Neal Bell’s play Cold Sweat is currently running in Los Angeles, produced by the theater group Uranium Madhouse. The film In Secret - based in part on his play adaptation of Zola's Therese Raquin - was released in the U.S. in winter last year. Directed by Charlie Stratton, it starred Elizabeth Olsen, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Lange. For a third year, this past spring, he was a guest mentor to an undergraduate playwright in Yale University's Playwrights Festival. This summer he… read more about FACULTY NEWS! »
The Theater Studies CoLab (Collaborative Theater Making) course under the leadership of visiting artists Lisa D'Amour and Brendan Connelly proved to be a huge hit with students spring semester. Both artists are award winners in their fields - playwrighting for D'Amour and sound design for Connelly - and were praised for both their expertise and generosity by students. According to senior Bailey Sincox, "The class was immensely impactful on my journey as an individual and a theater artist. Brendan and Lisa led us in a… read more about CoLab with D'Amour and Connelly »
Get a taste of Theater Studies Professor Ellen Hemphill's technique for teaching voice and body gesture in this trailer taken from a longer training film. Voice and Body Gesture Technique from Jim Haverkamp on Vimeo. read more about Trailer for Voice and Body Gesture Technique »
See where the set magic happens, and hear from the wizard himself, David Berberian! read more about From the Scene Shop! »
Check out this slideshow made for our 2015 graduates, which celebrates the plays during their time at Duke. Duke Theater Studies Graduates 2015 - 4 years in plays from Theater Studies on Vimeo. read more about Four Years in Plays »
Read about the Duke in Chicago summer program here - from Duke Magazine. read more about Planet Duke: A Drama-Filled Summer in Chicago »
Congratulations to Kari Barclay for being chosen for a Humanity in Action Fellowship. Kari was selected as 1 of 43 Fellows out of an extremely competitive pool of 688 applicants from more than 255 universities and colleges across the United States. Kari will join Fellows from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine to participate in the Humanity in Action Fellowship in Europe from May 25 to June 28, 2015. Intensive and demanding, the Humanity in Action Fellowship… read more about Kari Barclay Wins Fellowship »
Congratulations to the winners of our 2015 awards, presented annually by the faculty of the Department of Theater Studies: Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater Elena Lagon John M. Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award Kelly McCrum Alex Cohen Award for Summer Initiatives in Theater Hunter Stark Harmony Zhang Dale B.J. Randall Award in Dramatic Literature Jamie Bell Mike Myers Kenneth J. Reardon Award for theater design, management or production Austin Powers Dana Marks Award for Outstanding Acting… read more about Theater Award Winners »
Looking for a Triangle area internship? Check here. And check here for other info listed on the Duke Career Center site. read more about Arts Internships »
Check our trailer and plan to attend! Tickets at the Duke Box Office. Enron Promotional Video from Jon Haas on Vimeo. read more about ENRON Runs Through Sunday! »
Basketball captain and theater studies major Quinn Cook brings some fun to the arts when an artstigator calls on him in Cameron. read more about The Artstigatorshake »
Each spring Theater Studies presents awards. The deadline for awards for which students need to apply is March 20. These include grants for summer study and prizes for essays or scripts. Others are given for achievement and chosen by the faculty. Check here to learn more. read more about Awards Season is Here! »
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 5:00-6:30 p.m., Gross Hall 270RSVP Take control of your future and market your personal brand! Every project—theater, social innovation, music, literature, visual arts, dance—needs a powerful elevator pitch to grab an audience’s attention. Meet Jody McAuliffe (writer, director, dramaturg) and Jeff Storer, co-founder and artistic director of Manbites Dog Theater, a professional company founded in 1986 dedicated to world and regional premieres of contemporary work. Whatever you have to pitch—a project… read more about Taking Control of Your Future: Personal Branding »
Kelly McCrum opens her adaptation of the novel A Time For Dancing by Davida Wills Hurwin this week. Her play is called Dancing in the Bonehouse and is inspired by personal experience. She says, "as strong as we are, we often forget how fragile we can also be. We take advantage of our bodies until something goes wrong, at which time we are suddenly made aware of the myriad of things our bodies provide. This project started as a ‘what if’ story from my own experience, and has morphed into this production,… read more about Dancing in the Bonehouse Opens »
Duke students Jamie Bell and Austin Powers will present Mukwerere, an original play written by Bell, designed by Powers and set in Zimbabwe. Durham artist Tamara Kissane is directing. The play is Bell’s and Powers’ senior distinction project and will run Feb. 12-14, 2015 in Sheafer Theater on Duke’s West Campus. The title is derived from the Zimbabwean Mukwerere ritual—a rain-making ceremony—a plea to the ancestors to bring rain to thirsty fields and yield a fruitful harvest, explains Bell, herself a… read more about Mukwerere »
Check this preview of Mike Myers' distinciton play: http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/02/05/student-director-tackl… read more about Wittgenstein's Hamlet »
Please join the Department of Theater Studies for its spring lecture series, "New Directions in Musical Theater," which begins with a talk by Kim H. Kowalke, Richard L. Turner Professor of Humanities at the University of Rochester and Professor of Music at the Eastman School. “Give Me Time”: Sondheim, A Clever Maid, and “The Miller’s Son” Monday, January 26 4:30 pm 209 East Duke Building The series will continue on February 5 with Stacy Wolf, and again on February 11 with David Savran. On February 21 and 22,… read more about Lecture by Kim H. Kowalke »
Four seniors are preparing for their upcoming productions in their efforts to graduate with distinction in May. Mike Myers is working from Shakespeare's most famous play in his original Wittgenstein's Hamlet, in which influential philosopher Wittgenstein inhabits Shakespeare’s linguistic universe, embarking on Hamlet’s ingenious and lunatic quest for truth and justice. Seniors Jamie Bell and Austin Powers are collaborating on Mukwerere, set in Zimbabwe, Bell's native land. Kelly McCrum's Dancing in the… read more about Seniors Preparing Distinction Projects »
Very special course opportunities brought to theater studies by award-winning visiting artists - check out the courses and the artists teaching them! THEATRST 290-4 CoLAB: Contemporary American Collaborative Theater Making w/guest artists Lisa D’Amour and Brendan Connelly (ALP): Work with award-winning theater artists to examine practices of four American ensembles (The Rude Mechs, Theater of a Two Headed Calf, the Wooster Group and UNIVERSES) and apply theory to create short pieces in class. Artists from all these… read more about Unique Course Opportunities! Drop and Add! »
All Duke undergrads are invited to audition for the Theater Studies spring play, Enron (running April 2-12), directed by guest artist Talya Klein (see bio below). Auditions will be on Monday, January 12 from 6 to 8 pm in Bryan Center 128 (Clum Room). Sign up below. If you can't come Monday night, contact the director at talyaklein@gmail.com to make other arrangements. Note: Cast must be available for the class 6:30 to 9 pm on Tuesday evenings. For your… read more about Auditions for ENRON! »
TELLING STORIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: Confronting Sexual and Domestic Violence at Duke and in Durham will have a performance of monologues on sexual violence from interviews with activists, lobbyists, artists, and survivors in the Sheafer Theatre in Duke University's Bryan Center on Wednesday, December 3rd at 6:00 PM. Admission is free. Town Hall Discussion and Reception to follow. Check out the class blog here and read an article in Duke Today here. On Saturday, October 4th and Saturday, November 8th, Hidden Voices conducted… read more about Telling Stories for Social Change's final performance »
A discussion about “Domestic Terrorism” followed the opening night performance, with Tim Nichols, Duke University Executive Director, Counterterrorism and Public Policy Fellowship Program and Fellows from his “National Security Decision-Making” class. This play lends itself to a good discussion about what makes a terrorist, as we follow Ted Kaczynski through his reading of The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad in his cabin in the Montana woods. read more about Fascinating Talkback After Opening Night of The Perfect Detonator »
Some alums recently got together for some fun in the city at Motown the Musical, which was directed by an alum, Charles Randolph Wright! read more about Alums Gather in NYC for Motown the Musical »
This weekend, learn about life in stage, film and administration outside of Duke from alumni with real world experience including TS alums Adam Saunders ('99), Emma Miller ('12) and Nathaniel Hill ('12). November 7th and 8th. Details at http://dukealumni.com/alumni-communities/deman read more about DEMAN Weekend Almost Here! »
The Department of Theater Studies is honored to welcome Lisa D'Amour and Brendan Connelly to campus to teach spring semester. Take a look at their courses and see their bios below. D'Amour and Brendan are teaching together on THEATRST 290-4 Theater Studies Workshop: CoLAB: Contemporary American Collaborative Theater Making (Short title: Collaborative Theater Making) Synopsis: CoLAB is designed as a laboratory that invites students to "try on" different modes of collaborative creation. Over the course of the semester, we… read more about Guest artists D'Amour and Connelly to Teach Spring Semester »
Enron by Lucy Prebble Three blind mice wander across the stage while a few Texas businessmen determine the financial fate of the nation. A lawyer with a ventriloquist dummy delivers disclaimers to the audience while ferocious velociraptors lurk in the darkness... This is the world of Enron by Lucy Prebble, a modern day morality play which charts the notorious rise and fall of Enron, the company that caused one of the most infamous financial scandals in global history. A blend of… read more about Enron - the Spring 2015 MainStage Play »
The New Works in Process Workshop is back! Professors Neal Bell and Jeff Storer are resurrecting this once popular course. Writers are asked to submit scripts that, if chosen, will be developed in the class, by Friday, October 17. Students who take the course will form a theatrical “company” to develop new works for the stage. Participants - actors, directors, writers, designers, stage managers and producers - will focus on the art of collaboration, and they will do so by engaging in discussions, assigned readings,… read more about New Works in Process Workshop - First Deadline Oct. 17! »
The Perfect Detonator, Professor Jody McAuliffe's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, opens Thursday, November 13 in Sheafer Theater in the Bryan Center. McAuliffe’s adaptation follows Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, as he reads The Secret Agent. In the process, Conrad’s fictional tale of a 19th century anarchist bomb plot in London intersects with Ted Kaczynski’s real life bomb plots in the United States. The Secret Agent follows members of an anarchist cell in 1886 London as… read more about The Perfect Detonator Opening Thursday! »
Rude Mechanicals, one of the most innovative theater companies working in the US at this time, brought their immersive theatrical experience, Now Now Oh Now, that explores the nature of beauty, evolution, choice, and chance. While they were on campus, they visited acting and advanced acting classes, a legal issues in the performing arts class, a contemporary theater class, and they had a lunchtime conversation with scientists studying evolution, where they discussed the evolutionary… read more about First Visiting Artists of the '14-'15 year »