Archives 2001-2002
Pepe, Some Salt, & a Cup of Joe
September 6 & 7
The HopKins Black Box turned coffee house in celebration of the diverse talents of the departments faculty and students. Dr. Jim Honeycutts band, Pepe, was featured along with other live music and open mic performances. For one, graduate student Joe Mitchell offered a welcomed reprise of his crowd pleasing song, The Blue Parka at this very event!
Busted Flat in Baton Rouge
Written & performed by Tracy Stephenson
September 26-29
In her one-person show, Stephenson combined her love of rock icon Janis Joplin with her interests in iconography and popular culture, and her desire to examine issues of identification and difference using a variety of scripting and performance techniques. The performance interwove Joplins and Stephensons lives, tracing an implicit relationship between the two.
Dr. Bharat Gupt
Professor of Theatre at the University of Delhi
October 1-15
During his two-week residency at LSU, theatre theorist and cultural analyst, Dr. Bharat Gupt offered a series of lectures and workshops. In the HopKins Black Box, he gave a talk on Genres of Performance in Indic Traditions and also led two workshops. The first focused on movement and elocution in Indian Theatre, and the second explored cross-cultural adaptations of performance. Dr. Gupts residency was co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre and the Performance Studies area in the Department of Communication Studies.
Cartomance
Written & directed by Darren Goins
October 23-26
Is it fate or is it chance? So the question was posed by Goins and his cast in a compelling tale of fantasy and romance. In the play, a reluctant Maggie has her tarot cards read. Her skepticism turns to amazement however when, through a series of misadventures, her predicted future proves a reality.
Lake Effects
Compiled & directed by Patricia A. Suchy
November 14-17
In a montage of film and live performances, Suchy combined the study of two cultural icons: Veronica Lake, the sultry 1940s star whose blonde hair falling over one eye created the peek-a-boo hairstyle craze, and Saint Veronica, the bearer of the true image, whose veil was recently recovered in a remote Italian monastery. The result was a compelling investigation of visual politics in the noted cases and, so too, in Suchys production as more than one cast member appeared in the veil of a blonde peek-a-boo wig.
2040 Performance Hour
December 6
The students from our introductory classes completed the fall semester with a thrilling evening of prose, poetry, and thematic performances.
Dedication of the HopKins Black Box
February 2
In honor of Dr. Mary Frances HopKins, the Black Box was officially renamed the HopKins Black Box in a tribute which included performances by alumni, colleagues, and friends. The gala evening celebrated Dr. HopKinss outstanding contributions to the performing arts, teaching, research, and leadership at LSU and nationally in the field of Performance Studies. The audience enjoyed performances that ranged from Dan Heatons heartfelt rendition of Love Me Tender to the Provosts performance of My Last Duchess. In funding, labor, and great good humor, the event was generously supported by the faculty and students of the Department of Communication Studies a most notable backstage performance offered by Gretchen Stein who catered the truly elegant reception held afterwards at St. Albans Chapel.
Tickets Please! Trav-e-logue with BABS & KITTY
Adapted & performed by Jacque Burleson & Joni Butcher
February 21-23
Presented in an intimate Readers Theatre format, this performance of non/fiction was kind of true. Travel guides, Babs Burleson and Kitty Butcher, drove their vehicle under the influence of poetic license to tell several hilarious stories about the trials and tribulations of two traveling companions. Collected and variously displayed along the way, travel souvenirs served to place their distinct personalities while shifting the space through which we all traveled.
Performances & Workshops by Holly Hughes
February 25 March 3
Internationally known performance artist Holly Hughes spent a week at LSU, her visit co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre and the Performance Studies area in the Department of Communication Studies. During her residency, Hughes led a workshop in the HopKins Black Box on performance composition and, in the Theatre Departments Shaver Theatre, she performed Preaching to the Perverted: A Tour of the Dark Side of Democracy, which recounted her experiences as one of the NEA Four. Hughess visit culminated in a good old-fashioned crawfish boil hosted by Dr. Trish Suchy and the rest of the performance studies community.
Sa Femme De Christ/The Bride of Christ
Adapted & directed by Scott Brignac, Andy Causey, and Katie Weiner
March 14-16
The noted undergraduates interwove excerpts from Solomons Song of Songs with a radical (re)interpretation of the biblical book, penned in the seventeenth century by French author Jeanne Guyon. Song, dance, and live jazz contributed to the celebratory performance. As part of her residency at LSU, Dr. Mary Agnes Doyle responded to the production on March 14.
Across Disciplines: Performance Research and Response
Produced by Michael Bowman
March 20 & 21
In our second year of highlighting graduate research in and through performance, seven graduate students presented their work. On Wednesday evening, Pam Autry and Brian Casemore explored the impact of performance on pedagogy in The First Day of School, Justin Trudeau investigated family relationships in 1, 2, 3. . . and Danielle Sears presented an ethnographic study titled A Tribute to Storytellers: Isleno Decima Singers of Louisiana. The evenings respondents were Dr. Nina Asher of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Dr. Jenny Jones of the Department of Theatre, and Dr. Katrina Powell of the Department of English. On Thursday night, Gretchen Stein presented her interpretive ethnography, Finding Freds, Joe Mitchell spoofed the tourist industry in Experience New Orleans! and C. Wesley Buerkle presented a fascinating gender study titled Mens Rites. Artist in residence, Dr. Mary Agnes Doyle, responded along with Dr. Elsie Michie of the Department of English, and Dr. Laura Sells of the Department of Communication Studies.
Lecture & Workshop by Dr. Mary Agnes Doyle
Dramaturge for Steppenwolf Theatre & Producing Director of Vox Humana, Chicago
March 26 & 27
In addition to responding to Sa Femme De Christ and Across Disciplines, Dr. Doyle also led a workshop and gave a lecture during her two-week residency at LSU. In "Linguistic Toolbox," Doyle taught us her "secrets" for designing installations and, in her lecture, Stage-Managing the Final Solution: Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews," she screened and critiqued Kurt Gerrons 1944 documentary about the "beautification" of the "model ghetto" of Theresienstadt.
Moby Dick
By Herman Melville * Adapted & directed by Ruth Laurion Bowman
April 24-27
Compelled by Melvilles critique of power and obsession, Bowman highlighted her critical take by inventing the character-narrator of Whale a woman in a red dress who led/followed Ishmael on his journey and played the part of Melvilles fool, Pip. Melvilles draw on diverse language styles was realized by the ensemble in their performances of the hilarious sperm song for instance and, dressed in formal white garb, their tour-de-force vocalization of the final battle between Ahab and Moby Dick. Lastly, a favorite image in the recall of many was that of a miniature ship traveling alone, and precariously, across the oceans expanse of the black box.
Outhouse Film Festival
April 27
This year the HopKins Black Box played host to the Outhouse Film Festival. Produced by the LSU Cinema Club, the annual event celebrates the cinematic labors of local filmmakers in screenings that last from morning til night.
2040 Performance Hour | May 2
Undergraduate Performance Hour | May 8
Two separate evenings of delightful performances by our introductory students, advanced undergraduates, and members from the departments nationally recognized Forensics team.
The residencies of Dr. Bharat Gupt, Holly Hughes, and Dr. Mary Agnes Doyle were supported
in part by the LSU Performing Arts Student Fee.