Neil Simon’s romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park will be performed October 2-6 in the Mago Hunt Center Theater, at 7:30 p.m. (2 p.m. Sunday). Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. For reservations call the box office at 7287. Simon’s play is about newlyweds Corie and Paul Bratter and how they learn to live together in their New York City apartment. The play is directed by Andrew Golla, performing and fine arts. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.
Performing and Fine Arts
UP Artists Show At Gallery 114
A group of seven members of the University’s performing and fine arts faculty will present “UP The River,” an exhibition of paintings, photographs, sculptures, drawings, images, ceramics, and other art forms, during the month of August 2013 at Portland’s Gallery 114 (1100 NW Glisan, Portland, www.gallery114.org). Pat Bognar, Victoria Christen, Bruce Conkle, LeAnne Hitchcock, Elaine Powell, Mylan Rakich, and Karen Esler Taylor will be showing their work, described by Gallery 114 as “a broad spectrum of work from a small art department up on the bluff overlooking the Willamette River.” For more information contact Pat Bognar, performing and fine arts, at 7792 or bognar@up.edu.
Special Theater Deal For “Ithaka”
Faculty and staff members are invited to take advantage of a special 20 percent off deal on tickets to Ithaka, a new play by Oregon Book Award winner Andrea Stolowitz, performing and fine arts. The play runs through June 30 at Artists Repertory Theater in downtown Portland (1515 SW Morrison St., Portland. OR 97205). Use the special group code “stolowitz” to get the discount at tickets.artistsrep.org. For more information contact Herman Asarnow at 7244 or asarnow@up.edu, or see www.artistsrep.org.
Buckley Art Gallery Show
The Buckley Art Gallery will be featuring works by local artist Charlene Robinson from June 3 until June 19. All work in this show was produced on the Ray Trayle etching press recently acquired by the University of Portland. Acquisition of this press will allow university students registered for printmaking courses to work on a large Ray Trayle press similar to those used by many professional printmakers around the country.
Charlene Robinson has worked in a variety of media including oil, watercolor, mixed media, encaustic, and printmaking. Her main interest since acquiring the press has been aquatint etchings in both black and white and colored. In order to produce a full range of color, multiple plates are used. Different intaglio processes are used to achieve a variety of effects and textures. Robinson’s work has been exhibited in local and international shows and galleries. Prints from the show are available for sale by contacting Jewell Yaguchi in the performing and fine arts department at 7228 or yaguchi@up.edu.
“Die Fledermaus” Set To Open
The University of Portland will host Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus,” produced by Mock’s Crest Productions, a summer professional theater company supported by the University. Performances will take place on June 7-9, 14-16, 20-23, and 27-30 in Mago Hunt Center Theater. All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. except for Sunday matinees, which begin at 2 p.m. Theater fans are invited to join Mock’s Crest for an evening of white lies, mistaken identities, and revenge set in the roaring 20s of New York City.
Tickets are available through the Hunt Center box office at 7287 or magohuntboxoffice@up.edu. Adult tickets are $30; seniors, students, and groups of 10 or more are $25. Dinners are available starting 90 minutes before evening shows for $14.50 and include farm fresh green salad, local vegetables, grilled chicken breast, fingerling potatoes, and a dessert station with fresh berries. Brunch is served 90 minutes before Sunday matinees for $13.50 and includes local vegetable frittata, ham and smoked salmon, fingerling potatoes, fresh fruit, and pastries. Company members will be in attendance to provide introductory remarks at the dinners and brunches.
Nationally recognized Kristine McIntyre, formerly of the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as opera companies in Kentucky, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Portland Opera, will direct. McIntyre also directed “The Mikado” at the University of Portland in 2010 and 2002. Resident UP faculty member Larry Larsen designed the sets and lighting and Darrin Pufall designed the costumes. Returning cast members include Catherine Olsen and Brian Tierney, both last seen in the 2011 Mock’s Crest production of “The Yeoman of the Guard,” and Stacey Murdock, who was in the 2009 production of “A Little Night Music.”
Mock’s Crest Productions theater company was created in 1990 to produce high quality comic opera, employing some of the Pacific Northwest’s finest actors, singers, directors, and designers. It was founded to enhance the cultural fabric of the North Portland community and to perpetuate the University’s long tradition of support for the arts.
For more information contact the performing and arts department at 503-943-7228 or pfa@up.edu.
Student Ensembles At Your Service
The performing and fine arts department has a number of student performers who are ready to provide music for campus events during the school year, according to Michael Connolly, performing and fine arts. Ensembles include quartets of strings, saxophones, brass, woodwinds, and flutes; a jazz combo; solo pianists; and vocal ensembles. There is also a student-led a cappella group named Call Our Bluff. The ensembles can serve in a variety of situations, including background music for social events or featured performances, such as after a dinner. Intersted parties can contact Connolly or any music faculty member for more information. Connolly can be reached at 7297 or connolly@up.edu.
Best In The West Choir Fest
The University and the performing and fine arts department will host the 38th annual Best in the Northwest Choir Festival, Friday May 10, all day, in Buckley Center Auditorium. The choir members will also use first floor Buckley Center classrooms for robing and rehearsal. Top honors go to the finest middle and junior high school choirs from across the Northwest. Attendance is free but seating is limited at times. For more information, contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.
Students Show Their Range
On Saturday, April 13, thirteen voice students from the University of Portland participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Festival Competition for Classical Singers from Oregon and Southwest Washington, held in Corvallis, Ore. Participants were Lydia Blaine, Bronwyn Jones, Hannah Kitner, Brenna Stacey, Ashley Woster, Katrina Welborn, Amelia Segler, Nicole Bennavente, Daisy Guzman, Rodrigo Gaspar-Barajas, James Lange, Meagan Usselman and Kelsey Rouse. Freshman Lydia Blaine, a student of Nicole Leupp Hanig, performing and fine arts, won first place in her division. Junior Rodrigo Gaspar-Barajas, a student of Wade Baker, performing and fine arts, received honorable mention in his category.
Oregon Book Award For Stolowitz
University of Portland adjunct drama instructor Andrea Stolowitz, performing and fine arts, won the 2013 Angus L. Bowmer Award for Drama as part of the 2013 Oregon Book Awards for her play, Antarktikos, according to PFA department chair Larry Larsen. Stolowitz is the first University of Portland faculty member to win an Oregon Book Award.
Stolowitz’s screenwriting work includes Jonathan’s War, a feature-length action film, the treatment for Code Name: Pelicano, which was sold to independent producers, and the upcoming six episode web-series Crackerjacks. A Walter E. Dakin Fellow at The Sewanee Writers Conference, Stolowitz has also been awarded residencies at Ledig House, Soapstone, and Hedgebrook, as well as arts grants from North Carolina, Oregon, and private foundations. Her plays include Bad Family, Seascapes, Playing the Course, Berlin Circles, Hotel Traumbad, and Geological Disturbances. Her latest play, Ithaka, premiers at Artist’s Repertory Theater in Portland on May 28, and runs through June 30.
For more information contact Larry Larsen, performing and fine arts, at 503-943-7228 or larsen@up.edu. See more about Antarktikos at http://tinyurl.com/c2ab38y.
Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise”
The performing and fine arts department will present Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (“Winter’s Journey”) on Sunday, April 7, at 3 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The concert is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. Schubert’s masterwork will be performed by acclaimed pianist John Wustman, who will join faculty member Nicole Leupp Hanig in performing the set of twenty-four songs with texts by German romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. Wustman’s musical career began in the 1950s with Robert Shaw and went on to include lengthy associations with singers such as Birgit Nilsson, Christa Ludwig, Carlo Bergonzi, and Luciano Pavarotti. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.