2011-2012
Arts and Humanities News
mnstate.edu/cah
Arts and Humanities News Dear Friends: Greetings from Moorhead! The fall semester is nearly complete at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Our classrooms are full, interesting events are scheduled, and students are taking advantage of the extraordinary opportunities we provide. In the past four years, I have had the privilege of meeting College of Arts and Humanities alumni from all over the country. These men and women are the best proof of how an education in the arts and humanities prepares students for the numerous opportunities that exist in a constantly evolving world. They are a source of pride for our faculty and staff. Hearing about our alumni’s experiences also helps to inform the work we do. From them, we know that internships are an important way to get started in a career and make valuable connections. We know that field trips and study abroad experiences shrink the world for our students and give them the confidence to pursue their dreams. We know that by working closely with faculty and staff on scholarly and creative works, our students are successful in their own right. I’m confident in saying that we continue to offer many of the extraordinary opportunities that students over the decades have experienced at MSUM. In the pages that follow, you’ll read about the accomplishments of our alumni, faculty and current students. I hope you enjoy these stories and I also hope they reinforce your connection with MSUM. If you graduated from or attended MSUM, I invite you to share your experiences and successes with me via technology at the links below or in person at an alumni reunion. Sincerely,
Tim Borchers, Dean Email: borchers@mnstate.edu Twitter: @tborchers Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/timborchers
> Cover illustrations and illustrations on pages 3-4 by Jonathan Twingley
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Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
Jonathan Twingley’s Educated Guesses
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onathan Twingley draws, and never erases. He commits to the marks he makes, and “responds accordingly.”
Twingley, a New York City resident and a 1996 graduate of MSUM’s Art & Design Department, chose MSUM because he’d heard the art department was strong. Well, that, and his best friend planned to attend. “Often the choices we make in life, especially when we’re young, are, at best, good guesses,” he says. He guessed right. Twingley found the faculty and facilities in the department outstanding. More important, his professors knew how to handle a precocious, rather dauntless young man who wanted to explore at his own pace and in his own way. “That’s a rare thing in education – recognizing when a round peg isn’t going to fit into a square hole,” says Twingley. “I’ve always thought that the best instructors are like magicians: They know when to pull a rabbit out of a hat, and when to let the rabbit jump out by himself.” Twingley took numerous classes outside art – poetry, literature, screen-writing, philosophy, French, advanced algebra, sociology and biology. “A well-rounded liberal arts education is essential to all disciplines, and I sought that out. Whatever intellectual hungers I had at the time were satisfied at MSUM.” Half-way through his senior year, Twingley made another guess, about as educated as the one he made four years earlier. He applied to just one graduate school, the School of Visual Arts in New York. He was accepted, and earned his master’s degree when he was 24. The years after were composed of “several long blurs.” Dismissing the idea of “big breaks” and “overnight successes,” Twingley espouses hard work and paying attention in order to make the most of what he calls “little breaks” and “minor afternoon successes.” Today, Twingley’s work appears regularly in many national publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Republic. In 2003, PRINT magazine featured his work in a showcase of twenty artists under the age of thirty. His work has also been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts magazine and the Society of Publication Designers. His paintings and drawings are regularly exhibited in galleries and museums.
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Educated Guesses Still, Twingley doesn’t like to call his work “art.” He makes pictures and writes stories, he says. “My interests have always been varied. I don’t think I’d have been wholly satisfied if I were one thing – a fire fighter or banker or golfer. Making pictures and writing stories potentially involves everything, and I’ve always liked that aspect of what I do.” Whatever Twingley does, it started when he was two years old, in his father’s studio. He and his Dad, a high school art teacher, now retired, “played” the way other kids and dads played catch or went fishing. “We did those things, too, but it was the paintings and drawings we made together in his studio that meant the most to me.” His mother, a librarian at Bismarck State College for nearly 40 years, had her own impact. Twingley also loves words. His illustrated novel, The Badlands Saloon, was published by Scribner in 2009 to good reviews. Twingley’s parents and his Bismarck childhood were, in his words, “perfect, as far as I can tell.” He regrets the influence
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Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
of the Internet on today’s young people for stealing the time they need to let their imaginations explore. “Isolation is a good thing from time to time…if you fashion your life on the pop culture fed to us on the Internet, you’re probably in trouble.” But the eclectic artist is pragmatic, too. He has a Facebook page, and a blog. In 2007 he accepted a position as Senior Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Now he can pass on the teaching traits he inherited from his MSUM professors – generous feedback, understanding, and encouragement to take a few chances – to his own students. “Making a drawing or a painting is a lot like life itself: You make an educated guess, knowing full well that whatever idea you have in your head and what comes out on the paper or canvas won’t ever match up exactly,” he says. “The trick is to pay attention and expect to be surprised.” If you’re not familiar with Twingley’s artwork or writing, you can start by visiting his blog (twingley.blogspot.com) or his website (www.twingley.com).
MSUM’s liberal arts programs nurtured community’s arts leaders > Sue Gens
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he pomp and circumstance, speechifying and celebration on any graduation day on any campus in the country sends a strong message to graduates – time to let go of the past and move on to the next phase of life. Sue Gens let go and moved on. She was living and employed in the Twin Cities, but just a few weeks after graduating from MSUM, she found herself on a charter flight back to Moorhead and the MSUM campus. The flight was turbulent, she recalls, but thrilling. “As the bus from the airport drove up to the Center for the Arts, the place I’d practically lived in during my MSUM years, it all came together for me,” she recalls. Gens was newly employed as an intern at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, which was scheduled to perform in Moorhead as part of MSUM’s Performing Arts Series. When the orchestra manager asked if Gens wanted to go along, she considered it a happy coincidence. “Here I was, starting the career I’d dreamed of since I was a child, thanks to the education, experiences and encouragement I’d received as a student at MSUM.” Sue Gens, Emily Beck, Linda Boyd, Dayna Del Val and Kathy Anderson graduated from MSUM’s College of Arts and Humanities and today lead arts organizations that have great impact on their communities. All five, when asked about their time at MSUM, use two words over and over again – mentorship and opportunity.
Sue Gens, Executive Director, Minnesota State Arts Board, St. Paul, Minnesota Gens had played the piano for years when she began her freshman year at MSUM as a music major. “Music was my passion, so I knew that’s what I wanted to study,” she says. “But I also knew that I’d starve if I tried to make a living as a performer.” There were many other pianists at MSUM more talented than she was, she says. “Luckily, I had a deep and genuine interest in the business side of the arts, so an arts administration degree was the perfect choice for me.” Gens graduated from MSUM in 1984 with a BA in music and a BA in arts administration. That second degree was a rarity at the time, she notes. “I was glad that MSUM allowed students to design individualized majors. Mine combined business administration and the arts.”
at MSUM. Then she began a career with various arts organizations in the Twin Cities, working in public relations, marketing, development and management. She also had an eight-year stint in development and public relations at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. She joined the MSAB in 2001, and has been there since. Her proudest achievement as the leader of the MSAB has been leading the effort to determine how the Arts Board would invest legacy funds, and design and deliver new programs and services that make it possible for more Minnesotans to engage in the arts. (The clean water, land and legacy amendment guarantees state funding for 25 years for arts, arts education and arts access and for the preservation of Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage.) As a result of the amendment, her agency’s budget went from $10 million to $30 million.
Gens credits three professors with inspiring and guiding her. Music professor Robert Pattengale introduced her to the concept of arts administration. Business professor Peter Geib helped her navigate the business side of her major and “sparked a lifelong interest in organization behavior,” and theatre professor Delmar Hansen set a standard for excellence that she says she carries with her to this day.
“I am very proud, and humbled, to have been part of a historic chapter for the board, to have had the opportunity to play quarterback with an amazing group of board members, staff members and constituents.”
By the time she graduated, Gens says she had a great deal of knowledge and many ideas, but that her learning had just begun. She purposely completed three very different kinds of internships to find out which would allow her to best use the skills she’d learned
Emily Beck, Executive Director, Fargo Theatre
Gens’ leadership skills caught the attention of MSUM’s Alumni Foundation, which recently added her to the Board of Directors.
“At a time when I was doing some significant personal searching, film professor Rusty Casselton took me under his wing,” says Beck. She was an English major when she took a film course from Casselton. “Rusty’s infectious passion, extensive knowledge and dedication to his students allowed me to discover the many ways I could turn my own passion for movies into a meaningful career in the arts.” Beck says that Casselton and another film professor, Tom Brandau, provided numerous opportunities to her. “I worked in the Film Studies office and as a teaching assistant, and served in a leadership role with the Cinethusiasts club,” she says. “I had two of the most incredible mentors and teachers a student could ask for.” Beck graduated in 2006 with a degree in Film Studies. Her years at MSUM helped her become more confident, focused and open to new and challenging opportunities, she says. She also gives credit to Eurospring, MSUM’s study abroad program. “Studying at Oxford University, watching the sunset from the Eiffel Tower, and connecting with an inner independence…redefined my sense of the impossible,” she adds. Following graduation, Beck worked as an assistant manager at one of Fargo’s large commercial theatre complexes. In 2008, she was hired as a film programmer and festival coordinator at the Fargo Theatre, which led to her current position as executive director. In 2011, she was chosen to participate in United Way’s “35 under 35” leadership program for young female professionals.
Liberal Arts Unlike Gens, Emily Beck felt considerable uncertainty about what to pursue when she started her college career. She credits MSUM faculty for providing the guidance she needed.
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the music in favor of theatre, planning to pursue an acting career. After graduating with a BA in Theatre Arts in 1991, she spent a summer in southern Utah, performing in two professional productions. “I took a relatively long break after that to raise my son,” she says. “Then, about 10 years ago, I started doing a lot of professional commercial acting, even earning my Screen Actors Guild card.”
> Kathy Anderson, Emily Beck, Linda Boyd, Dayna Del Val
Linda Boyd, Executive Director, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Had Linda Boyd known Beck when Beck was a freshmen, she would have told her not to worry. Boyd thinks undergraduate students shouldn’t necessarily expect to know what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives when they graduate. “I believe that happens when you turn 60 – I have four years to go!” she says. Boyd started as a clarinet major, but switched to voice during her freshman year. She chose MSUM for its nontraditional music programs, which included an electronic music studio. She credits several professors at MSUM for helping her find her way. “David Ferreira revealed the magic of choral music to me, which I love to this day,” she says. In addition to her full-time job as ED of the FMSO, she runs the music program at First Congregational Church in Moorhead, and conducts the choir there. Boyd’s career path, in and out of college, was a curvy one. “I floundered around,” she says. She dropped out after her junior year to join a rock band, then worked as a hotel sales and catering manager, Radio Shack store manager and bartender. “Music professor Ricardo Visus changed my life when I returned at age 26 to finish my degree,” she says. Music professor Robert Pattengale and Robert Badal, humanities dean at the time, were mentors to Boyd, too, recommending
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her for jobs she says she never could have imagined she could do. “They are the reason I have had a successful career in the non-profit world.” After obtaining her graduate degree in music at MSUM, she accepted a oneyear sabbatical replacement position at West Fargo High School as choral director. A job as executive director of the Lake Agassiz Arts Council (now The Arts Partnership) followed, as did an earlier stint as ED of the FMSO, from 1993 until 1996, when she decided to freelance as a graphic design artist, consultant and co-owner of Barking Dog Records and Raptor Recording Studios. She returned to the symphony as executive director in 2007. Boyd also served on the Fargo City Commission for four years, and is currently a member of the Fargo School Board. She is most proud of leading the effort to establish the Gladys Rae Shelter and Detox facility in Fargo in 2007, while she was a city commissioner. “It cost me re-election, but it was worth it,” she notes.
Dayna Del Val, Executive Director, The Arts Partnership Although Dayna Del Val’s goal has always been professional acting, she admits to getting sidetracked as a young woman. She started as a double music and theatre major, but dropped
Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
Del Val recalls people telling her a theatre degree would be “relatively useless.” “I have two other degrees, in English, which I picked up later and which also have real value, but the skills I learned on the Hansen and Gaede stages and in my acting classes – be brave, be clear, enunciate, listen, know your purpose, have a goal, share your space, take risks, understand your needs, explain your actions, perform for the audience, and work together – led to every success I’ve had,” says Del Val. “I wouldn’t trade that degree for anything.” Like Gens, Beck and Boyd, Del Val remembers the mentorship of MSUM faculty as key to her academic and career success. “Theatre professors David Grapes and Jim Bartruff were both amazing mentors for me. They were hard on me, had high expectations, and never let me get by with making the easy choice,” she says. Her only big regret regarding her time at MSUM is that she didn’t take advantage of MSUM’s study abroad program. “There’s perhaps no other time in life where you can give that kind of time to travel and experiencing another culture, different people and new world views,” she says. “I wish I wouldn’t have thought that the department would forget about me if I was away for a semester, that my college boyfriend couldn’t be left for a semester, and that I couldn’t afford it. None of that would have been true, but I didn’t know it until after I was gone.”
Kathy Anderson, Executive Director, Trollwood Performing Arts School The domino effect. Karma. The Pay It Forward approach. Whatever you call it, Kathy Anderson benefited from it. She cites the mentorship of Linda Boyd as one of two people who helped lead her to a successful career. Anderson, executive director of Trollwood Performing Arts School, graduated with a music industry degree, and Boyd, a graduate assistant at the time, was her voice teacher. “Linda provided meaningful mentorship to me as a young artist, and later as a young arts administrator,” Anderson says. And Paul Severson, founder of the Music Industry program that Anderson and Boyd both found “homes” in, introduced Anderson to Trollwood. “Paul opened the door for me to intern at Trollwood back in 1990. Obviously, Trollwood became a very significant part of my life and my career,” she says. “If it hadn’t been for Paul Severson, I would not be where I am today.” Anderson says she felt well-prepared for the next phase of her life when she graduated from MSUM. “I felt like I could do anything I put my mind to. I received great training, a lot of encouragement from faculty, met friends that would last a lifetime, and got the awesome opportunity to work at Trollwood.”
Making the most of MSUM The women profiled here believe MSUM prepared them for futures they couldn’t imagine when they first enrolled. But they deserve considerable credit and accolades for working hard, facing uncertainty with courage and trusting themselves. “There’s a well-worn saying that you don’t get the future you deserve; you get the future you create,” says Gens. “One of the most valuable lessons I learned at MSUM is self-direction. In college, in a career, in life, we are presented with a variety of choices, and most of us feel we have to choose from the menu that’s offered. But the options are unlimited, and if you know what you really want, but don’t see it on the menu, then create your own menu.”
New academic minor encourages collaboration
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new visual and performing arts minor – the Media Arts Minor – encourages the idea of the Renaissance person, according to Ryan Jackson, Music Industry. “The days of being a specialist are over,” he says.
Nine years ago, Jackson and Mike Ruth, a graphic communications professor in the Cinema Arts and Digital Technologies Department, continued a conversation that had begun earlier among faculty members about a media arts minor. The conversations focused on a desire to bring graphic communication students and faculty into regular contact with Film Studies, Music, and Art and Design students and faculty. The work that would come out of such collaboration would equip students for what they refer to as a “constantly evolving world.” “Any business that deals with images, like design and production companies, will want people who have multidisciplinary skills,” says Ruth. “Ad agencies don’t outsource anymore,” he adds, referring to the older practice of subcontracting with music studios, artists and designers.
Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, a film studies professor in the CADT Department, notes that collaboration between MSUM students studying music, film, art, and graphic communications was already taking place to some degree. But there was no “prescribed path” for students who wanted a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to their educations, and courses were hard to get into, she says. The new minor resolves both issues. Media arts minors are introduced to a range of tools, software and arts disciplines that encourages experimentation and innovative creative research. They study digital filmmaking, graphic design, new media, technical theatre design, photography and sound arts, and then produce an interdisciplinary capstone project. The minor is available to all MSUM students.
Straw Hat Players are golden Anniversary events and reunion planned for 50th season
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ummer in the Red River Valley may look and sound a lot different to those who remember how it was in the 1960s. The pace of life is faster. Traffic is heavier. Farms that bordered Moorhead and Fargo have long since been replaced by housing developments and business districts. But some things are the same. Mosquitoes. Humidity in July. The draw of lake country. And The Straw Hat Players. Come June, The Straw Hat Players will celebrate 50 years as the area’s only professional summer stock theatre company. Since 1963, The Straw Hat Players have entertained thousands of audience members at the height of the community’s summer, first in Fergus Falls for a couple shows that summer, then in Moorhead at MSUM, where it’s been ever since.
So what’s planned for the golden anniversary season? Theatre Director Craig Ellingson has tentatively scheduled six productions listed below. Until performance rights are secured, he won’t guarantee the lineup. But you can probably look forward to:
Lend Me a Tenor, a comedy by Ken Ludwig.
My Way, a Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra. This anniversary special event will feature Straw Hat alumni as performers, as well as guest director (and former MSUM Director of Theatre) David Grapes.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum closes the season. It’s one of Straw Hat’s most popular musicals, and debuted on New York’s Broadway in 1963, making it especially fitting for the 50th anniversary of Straw Hat.
Same Time, Next Year, a romantic comedy and the basis for the 1978 film starring Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda.
50 years
> Cast members from the first season of Straw Hat in Fergus Falls
The World Goes ‘Round. The Kander and Ebb musical revue features music from Chicago, Cabaret and several other musicals. Godspell, a musical by Stephen Schwartz.
A reunion of Theatre Department and Straw Hat alumni is set for July 20. Look for more information about the coming Straw Hat season and the reunion in a future issue of Alumnews and at www.mnstate.edu/theatre.
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Alumni News Dan Leonard, ’79, Theatre Arts, received the Randolph Frank Prize for the Performing Arts. He received the $5,000 award for his work over the past 25 years in Palm Beach County’s performing arts scene. Leonard wrote plays for a touring theatre program for schools and also acted in many theatrical productions in the Palm Beach County area, where he lives and continues to work in theatre. A documentary about three underprivileged New York City teenagers was produced in part by Jill Angelo, ’97, Speech. To Be Heard was praised in an October 2011 issue of The New York Times for offering “more substantive insights into pressing issues of public education and urban poverty than many political commentators muster in a career.” The film opened last October in Manhattan, and won both the Audience Award for Best Documentary and the Special Jury Prize in the Documentary Category at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film received similar accolades on its film festival tour, including the Grand Jury Prize – Documentary: NYC Documentary Film Festival; Audience Award – Documentary: NYC Documentary Film Festival; Best Documentary: San Diego Latino Film Festival; and Audience Award: Sarasota Film Festival. Jill and her husband, Jim, were executive producers of the film. Zach Marion, ‘07, Film Studies, was recently accepted into UCLA’s Master of Fine Arts program in Film Production/Directing. Marion produced and wrote commercial spots, promo videos, documentaries, television series and more for Discovery Health, Microsoft, and others while working soon after graduation at Video Arts Studios in Fargo. He begins classes at UCLA this fall.
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Jesse Balzer, ‘11, Film Studies, has been accepted at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Montreal, Canada. Jesse will receive a $25,000 scholarship to start the MA in Film Studies. Katie Adducci, ’10, Theatre Arts, debuted in the title role of a musical production of Pippi Longstocking at the Children’s Theatre Company. Adducci was also featured in the April 2012 issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine. > Tyler Michaels
Tyler Michaels, ’10, Theatre Arts, played the leading role of Moritz in Theatre Latte Da’s updated musical production of Spring Awakening. The show was produced in collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Shannon Warne, ‘00, Theatre Arts, plays one of five leads in the musical Having It All, which was picked up for a run at Laguna Playhouse in 2013. The show recently completed a run at the NoHo Arts Center in North Hollywood.
> Shannon Warne
> Paul Reyburn
Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
Paul Reyburn, ‘86, Theatre Arts, performed in I Hate Hamlet at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage last year. Reyburn is a freelance actor and director. Knuckledown Press published “Barn Stripping and Other Stories,” a book by Andrew J. Olson, an MFA graduate and English professor at Northern Virginia Community College in Sterling, Va., near Washington, D.C. Olson also earned his B.A. in English and Mass Communications at MSUM. His work has been published in 1,000 Words , The Monarch Review, The Linnet’s Wings, Leaf Garden Press, Down in the Dirt Magazine, Weirdyear, Red Weather, The Yellow Bicycle, Read This!, and LoveChild Journal. Knuckledown Press is a small Mid-
> Katie Adducci
western literary press that publishes literary fiction and creative nonfiction titles in English for worldwide distribution in electronic formats. Jan Maxwell (studied Theatre Arts in the late 1970s) was nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.” She was nominated for her role in a revival of the Stephen Sondheim hit musical Follies with Bernadette Peters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Follies received a total of eight Tony nominations, including “Best Revival of a Musical.”
> Jan Maxwell
MSUM Alums Collaborate on Book Projects
> Pamela Troumbly and Leni Ramberg
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hey grew up in nearby towns on the Iron Range, attended MSUM at the same time, and have lived within 10 miles of each other in Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. But they didn’t meet until they attended a Dragon Alumni reunion in June 2011. Since then, they have collaborated on one book project and expect to work together on at least one more. Leni Ramberg (1973, Speech-Theatre and English) has been a writer for years, authoring plays, screenplays and short stories. “I thought it would be fun to write a mystery book, or series of books, aimed at middle-grade readers, ages 10-12,” she said. She completed a final draft of Girlfriend Detectives: The Missing Photo Mystery, last year, but the manuscript needed an editor and proofreader. Leni remembered meeting Pamela Troumbly (1971, Elementary Education) at an alumni reunion at a restaurant in Los Angeles last summer. “Pamela and I sat near each other and we talked for some time that evening. She struck me as energetic, smart and someone who would be a stickler for good grammar, spelling and also a careful reader.”
Months after the reunion, Leni called Pamela, and the partnership began. Together, the MSUM alums worked on the manuscript page by page. “She was meticulous and clear,” Leni recalls. Retired from a 30-year career working in law libraries in downtown Los Angeles, Pamela developed editing and proofreading skills as a subject editor for “A/V A-Z,” an entertainment encyclopedic dictionary authored by Richard Kroonan and published in 2010. She’s retired now, but edits and maintains a website for a chiropractic association, and works with Leni. Girlfriend Detectives is now available for sale and download for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and other e-reading devices. A second Girlfriend Detectives book is in the works. “I plan to have it ready for Pamela’s editing skills by the end of the year,” Leni says. Pamela is currently editing A Clown Dog’s Christmas, a book Leni wrote for children. She hopes to have it ready for sale on e-readers by Thanksgiving.
Carlson and Dawson Named Outstanding Alumni Captain David S. Carlson,
Deb Dawson,
Music, 1966
MFA: Creative Writing, 1999
Parkers Prairie High School graduate David Carlson, Music, received his naval aviator wings in 1968. He is a graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., and National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He was selected for a special assistant position to General Colin Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to help develop the Desert Storm war plan. After 34 years and 5,500 flight hours flying 23 different aircraft, Carlson retired in 1994 and was awarded the Legion of Merit Medal (the fifth highest in precedence). He is currently the senior vice president of sales at MicroTech. He and his wife, Marlene, have three children and four grandchildren. They live in Alexandria, Va., and at their Minnesota Lake Ida home.
Fargo native Deb Dawson, formerly president and CEO of Dawson Insurance, retired from the company in 1996 to pursue photography and writing. She produced, directed and wrote the award-winning documentary African Soul, American Heart, which tells the story of orphans in Duk Payeul in South Sudan, and inspired her to form African Soul, American Heart (ASAH) in 2007. As its founder and president, she led the development of the ASAH Boarding School for Orphan Girls. Dawson recently returned from her seventh visit to Duk. Her stunning photographic stories have been displayed at several regional art exhibits. Dawson has served on MSUM advisory committees for New Rivers Press and the College of Arts and Humanities. She and her husband, Norm Robinson (‘73, mass communications) have seven children and live in Fargo.
Update Your Contact Information We’d love to invite you to alumni and other campus events, but we need accurate information from you. Please take a moment to update your contact information with the MSUM Alumni Foundation. You can do so by visiting www.mnstate.edu/alumni.
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Student News Theatre Arts major Kimberly Miller represented MSUM and Region Five at the National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., last April. She was awarded the honor after competing against five other regional finalists at the Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) competition in Ames, Iowa.
> Kimberly Miller
The National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) named Communication Studies major Megan Boie the national winner for April 2011 in the Community Service Program of the Month. Boie won for an event she organized on the MSUM campus in April 2011 called “Walk a Mile in her Shoes.” The event drew 150 men who walked a mile in high heels to raise funds for the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo-Moorhead. The event was held again in April 2012.
Philosophy major Jacob Hedlund presented his paper titled “On the Virtuous Nature of Primal Belief” at the Minnesota Philosophical Society 2012 Undergraduate Conference at Minnesota State University Mankato on April 14. Amanda Heidt, a printmaking student in the Art & Design Department was selected as the fall semester intern at the Hannaher Printmaking Studio in the Plains Art Museum of Fargo. Heidt also received a summer internship at the Robert Blackburn Print Making Workshop in New York City. The RBPMW is a renowned print studio in Manhattan that provides printmaking services to some of the most celebrated artists in the world. A project by graphic design student Andrew Pilch was recently featured on the Bēhance Student Show Gallery. The online gallery features a small number of student projects every day, selecting a few that “promote new thinking” from thousands of submissions. Pilch’s project, entitled “Serqa,” is a hypothetical company that develops technology to facilitate everyday life, wirelessly. Pilch’s work was also featured at a neuro-humanities conference at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Two animated sequences he created were used in a presentation by faculty member Anna Arnar, Art & Design. Michael Schreifels, a Cinema Arts and Digital Technology major, recently created and launched an online independent music discovery service called “Albumcorner.” Schreifels created the site to help new, indepen-
dent musicians build their fan-bases and get their music heard. Every Wednesday, Albumcorner features the work of a new band. Visitors can listen to the full album for free and buy it at a discounted price for that week. “You can search for indie music on iTunes or Bandcamp, and you’ll get hundreds of thousands of results. How do you separate the great music from the mediocre? That’s the goal of Albumcorner—to provide that curatorial process,” Schreifels said. Two students from the Department of Art & Design, Sarah Poepping and Rachel Brixius, created original prints for an art exhibit at The Plains last spring. The exhibit was part of a larger collaborative exhibit called PROJECT Flood Diversion, and featured work by student artists from MSUM, Concordia College and NDSU. Several MSUM students won awards at the North Dakota National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Auditions held in last March at NDSU. Rachel Levy, Music, placed second in the women’s sophomore division; Lora Boice, Music, placed second in the women’s junior division; Shane Iljana, Music, was a finalist in the Men’s Musical Theatre division. Marcus Woodard, Theatre Arts, took first place in the adult nonprofessional division. Holly Kaderlik, Music, placed second in the senior women’s division.
> Andrew Pilch’s “Serqa”
> Print by Sarah Poepping
> Print by Rachel Brixius
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Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
> Delaram Rostami
Courage, sense of adventure and good training lead to big city successes When four MSUM students started another year of classes last fall, they had no idea that within a few months their courage, stamina, and educations would be put to the test in one of the most competitive cities in the world. Jenny Christen, Amber Nelson, Alyssa Nelson and Delaram Rostami, all in their final year of MSUM’s graphic design program, sent resumes and portfolios of their work to potential employers last semester and landed coveted internships with magazines, an agency and an online art gallery – all in New York City. Delaram used AIGA, a professional association for design, to find her paid internship with Illuminant Partners, a multi-disciplinary public relations and strategic communications agency. “I am super lucky, because I work with real clients every day. Two weeks ago I designed a brochure for a wine-making company in Australia, and a day after for an organic beef producer in Dubai.” Jenny found a lead when she posted an inquiry on her own blog. Within a day, she had a reply, and within a week a job in the New York office of 20X200, an online art dealer. She works on graphics for the website, e-mail newsletters and social media. “This internship has afforded me the opportunity to sharpen my graphic sense, learn how a business works, and get familiarized with the city all at once.” Twin sisters Amber and Alyssa Nelson sent resumes and portfolios to a number of magazines and big-name book publishers, and now share a double internship with the Hearst Corporation, working half the week at Redbook Magazine and half at
Food Network Magazine, staggering their shifts so they don’t work at the same times. The four young women believe that MSUM’s graphic design program helped them land the internships, but also prepared them well for the variety of work they do and the big-city-pace they do it at. “I learned to handle deadlines, time management and the fundamentals of design,” said Jenny, who also took studio classes and worked in the MSUM gallery for several years. “Things here are fastpaced and every day is about keeping up. I’ve managed to do that in part because of what I gained at MSUM.” Alyssa’s supervisors have told her more than once that the foundation she has in design is a real benefit to the magazines. “I was surprised, because I didn’t realize that I would have such a different background from other design students.” Amber said that other designers notice her attention to detail, developed through years of presenting her work in art and design classes. Delaram praised Al Sheets, graphic design instructor. “He provided tons of stuff to investigate and experience. I am having an amazing time, and I really appreciate the preparation I got at MSUM.” The Nelsons hope to someday live and work in Minneapolis. Jenny might stay in New York City if she finds work, but is “just enjoying the journey for now.” Delaram intends to stay. “There is something magical about New York. I love the vibe and energy, and it’s the opposite of what I imagined it would be. It’s a perfect world for designers.”
Graphic Design Students Impress Judges Several MSUM Art & Design students took home awards in every category of the AAF-ND Addy Awards, which recognizes excellence in graphic design. The categories ranged from editorial design to mixed media campaigns. Graphic design majors Katie Hamness and Amber Power were announced co-winners of the “Student Best of Show.” Power won for her “Power Creamery” advertising campaign and Hamness won for her “Vox” poster series. Hamness was also awarded the prestigious Larry Gauper Creativity Scholarship. Tim Borchers, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, said, “We are proud of our students who win awards such as this. These awards validate the high quality of work our students produce. And these awards are often featured in the portfolios students provide prospective employers.” Tom Anstadt, graphic design professor, said students need to find ways to contribute and learn about their profession. “Participating in the design community—going to events, lectures and conferences, and entering design competitions, is an invaluable experience and can often times act as a ‘spring board’ for their careers. In fact, at this year’s Addy event one of our design students was offered a full-time position with a reputable local advertising agency,” Anstadt said. Besides Hamness and Power, student award winners for 2011 included: Meghan Sullivan, Adam Hansen, Sophie Haren, Annika Nynas, Tiffany Broden, Scott Lantgen, Phillip Weiss, Morgan Davy, and Sarah Leeman.
Minnesota State University Moorhead
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Faculty News Zhimin Guan, Art & Design, was featured in a solo exhibition at the Rourke Art Gallery last fall. The exhibition, titled “Solid Light – Zhimin Guan New Paintings,” featured 25 of Guan’s recent landscape, cityscape and portraiture works. One of his oil paintings was also featured in the 14th Autumn Art Auction at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks in November, and another four works were featured in a fall 2011 exhibit entitled “The Raging Red and the Mighty Mississippi” at The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minn.
Shari Scapple, English, was elected to the Article Award Committee of the Children’s Literature Association. She will serve a three-year term on the committee, which reviews all published articles dealing with children’s literature in a year’s time and selects one as the best.
A design by Allen Sheets, Art & Design, was selected for the 2011 American Graphic Design Awards competition for 2011. The competition attracted over 8,000 entries, but only fifteen percent, including Sheet’s work, received Certificates of Excellence. Sheet designed an art exhibit catalog entitled Abstract 100, which showcases the work of 31 artists from the southern Red River Valley from 1954 to 2010. The catalog was produced along with Jane Gudmundson, former MSUM gallery director, and Tim Ray, former professor of painting.
> Photo by Don Clark
Phil Mouch, Philosophy, was one of three featured speakers on Prairie Public’s, “Hear It Now” program about the disintegrating political climate, based on the series of Communiversity classes on the topic.
A photograph entitled “Italian Olive Groves #5” by Don Clark, Art & Design, was accepted into a juried exhibition at the PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, VT.
Kegs Drive-In restaurant in Grand Forks is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, following a successful nomination written by Steven Hoff beck, History. The National Register of Historic Places is the federal government’s list of properties it considers worthy of preservation and recognition. The Kegs Drive-In is made up of two barrel-shaped wooded structures, with a rectangular middle building that serves as the front counter. These barrels were built in an eclectic style of roadside buildings that fits within a category called “programmatic architecture.”
Two ceramic sculptures by Brad Bachmeier, Art & Design, were selected last fall for the national juried “2D-3D Exhibition: Figurative Works” at the LH Horton Jr. Gallery in Stockton Calif. One of his works – “Modern Philatories” – was the featured 3D work chosen for the gallery’s postcard. Another work, “Building Civilization II,” was accepted into the same gallery’s national ceramic exhibit “Visions in Clay.” Bachmeier was also selected to represent Minnesota in a ceramic invitational art exhibit, “50 States Fire Up: American Clay Invitational,” at the Margaret Harwell Art Museum last winter.
Chang-Seong Hong, Philosophy, was appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Philosophical Ideas, a Korean language philosophy journal. Hong’s two-year term started last November.
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Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, Cinema Arts & Digital Technologies, presented a short program of video art as a curator for Art Video Exchange at the Small Projects Gallery in Tromso, Norway. This international screening event took place last March. Kristjansson-Nelson also received a 2012 Resident Artist Fellowship from the Djerassi Resident Artist Program. For one month she joined seven other artists with fellowships in the areas of visual arts, choreography, writing and composing. Now in its 32nd year, Djerassi is the largest residency program in the West, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.
> Al Sheets
David Wheeler, Theatre Arts, presented the 2011-2012 Dille Distinguished Faculty Lecture last September. The title of Wheeler’s lecture was “American Vaudeville.” Each year, the Dille Fund for Excellence Committee and the President select one MSUM faculty member to receive the award, one of the highest honors MSUM bestows to its faculty. Kandace Creel Falcón, Women’s and Gender Studies and American Multicultural Studies, had a chapter entitled, “Teaching with Blogs and Blogging While Teaching: Using Blogs to Expand Access to Feminist (Cyber)Spaces” published, March 2012. The chapter, co-authored with her colleague from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Sara L. Puotinen, is part of the edited anthology, “Feminist Cyberspaces: Pedagogies in Transition.”
Konrad Czynski, Philosophy, published an entry in the online resource The Literary Encyclopedia (London) on Ved Mehta’s Fly and the Fly Bottle: Encounters with British Intellectuals (1963), which recounts, through narrative-presentation, conversations with philosophers and historians. Czynski also narrated The 9th CD in the “Stories In Music” series, which featured Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. Czynski wrote a new version of the script adapted from the original French libretto written by Stravinsky’s collaborator, the Swiss writer C. F. Ramuz. Maestro Stephen Simon conducted members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the recorded performance of the 20thcentury masterwork. The literary work of Kevin Zepper, English, and Mark Vinz, English Emeritus, is featured in the fourth issue of Knockout Literary Magazine. The magazine features work by
Arnar Wins Major Prize Anna Arnar, Art & Design, was awarded the Robert Motherwell Prize for The Book As Instrument: Stéphane Mallarmé, The Artist’s Book and the Transformation of Print Culture (University of Chicago Press). The prestigious award, considered the top honor in art history book awards, includes a $20,000 cash prize. The book was also selected as a finalist for the Berkshire First Book prize. former U.S. poet Laureate Billy Collins and many other fine writers. Cinema Arts and Digital Technologies professor Tom Brandau’s film The Cleaning Lady continued its festival run last spring. The film, which deals with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, has screened at numerous festivals over the past year including the Langston Hughes Film Festival in Seattle, the South Dakota Film Festival and the Louisville International Festival of Films. In February, the film screened at the Texas Black Film Festival in Dallas and at the Green Bay Film Festival, the Carnival Film Festival and the Ft. Myers Film Festival. “The Cleaning Lady” was written and directed by Brandau and produced by Janet Haak, director of MSUM’s study abroad program. A CD of music entitled Gifts, written and performed by Allen Carter, Music, was selected as one of the top 10 big band CDs of 2010 by allaboutjazz.com. Jenny Dufault, Music, released her first CD last March. Entitled Dedication: I Love Us, the CD features songs sung by Dufault and Sue Nagel, Music, on piano. The CD was recorded and mixed by Ryan Jackson, Music. New media works by Henry Gwiazda, Music, were presented throughout the country and around the world last year. Gwiazda won a first prize award from the INOUT Video Art Festival in Gdansk, Poland. Other screenings took place in dozens of international locations. With the aid of an Artists Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Kenyon Williams, Music, commissioned and performed several new works on a solo recital tour. The tour also included a duo for percussion and electric guitar composed by Henry Gwaizda, Music.
Arnar was also invited to be a guest speaker at the Georgia Institute of Technology for a conference devoted to the Neuro-Humanities. Scholars from a wide variety of disciplines including medicine, psychology, biology, religion, music, literature, art and architecture addressed concepts such as neuro-circuitry, cognition, and memory. Arnar’s hour long presentation analyzed the concepts of interactivity and agency in the work of Stéphane Mallarmé as well as in recent work by contemporary new media artists.
Benji Smith Completes El Camino De Santiago Trek Benjamin Smith, Languages and Cultures, completed a 500-mile pilgrimage in Spain, visiting Cistercian monasteries and studying medieval Spanish manuscripts. From Sept. 1 to Oct. 12, Smith walked the 1,000-yearold route to the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia. He either slept in a tent or overnighted in albergues, or inns, sponsored by monasteries and local Catholic churches. St. James is considered the patron saint of Spain, and the monument that marks his resting place is the third most visited shrine in Christianity after Jerusalem and Rome. Smith’s hike was part of a semester-long sabbatical leave from his position at MSUM. His research during the hike focused on original manuscripts associated with key sites along the Camino de Santiago. “These foundational texts are hallmarks in the evolution of the Spanish language,” said Smith, whose principal interest is the linguistic history of Spain. “Walking the Camino de Santiago was a way to interact intimately with 1,000 years of the history of the Spanish language as it sprouted from Latin.”
Retirements Bring Change to Music Department A high-profile music instructor and two secretaries who knew the Music Department inside and out have retired. Of the 50 years Rod Rothlisberger spent as a music teacher and performer, 17 were spent at MSUM. His > Rod Rothlisberger career started in Anacortes, Wash., and took him across the nation and even to Melbourne Australia. He taught and led choirs at several universities and public schools, served as organist and choirmaster at the Post Chapel of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and as organ> Fran Zimmerman ist in churches of various denominations. He also served on the faculty of the International Music Camp for 14 summers and directed the International Ambassadors of Music Choir on three European tours. AT MSUM, he was a professor of choral > Barbara Herbranson and vocal music education, and served for several years as the department’s Chair. An avid world-traveler, Rod also found time to serve on the boards of local arts organizations. Barbara Herbranson arrived at MSUM’s Music Department in 1968. In the following years, Barb saw many changes in the department. At one time, she was expected to perform all of the departmental accounting by hand, master the skills to run one of the first mini-computers on campus, and oversee the use of the listening room. Although the job duties changed considerably during her career, Barb’s dedication to the music faculty and students never faltered. Fran Zimmerman first joined the Music Department as a secretary in 1993. Although she had worked her way through a variety of interim positions on campus before joining the staff in Music, she soon found herself thoroughly enjoying her work there. These three people demonstrated huge commitment to students and colleagues over the years. Their talents, skills, personalities and work ethic will be missed.
> Benji Smith Minnesota State University Moorhead
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Arts & Humanities Thanks to the Arts and Humanities Supporters We thank the following donors who contributed more than $100 to the College of Arts and Humanities in the past year. These contributions allow us to offer extraordinary experiences that enrich the community. We welcome your online contributions at www.mnstate.edu/alumni.
Supporters
Jane B. and Tom Ahlin Robert Alexander Irma and L. Eugene Allen Anna S. Arnar and Saini-Eidukat Bernhardt Russell J. and Sarah Asleson Bradley J. and Susan Bachmeier Les A. Bakke Robert W. Bakke Dale D. Beling Annie A. and Bill Bergquist Anne Blackhurst Meredith and Al Bloomquist Steven R. Bolduc Timothy A. Borchers and Susanne Williams Alan D. and Barbara Breuer Ken R. and Lynn Brown Bob and Beth Burns Carl T. Carlson Rachel M. Carlson Henry and Janet Chan Mark G. Chekola Jodi Christiansen Donald S. and Mary Clark Kyle Conant Yvonne Condell Patricia Currans-Sheehan and Robert Sheehan Konrad Czynski Hans and Mary R. Dahl Ruth N. Dahlke Carolina Dandrea Alan G. and Catherine Davis Debra A. Dawson and Norm Robinson Dayna K. Del Val and Andrew Marry Ellen and Paul Diederich Roland and Beth Dille Stephen P. and Beth Dolan Rick D. Ehlers Elizabeth Evert-Karnes and Darin Karnes Mrs. Paul Feder Nancy Froysland-Hoerl and Scott Hoerl Linda C . Fuselier Rebecca L. Gardner Margaret K. Gaynor David R. and Shannon Gelbart Susanne K. Gens Robert Gerke Mary Gill Brittney G. Goodman Theodore and Athena Gracyk Ricky Greenwell and Jeremiah Gard
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Janet Haak Gerhard K. and Doris Haukebo Douglas A. and Sandy Hamilton Linda K. Hammond Bruce R. and Margaret J. Hanson Donald G. Harris Paul W. Harris and LuAnn Hagel James P. and Elaine Hatzenbuhler Darrell J. and Kari M. Haugen Jack and Linda Hendrickson Shirlee A. Holland Jill and David J. Holsen Pam Holsen William and Lennarta Hultstrom Ryan D. and Darcy Jackson Steven G. Johnk Suzzanne Kelley Michael J. and Atsumi Kolba Gary S. and Sarah L. Krenz Kyja K. Kristjansson-Nelson and Christopher Nelson Donna J. Larson Andre Lebugle Kathy M. Lee Karen Madsen Michael Benton and Michelle L. Malott Don A. Mattson Karen and Ralph Mehnert-Meland Rose V. Michael and Michael Myrold Roger Minch Margaret A. Moore Sylvia A. Morgan Annette Morrow Linda S. and Donald Motzko Katherine Murphy David B. and Jenell Nilles Prudence Olson Trygve K. Olson Carl T. Oltvedt Richard J. and Madelyn Ortner Robert and Alice Pattengale Sandra and Thomas Pearce Jane Pederson and Donald C. Aggerbeck Ken P. and Norma Peeders Susan M. Peterson Gregory A. Peterson Cynthia A. Phillips Karen and Rudy Rathert Timothy Ray Dorothy A. Refling Dennis Rhoads Steve and Susan E. Risher Rodney Rothlisberger
Arts and Humanities News 2011-2012
Marjorie Schlossman Barbara Schmidt Mark S. and Katy Schmitz Lawrence S. and Cynthia L. Schwartz Lois Selburg Allen F. and Paula Sheets Sandra and John R. Silletto Kenneth R. Skjegstad Vicki Smith-Williams and Dwight L. Williams Virginia Stewart Wade E. and Eileen Stubson Rebecca S. Sundet-Schoenwald and Bruce Schoenwald Dorothy and Paul Suomala Thomas L. and Bonnie J. Swanson Mary C. Tallman Thomas M. Tammaro and Sheila Coghill John V. and Jane Tandberg Bonnie G. Thompson Jerry and Bethea verDorn Elizabeth and Mark Vinz Samuel S. and Coralie Wai Virgina Wallace Shelda A. Warren David M. and Martha Wheeler Laurie J. and Larry Wigtil Kenyon C. and Ginger Williams Diane J. Wolter and Mark Gealy Fred and Beth Wosick Leon and Peggy Zavadil Ruby and Joseph Zima Arts Midwest Eventide Fort Abercrombie Saloon GroundUp Ag Harmon Glass Doctor Hotel Donaldson Journey for Jen Mary Pryor Estate Minnesota Film and TV Board Minnesota State Arts Board Mircosoft Matching Gifts Program National Endowment for the Arts North Central Safety Services North Dakota Council on the Arts Presser Foundation State Farm Companies Foundation State Trust & Bank The Arts Partnership W.W. Wallwork, Inc.
Events at MSUM GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT EVENTS: Many events are free, and most ticketed events provide discounts to MSUM alumni, faculty, staff and students. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number is (218) 477-2271. Online tickets are available for most Theatre Department events and all Performing Arts Series events. Go to the website listed for these events. All art gallery exhibits and receptions are free and open to the public. Hansen Theatre, Gaede Stage, Fox Recital Hall and the Art Gallery are all located in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts. Glasrud Auditorium is located in Weld Hall. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 7 TO 10 P.M.
Afro-Brazilian Samba Drumming Workshops
SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 3 P.M.
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 7:30 P.M.
Wind Ensemble Concert
Percussion Ensemble
Glasrud Auditorium
Hansen Theatre
Come learn funky Afro-Brazilian samba drumming grooves with Tim and Pat O’Keefe, co-directors of Minneapolis group Batucada do Norte.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 7:30 P.M.
University Orchestra Concert Hansen Theatre
Gaede Stage
For tickets, call the Box Office M-F, w0:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door before the performance.
Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Kenyon Williams at willdrum@mnstate.edu.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 7:30 P.M.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 9 A.M. TO 6:30 P.M.
Daniel Bernard Roumain with DJ Scientific
Day of Percussion MSUM’s Department of Music presents international guest artists, performances, workshops and demonstrations of percussion music and techniques. Various locations on campus Tickets are $5 and $3 at the door. For more information, contact Kenyon Williams at willdrum@mnstate.edu. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1 AND 4 P.M.
Rapunzel and Her Dragon MSUM’s Children’s Theatre program presents a musical play for children of all ages. Funny and exciting, the play is a contemporary take on the traditional tale of Rapunzel. Hansen Theatre Free and open to the public. Goodwill offerings gratefully accepted. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 7:30 P.M.
The Hot Club of San Francisco This gypsy-jazz ensemble will carry you back to the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris in the 1930s. Featuring French singer Isabelle Fontaine (channeling Edith Piaf), the amazing violin of twice Grammy Award winner Evan Price, and a swinging rhythm section of guitars and bass. Gaede Stage
DBR’s genius for fusing classical music, hip-hop, concert violin, and progressive electronic beats has led to collaborations and performances with everyone from The Seattle Symphony Orchestra to Lady Gaga. This event features DBR on a six-string amplified violin accompanied by DJ Scientific, who beatboxes on the mic, spins and scratches away at two turntables and an Apple laptop. Curious? You should be. You’ll come away from this performance with new sounds stuck in your head and something to talk about! Gaede Stage For tickets, go to www.mnstate.edu/perform or call the Box Office M-F, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door. FEBRUARY 28 THROUGH MARCH 2, 7:30 P.M.
Avenue Q MSUM’s University Theatre Series presents Avenue Q, a hilarious modern musical focusing on a group of unique 20-somethings making their way in the big city. Although the show addresses humorous adult issues, it is similar to a beloved children’s show – a place where puppets are friends, monsters are good and life lessons are learned. Adult situations and language. Hansen Theatre For tickets, go to www.mnstate.edu/theatre or call the Box Office M-F, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door.
APRIL 24 THROUGH APRIL 27, 7:30 P.M.
Mother Courage and Her Children
SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 7:30 P.M.
The Complete World of Sports, Abridged, performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company For sports lovers AND haters! From the earliest cavemen playing “Neanderthal in the Middle” to your own kid’s soccer practice, the entire history of athletic competition will be regurgitated in a tour de France of physical theater, at a level of sophistication and pathos that only the Reduced Shakespeare Company can muster. It’ll be a marathon of madness and mayhem as the world’s great sporting events are shrunk down to theatrical size. Hansen Theatre
In the 1600s, in Central Europe, the Thirty Years War rages…and Mother Courage tries to make a little money on the deal. Bertolt Brecht’s epic black comedy follows a peasant woman as she sells, steals and haggles her way across the battlefield of pre–Modern Europe, switching sides when it’s convenient to do so, lugging a cart of wares behind her with her three children in it. This newer translation by Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright Tony Kushner is contemporary and lively. Gaede Stage For tickets, go to www.mnstate.edu/theatre or call the Box Office M-F, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door beginning 90 minutes before curtain. SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 7:30 P.M.
Choir Concert Location TBA THURSDAY, MAY 2, 7:30 P.M.
For tickets, go to www.mnstate.edu/ perform or call the Box Office M-F, noon to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door.
Jazz Ensemble
SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 7:30 P.M.
SUNDAY, MAY 5, 3 P.M.
Choir Concert
Wind Ensemble
Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, 3600 25th Ave S, Fargo
Hansen Theatre
Hansen Theatre
For tickets, go to www.mnstate.edu/perform or call the Box Office M-F, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., (218)477-2271 or buy at the door. Minnesota State University Moorhead
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College of Arts & Humanities 1104 7th Avenue South Moorhead, Minnesota 56563
Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID MSUM
College of Arts and Humanities Newsletter 2011-2012 Rebecca Sundet-Schoenwald Writer and Editor Derek Lien Designer Darel Paulson Contributing Photographer
Alumni are invited to send us news and contact information. We’d also like your feedback on the newsletter. Please send your suggestions or comments to sundetre@mnstate.edu. College of Arts and Humanities 1104 7th Avenue South, MSUM, Moorhead, MN 56563 www.mnstate.edu/cah (218) 477-2764 The College of Arts and Humanities explores the richness of human experiences. We value teaching and learning from creative, critical, historical and multicultural perspectives. We pursue knowledge through reflective and active engagement with ideas. We cultivate ethical and civic responsibility in the individual and community.
Minnesota State University Moorhead is an equal opportunity educator and employer and is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. This information will be made available in alternate format upon request by contacting Disability Services at 218.477.4318 (voice) or 1.800.627.3529 (MRS/TTY).