At Schwartz Center: dance, sensation, 'Glass Menagerie'


Provided
A.D. White Professor-at-Large William Forsythe will be part of “Sensation, Desire, and the Moving Body,” a conference Feb. 21 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Renowned choreographer and A.D. White Professor-at-Large William Forsythe headlines “Sensation, Desire, and the Moving Body,” a conference Feb. 21 at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, joining scholars and professionals discussing dance as a dynamic and interdisciplinary field.

The conference stems from this year’s Society for the Humanities focal theme, “Sensation.” It will show how dance is an extremely complex and multi-faceted discipline overlapping such areas of scholarship as philosophy, history and politics, said organizers Jumay Chu, senior lecturer in dance, and Honey Crawford, a graduate student in the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA).

Conference topics include “Beauty as Provocation,” “Dance-Protest and Mysticism in Africa and Globalization” and “Sensation, Vitalism and Biopolitics.” Forsythe headlines the conference’s plenary session, to be followed by a roundtable discussion.

Also at the Schwartz Center, preparation is well underway for the first theater production of the semester, “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams. The play, onstage  Feb. 26-28 and March 6-7 in the Flex Theatre, first premiered in 1944, won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1945 and launched Williams’ career as one of America’s leading playwrights. 

Behind the scenes

In the theater, the performances audiences see are only the final product. PMA’s behind-the-scenes work makes these events happen, from scheduling rehearsals and performances to ensuring that productions run smoothly come showtime. Faculty members who are professional set, costume, lighting and sound designers work with students and staff members to put it all together.

One of the first steps in this process is scheduling days and rooms throughout the year, including practice spaces and other requests from production members. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” finding time and space for as many events as possible, explains Pam Lillard, director of productions and events.


Anna Carmichael
Steven Blasberg ’16, an electrical and computer engineering major, works on lighting for an upcoming show, Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” at the Schwartz Center.

The Schwartz Center has its own costume shop, supervised by Lisa Boquist. Before creating costumes, faculty member and resident designer Sarah Bernstein meets with a production’s design team and director to determine costume design appropriate for the show. Boquist then measures the actors and constructs what has not been pulled from costume stock, purchased or rented.

Scenery, props and set design are discussed before rehearsals even begin.

“Designers work with the directors to visualize the world of the show,” says Tim Ostrander, props coordinator. After that world is created, the scenic designer makes a small scale model of the set, including such details as furniture and the paint scheme, Ostrander says.

The next step is creating scenery and props, accomplished in the Scene Shop, a warehouse-like room in the Schwartz Center, managed by master carpenter Fritz Bernstein. The shop has everything from welding equipment to glue guns and plenty of room to create large sets.

A crucial part of any show is lighting, even though audience members might not even notice it. “The lighting designers are in charge of creating the time of day, mood, and the feeling that the director is trying to convey,” says Jeff Franzese, master electrician.

When rehearsals begin, stage manager Kristin Kurz makes sure it all happens smoothly. “A stage manager is the air traffic controller of a production,” making sure sounds, transitions and lighting cues happen at the right times, she says. “Everything has to come together slowly.”

PMA is staging 150 performances and events for 2014-15 in celebration of Cornell’s Sesquicentennial, including films, lectures, dance concerts and plays.

To buy tickets for “The Glass Menagerie” and other shows, visit the Schwartz Center box office at 430 College Ave., Ithaca, or www.schwartztickets.com.

Anna Carmichael ’18 is a communications assistant for the College of Arts and Sciences. Taylor Halcromb ’15 is a communications assistant for the Department of Performing and Media Arts.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz