State theater awards recognize ASU excellence

October 3, 2016

The AriZoni Theatre Awards, which some consider the Tony Awards of Arizona, recognized ASU Herberger Institute productions, students, faculty and alumni during its 26th annual awards ceremony.

The ASU School of Music’s Lyric Opera Theatre program took home six AriZoni awards for three of its 2015-2016 productions: “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Guadalupe: The Opera” and “Company.” The ASU Lyric Opera Theatre’s production of "The Drowsy Chaperone" was recognized at the 26th annual AriZoni Awards. Photo by Tim Trumble Download Full Image

“The ASU musical theatre program is a special place, and I'm excited to see it get the recognition it deserves,” said Brian DeMaris, artistic director of Lyric Opera Theatre and associate professor in the School of Music.

DeMaris, in his second year as the program artistic director, won for music direction for “Company.”

DeMaris said he was thrilled to receive an award for the first production he conducted at ASU, but the “icing on the cake” was when his own student, Brent Mauldin, also won in that category for his work on “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

“Brent did excellent work not only on ‘Drowsy Chaperone,’ but also during his two years as a teaching assistant in our Master of Music in musical direction degree,” DeMaris said.

Brittany Howk, a musical theatre student who graduated in May, nabbed the best actress in a musical award for her role in “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and Robert Kolby Harper, a faculty associate in the School of Music, won the director award for the same production.

Professor James DeMars won for original musical composition for “Guadalupe,” a world premiere. “Guadalupe” also received the award for original script, recognizing DeMars again, as well as collaborators Robert Estevan Doyle, owner and producer of Canyon Records, and Graham Whitehead, who directed the production and has been a guest director with the Lyric Opera Theatre program in the past.

“Our numerous nominations and awards speak to the fervor with which the ASU musical theatre students, faculty and staff have thrown themselves into the many opportunities for positive change that our department is working toward right now,” DeMaris said. “We want the program to be a national model for musical theatre training and innovation, and it is evident that all the students want to help make it happen.”

In addition to the Lyric Opera Theatre, the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre also received numerous AriZoni nominations for its productions last year. Alum and guest artist David Kenton won the award for sound design in theatre for the school’s MainStage season production, “Brooklyn Bridge.”

Other alumni and current students from both the School of Music and the School of Film, Dance and Theatre also won awards for productions they participated in at local theatre companies.

“I always hear from other theatre directors how valued the ASU students and alumni are in productions throughout the region,” DeMaris said. “We are happy to continue to allow our students to participate in off-campus productions and to engage in the community, and we are thrilled by the work of all of our peer theatres.”

Those winners include:

• Charity Johansen, supporting actress in a musical for the Hale Center’s “Me and My Girl”

• Dallas Nichols, lighting design in theatre for Mesa Community College’s “Three Sisters”

• Daniel Fine, artistic specialization (media design) in theatre for Mesa Community College’s “Alice in Wonderland”

• Vinny Chavez, actor in a major role in a musical for the Hale Center’s “Me and My Girl”

• Michael Margetis, supporting actor in theatre for All Puppet Players’ “Jurassic Puppets”

• D. Scott Withers, director in musical forTheater Works' “Man of La Mancha”

Sarah A. McCarty

Marketing and communications coordinator, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

480-727-4433 sarah.a.mccarty@asu.edu

Creativity

'No such thing' as apolitical art

Tempe campus

October 3, 2016

ASU experts on how the arts can elevate the political conversation, and make more citizens part of the dialogue

From Bob Dylan’s 1964 folk rock anthem “The Times They Are a-Changin’” to Shepard Fairey’s iconic Obama “hope” poster to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash “Hamilton” to Allen Ginsberg’s anguished protest of a poem “Howl” — there are innumerable examples of art that is politically charged.

“There is no such thing as art that is not political,” said Herberger Institute professor Michael Rohd. “Period. Purely by expressing something and choosing who has access to it … that by itself is political act.”

ASU professor Michael Rohd will be hosting a civic theater event from 3 to 10 p.m. on Election Day at the Galvin Theater on ASU’s Tempe campus. Photo courtesy of Michael Rohd

This Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, Rohd and a group of 24 Herberger Institute graduate students will be hosting a civic theater event from 3 to 10 p.m. at the Galvin Theater on ASU’s Tempe campus.

They have invited students, faculty and community members to submit five-minute responses to the question: “What does America want in a leader?” Responses could be in the form of a performance, lecture, presentation, concert, etc. Those pre-submitted pieces will be part of the event, which will also include live performances and a live CNN feed.

“I’m excited at the prospect of being part of conversations that lead to change around a more just community,” said Rohd.

That’s what art is supposed to do, agreed associate professor of English Sally Ball.

“The arts are meant to make connections and to communicate, and to reckon with things that are painful and difficult and frightening,” she said.

Ball recently gave a talk titled “Art, Citizenship, and the ‘Goals’ of Creative Work” as part of the Institute for Humanities' Research Faculty Seminar Series.

ASU English professor and poet Sally Ball talks art and politics at her home in Phoenix. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

“Fundamentally, the choice to make a work of art is a choice to connect and communicate,” she said.

Ball, a poet, testifies to the ways in which literary artists have been part of the political conversation for ages — from 18th-century romantic Percy Bysshe Shelley, who called poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the world,” to contemporary poets like Claudia Rankine, whose 2014 collection “Citizen” contained a page listing the names of people of color who had been killed by police since she started working on it.

She’s quick to point out, though, that it’s “not just the literary arts,” but rather, “all arts cultivate empathy in people, and that’s something we sorely need in public discourse.”

Assistant professor of art Rogelio Gutierrez specializes in lithography, his work focusing on issues such as immigration, identity, education and history.

A first-generation Mexican-American, Gutierrez’s “Invisible Frontier” project addressed the topic of anti-immigration legislation through an installation of 40 “street signs” designed to simulate an invisible frontier shared by the United States and Mexico.

ASU art professor Rogelio Gutierrez with art from his “Invisible Frontier” exhibit. Photo courtesy of Rogelio Gutierrez

“Exploring one's citizenship through art is like sharing something personal that can resonate and perhaps create some type of change in another individual, regardless of race, gender, nationality, etc.,” said Gutierrez. “It can create bridges.”

Throughout the latter half of the last century, popular music has helped create bridges between people of different cultural backgrounds, said Christopher Wells, an assistant professor of musicology who teaches a course on popular music and race.

“Mainstream music is increasingly becoming a far more culturally diverse space,” said Wells. “And one thing music often does is it draws people into the conversation who might otherwise feel excluded.”

ASU professor of musicology Christopher Wells says popular music helps “draw people into” conversations they might otherwise feel excluded from.

The internet has helped open up that conversation even further. Works that run the artistic gamut have all “gone viral.” Maggie Smith's poem “Good Bones,” about a mother struggling to give her children an optimistic view of the world, was shared thousands of times on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr this past June. Images and videos of Ana Teresa Fernandez’s "Borrando La Frontera" ("Erasing the Border") surfaced on newsfeeds and websites all over the world.

“The way these works get shared and flood the internet is a perfect formula to distribute a political message,” said Gutierrez, whose own work has been widely shared online.

“When I was a college student, poets were considered sort of esoteric,” said Ball. “Now Buzzfeed publishes poems.”

And that’s a good thing, she asserts; the more people engaged, the better: “All kinds of people offer something different, and the more of us who are engaged, the richer that conversation is going to be.”

Emma Greguska

Reporter, ASU Now

(480) 965-9657 emma.greguska@asu.edu

‘Fall Forward!’ dance showcase kicks off ASU MainStage season

September 27, 2016

The ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre launches into its 2016-2017 MainStage season with the annual dance showcase “Fall Forward!” at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. This year’s “Fall Forward!” features a wide breadth of artists and aesthetics, from musicians playing a structured improvisation to video installations to the featured dance pieces.

“The unique combination of live music, dance, design and media in this program should appeal to a broad audience,” said Mary Fitzgerald, assistant director of dance in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre. “The pieces feature some of our most gifted student performers, who share the stage with local professional artists. The audience will have a full experience of physically charged dance, music, film and visual design. There is something for everyone.” Fall Forward! dance showcase ‘Fall Forward!’ runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse. Photo by Tim Trumble, courtesy of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Download Full Image

The program includes works created by an impressive roster of local artists and ASU faculty. Using a range of dance and media platforms, these artists delve into complex ideas about time, space and our digital existence.

“Me, my quantified self, and I,” a piece choreographed by assistant professor Jessica Rajko, will be performed in three installments throughout the evening. The work explores how our lives are increasingly entangled in digital spaces, yet we struggle to find common understandings of what it means to live digital lives. Dancers are joined by textile artists to create a dynamic, evolving landscape that asks, “How do we perform data, and how does data perform us?” Pushing back against the clean, minimalistic cyborg aesthetics, “Me, my quantified self, and I” reimagines our digital world as the messy, cluttered, complicated ecosystem it is.

Fitzgerald will present a new work entitled “Spaces Between.” The work is an episodic meditation on freedom inspired by Buddhist thought and the writings of Viktor Frankl. Comprised of 11 one to two-minute dance shorts and an atmospheric score composed by Barry Moon and Doug Nottingham, the piece searches for the power and freedom that exists in the open spaces in our bodies, our minds, our relationships and in the physical environment.

Another faculty member presenting work at “Fall Forward!” will be Melissa Britt, a professor of practice in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre. Britt choreographed the ensemble work “time IS.” The piece explores our relationship to time using a unique movement language that fuses urban forms with postmodern dance.

The program also includes group Thornapple’s “Distensions of Empire,” a piece choreographed by Melissa S. Rex called “now.” and faculty member and local artist Carley Conder performing a new solo piece created by internationally renowned choreographer Charlotte Boye-Christensen.

Merging together film and dance, Marcus White’s “subMERGE” will also be a part of the program. White, a new faculty member in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre, created the dance film in collaboration with Ana Maria Alvarez. The film was commissioned by the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Spring 2016 and was featured in the American Dance Festival's “Movies by Movers” program this summer.

The first two nights of the show’s run will also feature a lobby installation created by Eileen Standley. The installation is a triptych of video selfies that help articulate and challenge ideas about appropriation, beauty and temporal anxiety and reference Aristotle’s Poetics, Pamela Lee’s Chronophobia and cultural privilege. What roughly ties the three videos together is an interest in the degraded image and disintegration, which belongs to larger themes of ephemerality and our mortality.

“Fall Forward!” will take place at the Paul V. Galvin Playhouse, 51 E. 10th St. on ASU’s Tempe campus. The show will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 1 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2.

Tickets are $16, general; $12, ASU faculty, staff and alumni; $12, senior; $8, student. Purchase tickets online or call the Herberger Institute Box Office at 480-965-6447.

Sarah A. McCarty

Marketing and communications coordinator, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

480-727-4433 sarah.a.mccarty@asu.edu

Creativity

Artists create oasis in former Phoenix landfill

September 22, 2016

ASU's 'Project Borderlands' will present vocal performances, installation in little-known Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area

A group of artists will perform and display their work on top of a former landfill this weekend to encourage dialogue on issues such as displacement, immigration and desert water use.

Phoenix’s Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area, a little-known and barely used riparian corridor, will be transformed into a pop-up art installation as part of ASU’s ongoing “Performance in the Borderlands” series.

National artist Ana Teresa Fernandez will unveil her site-specific installation, “Oasis,” on Sept. 24-25 at the habitat, Seventh Avenue and Lower Buckeye in south Phoenix. The free event is open to the public and runs from 5 to 7 p.m. each day.

An initiative of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts’ School of Film, Dance and Theatre, “Performance in the Borderlands” is an annual art series of plays, installations, workshops and lectures that brings together a collection of local and national artists to focus their talents on borderland issues.

This year’s theme, “Voices of Power,” examines the role of women of color in the arts and social justice. The series kicked off Sept. 13 with a panel of prominent artists discussing their work’s potential to drive social and political change. ASU Now will follow the initiative to document the ways it engages the people and the region.

“Oasis,” which will also feature original work from local artists Raji Ganesan, Rashaad Thomas, Leah Marche, Liliana Gomez and Eunique Yazzie, hopes to continue the community dialogue.

“The Rio Salado is a place of great complexity, tragedy and hope,” said Mary Stephens, producing director for “Performance in the Borderlands.”

Phoenix’s Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area was once part of a dump site. This weekend it will be transformed into a pop-up art installation as part of ASU’s ongoing “Performance in the Borderlands” series. Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

“The river represents the potential for life in the desert, but also holds painful histories of ongoing displacements and environmental degradation. These converging histories and themes continue to play out again and again across the United States.”

Once a dried-up riverbed full of trash that was part of a dump site, the Rio Salado Habitat is now home to more than 200 species of birds and 5 miles of paved and dirt trails dotted with ponds, gardens, bridges, desert grasslands and picnic areas.

Fernandez said she purposely chose the site because of its history and location. She said it was first used by Hohokam Indians as a water resource until it was colonized. In the early 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation constructed several dams along the Salt and Verde rivers to regulate the river’s flow and created a series of lakes that would provide a reliable year-round water supply for the Valley.

At the turn of the century, demand for water had reduced the Salt River to a barren riverbed, and the area became a dumping ground and homeless camp. In 2001, Phoenix residents approved a $16 million bond issue to fund the cleanup of the riverbed and the habitat restoration. The habitat opened in November 2005, but it’s still a secret to many Phoenix residents.

“This is a place that has value and should be appreciated more, but it’s not because it’s literally on the wrong side of the tracks and has a bad reputation,” Fernandez said.

Her installation of 900 disc-shaped mirrors against a large wall is intended to showcase the 5-mile habitat as an oasis in the desert.

Navajo Nation artist Eunique Yazzie wrote an original poem titled “Time Immoral,” which touches on the history of the site, the duality of living in two worlds and living in a consumer nation.

Performers Leah Marche (right) and Eunique Yazzie survey the Rio Salado Preserve on Sept. 22. Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

“I see this cycle of how people keep their valuables in boxes tucked inside their garage and eventually when they decide to throw it out, it ends up in a landfill,” Yazzie said. “I hope it sparks a conversation about awareness and protection, and why we need to take a stand as a community.”

Poet Leah Marche will perform an untitled spoken-word piece about growing up in south Phoenix. She said the area has suffered from a negative stigma for years but is now experiencing gentrification.

“We’ve had people knock on our doors asking if we wanted to sell our house,” Marche said. “They don’t understand that is the place where I grew up and lived on the same street as my grandparents. The same place where I received a great education. For me, it’s always been a valuable part of town.”

Top photo: Performers Leah Marche (left) and Eunique Yazzie are reflected in the "Oasis" installation in the Rio Salado Preserve in Phoenix on Sept. 22. Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Marshall Terrill

Reporter , ASU Now

480-727-5176 marshall.terrill@asu.edu

Creativity

Building chemistry among a new cast

Tempe campus

September 19, 2016

At the first read-through of 'Feathers and Teeth,' laughter reigns; meet the cast here, from 17-year-old rookie to seasoned senior

Editor's note: This is the second installment of a semester-long series following the production of "Feathers and Teeth" from casting call to wrap party.

The play’s subject matter touches on sensitive themes such as grief, love and the supernatural, but on the first read-through with the new cast members, they just couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s not that they’re heartless or insensitive, but this is a table reading — and for a horror-comedy, at that. At a read-through, actors gather around a table to read a script aloud, giving the director an idea of what the final production will sound like.

And so far, the director liked what he heard.

“I selected this particular cast because of the way they worked together, the way they took direction together in the callbacks,” said Ricky Araiza, the director of “Feathers and Teeth,”“Feathers and Teeth” is a retro comedy-thriller. The plot follows Chris, a 13-year-old who suspects foul play when her father hooks up with an attractive home-care nurse two months after the death of her mother, Ellie. Set in a Rust Belt factory town in 1978, the play combines the supernatural with classic rock, family dysfunction and gremlin-like creatures that roam the house’s crawl space. an upcoming play that will debut in Tempe on Oct. 28.

“Acting is all about chemistry and combinations.”

Director Ricky Araiza (center) introduces his vision of "Feathers and Teeth" at the start of the first read-through of the play Sept. 15 in Tempe.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Maria Harris — who plays Chris — reads with frustration as her character's recently widowed father is about to get married, during the first read-through at the Nelson Fine Arts Center. Harris is a freshman in theater.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Evan Carson (Arthur, left) acts a line directed to his character's fiancee Thursday evening in Tempe. Carson is a senior in theater.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Tess Galbiati (Carol) responds to being given a necklace during the first "Feathers and Teeth" read-through. She is a senior in theater.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Fargo Tbakhi (Hugo) follows the script at the read-through Sept. 15. Tbakhi — who will play an 11-year-old German boy — is a sophomore in theater.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Araiza is a third-year master of fine arts student in Arizona State University’s School of Film, Dance and TheatreASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre is a unit of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.. The play will serve as the equivalent of Araiza’s master’s thesis. He has about six weeks left to prepare the production, which was written by Charise Castro Smith in 2013.

After screening close to 75 actors amid an audition process that rivaled the most cringe-worthy early-season episodes of “American Idol,” Araiza has selected his final cast.

He chose them because of their potential for group chemistry — a family, rather than just a group. The cast members, who will be working together every weekday until the performance, range from a 17-year-old rookie to a seasoned theater senior.

Maria Harris (Chris)

A 17-year-old freshman theater major who auditioned for the experience and ended up getting the part. She’ll play the lead character, Chris, a sullen but sardonic teenager who is grieving the recent loss of her mother. Chris suspects her mother’s hospice nurse, who is dating her father, of foul play.

On what attracted her to the play: “It read like a dark comedy, and I’ve always loved that type of humor. It was funny and horrible but has a heart behind it.”

On her rookie status: “I’m still so excited because this is my first play, and I have the butterflies to prove it.”

Evan Carson (Arthur)

A 22-year-old theater senior who gave a stiff reading in his audition, but as it turns out, it was an act. That’s exactly what his character, Arthur, is — a higher-up at the town's factory, but not the highest-up. Two months after his wife’s death, he is seeing the hospice nurse who took care of her and will do anything to keep the family, including daughter Chris, together.

On what attracted him to the play: “It’s like appearing in this sitcom home of ‘The Brady Bunch,’ and then it elevates into these really dark and intimate moments.”

What he wants to learn about his character in the coming weeks: “I need to find out what it is about Carol that he loves. What’s his relationship with her and the power dynamic between how much he loves Carol to how much he loves his daughter, Chris.”

Tess Galbiati (Carol)

A 20-year-old senior in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre who charmed everyone in her audition when she pulled out a ukulele and strummed a tongue-in-cheek version of “All of Me.” Described as “Carol Brady on speedballs,” Galbiati has the play’s scene-stealing part.

On what attracted her to the play: “I am still struggling with the interpretation of my character, Carol, but what I love is her black and white flipping between being Ms. Absolute Sweetheart and turning into this demonic presence.”

What she got from the table read: “A lot more perspective but a lot more questions. There’s this constant questioning of how honest Carol is being, and even reading through her part, I’m still not sure.”

Fargo Tbakhi (Hugo)

A 19-year-old theater major who will have to be the most convincing actor: He’ll play Hugo, an 11-year-old transplant from Germany who befriends Chris. The script will require him to play the part with a thick accent. He is so convincing, however, that you can’t help but wonder if he’ll sport lederhosen onstage.

On what attracted him to the play: “When I initially read it, my thought was that it was so insane and cool. Even though it has horror and comedy trappings, it has a tragic story.”

How he hopes audiences will react: “I hope that they will be terrified and also heartbroken. They’re often closely related.”

Cast member Kyra Jackson was not present at the Sept. 15 table read, but will provide the voice of Ellie in the productions of “Feathers and Teeth.” Top photo: (clockwise from lower left) Director Ricky Araiza, stage manager Ben Vining, Maria Harris (Chris), Evan Carson (Arthur), Tess Galbiati (Carol) and Fargo Tbakhi (Hugo) go through lines at the first read-through of "Feathers and Teeth" at the Nelson Fine Arts Center on the evening of Sept. 15. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Read more: The series' first installment, "Anything goes at 'Feathers and Teeth' casting call."

Marshall Terrill

Reporter , ASU Now

480-727-5176 marshall.terrill@asu.edu

Arizona Impact

ASU's borderlands art series grows legacy

September 13, 2016

Artists say work engages community, has potential to drive social change

In the coming weeks and months, desolate sections near the U.S.-Mexico line will transform into arthouses, theaters and classrooms as Arizona State University brings together a collection of artists to focus their talents on borderland issues.

An initiative of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts’ School of Film, Dance and Theatre, the 13th season of “Performance in the Borderlands” got underway Tuesday with a panel of prominent artists discussing the works’ scope, impact and potential to drive social and political change.

The planned plays, installations and workshops are part of ASU’s cross-disciplinary approach to expanding access, addressing problems and taking responsibility for the well-being of the communities it serves. ASU Now will follow the initiative to document the ways it engages the region and its people.

“We think of borders not just in terms of the physical demographic of a wall in southern Arizona, but in terms of these complicated identity issues and structures,” said Mary Stephens, producing director for “Performance in the Borderlands.”

“Our approach is to think of the borderlands as a conceptual space where people are meeting, ideas are exchanged and as a methodology for life. Really good art takes your everyday perceptions and kind of twists it so that you can see it in a different way.”

Professor Marlon Bailey addresses the audience as he discusses his work during a panel for the opening event of "Performance in the Borderland" 2016 fall season on Sept. 13 at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Professor Liz Lerman speaks to the audience about her work with movement in communities during a panel discussion on Sept. 13 at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Singer and 'artivist' Martha Gonzalez addresses the audience as she talks about community in her work during a panel for the opening event of Performance in the Borderland's 2016 Fall Season

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Dago Bailon speaks to the role of performance in undocumented trans, queer immigrant communities during a panel for the opening event of Performance in the Borderlands on Sept. 13 at the Phoenix Center for the Arts.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Tupak Huehuecoyotl of the Son Jarocho Collective in Arizona perform outside of the Phoenix Center for the Arts following the opening night of "Performance in the Borderlands" 2016 fall season on Sept. 13.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Members of the Son Jarocho Collective in Arizona perform outside of the Phoenix Center for the Arts following the opening night of "Performance in the Borderlands" 2016 fall season on Sept. 13.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Osnelly Enriquez, center, dances at a performance of Son Jarocho Collective in Arizona perform outside of the Phoenix Center for the Arts following the opening night of "Performance in the Borderlands" 2016 fall season on Sept. 13.

Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

As it has done since 2003, the art series will bring together local, national and international artists, ensembles and theater groups. Past invitees have been from Arizona, California, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, and their work has explored topics including immigration, social justice, race, religion, sexual orientation and women’s rights.

Memorable borderlands installations have included a play in the Desert Valley Rock Center reserve, a queer Chicana monologue on body image and politics, and a mural that momentarily erased the border in Douglas, Arizona.

"We've had so much positive response," Stephens said. She said the project aims to support the work of artists and and leaders in the communities they serve, adding "It's not only been positive, but catalytic because ASU is able to fund artists that these small communities could not normally afford and work with these communities, so they're able to produce an event with an incredible artist of great caliber."

This year’s theme, “Voices of Power,” examines the role of women of color in the arts and social justice. “My job as curator is to give these amazing women visibility because they’re not just part of, but leading the arts movement in Arizona,” Stephens said.

Martha Gonzalez, a Grammy-winning artist, activist, scholar and the current ASU Gammage guest residency artist, is contributing to the borderlands project as a featured speaker at the introductory discussion.

Martha Gonzalez

She sees the connection between art and social consciousness as inextricable. Through workshops and her Mexican folk band, Quetzal, Gonzalez has engaged communities in critical thought through music. At the same time, she has increased access to health care and educational programs for underserved populations in the Los Angeles area.

“With hypercapitalism as the way we understand it, we tend to think of art as something separate from community and something we buy and sell,” Gonzales said. “Art has always been meant to document and instigate critical thought and bring communities together.”

This year’s borderlands project will include close to 20 activities that will run through May.

The first event of the season included ASU professors Marlon Bailey and Liz Lerman along with Gonzalez. Speakers discussed the creative process, community representation and — as Gonzalez put it — developing a sense of "convivencia," or coexistence.

"It means to be with each other," Gonzalez said, "deliberate presence to each other, commitment to each other, dialogue through this art and music. I think that it's extremely important for us as well to instill a sense of 'convivencia' through music and our practices."

The rest of the season's lineup features Arizona artists Raji Ganesan, Rashaad Thomas, Leah Marche and Liliana Gomez.

Projects are expected to include an on-site installation and performance at the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area in Phoenix; a DJ scholarship and music activism lecture with Lynee Denise and a bi-national arts residency with solo performance artist Yadira de la Riva, who will travel through Arizona, northern Mexico, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Sonoran Desert.

“I feel this is our strongest year because we’ll be working with and reaching many communities, especially women,” Stephens said.

For a list of complete listing of the 2016-2017 season, go here.

Top photo: Last year's "Performance in the Borderlands" included painting the U.S.-Mexico border fence to match the sky. Project leaders said it removed an oppressive visual barrier to help create optimism. Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

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Marshall Terrill

Reporter , ASU Now

480-727-5176 marshall.terrill@asu.edu

Creativity

Anything goes at 'Feathers and Teeth' casting call

Tempe campus

September 7, 2016

ASU grad student directs horror-comedy to complete MFA; story series will follow process through October performances

Editor's note: This is the first installment of a semester-long series following the production of "Feathers and Teeth" from casting call to wrap party. Look for the next story soon.

Dirty words. A ukulele. Cartwheels. Baton twirling. Body contortion. Corny jokes. Butchered songs. Emotional monologues. Monotone deliveries. Shrill screams.

Anything goes in an open casting call, but none of it fazes director Ricky Araiza.

“Everything is fair game in an audition because I’m looking to see what their limits are, what improv skills they possess and the creative choices they make in the moment,” said Araiza, a third-year master of fine arts student in Arizona State University’s School of Film, Dance and TheatreASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre is a unit of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts..

Araiza auditioned about 75 ASU students for an upcoming production of “Feathers and Teeth,” a show that will serve as the equivalent of his master’s thesis. Araiza has about eight weeks to prep the new horror comedy, which was written in 2013 by Charise Castro Smith and described by a Chicago Reader critic as “an oddball mashup of Hamlet and Gremlins.”

ASU Now will follow the production from first audition to wrap party, documenting the successes, failures, tense moments and close calls. In total, it will show everything involved in pulling together a show.

Theater freshman McKenna Knapp performs during the casting call for the horror-comedy play "Feathers and Teeth" at Nelson Fine Arts Center on Aug. 31. The play is directed by graduate student Ricky Araiza and will open at the end of October.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Theater senior Moriah Garcia performs a monologue during the "Feathers and Teeth" casting call Aug. 31.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Theater senior Brian Grosvnor calms himself before auditioning for "Feathers and Teeth."

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Theater senior Tess Galbiati plays the ukulele during the "other talents." Director Ricky Araiza had instructed actors to memorize two monologues, produce a funny story and share a special skill they possess.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

There are some uncomfortable moments as directors Ricky Araiza (left) and assistant professor Kristin Hunt listen to actors' auditions during the casting call at Nelson Fine Arts Center on Aug. 31.

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Even though the 34-year-old Araiza is a stage veteran and has more than a decade of youth theater experience — including last year’s big-budget production of “Brooklyn Bridge” at ASU’s Galvin Playhouse — “Feathers and Teeth” represents a different kind of challenge.

“Ricky is used to big-budget, big-production plays, and this is much more intimate than what he’s used to,” said Lance Gharavi, assistant director of theater and chair of the master of arts in theater program. “It’s exciting because the focus for him this time around will be on the relationships he develops with the cast and crew, and the connection they’ll have to the audience.”

Araiza is admittedly a jumble of nerves these days. He knows there’s lots of work to be done. In addition to assembling a cast of four and selecting a handful of crew members, Araiza will have other duties. In the upcoming weeks, he’ll be coordinating with technicians on set design, lighting and special effects. He’ll work closely with costumers on wardrobe, and try to get his actors to thread the performance needle required of tackling horror and comedy together.

“Feathers and Teeth” is about Chris, a 13-year-old girl who suspects foul play when her father hooks up with an attractive home-care nurse two months after the death of her mother, Ellie. Set in a Rust Belt factory town in 1978, the play combines the supernatural with classic rock, family dysfunction and gremlin-like creatures that roam the house’s crawl space.

“I’m comfortable with comedy, but horror I’ve not directed,” Araiza said. “Horror requires a lot of sensory manipulation in terms of sight and sound. We have to somehow bring the two together and make it both funny and scary.”

Unlike the casting calls on Aug. 31, he doesn’t want the play to come off cheesy.

Araiza instructed actors to memorize two monologues, produce a funny story and share a special skill they possess.

One actor dropped her baton. A solidly built young performer turned an improbably elegant cartwheel. And a Miles Teller lookalike shared an original rap he wrote about a former girlfriend, forewarning the panel that his lyrics had “some vulgarity.”

Indeed, it did. The song was laced with sexual metaphors, ethnic slurs and four-letter words.

When he finished, he asked the panel, “So, all good?”

He wasn’t selected.

The audition panel included Herberger assistant professor Kristin HuntHunt is an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theatre. and Ben Vining, who is the stage manager for “Feathers and Teeth.”

Vining is an 18-year-old music major, who will be Araiza’s go-to person for several weeks. He understood the irony of his position on the panel.

“I play cello, so I’m the one who is usually auditioning,” he said. “Being on the panel gives you an existential sense of what they see and whether they’re completely carefree or full of angst.”

Theater major Quinn Johnson, 23, said he leaned more toward the carefree approach moments before he was called in for his audition.

“I’ve been through this process before, and the key is to not think so much,” Johnson said. “The more thinking you do, the harder it is to come back and be more grounded, and to be good.”

Johnson impressed the panel with his sped-up version of “Winter of Discontent,” as did McKenna Knapp, who performed a monologue from “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Araiza said he was pleased with the process and that he gives actors a lot of leeway so they can reveal their true personalities. He added, “That’s the hardest part of an audition. You have so little time to show who you are as an actor and even less to show who you are as a person.”

Araiza made his choices fairly quickly after two callback sessions later in the week. He will name his cast and introduce them to each other at their first rehearsal on Sept. 15.

The director is now ready to start work on his first comedy-horror, which might include some unforeseen drama along the way.

Top photo: Director Ricky Araiza (center), his stage manager, Ben Vining, and assistant professor Kristin Hunt listen to actors' auditions during the casting call for the horror-comedy play "Feathers and Teeth" at Nelson Fine Arts Center on Aug. 31.

Marshall Terrill

Reporter , ASU Now

480-727-5176 marshall.terrill@asu.edu

Creativity

Q&A: ASU professor blurs line between art, science

Tempe campus

September 6, 2016

Herberger Institute professor Lance Gharavi advances research through performances that explore the wonders of the universe

Arizona State University professor Lance Gharavi is an experimental artist and scholar who has a knack for linking with interdisciplinary teams to explore difficult subjects through multimedia performances.

Gharavi is an actor, director, performance artist, writer, designer and early pioneer in the field of digital performance. Yet he’s most comfortable at the intersection of art, science and technology, where he and others can collaborate on projects that advance ASU research.

His most recent projects have involved research robots and artificial intelligence, planetarium systems, the interior structure of Earth, and currently he’s involved with a research project for a NASA-designed satellite that will measure Phoenix’s urban heat islands — unlikely topics for stage and screen.

Gharavi, associate professor and artistic director in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, recently discussed his wide-ranging work and the wonders of the universe:

Question: How do you view yourself given that your work cuts across so many disciplines?

Answer: I am absolutely an artist first and foremost. I am by no means a scientist. All of my training is in the arts. I have three advanced degrees, all in the theater. I am, however, an appreciator of science. I am a booster of science. I think science is already interesting. It’s already compelling and fascinating. I just put it through the filter of my own sensibilities, the sensibilities of the other artists I work with and we channel it into the medium of live performance. Scientists and artists are great storytellers, but sometimes we use different language to tell the same story. The most exciting thing is that when artists and scientists come together, we can produce new knowledge and advance the science.

Q: You have a clever way of presenting science in a way that’s entertaining and useful to an outside audience.

A: Maybe, sure. Science is all around us. Science is the best method we’ve found to discover what is actually the case for what we call “the natural world.” I’m interested in stories. Big stories. I’m interested in ideas. Big ideas. Science is one of the few places where we keep our biggest stories, and our biggest, grandest, most useful ideas. When you simply tell those stories, communicate those ideas, it’s not that difficult to make those ideas compelling. It’s already compelling. It’s already wondrous and magical. Sometimes it’s just a matter of being the finger pointing at the moon.

Q: I saw a sneak preview of “Beneath” last year, your multimedia production that explores the Earth’s core. How did that project come to fruition?

A: I had recently completed a project with the School of Earth and Space Exploration based on Stephen Hawking’s book, “A Brief History of Time.” It was a one-man show in the Marston Exploration Theater. I launched it there because I wanted to see what I could do with that space and the set of marvelous technologies it has available. A year later, Edward Garnero, a geophysicist, approached Herberger associate dean Jake Pinholster and me and said, “I’ve got this great idea. I want to bring art and science together to make a show.”

I said, “Great. That’s our shtick. What’s on your mind?”

He said, “Beneath our feet there, thousands of miles below the surface, there are enormous, continent-sized amorphous blobs, and scientists don’t know what they are.”

That’s crazy! We know the mass of the moon and Jupiter, we know what the center of our galaxy smells like, but we don’t know what these blobs are just a couple of thousand miles beneath us? It blows my mind and, frankly, scares the crap out of me. It could be anything.

This project started pretty much how every other project starts — me being astonished, amazed and a little creeped out. We plan on turning “Beneath” into a 60- to 90-minute presentation in 2017. Our hope is to take it to space museums and planetariums around the United States.

Q: You are also involved in NASA’s "Phoenix" CubeSat project, a small satellite about the size of a loaf of bread that will measure Phoenix’s urban heat islands. I’m curious as to how an artist got linked to this.

A: ASU received a $200,000 NASA grant last May to assemble a team of undergraduates to design, build and operate CubeSat, which is a small, functional satellite. The key here is that the 25-member team is entirely composed of undergraduates from engineering, science, journalism, sustainability and the arts. The faculty is strictly in a mentorship role. Jake Pinholster and me recruited students from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and from the School of Film, Dance and Theatre who we thought would be interested in a very interdisciplinary project like this and put them on a team. They’ll be creating a website, a social-media site and a series of short videos about the project and the people involved. NASA’s going to cover the launch and flight costs. How cool is that?

Q: Your work with robotics and artificial intelligence is also noted. I saw a recent tweet of yours regarding the Dallas Police Department’s decision to use an armed robot to kill a sniper. It struck me that this bothered you.

A: It’s a big deal. Certain kinds of machines like drones have been used by the military to kill people before. But in this instance with the shooter in Dallas, it was the first time that police have used a robot to kill someone. So “Robocop” is here. It’s no longer science fiction. It’s creepy, right? A robot killing people … isn’t that what the premise of “The Terminator” was all about? Work that advances the science of robots is a little more of an awesome responsibility.

The work we’re doing will never bring about the robot revolution — knock on wood. But one of the things the most serious philosophers and futurists — people like Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, Nick Bostrom — are really worried about is the impact of increasing automation through robotics and artificial intelligence on basic human life and causing unemployment. We might be facing a future, not too distant from now, where we could have up to 50, 60, 70 percent unemployment because of artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. That would require the radical rethinking of the social contract and likely cause mass disruption and political and social unrest. Beyond that, these very serious thinkers are concerned with artificial intelligence as a possible existential threat to our species or even enslavement.

So if that were the case, what use would we be to creatures like that? What would creatures like that do with us? The answer is, whatever they want. When you’re working with technologies that could someday cause disruption in economies and societies, or species extinction, or can kill people through the police, you take those things seriously. In order to be a responsible artist, you must take those things into account.

Top photo of Lance Gharavi by Deanna Dent/ASU Now

Marshall Terrill

Reporter , ASU Now

480-727-5176 marshall.terrill@asu.edu

Learning from the masters: Visiting artists come to ASU Herberger Institute

Herberger Institute's 2016-2017 season underway, features opportunities to learn from visiting artists

August 24, 2016

Arizona State University music professor Carole FitzPatrick remembers when it all clicked.

She was a grad student when she heard a professional opera singer express her style, command and passion — up close. Alexandra Ncube master class ASU alumna Alexandra Ncube, star of the Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon,” talks to students during a master class last year. Photo by Tim Trumble. Download Full Image

“It was a life-changing experience — a recital of incredible beauty, elegance and joy and utterly compelling,” she said.

Today, FitzPatrick, as an associate professor of voice for the ASU School of Music in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, is providing the opportunity for her students to have a similarly transformative experience by bringing mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade to ASU next month for a master class.

Von Stade’s scheduled appearance signals the arrival of a new season of cultural events from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. It marks the continuance of an emerging tradition that allows students, faculty and the general public to work closely with professionals from various creative disciplines as part of master classes and workshops lead by industry professionals and short-term artist residencies, which all dovetail with the Herberger Institute’s cultural offerings: concerts; plays and readings; design and art exhibitions; lectures and workshops; dance performances and musical theatre.

“A key part of our mission at the ASU Herberger Institute is ensuring that our students engage with successful working artists and designers who can serve as shining examples of what a life in design and the arts can look like,” said Steven J. Tepper, dean of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. “It’s one thing to watch a singer onstage or to see a video in a museum. It’s another thing entirely to have the opportunity to interact with professional artists and designers and learn from them about how and why they do what they do. That interaction can provide the impetus for a truly rewarding career in the arts.”

Von Stade’s interaction includes students selected by audition to sing for her and receive vocal-technical and stylistic advice. Also, the class will be open to the community to watch.

“For our students to get to work with — or even watch someone else work with — this amazing artist is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” FitzPatrick said. “They'll never forget it.”

Estrella Peyton, who runs the International Artist Residency program at the Herberger Institute’s ASU Art Museum, was a graduate student in the ASU School of Art last year. She says that as a student, she had “direct access to amazing, world-renowned artists” through the residency. She was able to see professional projects realized even as a student and had access to the artists “in such a natural way. It’s such an organic experience that will probably take years to really sink in, how important these interactions have been.”

This fall, dance students will have the opportunity to work with award-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham. He will teach master classes and engage in a residency with the ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre that will involve remounting one of his previous pieces with the students.

Abraham, a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient, “is a superstar in the dance world,” said Mary Fitzgerald, assistant director and associate professor for the School of Film, Dance and Theatre. “Stylistically, he fuses postmodern dance with urban styles.”

Abraham’s work will extend beyond the classroom when he returns in the spring for ASU Gammage’s BEYOND series, which offers additional access to visiting artists.

Artists involved in the BEYOND series do work both on- and off-campus, said Michael Reed, senior director of programs and organizational initiatives at ASU Gammage.

“We’re able to bring something to the table for students that is very much of the professional working world so that it becomes a very real part of their experience at ASU,” he said.

In Abraham’s case, his company Abraham.In.Motion will perform a new dance work based on the meaning of love and loss across multiple communities and perspectives. Ahead of the ASU Gammage performance in April, he will interview people in the community about what love means to them and incorporate their perspectives into the piece.

Other artists visiting ASU as part of the Herberger Institute’s 2016-2017 season include the Ying Quartet, the New York-based theatre company 600 Highwaymen and urban dance artist Teena Marie Custer.

These opportunities are just one facet of the season. Students take what they learn from the artists and put it into their own performances and art work that is part of every season. This year, they’ll be performing operas such as “The Magic Flute,” acting in the student-written play “Haboob,” presenting personal dance pieces, mounting exhibitions, premiering short films and participating in choral concerts. Eventually, some students return to ASU as visiting artists themselves.

Last year, one of the most popular master classes was taught by Alexandra Ncube, star of the Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon.” Ncube, who graduated from ASU with a degree in theatre, made sure to carve out time to work with students when she was in Tempe touring at ASU Gammage.

“During the master class, she laid out the unique path she took to pursue performing, and reinforced the idea within each of us that our dreams were absolutely possible,” said Erin Kong, a sophomore studying musical theatre. “Pursuing any career in the arts is often deemed unrealistic, yet the master class with Alexandra proved the very opposite. Our dreams were realistic – she was living proof.”

To find a listing of the Herberger Institute’s season events, which include many free events, and to buy tickets, visit season.asu.edu.

For more information on ASU Gammage’s BEYOND series, visit asugammage.com/BEYOND.

Sarah A. McCarty

Marketing and communications coordinator, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

480-727-4433 sarah.a.mccarty@asu.edu

Mary Lane Porter

August 15, 2016

Mary Lane Porter is a Bachelor of Fine Arts candidate in the Arizona State University School of Dance. During 2010, her nonprofit organization, Dancers And Health Together (DAHT), Inc., received grant and pledge support from various organizations, including: the Performing Arts Venture Experience within the ASU School of Theatre and Film; the Do Something organization; Kickstarter.com; and also was approved by five of the Osborn School District schools for fall 2010 community programs.

Porter is the founder, CEO, and the Board of Trustees President for DAHT, Inc., a nonprofit organization with a mission to present opportunities that develop awareness of the mind and body connection through dance. Porter started the nonprofit because she says that she began noticing too many people focus on what their minds can do for the world, but they forget about their bodies. From personal experience and witnessing other similar stories, Porter says she realized dance is a way to fix this problem. Download Full Image

http://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/news/student/index.php?id=852

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