by Spencer Duncan, dramaturg
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Top row (L to R): Logan Ruesch, Danny Brown, Michael Comp, Sierra Docken, Haley Flanders, and Dennis the puppet baby. Bottom row (L to R): Britney Miles Smith, Arianna Krenk, Lauren Wilkins, Kate Coombs, and Teresa Dayley Love. Photo courtesy of Britney Miles Smith.[/caption]
At its home base of BYU, Water Sings Blue has brought many smiles to many people's faces. It's been privileged to have Kate Coombs join the audience. And it has enjoyed good reviews from Utah Theatre Bloggers. (Of course, if you'd like to see Water Sings Blue at the Margetts Theatre, you have until tomorrow, Saturday, 10 October, to get tickets.)
But there is much more ahead.
This last week, our Water Sings Blue cast began their tour! For the next three months, our cast will perform for thousands of children in Utah, Salt Lake, and Summit counties with a goal "to introduce theatre to children at an early age through performances and workshops, helping them to start a lifelong love of fine arts." At last count, the BYU Young Company performed for 23,000 children a year!
With each performance, the actors will get to hold an educational workshop with classes. Teachers will also receive, beforehand, supplementary educational packets with core curriculum tie-ins to the show.
It's a very exciting adventure, and we'll clue you in on actor responses at the end of it.
Until then, it's 'bon voyage!'
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Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz has sometimes been called "The Phoenix of America," as she is by far the most accomplished and globally read author to come out of the early Spanish-colonized Americas. Writing from New Spain (present day Mexico) , Sor Juana composed brilliant and biting poetry, wrote fiery letters in defense of her own creative spirit and the education of women, as well as dramas like the perfectly formed Spanish Golden Age style piece, House of Desires.
Art in Motion is a new show that was conceptualized by three female ballet faculty in collaboration with the animation department director here at BYU. The show beautifully merges animation, music, and ballet to tell the stories of three female artists from history. Those artists are Berthe Morisot, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.
When I think of the word powerful, I often associate it with the really unique, rare, extraordinary moments in my life. I envision grandiose gestures or out-of-this-world ideas. However, through my research for BYU’s Art in Motion, three female artists changed my perspective of the word.