Talented Student Poet Receives Grant, Gets Published

Congratulations Kolleen Carney, recipient of the 2010 Summer Artistic Development Grant. Carney used her grant to cover costs related to poem submissions, and it paid off. Her poem, How a Pearl is Formed, was selected as one of ten poems to be part of the Vision/Verse Art and Poetry Exhibit, which will debut in Lake Charles, Lousiana this June. The exhibit pairs poetry with complimentary visual arts pieces from artists and writers across the country. Carney is a Presidential Arts Scholar of Creative Writing, a mother, an active member of local writing groups, and Salem State's representative at last year's Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Follow her blog at http://www.wordgrrrl.wordpress.com

How a Pearl is Formed by Kolleen Carney

You were conceived in the rare moment my life felt perfect:

the summer sun slivering through the blinds, my hand

tracing the outline of your father's spine.

I believed that you came

from the hollows of his ribs, that the

meaning of the world

hid in those deep

crevices, and I felt safe for a moment--

please realize that I slipped

and let myself feel safe,

forming a crescent against

his dreamless sleeping body.

And like a grain of sand you formed in an oyster shell,

silent at first. And unkowing we played in the sun

under the shadow of a monument, our lips stained

red with hard iced tea and our clothes ripe

with the smell of pot. And you grew.

You grew and you wanted out too soon.

Your father's eyes changed from green to grey;

my mood reflected the moon again, a slivered

waning moon, and I hid in the shadows

and listened to the bells of

Saint Francis De Sales:

your own personal death knell.

I imagine you buried at sea. I think of you

when I see a string of pearls,

knotted tight between each imperfect bead,

and when I walk the streets of your city

I feel your ghost-child hand in mine.

Beyond the Classroom: Student Initiative Makes the Play the Thing

Salem State University theatre students Nick Palenchar, Grace Healy and Jacqui Amrich know that part of being serious about theatre is knowing what is the latest theatre news, what's being produced, what's being written. Together they created the Playbook Club, which has been meeting since October, reading a new play every two weeks, and meeting weekly. The plays selected are modern and contemporary, with well known playwrights, or emerging writers including: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire, The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh, In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies, and Dog Sees God by Bert V. Royal. The plays are re-sold on Amazon, making the finances of the group self-sufficient, especially with the additional selling of concessions at theatre performances. Want to join them? Contact npalenchar@gmail.com

Nothing Plain About Professor Jane: Prof Profile: Jane Hillier-Walkowiak

Have you discovered what creative activity is happening in the basement of Sullivan Building? Peer through the door across from the Callan Studio Theatre and you'll be looking into Jane Hillier-Walkowiak's wonderland, the costume shop. A theatre faculty member for twenty years, she's currently the costume designer for Red Noses by Peter Barnes. While her costumes are masterpieces in themselves, Jane is often remembered for those essential extras-- puppets, props, masks and the like. In this picture, she sculpts a baby for Dracula, performed in 2006. In Red Noses, she creates a key character, Frapper Jr, a puppet. Her gargoyle had a leading role in last year's Imagineration, and let's just say BatBoy wouldn't have been much of a BatBoy without a set of ears and fangs created by Jane. She's a key piece of the creative team that makes up Salem State University Theatre. Want to see Frapper Jr. in action? Four performances left: December 3-6, Mainstage Theatre. Want to study and work with Jane? Sign up for Stage Tech, Stage Makeup, and Theatre Workshop

A graduate of Trent University in Nottingham, England, Jane has been designing in the Boston area since 1983 for theatres and businesses including the Publick Theatre, Lyric Stage, VDA Productions and The Costume Works.

Student Profiles: Ashley Morris, BA Music '11

Wow, this is one busy student. Ashley Morris is a face you see in the Music Department, wherever, whenever. She's there! And she's talented. A music major with a minor in theatre, Ashley is a Presidential Arts Scholar who graduates May, 2011 and intends to become a music teacher. She is a vocalist and bassoonist, currently in College Chorus, Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Singers, and Percussion Ensemble. Her last semester will be spent in the Walt Disney World College Program in Florida. Between ensemble rehearsals and classes, she is employed by the music department as an attendant in the Music Resource Center and as the Concert Manager in the Recital Hall. Tired yet? She also tutors in the Music department, specifically for College Chorus, Fundamentals of Music, and Ear Training 1. Ashley's senior project will be a lesson plan for elementary students on opera, focusing on Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Old Maid and the Thief, specifically the aria "The Kitchen". Her final semester on campus includes a Directed Study with Dr. Gary Wood on choral conducting.

Behind the Events: A Day in the Life

You see what happens on stage: gorgeous performances by students and visiting artists, and there are dance workshops, lectures, art exhibits. But what about before that moment? What happens in the Center for Creative and Performing Arts? It's a lot of business, but it's great to support the creative people and the great cause of the arts.

Here's today: compiling a list of guitar teachers to reach out to regarding an upcoming classical guitar concert; processing payment for dancers and lighting technicians; ordering posters and fliers from design services; editing an upcoming brochure for a donor appeal; writing thank you notes to some generous patrons who support the arts; calling the news to request a photographer for Zombies dancing on the Salem Common this Saturday; writing a press release or two; reaching out to high school music teachers about a music educators' reception; selling tickets to this weekend's theatre performance and answering lots of phone questions; printing and editing playbills and concert programs; and whatever walks in the door and requires our attention. It's not as glamorous as the stage, but supporting artists is an art in itself.

Getting Creative.. and Creepy at Salem State

Ahhh, here we are in the Halloween capital of the world! It's Halloween every day for the entire month of October in Salem, and Salem State loves to be a part of this eacky phenomenon. First off, let me point out that this is one, completely creative holiday! So long live creativity, Halloween style!

RDT (Repertory Dance Theatre) students are in the spirit! They just participated in the kick off parade for Haunted Happenings along with other student groups, and they'll be teaching Michael Jackson's Thriller Zombie dance moves on October 23rd. Anybody can learn the dance, then put on your zombie best and perform it on the Salem Common with dozens and dozens of other dancing zombies!

And a nod to Professor Halloween himself, Haig Demarjian. A magnificent painter/illustrator/printmaker, Haig's got a thing for... monsters. Check out his artful, humorous take on creepy.

Sponsoring Evil: Student Attends Tom Huck's WoodCut Boot Camp

The foremost outlaw printmaker, Tom Huck, is known for large scale, satirical wood cut prints and his press, Evil Prints. This past summer, The Center for Creative and Performing Arts sponsored art + design major Jessi Hardesty to attend his Evil Prints Wood Cut Camp . Jessi is among the first Salem State University students to receive the Summer Artistic Development grant.

You can meet Jessi and hear about working with Tom Huck and the woodcut boot camp when she discusses her own large scale prints on Monday, October 4th at 11 am in the Printmaking Studio in Meier Hall. (shown above, Beast, woodcut print by Jessi Hardesty)

Alumni websites

Wouldn't it be great to have one location with all the websites of the artists and performers who graduated from Salem State? I invite you to post yours here! To get us started,

Check out theatre grad Julie McNiven, from Class of 2003. She has recurring roles on Mad Men and Supernatural and is putting together a great acting career! http://http://www.juliemcniven.net/home/index.php?location=home

Or see what Danny Swain's contemporary dance company is up to-- upcoming events and classes: http://www.dannyswaindance.org/

And how about this gorgeous wedding photographer? Jill Person, Art grad from the Class of 2003: http://www.personkillian.com/

Check them out and add your own in the comments section.

Artistic Development Grants: Or! How I Spent My Summer Vacation

The Center for the Arts has lots of friends and alumni who donate to support programs and scholarships in the arts. This year, with donor support, we offered up to 5 summer artistic development grants to students with innovative artistic projects proposed for summer 2010.

Jesse Mangan '12, who majors in multimedia design and dance, earned a grant to spend two weeks training, rehearsing, eating, living and performing with the PUSH physical theatre company of Rochester, New York http://pushtheatre.org/ . It was an intensive re-defining of dance, and what is possible within the fusion of dance and theatre and other physical artforms.

Jesse describes the experience: "My mornings training in modern dance, gymnastics and contemporary mime. Afternoons were spent working with non-traditional partnering, contact improvisation and Anne Bogart's viewpoints as students were guided to understand how structured movement explorations could be used to create new works. Our evenings were spent critiquing videos of mimes, dancers, actors and comedians and engaging in discussions on the history of contemporary mime, the evolution of modern dance, the survival of performance art in the digital age and the place of spirituality in the arts. While at PUSH the lines began to blur, I began to look at all of the different disciplines in the performance arts not as a series of separate definitions, but as one big conversation, I stopped thinking about the technique that I lack and delved into the emotion, physicality and stories that I have."

Student Profiles: Rachel Alexander, BFA '12

Each week, we'll profile a student in the arts at Salem State! Meet Rachel. (seen here in Burning the Barn, as Lexi.)

Rachel Alexander is working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance, 2012.

Q: What did you do to stay creative this summer?

A: I performed in two shows, one in Boston: Burning the Barn by Bea Wissel (photo above), and one in New Hampshire: A Picture of Dorian Gray by David Preece. I also worked as business coordinator for the Center for the Arts to see behind the scenes of Summer Theatre at Salem.

Q: One of your shows was an original production. How was that different from other productions you've performed in?

A: We had a lot more freedom to do what we wanted with script, editing, adding, with lots of close contact with the playwright. We knew we were acting out her vision, getting support from the playwright.

Q: What is something you would want other people to know about Salem State?

A: Don't think we're underrated. We have great faculty, great funding support for the arts, and even though we're a state university we are totally on par with private universities with what we have to offer.

Q: What advice would you give to a new student this fall?

A: Stay motivated and push yourself, because you will exceed expectations and get more opportunities because of it. Do the work!

Things to know if you're new to Salem State Arts!

Welcome to Salem State to all you new artists of all types on our campus! I hope you get to know us and get to know each other to create some fabulous art of all kinds. Here's some info to keep you connected.

Follow Salem State Arts on facebook. Be sure to follow the University page, not the old college page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Salem-MA/Salem-State-University-Center-for-the-Arts/136924023013308?ref=ts

You'll get upcoming info on art, theatre, dance, art and music there, plus info on scholarships, grants, contests, alumni updates, etc.

Want the whole calendar for the semester? Download a pdf of Artsview, the twice-yearly arts newsletter. It's on the Salem State website: http://www.salemstate.edu/arts/2362.php

Do you know where performances are held? Give yourself an arts orienation and visit Callan Studio Theatre (90 seat black box) in the basement of Sullivan Building, the Recital Hall, (165 seat, 6 year old music hall) on Central Campus, off the dining commons behind the Bertolon, and the Mainstage Theatre-- you've been there, right? 700 seats on Lafayette Street. The Winfisky Gallery has new exhibits almost every 6 weeks. It's located on the first floor of the Ellison campus Center, and usually open from 10 am - 2 pm Monday through Friday. And dance studios are at the O'Keefe Center, on the first floor. Take a class and try them out! Or, head over to the Enterprise Center behind the bookstore, and on the first floor you will find SSU's Glassworks Studio, where you can watch a glassblowing class, or take one. That's just the beginning, so browse around and join in!

Alumni Update: Leah Miles '94

Since graduating in 1994 with a degree in Psychology and Music, Leah's first career was that of a middle school music teacher, at Collins Middle School in Salem. She left a flourishing teaching career to pursue her creative passions, and just completed a Masters of Fine Arts degree at New York University's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Having started as a composer, who at times was writing both book and music, Miles moved her focus to lyric and book writing for musicals. At NYU, she found her composer-collaborator Donny Codden. Here's a sample of one of the musicals they have written together: http://gmtw.tisch.nyu.edu/object/th_musicals.html

Miles and Codden are currently presenting new work at a Fringe Festival in Minnesota. http://http//www.fringefestival.org/2010/show/?id=1306

Leah will return to Salem State this fall with Donny Codden for a series of workshops on the collaborative process and musical theatre writing.

Faculty Collaborators Featured on IndieFeed

Skip the open mics. Listen to poetry online! IndieFeed now has a performance poetry channel for internet broadcasts, and look who is featured: two magnificently talented Salem State professors: JD Scrimgeour, Creative Writing, and Phil Swanson, music. The two combined their talents and formed a group called Confluence, blending poetry and music in a collaboration far beyond lyrics. This is poetry and music, responding to each other for an enhanced reading of Scrimgeour's long-form poem, Ogunquit. http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/

Learn more about these gifted faculty members and their collaborative work:

http://confluence-poetryandmusic.com/

Salem State A Cappella in training

In May, the Center for Creative and Performing Arts held auditions and found 13 dynamite student voices to become members of Salem State's first official a cappella group. Next year, you'll be able to find them at alumni events, sporting events, out and around campus, and at competitions and festivals. Two of these students head to Berklee today for an intensive multi-day training in all things a cappella: blending, vocal percussion, improv, harmony, and pitch slapping. (What IS pitch slapping ,anyways?) Robert LoBrutto and Andrea Neuenfeldt will come back to tell us! And thanks to our donors to the Center for the Arts for making this whole project possible.

Meanwhile, we still need a name... so help us out with suggestions! Right now, our lead choices are Salem State Soundbites, and the Screaming Vikings!

Insider Theatre Tips!

Here's what some of our regular patrons know that might make your next trip to a performance at Salem State and even better one.

PARKING: If you don't get lucky with a spot on Lafayette Street, you can park in LOT A just off of College Drive, the drive located two buildings past Mainstage Theatre headed East. If the gate is up, you can park legally. Even better: turn right into the driveway directly next to the Mainstage, and try one of the reserved spots for administration. These spots are free and open in the evenings and Sundays, and the campus police will not ticket you. Third: On Loring Avenue, turn into the parking lot next to Horace Mann Elementary School, and find reserved and metered parking which is also free on the weekend. You will be just a short walk behind the Mainstage from this spot, or have easy access to the elevator to the Callan if you're headed to a black box theatre performance.

AIR CONDITIONED: Bring a sweater. It gets cool in the Mainstage!

LINES And... there's usually a line for tickets so buy in advance to avoid it! Online at http://www.salemstatetickets.com or call M-F, 10 am - 4 pm: 978-542-7555.

DISCOUNTS There's still time this week to get a subscription discount, if you purchase tickets to Lend Me a Tenor and Into the Woods as a package. By phone only.

Welcome!

The Center for Creative and Performing Arts has started this blog to offer you in depth information about the arts at Salem State. Get to know our students, professors, special projects. What would you like to know?