Download 2012 SPCPA J-Term Offerings - Saint Paul Conservatory For

2012 SPCPA J-Term Offerings
Anthem
Modern Dance
Choreographer: Mathew Janczewski
Mathew Janczewski is the founder and executive artistic director of Mathew Janczewski‟s ARENA DANCES, one of
the area‟s premier dance companies. Janczewski‟s works, while abstract, bring audiences into the worlds and
emotions presented on stage. Reviewing for mnartists.org, Lightsey Darst called Janczewski‟s work “physically
brilliant yet emotionally intimate, dramatic, widely varied, witty and heartfelt.” ARENA DANCES was founded in
1995. Over the past 16 years, Janczewski has created more than 30 works that ARENA has performed nationally
and internationally to great acclaim. Recent highlights include the 2007 Walker Arts Center commissioned premiere
of Ugly, 2007 presentation of the company by the SCUBA Network in Philadelphia, the commissioning of the “rock
star” string quartet ETHEL for ARENA‟s Dancin’ with ETHEL concert at the Southern, New York City performances
(City Center, Joyce SoHo, two performances at Symphony Space including one with Dance Gotham, and NYU), and
tours to Philadelphia, Kalamazoo, MI, and St. Louis. ARENA presents fall and spring concerts each year in the Twin
Cities. The Spring 2011 concert, I hate myself. Will you please love me?, based on the songbook of The Carpenters,
played to sold out houses at the Southern Theater. ARENA‟s mission is to create and perform original choreography
by Mathew Janczewski and to promote understanding and appreciation of modern dance in the Twin Cities.
Janczewski creates dances that speak to the human condition in all its glorious, wrenching, and magical ways and
to transport audiences through the beauty and breathtaking physicality of his movement.
Rehearses in Studio 5B at the Hennepin Center for the Performing Arts (Cowles Center)
Performs at the Cowles Center on Friday, January 20
Caroline, or Change
Book and Lyrics by Tony Kushner
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and composer Jeanine Tesori (Violet) have elegantly crafted this bold
and uniquely poignant new theatrical musical work. Tesori's skillful and varied score of gospel, soul and R&B
enlivens this nearly sung-through musical. Set in 1963 in sleepy Lake Charles, Louisiana, Caroline, or Change
centers its action on the Gellman family and their African-American maid, Caroline. Drifting through her life, she
is nearly paralyzed by her circumstances as a single mother of four working in a service job to a white family.
Caroline spends her days in the basement laundry room with Washing Machine (a sultry Caribbean blues singer),
Dryer (a fiery R&B singer), and Radio (a Supremes-like trio). One afternoon, she receives a visit from the young
Gellman son, Noah, who is just as isolated upstairs in his home as Caroline is downstairs.
The thunder of the civil rights movement and John F. Kennedy's death is distant, yet they reverberate deeply
through the script, provoking all characters to see their lives in a new light and either embrace or reject the larger
social changes that are in motion.
Project Director: SPCPA’s Joey Clark
Music Director: Mindy Eschedor
Mindy Eschedor has served as Music Director and pianist for such Twin Cities companies as Nautilus MusicTheater, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, the Guthrie Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, History
Theatre, Interact Theatre, Bloomington Civic Theater, New Breath Productions, Theater in the Round, Skylark
Opera, and Minneapolis Musical Theater. In addition to her freelance engagements, Mindy is a vocal coach and
staff accompanist at Augsburg College. Previous roles include Principal Staff Accompanist at MacPhail Center for
Music from 1999-2010 as well as choral accompanist at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School for six years. She has
been a collaborative pianist in numerous vocal and instrumental recitals for Thursday Musical and the Schubert
Club, performing with both student and professional musicians. Mindy holds a Master of Music degree in
Accompanying and Coaching from the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Margo Garrett and Karl
Paulnack. She earned both a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Broadcast and
Cinematic Arts from Central Michigan University in her home state of Michigan.
Caroline, or Change rehearses at SPCPA
Techs and Performs at the History Theatre in Saint Paul
Urinetown
Music by Mark Hollmann
Lyrics by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis
Book by Greg Kotis
One of the most uproariously funny musicals in recent years, URINETOWN is a hilarious tale of greed, corruption,
love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water
shortage, caused by a 20-year drought, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must
use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of
humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them
all to freedom!
Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, URINETOWN is an irreverently humorous satire in which no
one is safe from scrutiny. Praised for reinvigorating the very notion of what a musical could be, URINETOWN
catapults the “comedic romp” into the new millennium with its outrageous perspective, wickedly modern wit, and
sustained ability to produce gales of unbridled laughter.
Guest Director: Zach Curtis
Zach Curtis just completed his sixth and final season as the Artistic Director of the Paul Bunyan Playhouse in
Bemidji, MN. He has appeared in, directed, designed, and/or produced over 160 professional productions in the
last 15 years. For ten seasons, Curtis was the Artistic Director of Fifty Foot Penguin Theater which was named
"Best Independent Theater in the Twin Cities" in 2002. Curtis staged over a dozen critically acclaimed productions
for FFPT and has directed twenty productions at the Playhouse, including The Who’s Tommy, Dracula, One Flew
Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Chicago. He has directed for Commonweal, Bloomington
Civic, Pioneer Place, Actors Theatre of MN, Jon Hassler, Theatre in the Round, Theatre L'Homme Dieu, and had the
honor of directing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at SPCPA last J-term.
Guest Music Director: Jake Endres
As a Music Director and a singer-actor, Jake has performed with many regional companies including The
Minnesota Orchestra, The Children‟s Theatre Company, Skylark Opera, Paul Bunyan Playhouse, G.R.E.A.T.
Theatre, Sapphire Chamber Consort, Frank Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Dorian Opera Theatre, Minnesota Dance
Theatre, as well as The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Folklore Theatre, Nautilus Music-Theater, and
Theatre Mu. Mr. Endres is also the founder and artistic director of The Theatrical Music Company, an innovative,
award-winning performance ensemble based in St. Paul whose shows have included Knock Knock! It’s Your
Husband: 7 American Comic Operas in 90 Minutes, Voice-In-Head: Improv Headphone-Guided Futurismo™, and most
recently, Elvis Costello‟s The Juliet Letters.
Choreographer: SPCPA’s Shannon Roberg
Rehearses and performs at the Lab Theater in Minneapolis
Circa 3012
Hip Hop
Choreographed by Amy Sackett
Amy Sackett has performed locally, nationally, and internationally in a variety of dance styles. She co-founded the
hip-hop dance company Collective with whom she currently choreographs, performs, and teaches all over the Twin
Cities and abroad. She was honored to receive the Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant 2008-09 which allowed
her to travel with her fellow dancer and recipient Lisa Berman to Rotterdam, Holland where she choreographed and
performed in a hip-hop show at the National History Museum in Amsterdam. Amy graduated with a BFA in Dance
from the University of Minnesota. She is classically trained in ballet and modern, although her first love is hip-hop
dance styles, including poppin and breakin.
Rehearses at SPCPA and at Jawaahir Dance (Big Room)
Performs at the Cowles Center on Friday, January 20
Curiouser and Curiouser
Interdisciplinary (will involve percussive dance, music, and some acting and singing)
Choreographed by Joe Chvala
Guest Director: Joe Chvala
Joe Chvala has spent most of his adult life based in New York City, Gothenburg, Sweden, and, since 1990,
Minneapolis. During this time he has worked as a director, choreographer, writer, composer, performer, and
teacher for opera companies, experimental and non-experimental theatres, concert dance venues, performing arts
academies, and universities. After moving to the Twin Cities in 1990, Joe worked with a variety of theater
companies while developing his own choreographic dance/theater work for his company of percussive dancers, the
Flying Foot Forum. Since the premiere of their first full concert (May ‟93), the Flying Foot Forum has been
presented in a variety of venues around the world from Paris to New York City, Jacob‟s Pillow to England. Joe has
received numerous choreographic and interdisciplinary fellowships and grants from such organizations as the
National Endowment for the Arts, The National Dance Project, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Bush
Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, Intermedia Arts Minnesota and the Minnesota
Dance Alliance, as well as Ivey and Sage Awards for dance and theatre.
Rehearses at SPCPA and the US Bank Room at the Ordway
Performs at the Cowles Center on January 20
Departure Point
Creating New Music with Zeitgeist
Departure Point is a composition/performance workshop for music students interested in exploring new and
traditional ways of creating new work. Students will meet with Zeitgeist members for 4 hours each day at Zeitgeist‟s
performance space, Studio Z. Our activities will focus on the composition and rehearsal of two large works created
by students in collaboration with the members of Zeitgeist. We will create these new works in a unique way.
Students will select two themes to serve as a framework for a large composition made up of smaller compositions
(“Paintings by Picasso, “Dante‟s The Divine Comedy”, “Silent Movie Stars”, etc). Students will be split evenly
between the two themes, and each student will be responsible for creating one element of our large work. These
works can be completely composed, or they can contain degrees of improvisation. They can require the entire
group‟s performance participation, or they can be written for any subset of the group. In the end, we will have two
works that contain the creative contribution of each student, created under a framework developed by everyone,
and rehearsed and performed collaboratively by students and members of Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist is a new music chamber group of two percussionists, woodwinds, and piano based in the Twin Cities. As
the only full-time chamber ensemble in the Twin Cities wholly dedicated to the performance of new music, Zeitgeist
is a unique cultural resource for audiences in our community. We present a concert series, maintain a performance
space (Studio Z), and carry out a variety of audience enrichment programs for members of our community.
You can learn more about Zeitgeist at www.zeitgeistnewmusic.org.
Rehearses and performs at Studio Z in Saint Paul
Everything, All At Once
Modern Dance
Choreographed by Dustin Haug
Dustin Haug, a native Minnesotan, officially started his dance training as a sophomore at St. Olaf College, but he
can trace his movement roots back to mosh pits during rock concerts at First Avenue Nightclub in the mid '90's.
He spent 5 years of his life dancing for Seattle-based Lingo, directed by KT Niehoff. With the company, he created 3
evening-length works, Speak to Me, Relatively Real, and Inhabit, in addition to performing and teaching across the
United States and internationally in Canada and Germany. Dustin has been teaching at SPCPA in the dance and
science departments since 2008. He also teaches at Zenon School of Dance and travels around the globe teaching
and sharing his love for Contact Improvisation.
Rehearses at SPCPA and at Jawaahir Dance (Big Room)
Performs at the Cowles Center on Saturday, January 21
Gianni Schicchi
A Comic Opera in One Act by Giacomo Puccini
After the death of their rich relative, Bouso Donati, a family comes to mourn him and learn of what treasures they
have received from his estate. The family soon realizes that Bouso has left everything to the church and nothing to
them. Gianni Schicchi, a newcomer to the town, is brought in to help advise the family on what they might be able
to do. Schicchi, a man of humble beginnings, relates to the family and devises a deceitful plan to rewrite the will.
Schicchi, posing as a sick and very much still alive Bouso Donati, will call upon the town‟s notary to get his things
in order and create a new will leaving portions of the estate to all members of the family. As the plan continues to
progress, Schicchi finds himself being constantly approached by members of the family asking that he leave them
specific homes and dowries. When the notary arrives, however, the family learns that everything in Bouso‟s will has
been left to his “devoted friend, Gianni Schicchi.” The family is left outraged and, in the final moments, Schicchi
breaks the fourth wall and asks the audience to concur that no better use could be found for Buoso's wealth.
Though Dante condemned him to Hell for this trick, Schicchi asks that they find extenuating circumstances.
Director: SPCPA’s Nathan Herfindahl
Music Director: SPCPA’s Steven Stucki
Rehearses and performs at Concordia College (on a double-bill with Pirates of Penzance)
Glad Rags
Contemporary Ballet
Choreographed by Penelope Freeh
Penelope Freeh is a Minneapolis/Saint Paul-based dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer. In 2010, she won a
McKnight Artist Fellowship for Choreographers and a SAGE Award for Outstanding Performer. Previous awards
include a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Dancers (1998), a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship (1998), two
Career Opportunity Grants (1999, 2001), and a Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant (2001). Her work has
been commissioned by James Sewell Ballet, the Minnesota Orchestra, 3-Legged Race, the Walker Art
Center/Southern Theater‟s Momentum, the Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Ballet, Skylark Opera, and Russia‟s
Link Vostok Dance Festival among others. She has twice been presented by New York City‟s Ballet Builders.
Residencies include the Minnesota Dance Lab (part of the Regional Dance Development Initiative) at the College of
St. Benedict, St. Catherine University, Carleton College, the University of MN, the Reif Center, the St. Paul
Conservatory for Performing Artists and the Perpich Center for Arts Education. Penelope danced for James Sewell
Ballet for seventeen years, serving as Artistic Associate from 2007 – 2011. She is affiliate faculty at the University of
Minnesota and summer faculty at Michigan‟s Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
Rehearses in Studios 2A and 5B at the Hennepin Center for the Arts (Cowles Center)
Performs at the Cowles Center on Friday, January 20
January Jazz @ Walker-West
January Jazz @ Walker West is an opportunity to work with the professional artists of Walker West. Students will
rehearse each day in a small jazz combo setting and perfect their skills in improvising solos and comping over
tradition and modern standards. SPCPA's January Jazz will be held at Walker-West. The end result will be a
performance in a local music venue in the Twin Cities. Check out Walker West at:
www.walkerwestmusicacademy.org
Directed by Felix James and Walker-West
Mr. James has worked with K-12 grade students for over 25 years in both St. Paul Public Schools and through
teaching at WWMA. These experiences have afforded him the opportunity to develop an awareness of the
educational needs, desires, and expectations of our community. Mr. James practices many of the best concepts in
educational philosophy and music pedagogy.
The Walker-West Youth Jazz program was conceived during Mr. James‟ residency at The Smithsonian Institute. The
concept centers on the idea of preservation. Putting jazz concepts in the hands of young people is a wonderful way
to preserve the many great practices and musical traditions of this great American art form... it is also a lot of fun!
WWMA Youth Jazz Bands are now a tradition within the community. No student jazz group performs more than
WWMA jazz bands! For all his work at WWMA, Mr. James received The Dakota Foundation‟s first Jane Award for
Excellence in Jazz Education in 2006.
Rehearses at Walker-West
Performs at the Lehr Theater on Thursday, January 19
Manifest Cloaks
A Mask Creative Collaboration
If we were to discover the world and everything in it for the very first time, what would we feel? Would we know how
to express those emotions? The burden of this human exercise will be exposed through diverse characters that will
struggle to make sense of their world and their relationships with each other. This ensemble creation will use mask
work and techniques to create a piece that will take place in the space that exists in between what we really feel
and what we choose to show the world.
Director: SPCPA’s Dario Tangelson
Rehearses and performs at Gremlin Theatre in Saint Paul
Much Ado About Nothing
A Play by William Shakespeare
One of Shakespeare's funniest comedies, Much Ado about Nothing is a lively showdown between the sexes. Beatrice,
independent and forthright, and Benedick, a self-confessed "woman-hater," pass the time constantly goading and
scorning each other. When they are thrown together to defend a friend's honor, their true feelings begin to emerge.
Much Ado will be directed by the Illusion Theatre‟s Producing Artistic Director Michael Robins. It will feature the
premiere of Ivy Award winning Allison Moore’s adaptation, created specifically for SPCPA. With original music
composed and performed by long-time Twin City musician and performer, Roberta Carlson. Much Ado about
Nothing will feature live music—created in tandem with the composer. Interested musicians encouraged to
join this project!
Guest Director: Illusion Theater’s Artistic Director, Michael Robins
Michael founded Illusion Theater in 1974. Over the past 35+ years, he has guided nearly 350 plays to production.
Michael was part of the team that created Illusion‟s Education/Prevention program in 1977 starting with the
award-winning play and video Touch. He directed Illusion‟s searing production of The Laramie Project and the
Midwest premiere of the Kirsten Childs‟ groundbreaking musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin.
Recently, Michael directed Caryl Churchill‟s A Number, James Still‟s Iron Kisses and The Velvet Rut, Jeffrey
Hatcher‟s Mrs. Mannerly, Bill W. & Dr. Bob by Stephen Bergman & Janet Surrey, and Allison Moore's new
adaptation of Willa Cather's My Antonia.
Adaptation by Allison Moore
Allison Moore is a displaced Texan living in Minneapolis, where she is a Core Member of The Playwrights' Center.
Her plays include Hazard County, Eighteen, Urgent Fury, The Strange Misadventures of Patty, CowTown, and
American Klepto. Her work has been developed or read at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, Williamstown Theatre
Festival, InterAct Theatre, and Manhattan Theatre Club and produced at the Cherry Lane Alternative, Kitchen Dog
Theatre, Actor's Express, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and The Playwrights' Center, among others. Ms. Moore has
received two Jerome Fellowships, a McKnight Advancement Grant, and the Iowa Arts Fellowship. She received her
MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.
Original Music: Roberta Carlson
Ms. Carlson is currently a resident of Minneapolis where her work has been heard at Guthrie Theater and
Children's Theatre Company. Nationally, her work has been heard at San Jose Repertory Theatre, Pasadena
Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre and Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Her score for Stephen Dietz's Dracula,
which premiered at Arizona Theatre Company, has been used in more than 250 productions on three continents.
Rehearses and Performs at Illusion Theater in Minneapolis
Night at the Improv
Three weeks of theatre improvisation rehearsal in preparation for two performances of Night at the Improv at
the Gremlin Theatre in Saint Paul.
Guest Director: Charles Fraser
Charles Fraser has taught a variety of performance disciplines at the Guthrie Theater, Avalon School,
Hennepin Theatre Trust, Upstream Arts, and the Phipps Center for the Arts. Currently, he teaches
improvisation as an adjunct professor at Concordia University. As an improviser, he has worked with the
Brave New Workshop, the Guthrie Theater, ComedySportz, and in the Off Beat Comedy Club aboard Disney
Cruise Line's Disney Magic. As an actor, he has performed with the Guthrie Theater, Park Square Theatre,
Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Brave New Workshop, Jon Hassler Theater,
Illusion Theatre, Minnesota Festival Theatre, and History Theatre where he worked with several SPCPA
students in Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story. He will be rejoining the cast of Buddy when it is reprised in the
spring. He has been featured in films and commercials and is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the
Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Rehearses and Performs at the Gremlin Theatre
Now What?!
African Modern
Choreographed by Aneka McMullen
Aneka McMullen is a native of Minneapolis and graduated with a BFA in Dance performance from Ohio State
University. She has been a featured artist in the Late Night series curated by Laurie Carlos at Pillsbury Theater.
She performed a solo for Mary Easter at the Minnesota Black Arts Ball and has been featured in two trios
choreographed by Leah Nelson and performed at Varsity Theater. Aneka is the Artistic Director of Epitome-No
Question, which strives to return the focus of Hip Hop to its community based roots through dance-theater while
utilizing the five elements of Hip Hop culture: Dance, Emcee, DJ, Graffitti & Overstanding. Epitome-No Question
represents the „Old School‟ style of hip hop dance because it best reflects its West African roots. Hip Hop with the
“Hop” in it!
Rehearses at SPCPA and in the US Bank Room at the Ordway
Performs on January 21 at the Cowles Center
Origin Story
A New Play by Daniel LeBlanc
Somewhere in the American Midwest, a mysterious comic book with supernatural powers is threatening the
livelihood of a small town called Nowheresville. The highways have become rivers, ordinary citizens have sprouted
tentacles, and a bizarre murder has the whole community bewildered. Why Nowheresville? Why now? And most
importantly: What‟s the story behind this meddlesome comic book‟s devious author?
A full length-comedy/drama that demands attention to the visual.
Guest Director: Jason Ballweber
Jason Ballweber is an actor and director with an emphasis on new work. Jason is the Artistic Director for Four
Humors Theater and has worked with other theatres such as Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Children's Theatre
Company, Open Eye Figure Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Three Sticks Theatre Company, Jon Ferguson Theater, Live
Action Set, Bedlam Theatre, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Know Theatre of Cincinnati where he won an Acclaim
Award for his direction of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Last year, Jason directed SPCPA‟s J-Term Project,
Arabian Nights.
Rehearses and performs at the Mixed Blood Theatre
Our Town
A Play by Thornton Wilder
It‟s 1901. Grover‟s Corners, New Hampshire. Welcome to Our Town. A small American town like any other-- simple,
sleepy and cheerful. People here are like people anywhere else: they are born, they fall in love, they die. Ordinary
people leading ordinary lives. Or so we might believe, until the Stage Manager – our guide for the evening – takes us
on a tour of the town and we begin to glimpse how extraordinary even the most ordinary of lives can be.
Sliding between the past, the present, and the future, we follow George and Emily – one of the most winsome
couples in theatrical history – as they grow up, fall in love, marry and start their own family. Thornton Wilder‟s
Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1938 makes an affecting philosophical case for relishing life in the here and now.
Heart-warming and humorous, Our Town celebrates the everyday and is a powerful call to appreciate life while we
are in it.
Guest Director: Ellen Fenster
Since 2001, Ellen has been a company member at Pillsbury House Theatre where she acts and directs as part of
Breaking Ice and is currently director of PHT's Chicago Avenue Project, a program that partners neighborhood youth
with professional theater artists. For the past nine years, Ellen has also served as an artistic associate with Illusion
Theatre where she curates and produces the annual Lights Up! series. Ellen works at South High as the theater
program‟s artistic director and is the resident movement teacher and choreographer at theater e3, a summer
theater institute for children. She also works as a freelance director, and her most recent professional directing
credits include Burn This at the Gremlin Theater, Proof with the Phoenix Theater Project, and A Candid World at the
Illusion.
Rehearses and performs at Red Eye Collaboration in Minneapolis
Pirates of Penzance
Music by Arthur Sullivan and Libretto by W.S. Gilbert
The Pirates of Penzance is perhaps the most popular of all the 19th century British comic operas, with music by Sir
Arthur Sullivan and lyrics/book by William S. Gilbert. Considered by most to be the finest work in a genre that
would become the Broadway Musical, Pirates of Penzance is a high-energy comedy, filled with laughter, romance,
memorable tunes and spirited dances. A band of rollicking marauders capture the pretty daughters of a
retired military officer, and threaten his life unless he surrenders them in marriage. Amidst the comic chaos,
Frederic, the pirate apprentice, falls head over heels in love with Mabel, the most spirited of the girls...to the dismay
of Ruth, Frederic's adoring maid, and the delight of the swashbuckling Pirate King. [We will fully stage the 50minute first act]. Many opportunities for singers and actors.
Director: SPCPA’s Gary Briggle
Guest Music Director: Michael Donley
Michael Pearce Donley is a songwriter, concert artist, music director and actor who lives in the Twin Cities. He cowrote Triple Espresso with Bob Stromberg and Bill Arnold, and has performed the role of Hugh Butternut since
1995 across the US, London and Dublin. He composed the music for Stromberg‟s Mr. Wonder Boy, and has worked
with Ten Thousand Things, Nautilus Music-Theater, Front Porch Theater, Plymouth Playhouse, Hey City, and other
local theaters. He recently appeared at Park Square Theater in 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. He's often seen in TV and
internet commercials and heard in radio ads. His original music has been featured in the popular children's
recording GT and the Halo Express, and he was the musical director for the national live radio program Sunday
Nite.
Rehearses and performs at Concordia College (on a double bill with Gianni Schicchi)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Adapted by Jay Presson Allen from Muriel Spark’s Novel
Formidable teachers are truly subversive creatures, often without even knowing it. They have the power to shape
minds, and even if they don't always bend the most independent thinkers in their classrooms to conform to their own
way of seeing the world, they leave a lasting emotional and intellectual imprint.
Jean Brodie is a schoolmistress with a difference - proud, cultured and romantic, her ideas are progressive and
radical. When she decides to transform a group of young girls into the crème de la crème of Marcia Blaine school,
'the Brodie Set' feel honored and privileged - but in return she expects their undivided loyalty.
Based on Muriel Spark's celebrated novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a disturbing portrait of adolescent
trauma, lost innocence, and betrayal. It explores how an individual's influence can inspire greatness, but
sometimes at a cost of one‟s individuality.
Director: SPCPA’s Suzy Messerole
Vocal Coach: SPCPA’s Lucinda Holshue
Special appearances by SPCPA’s Annie Enneking and Paul de Cordova
Rehearses and performs at SPCPA’s Lehr Theater
Progressive Conservatory Orchestra
From Rimsky-Korsakov to Radio Head
The PCO is a contemporary instrumental music ensemble focused on interpreting music that has stirred listeners
of the 21st century. This ensemble will reconfigure classical music's masterworks while also creating scores from
subterranean sources. The PCO will deconstruct the genre distinctions between indie rock, electronic, popular, and
classical music, building bridges in an ever-melding world.
Directors: SPCPA’s Chris Thomson and Nick Gaudette
Right Now
Jazz Dance
Choreographed by Karla Grotting
Karla Grotting is currently on faculty at the University of Minnesota; her awards include the University of
Minnesota Student‟s Choice Award for Outstanding Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts, a 2007 McKnight Artist
Fellowship for Dancers and 2010 Sage Nomination for Outstanding Educator. Grotting is a founding member,
principal dancer and artistic associate with Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum and is now in her 21st year with
the company. She toured nationally for 7 years with JAZZDANCE by Danny Buraczeski and has performed in works
by Max Pollak, Lane Alexander, Billy Siegenfeld and others. Grotting creates her own works which blend the unique
styles of her tap, jazz, modern, and percussive dance experiences and has set original works on the Flying Foot
Forum, The Eclectic Edge Ensemble, and the Keane Sense of Rhythm Social Club. She received her BFA in dance
and BA theatre arts from the University of Minnesota.
Rehearses at SPCPA and the TU Dance Studio
Performs on January 21 at the Cowles Center
sight unseen
Classical Ballet
Choreographed by Justin Leaf
Original Music by Brad Crane
Since graduating from the Juilliard School with a BFA in Dance Performance in 2001, Justin Leaf has been
working as a dancer, performance artist, choreographer, and dance teacher based in the Twin Cities. As a teacher,
Justin draws from his experience as a company member with James Sewell Ballet (2002-08) and Minnesota Dance
Theatre (2008-present). He has served as a guest instructor for The Dance Institute, James Sewell Ballet, The Saint
Paul Conservatory for Performing Arts, Summit Dance Shoppe, and Larkin Dance Studio. Justin's choreography
has been commissioned by Minnesota Dance Theatre, James Sewell Ballet, Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul
Conservatory for the Performing Arts, Normandale Lutheran Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Plymouth
Congregational Church, as well as for his own performance company, Junkyard Theater. He has received the
Zaraspe Prize for Outstanding Choreography (2001), a Minnesota SAGE Award for Best Performance (2007), and a
2009 McKnight Fellowship for Dancers, funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered by the Southern
Theater. Justin is also a yoga teacher and offers classes in hatha yoga and beginning ballet for adults at the Fixx
Workout Studio in south Minneapolis. www.justinleaf.com
Brad Crane is a composer and pianist. He has written extensively for dance and film, as well as concert music for a
diverse range of soloists and chamber ensembles. In 2009, his solo piece, GATHER, premiered at New York's Joyce
Theater. In 2010, he collaborated with choreographer Robert LaFosse in a work that premiered at Barnard College.
Current commissions include the score for the ballet FRACTURE - choreographed by Matthew Brookoff - which will
premiere in the spring of 2011, as well as the score for the upcoming film, 1901. In 2010, he composed music for
Some Goddess in Another Body, choreographed by Justin Leaf for the Minnesota Dance Theatre. He lives in New
York.
Rehearses at SPCPA and at TU Dance Studio
Performs at the Cowles Center on Saturday, January 21
So Long, Johnson Pillock
Interdisciplinary
A highly visual, physical and poetic modern theatre collaboration about 21st century pop culture, popularity, and
modern art. The story of a group of uncool artists and their uncool work. This show features an exciting party
atmosphere with live music and painting, moving bodies and a refreshing great taste. For actors, dancers and
musicians.
Project Director: SPCPA’s Jon Ferguson
Music Director: SPCPA’s Raymond Berg
Rehearses and Performs at CO Exhibitions
Independent Study
Up to 20 students may be granted Independent Study based on merit and faculty review. Independent Study
Forms are in Mr. Goranson‟s office. All Independent Study students must have an arts faculty advisor. This
advisor will review at the end to grant or deny credit. Vacation may not be counted as Independent Study. All
students must still audition for a project in case the Independent Study request is not approved.
2012 J-Term Performance Schedule
Thursday, January 19
Night at the Improv
PCOrchestra
January Jazz
Friday, January 20
So Long, Johnson Pillock
Evening of Dance I
Anthem
Circa 3012
Curiouser and Curiouser
Glad Rags
Departure Point
Gianni Schicchi and
Pirates of Penzance
Our Town
Saturday, January 21
Urinetown
Gianni Schicchi and
Pirates of Penzance
Manifest Cloaks
Departure Point
Origin Story
Our Town
So Long, Johnson Pillock
Evening of Dance II
Everything, All at Once
Now What?!
Right Now
sight unseen
Much Ado about Nothing
Caroline, or Change
Sunday, January 22
Manifest Cloaks
Caroline, or Change
Origin Story
Much Ado about Nothing
Urinetown
January 23, 25,26
The Prime of
Miss Jean Brodie
Gremlin Theatre
Lehr Theater
Lehr Theater
4PM and 7PM
6PM
8PM
CO Exhibitions
Cowles Center for Dance
2PM and 5PM
5PM and 7PM
Zeitgeist‟s Studio Z
Concordia College
Concordia College
Red Eye Theater
7PM
7PM
7PM
7PM
The Lab Theater
Concordia College
Concordia College
Gremlin Theatre
Zeitgeist‟s Studio Z
Mixed Blood Theatre
Red Eye Theatre
CO Exhibitions
Cowles Center for Dance
Noon and 4PM
Noon
Noon
1PM and 3PM
2PM
3PM
4PM and 7PM
4PM and 7PM
5PM and 7PM
Illusion Theater
History Theatre
7PM
7:30PM
Gremlin Theatre
The History Theatre
Mixed Blood Theatre
Illusion Theater
The Lab Theater
10AM
Noon
2:30PM
5PM
7:30PM
The Lehr Theater
7PM
PLEASE NOTE: THESE TIMES ARE TENTATIVE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE.