Remember that old Woody Allen joke (by way of GBS) about "those who cannot do, teach. Those who cannot teach, teach gym?" Well, an upcoming conference at Columbia University will offer a host of theatre people who do both. Titled, "Thinking And Doing: Performance And Text," the conference runs May 2-4 and features theorists and practitioners gathering for panels, workshops and performances.
Leading workshops in acting, voice and "choreographing fiction" will be directors Andrei Serban, Anne Bogart, Tina Landau and Kristin Linklater. Also expected at the conference are playwrights David Greenspan, Emily Mann (Having Our Say), David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), Charles L. Mee, former New York Times Sunday critic Margo Jefferson, Anne Hamburger, Bill T. Jones, Robert Auletta, Oliver Mayer, Shelby Jiggets, Helene Foley, Froma Zeitlin, Martin Meisel, Arnold Aronson, James Leverett, Joseph Roach, Susan Bennett, Una Chaudhuri, Richard Knowles, Kendall Thomas, Johnathan Crary and Elinor Fuchs.
Panels topics at the conference will include "Revisiting The Greeks," "Justice, Race, Performance," "Acting And The Demands Of Language" and "Amnesia, Nostalgia, Authenticity, Rewriting Hstiroy For The Stage."
Tickets (not including workshops) are $25-$30 and open to the public, even though the conference is held within various theatres at Columbia University. For information call (212) 854-3408 or check out their website, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/arts/conference
A joint effort between Columbia's Ph.D. And MFA theatre departments, the conference is being conducted by the Oscar Hammerstein II Center, which Serban heads. Those attending are also invited to catch Anne Bogart's direction of the MFA actors' thesis project, American Silents (May 2-11), which explores the silent film era. That production plays at the Raw Space on West 42nd St. Here are dates and times for specific, theatre related panels:
May 2, 8 PM: Revisiting The Greeks, w/Anne Hamburger, Charles L. Mee, Andrei Serban, Robert Auletta, Froma Zeitlin.
May 3, 9 AM: Acting Workshop w/Andrei Serban.
May 3, 1 PM: Actors And The Demands Of Language, w/David Greenspan, Richard Knowles, Kristin Linklater and Priscilla Smith.
May 3, 5 PM: Justice, Race, Performance w/Margo Jefferson, Oliver Mayer, Joseph Roach, Kendall Thomas; moderated by Shelby Jiggetts.
May 4, 9 AM: Acting Workshop w/Anne Bogart & Tina Landau.
May 4, 12:30 PM: Panel on "Amnesia, Nostalgia, Authenticity: Rewriting History For The Stage" w/Anne Bogart, David Henry Hwang, Emily Mann & Susan Bennett.
May 4, 2:30 PM: Closing party.
--By David Lefkowitz
