Category: Theatre

The Tech Theatre Company presents “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.” The chldren’s classic by Salman Rushdie is in the tradition of “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

“What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” This is the question Haroun asks her father, the famous storyteller Rashid Khalifa, when her mother Soraya runs away with another man. Rashid then loses his unique talent, the ability to tell stories, and Haroun decides she must help her father recover his powers. She sets off on a remarkable journey to the fabled Sea of Stories, where many of Rashid’s outlandish yarns turn out to be not only true but alive.

“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 12, 2015, in the McArdle Theatre in the Walker Building. Additional performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Tickets at $13 for adults, $5 for youth and Michigan Tech students are free with Student ID/Experience Tech Fee.

From Tech Today, by Tech Theatre.

Aquila Theatre is returning to Michigan Tech with the world’s greatest love story, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

The story is so well known—star-crossed lovers who are doomed from the start—so why is this production special? This minimal adaptation is a joy of the senses: simple, pared-down and shadowy, Aquila’s “Romeo and Juliet,” directed and adapted by Desiree Sanchez, is a completely new way to experience one of the Bard’s most iconic plays. Shakespeare’s eight-plus actors are cut down to five, the original seventeen roles reduced to eight. The story is condensed, focused and chiseled away at until it stands out in uncluttered relief.

Experience the beauty of Aquila Theatre’s new production of “Romeo and Juliet,” at 8 p.m. Thursday, October 22, 2015, at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. There will be a pre-performance discussion with Aquila Theatre tour members at 7 p.m. in the Rozsa lobby. Tickets for Romeo and Juliet are on sale now, $24 for adults, $10 for youth and no charge for Michigan Tech students with a student ID via the Experience Tech fee.

Click here for more information or to order tickets.

From Tech Today, by the Rozsa Center.

Aquila Theatre to present “Romeo and Juliet” Oct. 22 at Rozsa

According to a recent review by Sam Hall, of DC Metro Theater Arts, “This is a very real and very serious production, full of shadows and chiaroscuro light. Romeo and Juliet step onstage as more than horny teenagers or conventionally doomed lovers. They are two young persons come together burning ardently within the flame of life, snuffed out in heedless misunderstanding…. We have here a remarkable fusion of design, text, and performance; of consciousness, scenery, sound, light, space, meaning, and movement. This is Romeo and Juliet as high tragedy, a balletic dream sculpted in moonstone ghost; a lighted candle melting in wax from mise-en-scène to mise-en-scène; a grandeur of poetry and high art. It is beautiful and disturbing. Deeply moving, without a trace of sentimentality.”

Read more at Keweenaw Now.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” a play by Rajiv Joseph, explores how the lives of two American Marines and an Iraqi translator are forever changed by an encounter with a quick-witted tiger who haunts the streets of war-torn Baghdad attempting to find meaning, forgiveness and redemption amidst the city’s ruins.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” will be performed by Tech Theatre in the McArdle Theater for six performances, Thursday, October 15, 2015, through Saturday, October 17, 2015, and October 22 – 24, 2015. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. each evening.

“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” examines both the power and the perils of human nature.

From Tech Today, by Tech Theatre.

Tech Theatre Company to perform “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” Oct. 15-17 and 22-24 in McArdle Theater

The New York Times writes, “Set in the chaotic first days of the American invasion of Iraq, this boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama considers the long afterlife of violent acts, as well as the impenetrable mysteries of the afterlife itself.”

According to Director Roger Held, “While depicting a devastatingly cruel and venal world [the tiger] offers hope of redemption and meaningful life after a history of complacency and compliance. What we must do is not easy; we must find and risk being ourselves…”

Read more at Keweenaw Now.

What is a Violapalooza? Lollapalooza with violas? Come to the 4^th Keweenaw String Festival starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 10, 2015, at the Rozsa Center and find out.

Picture a host of young Kurt Cobains, playing classical music instead of Nirvana. We’ll have stars of the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra, special guests, along with emerging, talented violists of the Keweenaw—all on stage at the Rozsa.

For more information, see the Michigan Tech event page.

From Tech Today.

Rozsa Center to host “Senses of Land” Gallery exhibit, Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra “Violapalooza” concert Oct. 10

What is a Viola you ask? According to Wikipedia: “The viola is a bowed string instrument that is slightly larger than a violin, with a lower and deeper sound.” The KSO’s Violapalooza this Saturday will feature many, many violas!

Read more at Keweenaw Now.

Lisa Johnson (VPA) presented poems from her collection, “Addition and Subtraction,” in July at the Second International Poetry Festival of Aguacat’n in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The Aguacat’n International Poetry Festival was initiated by the Macondo Literary Group of Guatemala and is supported by the Editorial Ediciones Caffeine and Converged Voice Literary Magazine. Poets from Mexico, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Germany and the US presented their work during the three-day event.

From Tech Today.

The William G. Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning seeks input for its annual Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize outstanding contribution to the instructional mission of the University.

Based on more than 50,000 student rating of instruction responses, ten finalists have been identified for the 2015 awards. The selection committee is soliciting comments from students, staff, faculty and alumni to aid in its deliberation process.

Professor Mary Carol Friedrich is one of the finalists in the Associate Professor/Professor category.

Comments on the nominees are due by Friday, April 3, and can be completed online.

The process for determining the Distinguished Teaching Award recipients from this list of finalists also involves the additional surveying of their classes. The selection committee makes the final determination of the award recipients. The recipients of the 2015 Distinguished Teaching Award will be formally announced in May 2015.

Read more at Tech Today.

Visual and Performing Arts faculty attended the Kennedy Center American College Theater (KCACTF) Region 3 Festival, Jan. 6–10, 2015, in Milwaukee.

MC Friedrich presented a workshop on costume draping, Christopher Plummer presented a workshop on wireless microphones and Josh Loar taught a workshop on using QLab for theatrical sound design. Trish Helsel was the workshop coordinator for the entire festival.

From Tech Today.

2015 Region III KCACTF Award Recipients from Michigan Tech

Design Storm
Honorable Mention
Sound: Austin Scott
Award Recipients
Scenery: Mark Postma

S.P.A.M. Prop Award
Jamie Aneshansel

Regional Design Projects
Sound Design
Recipient
Eric Smith

Tech Olympics
Individual Event Best Times
Costumes
Lance Cohoon and Cambry Wade
Knots
Josh Maiville
Sound
Devin Miller and Jason Scott

The Games of the Technological Olympiad
Team Event
Bronze Medal
Alec Greitsell and Josh Maiville
Silver Medal
Jamie Aneshansel and Robert Billings

Design and Technology Allied Design and Technologies Award
Honorable Mention
Jamie Aneshansel