Archives 2003-2004

Graduate Student Showcase

September 3

A tribute to Spam? Dog haiku? No one quite knew just what theyd do. An evening of short performances presented by our versatile, iconoclastic graduate students.

Burt and Earning: Discovering the Juggling Playpen

Adapted & directed by Daniel Bono
September 24-28

Compiled from diverse texts as viewed through the eyes of a lizard (yes, a lizard), Bono and his cast took us on a shape-shifting journey across the street, North and South, to a bookstore, arcade, school, zoo, and circus to investigate US civil rights, reform, and identity issues.

Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton, and The Fools Journey

A lecture performance by Lynn C. Miller
Associate Professor in the Performance of Public Practice Program
at UT-Austin
October 30

In her presentation, Miller demonstrated how it was through her performances of Stein and Wharton, their lives and works, that she discovered her own autobiographical voice, as represented in her recent novel The Fools Journey. Miller also conducted a writing workshop with students on autobiography and/in performance.

The Blithedale Romance

By Nathaniel Hawthorne * Adapted & directed by Ruth Laurion Bowman
November 12-16

In his novel, Hawthorne connects the disturbing allure of mesmerism as a detecting agency and quick cure for social and individual ills to his own craft of writing fiction. Bowman and her cast featured this motif by highlighting Hawthornes use, integrating additional materials on mesmerism, and ruminating on the illusion of social reform through hypnotic languages and practices.

2040 Performance Showcase

December 2

An evening of prose and poetry that featured the best of the best students in our introductory course sections.

Undergraduate Performance Showcase

December 4 & 5

Undergraduate directors Sara E. Dunlap and Amanda Sadat split the bill with Ryan Moock in an evening that featured their original adaptations. In the New Wild West, Dunlap and Sadat adopted a feminist perspective to critique the uncle Sam Marlboro man sexism in popular culture materials. In Running with Scissors, Moock undid the becoming of Hamlet by transforming his tale to our reproductive age of hyper-realism, style-shifting, and perpetual role-playing.

The Dream Knows More Than You/El Sueno Sabe Mas Que Tu

By Jose Torres Tama
New Orleans based performance artist and scholar
February 2 & 3

In his premiere of the noted piece, Tama combined bilingual poetry and stories, incantations, rituals of fire, dance, and personae inspired by Yoruba and Hindu religious practices to cross borders that constrain racial and sexual identities. During his week long sojourn at LSU, Tama also led a number of workshops where students learned to integrate (still and moving) body gests with the voicing of their dreams and stories.

A Superb Evening of Subtle Carnality

Adapted & directed by Angela Funches
March 3-7

A wolf-whistle at history. Compelled by the tease in burlesque, Funches developed a performance that promised an accurate reconstruction of burlesque song, dance, and skits while it mocked its very attempt to do so. The mockery arose in Funchess draw on materials across decades and in her use of a trickster cigarette girl who appeared throughout the piece.

Across Disciplines: Performance Research & Response

Produced by Ruth Laurion Bowman
March 17 & 18

While an eclectic mix of subjects, the projects of the featured graduate students shared a concern as old as Platos critique of the lack of perfection in poetic imitation and as current as Michael J. Sandels case against perfection (in the Atlantic Monthly) or Peggy Phelans call for representationwithout reproduction. Imperfect copies of the world were offered by Gretchen Stein on Mona Lisa imagery, Danielle Sears on vendor cries, David P. Terry on those who frequent a neighborhood grocery store, and Melanie Kitchens on debutantes. Faculty respondents from LSU were Dr. Ina Fandrich from Philosophy & Religious Studies, Dr. Katrina Powell from English, Dr. Loretta Pecchioni from Communication Studies, and Dr. Les Wade from Theatre. Dr. John Gentile, Chair of the Department of Theatre at Kennesaw State University responded both nights. During his visit to LSU, Gentile also led a workshop on storytelling techniques.

13 Ways to Kill a Mockingbird PosterThirteen Ways to Kill a Mockingbird

Adapted & directed by Patricia A. Suchy
April 21-25

By creating a walk-in world of thirteen installations and performances, Suchy and her cast prompted the audience to experience the diverse effects that Harper Lees novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird, has had on our culture. The multi-media collage included a number of original and compiled videos, object and slide show installations on the mocking bird motif, lemonade and laundry on the back porch, and performances by the cast including "The Trial of Atticus Finch" in which the racial politics of Finchs case were highlighted and tried by the audience-as-jury.

2040 Performance Showcase | May 4
The Undergraduate Performance Showcase | May 6

A two-part celebration of short pieces by our talented and creative students in the introductory course, performance composition, autoperformance, performance of poetry, of everyday life, and of popular culture. Students who compete in OI events for the LSU Mixon Lyceum Debate Team also shared their fine work.

The residencies of Lynn C. Miller, Jose Torres Tama, and John Gentile were supported in part by the LSU Performing Arts Student Fee.