As soon as Rachel May, the artistic director of Atlanta’s Synchronicity Theatre, told me that she was going to produce my new play, Exit, Pursued By A Bear, I was alternately humbled and ecstatic (which makes for a bipolar state of mind indeed).

When May said that Emory alumna Taylor M. Dooley 00Ox 02C (seen in a promo photo, at left, with fellow cast members Nicholas Tacosky and Veronika Duerr) was auditioning for one of the roles, I said, “Put down the phone and cast her now!”

Taylor and I were both in the Rathskellar Improv Troupe as Emory undergrads. She was an incredible actor/comedienne even then. The idea of working with her on one of my new plays was too good to be true. But it was true, as a group of Emory alumni witnessed on March 3 at the first public performance of Bear, starring Taylor, in my hometown of Atlanta. (I live in Northern California now, but traveled to Atlanta to attend the premiere.)

What a powerful homecoming it was--made even more powerful by the support of the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), which hosted a preshow reception. I got to meet more than 20 fellow Emory graduates and thank them for their support of me, this play, Synchronicity Theatre, and Atlanta theater as a whole.

Exit, Pursued By A Bear is a Southern revenge comedy about a young woman’s triumph over abuse. It’s based on a famous Shakespearean stage direction, but takes its real cue from the power of friendship and self-respect to help women out of the traps of violence.

(Read Creative Loafing's feature on Gunderson and the play)

I owe much of my current career as a playwright to my time, education, mentorships, and friendships developed at Emory. Both the theater and creative writing departments (the inestimable Jim Grimsley being my guide) fed me the rich foods of literature and performance.

I experienced a similar humbled/ecstatic feeling when Theater Emory’s artistic director at the time Vinnie Murphy told me that they would produce my play Leap (about a young Isaac Newton) during my junior year.

Emory alumna Megan Monaghan 91C directed the luminous production. It was the first time they’d ever produced a current student’s work on the professional stage, and it gave me a vital and thorough education on the real work and art of making theater.

I can’t thank the EAA and my fellow Emory grads enough for coming out to the show. Quite a meaningful and theatrical homecoming!

-- Lauren Gunderson 03C, playwright, Exit, Pursued By A Bear

Visit Lauren Gunderson's official website ...

Exit, Pursued By A Bear runs through March 27 at 7Stages in Little Five Points. Visit the Synchronicity Theatre's website for ticket information.

So I was going to write this post-show-wrap-everything-up blog entry days ago when the show actually ended … but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. To write this last post would be my way of admitting that it’s actually over. I thought that if I could delay it long enough I could extend the sense of joy, confidence, triumph, and love that I felt every night (or afternoon) the cast rocked out on stage.

First off thank you so much to everyone who came to see the show. Before each show in the dressing room I would make a point to ask the ladies if they had anyone special coming to see that performance. I saw it as a way for us to focus on giving it everything we’ve got because someone we love would be watching.

For those of you who were not familiar with the show I know that the plot was hard to follow. I didn’t even fully understand the show because I grew up listening to the soundtrack so it wasn’t until I saw it staged that everything fell into place. What I hope you did get out of it was an amazing musical experience full of heartfelt emotion. I know we as a cast were able to get across the major themes of fear, loss, support, growth and most importantly love.

By the time the show opened our musical director Bryan Mercer told us that he really felt that we believed in what we were singing. I think that had a lot to do with how well we all knew the music before we even started rehearsals, and then how close we became as a cast. It’s true for anyone who has ever been in a group like that, music ensemble, sports team, sorority or fraternity, school club. If you’re lucky those people become a big part of your life. I know that I appreciate having a few more familiar faces on campus.

So with that I guess I’m ready to sign off as the events coordinator in blogger's clothing. Thanks for reading!

Read part 2...

Read part 1 ...

Just finished our first full dress rehearsal of Rent with lights, sound, band, costumes, make-up, the full nine…

IT ROCKS!

I know I’m biased … I’m in it. But when all of the pieces of the puzzle come together you don’t just feel the magic for a moment or two, you feel it for the whole show. And that’s amplified even more because the whole cast is on the stage for the entire performance. Even when it’s not your song you are still a part of the show and the experience.

That has actually been the more interesting twist to the show, being in the moment even when the moment isn’t yours. There is a song in the show called “Support Group,” and that has been the metaphor for the entire show.

We all need each other.

As the characters go through their ups and downs, fighting with a lover, learning to trust a new relationship, keeping your body strong, they can’t do it alone. So the soloists need to feel the cast behind them to support their journeys.

However, there’s still one cast member that hasn’t shown up yet. The audience.

We had some of the crew in the audience at our dress rehearsal to offer themselves up to the claps and the whoops, but it won’t be the same until there’s a packed house.

So some notes for you audience members out there:

No. 1: It’s going to be LOUD. The acoustics in the Performing Arts Studio are awesome for this kind of show and we plan on taking full advantage of that.

No. 2: If you feel uncomfortable being pointed at, stared at, or personally addressed by the performers … don’t sit in the first five or so rows. Think of it like the musical theater equivalent of the splash zone at Sea World. The cast plans on making this show as intimate and interactive as possible with the audience.

No. 3: Get your tickets now! You won’t want to miss it!

Thursday, September 30, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, October 1, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 2, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 3, 2:00 p.m.

For more information, call 404.727.5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu.

-- Becky Herring 08C, events coordinator, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Doing a concert production means we’re not telling the story to each other, we’re telling it directly to the audience and bringing them into the story with us. Over the next three weeks of rehearsal, we’re going to spend every minute communicating why that is going to make it so much more powerful.

And I'll be communicating my experiences with you here on EAAvesdropping.


Until then, if you’re wondering why your local Publix is out of honey and tea bags … you’ll know why.

-- Becky Herring 08C, events coordinator, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

Say hello to a couple of creatures. The bones on the right, you probably know. The creature on the left is ... the Creature. And the star of Theater Emory's presentation of Frankenstein, which opens tonight with a soldout show in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts' Theater Lab.

It was the kickoff event for Emory’s Poetry Council’s spring “What’s New in Poetry?” reading series, featuring guest poets Joanna Fuhrman, Jenny Sadre-Orafai, and Emory alumna Stacey Lynn Brown 92C. The reading series gives students the opportunity to hear and meet poets in the first and second stages of their careers.

... we wouldn't want to be seen as taking sides or promoting one candidate over another. Wouldn't be fair, you know?

On Saturday, January 30, the Emory Arts Competition will culminate in a public gala in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts' Emerson Concert Hall. This is the second University-wide arts competition; the first took place on November 8, 2008. The winners are here.

For the 2010 competition, you can see all of the entrants in visual arts and music right here. The visual arts category includes paintings, drawings, computer artwork, sculptures, and photography, while the music category will include all vocal and instrumental entries. There is prize money, too, donated by an anonymous lover of the arts ... $1,000 for first prize, $500 for second and $250 for third.

A variety of students, faculty, and staff have made the finals. Oh, and two of the entrants are alumni. Physical therapy graduate student Samuel Crowley 09C 12A performs the song Nineteen Thirty Three, and at the very least, check out the description of the song.

On the visual arts side, Emory alumni are represented by Sarah Blanton 92A 03A, assistant professor of physical therapy in the School of Medicine. Her piece is entitled "Through a Glass Darkly."

So lets hear it for the alumni artists ... but also the artists who are physical therapists. How 'bout them apples?

Tickets are free and the public gala on Saturday is open to all. The competition starts at 8:00 p.m.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

Who would have thought Bible illustrations from the 16th century would speak to a recovering Hindu from the 21st century? Yet the exhibition opening tomorrow at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, has enough devotion, symbolism, and religious ferment for every persuasion.

Scripture for the Eyes: Bible Illustrations in Netherlandish Prints of the Sixteenth Century presents Dutch and Flemish masters from Lucas van Leyden, Maarten van Heemskerck, and Hieronymus Wierix with loans from important institutions including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Antwerp’s Plantin Museum, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Visitors are in for a wonderful treat: virtuosic prints in various styles that inspired great masters, including Rembrandt, who consulted them in later centuries. Eighty woodcuts and engravings literally glow against the claret red walls of the museum’s third-floor galleries, a color the Carlos Museum design team is especially proud of after examining every hue of red possible in the physical world.

I was well aware of the reach of the Bible, having studied parts of the Bible as literature in India, yet I couldn’t have imagined the pivotal role of biblical art during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation movements in Europe. The boom of print publishing houses coincided with the proliferation of biblical texts and images and why was this important? It popularized the word of God through scripture.

Walter Melion, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History, and curator of the exhibition, also notes that Antwerp was the center of the production of vernacular Bibles in many languages, including English. In fact, the exhibition includes five rare volumes of the Antwerp Polyglot Bible (in several languages) from the Emory Libraries.


I had quite a few “illuminating experiences.” Wierix’s “Christ in the Wine Press,” invited me to go beyond the image of Christ bleeding into the sacramental wine with God turning the press to fully comprehend Christ’s suffering for all humanity.

Also captivating was Goltzius series called “Life of the Virgin,” where he imitates great masters from Federigo Barocci to Albrecht Dürer, signifying the multiple forms of beauty required to evoke the Virgin’s physical and spiritual perfection. Gorgeous details--some of the lines so exquisitely and finely rendered, the artist could have only done so using a magnifying glass and the slow attentive persistence of true devotion to the subject matter.

Amen.

-- Priyanka Sinha, director of communications & marketing, Carlos Museum

Wow, what a great way to kick off Emory Homecoming Weekend!

I just came from the Alumni Art Exhibit and Concert, and while I do not consider myself particularly cultured, even I completely appreciated the beautiful art and music at this event.

I have had the pleasure of working with Susan Stubbs Robert 67Ox 69C on her 40-year reunion this year, and I casually mentioned that I really wanted something unique to kick off Homecoming Weekend. Before I knew it, she had arranged to exhibit some of her amazing artwork at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, and had added on a classical concert at the same time!

The exhibit (above) is installed in the Upper Lobby at the Schwartz Center, and is titled “Art History,” and focuses on us seeing classic works with a new eye. Below is a bit of the artist statement about the exhibit, which explains it better than I ever could.

Suzy will share her rediscovery of the rich and brilliant arc of the history of art, and her journey to the creation of derivative images from these classical motifs. Her unique grid display arrangements arose from the effort to see something new and fresh in images which our collective minds have long ago memorized.

Tonight, William Ransom, Emerson Professor of Piano, kicked off the evening with a performance of two time-tested masterpieces - Ballade #1 in G Minor, Op. 23 by Chopin and Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin. But tonight, much the same way we viewed the art with a fresh eye, we also heard the music with a fresh ear, remaining open minded for some new interpretation.

If the rest of Homecoming Weekend is as exciting as our debut, we'll be in for a wonderful time!

-- Gloria Grevas, director of Emory Homecoming Weekend and Reunions, EAA

It's like the Hollywood Squares of Arts at Emory! Except that there are 12 squares ... and there aren't any really bad jokes ... or goofy double entendres ... or Paul Lynde. (Actually, aren't those one in the same?)

Anyway, if you have your earphones within arm's reach, take some time to visit Arts at Emory's new video highlights page. It's a diverse collection, featuring some of Emory's top faculty and administrators in the arts, who outline a variety of upcoming programs.

Also included are links to Arts at Emory's 2009-10 brochure, as well as the Arts at Emory box office.

From creative writing to dance, film, music, theater, and Emory's innovative Creativity Conversations, which is a backbone of University-wide efforts to explore Creativity & Arts, the new site is a highly detailed, engaging window into the creative world.

And that's no joke.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA

The Schwartz Center was dedicated on February 1, 2003. The view above is from the front, facing North Decatur Road. The 2003 inscription is on the west side of the building; you can see it from the Allen Family Plaza. A slightly better look is provided by the photo below.

Thanks to those of you who emailed us with guesses. Every once in a while EAAvesdropping will feature more close-up photos and we'll ask you again, 'Where in the Emory World?"

Have a great weekend.

The Emory University Symphony Orchestra, led by Director of Orchestral Studies Richard Prior, plays at Celebration Emory, a Campaign Emory event in New York City, on Feb. 26, 2009. More than 350 guests attended the event at the New York Marriott Marquis, including University President Jim Wagner and Emory Alumni Board President Crystal Edmonson 95C.

The Donna & Marvin Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts has been home to Emory's growing music, dance, and theater programs since 2003.