tie all these things together. It’s been an eye-opening experience.”

Even though the project is not yet complete, Holesh says she already has learned a lot.

“This project definitely has helped me to read scientific literature, analyze it, and see the process of thinking. The creative process also has helped me with my junior seminar,” she says.

“The study has helped me to realize that psychology and science are a lot different than what I thought they were in high school,” Utterback adds.” Science is a study and a way of thinking more than content. You can scientifically study anything.”

The pair also likes the ability to do hands-on research as an undergraduate student.

“I don’t believe other undergrads are doing research like we are and shaping it in the way we are. Laura and I are involved in shaping what the project is and what we’re researching,” Utterback says.

“One of the main reasons I came to Allegheny was to do research, because I knew the opportunities were incredible. Coming in freshman year, I started doing research. At other schools, I don’t think that’s the experience students get,” Holesh adds.

In addition, they appreciate the close relationships they have developed with professors at Allegheny.

“I truly value my relationships with my professors,” Holesh says. “I adore talking to them about their research. They are more than willing to have you come into the lab and see things and be hands-on.”

Holesh and Utterback plan to continue their research next semester and may use this work as a springboard for their comprehensive projects.

Source: Academics, Publications & Research

Samantha Hoderlein ’15 and Michael Mehler Co-Present at Theatre Technology Conference

Samantha Hoderlein ’15 and Associate Professor of Theatre Michael Mehler co-presented “Aesthetic and Economic Considerations for Greener Sheet Goods for Scenic Production” on the panel “Products and Ideas for Sustainable Stagecraft” at the Annual Conference of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology. At the same conference, Mehler was presented with a Herbert D. Greggs Merit Award for his article (co-written with Paul Brunner of Indiana University) “Theatre Design & Production Reimagined: Four Principles for a Sustainable Future,” which appeared in the Summer 2013 issue of TD&T (Theatre Design & Technology).

Source: Academics, Publications & Research