Information about the Western Theatre Program at Kennedy Theatre

Contact Info:

Dennis Carroll
Professor

Glenn Cannon
Professor of Theatre
Acting and Directing for Stage, Film and TV

KT 109
956-2110
gcannon@hawaii.edu

Paul T. Mitri
Associate Professor
Dept. of Theatre and Dance
Acting, Voice and Movement, Styles, Shakespeare

KT 102B
956-8445
mitri@hawaii.edu

Lurana Donnels O'Malley
Professor of
Theatre: Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, Directing

KT 102A
956-9609
omalley@hawaii.edu

Markus Wessendorf
Associate Professor of Theatre: Dramatic Criticism and Theatre Theory, Experimental and Avant-garde Theatre

KT 206A
956-2600
wessendo@hawaii.edu

The term Western Theatre embraces a wide variety of activities and endeavors within the UHM Department of Theatre and Dance. The Western Theatre program combines the academic disciplines of theatre history and theory (in which both the M.A. and Ph.D. are offered) and the production specialties of Acting, Playwriting, and Directing (M.F.A. concentrations). Research faculty in Western theatre have such diverse interests as Russian theatre, Australian theatre and drama, performance theory, the American avant-garde, and nineteenth-century melodrama. Faculty in the production areas teach a variety of acting and directing classes, including Voice, TV/Film Acting, and Great Roles.

As part of the Kennedy Theatre production season, faculty regularly present between two or three Mainstage plays. The production program presents varied offerings, from the classics (Shakespeare, Aeschylus, Ibsen, Gogol) to the contemporary (Mamet, Churchill, Steinbeck). In recent years, the Western theatre program has produced the premieres of exciting new work by Edward Sakamoto, Velina Hasu Houston, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl, and the Split Britches company. In addition, faculty and Masters students often direct classic or contemporary Western works in the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre; in recent years, this black box theatre has seen works by Sam Shepard, Federico Garcia Lorca, Sophie Treadwell, Bertolt Brecht, August Strindberg, Jean Genet, Tom Stoppard and Samuel Beckett, as well an original commedia dell'arte scenario and new works by MFA playwrights. Some Western Theatre productions are enriched by the application of Asian theatre techniques to Western drama, in a fusion style (a Noh-influenced Marguerite Duras play or a Kabuki-style Ubu Roi). Late Night Theatre provides an additional venue for experimental and original work.

Teaching in the Western area reflects a similar diversity and international scope. In the past few years, students have attended special workshops and training programs in commedia dell'arte (Antonio Fava, Italy), stage combat (Gregory Hoffmann, US), Theatrical Biomechanics (Gennadi Bogdanov, Russia), and TV (Greg Bonann, US). M.A. students with an interest in Western theatre may choose to focus on Western Theory/History or Acting/Directing. M.F.A. students can choose Directing, Playwriting, or Acting. Two Ph.D. options exist: Western or Western/Asian Comparative.

Last revised: Nov. 14, 2002(jm)

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URL: http://www.hawaii.edu/theatre/youth/youth.htm