2007

Chapman University's Conservatory of Music has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, one of the most respected arts organizations in California, for a concert that will be part of the prestigious 2008 American Composers Festival in February.  The concert will feature the Chapman Chamber Orchestra, conducted by music director Daniel Alfred Wachs, with principal members of PSO in a concert titled "Portraits of the American Frontier", to be performed in Memorial Hall on Monday, Feb. 11.  The University Choir, under the direction of Joseph Modica, assistant professor of music, as well as newly appointed director of keyboard studies Dr. Grace Fong will also perform.  The program will include a screening of the historic 1936 documentary film The Plow That Broke the Plains-a government-financed project describing the environmental disasters of the '30s, including the "Dust Bowl"-with original music by Virgil Thompson. 

Representatives from the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival have selected the Department of Theatre’s fall production of The Tempest as a regional finalist for festival honors. The students have been invited to present the production in the festival competition at California State University, Los Angeles in February.  The winning production will move on to the national festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  The Tempest, directed by Thomas Bradac, associate professor of theatre, was selected from hundreds of collegiate productions representing the finest university theatre in Region VIII (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Hawaii and American Samoa).  Other schools chosen to perform at the festival include University of California, Los Angeles, Northern Arizona University, and Fullerton College. 

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, has written a chapter titled “Ira Aldridge:  Prophet of Protest” for The Great Shakespearean Tragedian on the Bicentennial Anniversary of His Birth, a book edited by Krystyna Kujawska Courtney and Maria A. Lukowska which will be published by Peter Lang Publishing in early 2008.  The chapter is based on his research in Moscow and St. Petersburg last summer.

Michael Nehring, professor of theatre, has been cast in a workshop production co-sponsored by the Center Theatre Group (Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre) and Son of Semele Theatre Ensemble.  The play, currently titled Corn Play, was written by Matthew McCray (‘98) and will be developed through three workshop productions with professional actors and staff from the Center Theatre Group.  Nehring will be playing Earl "Rusty" Butz, Secretary of Agriculture in the Nixon administration.

Micol Hebron, assistant professor of art, has co-curated an art exhibition titled "Big Bang and Other Origins" opening at the David Salow Gallery in Los Angeles on December 1st, 2007, with an opening reception from 7 - 9pm. Further information can be found at www.davidsalowgallery.com.

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, will be busy in Europe while on leave for his Fulbright to Norway in 2008.  He has been invited to teach a course at the University of Helsinki, Finland in Multicultural Performance Studies.  He will also teach a course on acting at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki.

Dr. Sean Heim, assistant professor of music, has been selected by the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers as an ASCAP Plus award recipient.  Dr. Heim was chosen by an independent panel in recognition of the value of his original catalogue of compositions and recent performances.  It is his ninth consecutive year of recognition from the ASCAP awards committee.

Robin Kish, instructor of dance, was the faculty sponsor for students Amanda Esquivel and Angela Nafie for the 2007 Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research, held at California State University, Los Angeles on November 17.  The students made poster presentations on their dance science research under the guidance of Ms. Kish.  The conference welcomes students of all disciplines in a “celebration of undergraduate discovery” and will hopefully be hosted by Chapman in coming years. 

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, has been asked to participate in the nationally renowned Odyssey Project at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  Dr. Kelly will lead a workshop on the empowerment of the spoken text in various works of dramatic literature.  While in Wisconsin he will also lead a Shakespeare workshop at the Racine Correctional Facility for the nationally recognized Shakespeare Behind Bars program.  In this program, inmates at the Racine Correctional Facility are finding their lives are being changed by performing various works from Shakespeare.  The program has garnered national attention from a documentary on PBS and featured articles in the New York Times. 

David Kiddie, assistant professor of art, has some of his latest ceramic sculptures on display in “Orange County Contemporary Ceramics”, at the John Wayne Airport through February 18, 2008.  The show, featuring thirty ceramists, is in the Vi Smith Concourse Gallery in the Thomas F. Riley Terminal.  Kiddie’s work is directly under the bronze sculpture of John Wayne.

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, was invited for nine days to be a guest instructor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.  Dr. Kelly led classes on breath control for brass players.  Esa-Pekka Salonen, famed conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic, is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy.  Dr. Kelly also delivered a guest lecture on the dramaturgy of Ibsen at the University of Helsinki.

Alicia Okouchi-Guy, assistant professor of dance, taught a master class for the California Dance Education Association.  The presentation included how to stay current in the contemporary commercial dance industry through movement and philosophy. 

Daniel Alfred Wachs, assistant professor of music, has been named music director designate of Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO), succeeding professor emeritus John Koshak.  OCYSO has a 30-year affiliation with Chapman University and is the official youth orchestra of Orange County, performing both on the Chapman campus as well as at the Orange County Performing Artscenter.  Professor Wachs, who joined the Conservatory last year as director of instrumental studies and music director of Chapman University's orchestras, has recently served as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Opera 06-07 season.  Last March, he guest conducted the Rotterdam Philharmonic, replacing Valery Gergiev.

Micol Hebron, assistant professor of art, exhibited twelve photographs and three videos at the Seoul International Print, Photography & Edition Work Art Fair in Seoul, South Korea.  She also authored a review of Vija Celmin's exhibition of drawings at the Hammer Museum, published in the July-September issue of Flash Art International magazine, v. XL no. 255.  In addition, she had a solo exhibition of sculpture and video art at Sabina Lee Gallery in Los Angeles.

Stephen Berens, assistant professor of art, was honored with a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Los Angeles for his work on X-TRA magazine at the October 12 Los Angeles City Council meeting.  X-TRA, a contemporary art journal co-founded by Prof. Berens, was recognized on its 10th anniversary for “serving as a significant civic resource and for its part in enhancing the quality of life for Los Angeles residents”. 

Wendy Salmond, Co-Chair of the Department of Art, spoke on "The Cultural Significance of the Russian Icon" at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum in Baton Rouge on October 7. The lecture coincided with the traveling exhibition "Tradition in Transition: Russian Icons in the Age of the Romanovs."  Professor Salmond was the guest curator of the exhibition, which was organized by Hillwood Museum and Gardens in Washington D.C. and is touring seven museum venues throughout the United States. 

Micol Hebron, assistant professor of art, and Stephen Berens, assistant professor of art, announced the publication of X-TRA volume 10, number 1.  Both professors are on the editorial board of X-TRA, which is the longest running contemporary art journal in Los Angeles.  With the help of a prestigious three-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation, the magazine was redesigned with four-color printing, which was unveiled at a launch for the magazine hosted by the Outpost for Contemporary in Los Angeles.

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, starred in a new play, The Root by Gary Richards, at the Ark Theatre Company in Los Angeles. The show was produced by television star Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) and featured a cast of television and film veterans including Jim Hanna, Jon Manfrellotti, and Allan Wasserman.

Donald Guy, assistant professor of theatre, designed the lighting for “Master Harold"…and the boys by Athol Fugard at the Colony Theatre in Burbank.  In this production, an ordinary rainy afternoon in 1950s South Africa turns into a profound and life-changing experience for young, white Harold and his beloved black servants.  The Colony Theatre calls the work “a stunning masterpiece, one of the most powerful coming-of-age plays ever written, and still timely, still compelling, still unbearably moving”. 

Dr. Baron Kelly, assistant professor of theatre, was the guest speaker at the MESEA (Multi Ethnic Studies in Europe and the Americas) Conference in Joennsu, Finland.  He was the subject of an Orange County Register article, "Chapman Professor Tackles Diversity". 

David Kiddie, assistant professor of art, presented a show titled “Combo Platter” at the Harris Gallery at the University of La Verne.  The show consisted of a series of sixteen large platters made in collaboration with adjunct faculty member Michael Reafsnyder.  It was accompanied by a catalog and essay written by Shana Nys Dambrot. 

Michael Nehring, professor of theatre, performed the lead role of Napoleon in a one-act version of the Ovation Award-winning production of Animal Farm, produced by Son of Semele Theatre Ensemble.  The production, which received glowing reviews and multiple awards when staged five years ago, was re-staged as part of the Western Arts Alliance Conference, held in Los Angeles for the first time in twenty years.  Professor Nehring also played the role of Prospero in The Tempest under an Actor's Equity guest artist union contract for the first production of Chapman's 2007-2008 theatre season. 

On Monday, August 13, a glowing review of the Shakespeare Orange County production Romeo and Juliet appeared in the Los Angeles Times.  The director, professor Michael Nehring, was praised for “judiciously trimming the text” and “launch[ing] it around the Festival Amphitheater as a rambunctious ode to puppy love that goes terribly awry on the streets of Verona.”  The Times also wrote that associate professor Tamiko Washington “owns the audience as the Nurse, her bawdy chortles returning with chilling hollowness in Act 2”. 

Robin Kish, instructor of dance, attended the seventeenth annual International Association for Dance Medicine and Science Conference this year in Canberra, Australia.  She taught a one-hour movement session titled "Brain Gym to Optimize Dance Technique and Performance Experiences". Approximately fifty people attended the session.  The participants included dance teachers, physical therapists, the director of the Australian Ballet Company, and doctors of various specialties.  The workshop was a huge success and Ms. Kish has been asked to present a similar workshop as a conference faculty member at the 2008 Performing Arts Medicine Association Conference.

Liz Maxwell, assistant professor of dance, presented "The Power of a Name", about the work of Warren Lamb, at the Motus Humanus conference, a Laban symposium, in Minneapolis.  In addition, she was commissioned to create an original piece of choreography for Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.  Professor Maxwell also was invited as a guest artist to set Laura Dean's Sky Light on a group of women from the University of Washington's Chamber Dance Company.

Robin Kish, instructor of dance, presented a paper titled “The Flip Flop Phenomenon” at an internationally attended annual symposium on Medical Problems of Musicians and Dancers in Aspen, Colorado.  Along with her own research, Robin mentored dance majors Angela Nafie, Charles Maa, and Amanda Esquivel, whose scholarly work was also presented at the conference.  In addition, the students were invited to perform “Behind the Portrait”, choreographed by Ms. Kish, at the Wheeler Opera House.  The performance was very well received and was a highlight of the conference, impressing the attendees that the dancers were artists as well as scholars.  Ms. Kish is now chairing a committee for the Performing Arts Medicine Association.

Robert Becker, director of strings in the Conservatory of Music, was the viola soloist at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for Mozart’s Symphonie Concertante for violin and viola. This work was choreographed by George Balanchine and performed by American Ballet Theatre.  He also appeared in the Piano Quartet of Gabriel Faure at the Samueli Theatre as part of the Pacific Symphony’s “Café Ludwig” Series.

John Benitz, assistant professor of theatre, was guest director of the play What I Heard About Iraq by Simon Levy at Western Washington University. Professor Benitz’s visit also included a panel appearance on the WWU’s Distinguished Lecture Series.