Double Life: Newest addition to dance program takes the stage and students by storm as visiting professor, artistic director

Rashana Smith, Photo courtesy of Communications Department

By Ellin Youse

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Rashana Smith is a loving wife and a new mother to a seven-month-old baby girl. For fun, Smith is an active member of the Ohio Roller Girls’ Gang Green roller team.  She enjoys filmmaking and is a documentary film aficionado, as well as the the owner of an 80 pound Great Pyreneese mix. She’s worked as a freelance dance instructor in Seattle and Texas and received her Masters of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University. Now, she is also the newest addition to Ohio Wesleyan University’s dance department.

Smith joined the OWU community this semester and will be instructing a workshop in Modern Dance, Dance Composition, Technique II and III during the 2013-14 academic year as well as working as the Artistic Director of Orchesis. Although new to OWU, Smith is not new to instructing dance at a university level. Smith has taught at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, she’s worked at The Ohio State University and Wittenberg University. And while she feels comfortable teaching at a university level because of her past experience, Smith said she feels a real connection to college students because she was one herself when she fell in love with dance.

“I took Ballet and Tap when I was 5-7 years old. And then I played sports. I danced a little bit in a drill team in High School, but it wasn’t until I went to college when I discovered that there was such a thing as Modern Dance and Improvisation,” Smith said. “At the time, I was an art major enrolling in elective courses. I took the standard ballet class and then tried to branch out with something new, which led me to Modern Dance. I was hooked. I changed my major and eventually transferred to University of Texas because it offered a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. After graduation, I continued to dance in Austin with local choreographers before moving to Seattle, Washington where I continued to dance and create work.”

It was in Seattle that Smith developed a love for “all things technology.” Smith said there were no dance programs that directly addressed technology the realms of dance making at that time, so to be able to work in both fields she loved she worked as a technologist during the day and a choreographer, dancer and educator in her free time. After some time living what Smith called a “double life,” she attended The Ohio State University for a unique masters program.

“Eventually, The Ohio State University’s Department of Dance offered a Dance and Technology masters program, which I am pleased to have completed,” Smith said. “I’m happy to be working in the field of dance and incorporating technology as well. I’m also ecstatic to be at OWU where interdisciplinary courses are supported.”

Interdisciplinary courses are just one of many things Smith said she loves about teaching in a liberal arts environment.

“I think I am at my best [in a liberal arts environment]” Smith said. “OWU faculty, staff and students have been very welcoming and generous. The Theatre and Dance faculty in particular have been open to hearing and sharing ideas, which is imperative when developing a dance program.”

As far as comparing OWU to other institutions she’s taught at, Smith said the devotion of OWU students is one quality of the university she finds particularly unique.

“The dance programs of each of the places I’ve taught at are all a little different from each other, so it’s hard to compare,” Smith said. “However, I will say that OWU seems to have a high academic standard of admissions.  I’m impressed with this year’s freshmen. In general, I’m impressed with the level of professionalism, technical skill, work ethic, and knowledge of the OWU students as a whole. I enjoy the students’ sense of curiosity and I find myself evaluating how I can continue to challenge them further. It’s a challenge that works both ways.”

The challenge of progressing her teaching and her student’s perspectives in her work is something Smith says cannot come close to the challenge of time. Smith said that no matter where she’s teaching, time is the one demon she always faces.

“I’m not new to teaching at the university level, but the challenge always remains the same – time,” she said. “I am always concerned with making sure each student gets the most out of their classes with me and this involves hours of preparation and meeting with students and colleagues. I love this aspect of teaching; I just wish I had unlimited amount of time for it.”

The challenge of time proved to be particularly present in the planning of this year’s Orchesis concert. The performance is an annual contemporary dance concert that features the work of students, faculty and guest choreographers that is usually held in the spring. However, due to scheduling considerations for Chappelear’s main stage, the concert will be held in the fall this academic year.

Smith said this year’s Orchesis will include works from five student choreographers, a new piece by dance faculty member Marin Leggat and pieces by Smith herself. Leggat was the artistic director for Orchesis in the past, but as she is on leave this year she left the production in the hand’s of Smith.

“We’re in the midst of intense rehearsals right now and loving every minute of it,” Smith said. “I enjoy working with so many young dancers with different dance backgrounds.”

One of the most exciting aspects of choreographing Orchesis this year was Smith’s ability to organize all 21 dancers into one piece. The production always features one act with a full cast, and Smith’s ability to direct it is one of most exciting honors of the Orchesis season.

“I like seeing these dancers performing as a large ensemble, all the while bringing their individual talents to the stage,” Smith said. “I was completely elated after our last rehearsal.”

According to junior Ben Danielson, Smith isn’t the only elated cast member. Danielson said Smith’s combination of efficiency and playfulness keep everyone in the cast uplifted and motivated.

“It’s ironic to be asked this question because I was just boasting about how wonderful Rashana is,” Danielson said. “She’s an innovative thinker, she’s very organized and I can tell that she’s always keeping us in mind as a group, just to improve our experience in Orchesis. She keeps the rehearsals professional and efficient, but she adds her own flare and quirkiness at the same time. I’m very happy that she’s a part of our company, and she’s done nothing but great things.”

First hip-hop dance company brought passion and focus to Chappelear stage Friday night

By Nicole Barhorst

Ohio Wesleyan students and staff, as well as Delaware community members, filled Chappelear Drama Center Friday night for a performance by RHAW, the first hip-hop dance theater dance company in the world.

Sophomore Nathan LaFrombois said he thought the “passionate” RHAW performance “set the standard” for future Performing Art Series shows at Ohio Wesleyan.

“I had never heard of concert hip-hop before; it was a new concept for me,” he said. “My favorite part was whenever individuals were spotlighted with the group dancing in sync behind.”

Established in 2007, RHAW stands for “Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring Works,” according to the company’s website.  This youth dance company was created as a preparatory group for the Harris’s Puremovement company, which features older dancers and was started in 1991.

Harris said he established the company because of the “overwhelming interest from teens and young adults” to join Puremovement.

RHAW trains pre-professional dancers and teaches them the history of street dancing, professionalism and techniques in various street-dancing styles.

The main goal of this Philadelphia-based company is to “encourage youth by demonstrating discipline and focus through Hip-hop theater performance, and education and outreach programing,” the website said.

The best part of the performance, according Delaware community member Erica Ankrom, was a piece choreographed to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” because it was “slower and had a story.”

According to the website, the piece is part of the full-length dance musical “Love American Style” that RHAW is premiering next week at Frostburg State University in Maryland. The musical addresses themes such as bullying and family relationships.

Ankrom said even though she doesn’t know anything about dance, she really enjoyed the performance.

Jenn Meckley, a Delaware community member, said she attended the event because she saw the Rennie Harris Puremovement Company perform a few years ago and enjoyed it.

She said she thought the RHAW performance was “energetic” and she loved seeing the dancers freestyle.

In a post-show question-and-answer session, RHAW member Brandyn Harris, son of Rennie Harris, said he’s been dancing for most of his life, but wasn’t interested in being part of the company at first because he really liked “to eat and play video games.”

Harris’s friend and fellow RHAW member Davion “Skates” Brown said he got his nickname from his background in skateboarding.  Originally from western Philadelphia, he has been dancing with RHAW for four years.

“Everything I’ve done with skateboarding easily translated to dance,” Brown said.

Rich Edwards, four-year chair of the Performing Art Series for four years, said OWU has been hosting visiting artists for about a century, and that the events in this series “meet a high standard of performance that is enjoyable, thought-provoking and inspiring.”

Edwards said he and his colleagues try to create “special educational experiences” as often as possible for students to have with the visiting artists. These experiences include discussion groups or master classes where students can learn how the artists created their performances.

Edwards said there are five other events in the 2013-14 Performing Art Series: a New York Jazz quintet, a Japanese/Indian music duo, a one-man comedy show, the Central Ohio Symphony from Delaware and a new age ensemble for modern classical music.

Seniors find inspiration through duplcation of subjects

By Adelle Brodbeck

Transcript Reporter

Ha Le and Alex Michener, both seniors at Ohio Wesleyan, formally showcased their art exhibit “Windows” last Wednesday before leaving to attend the New York Arts Program for the rest of the fall semester.

Both students said they pride themselves in creating art that reflects their semi-surreal impression of their surroundings. Le and Michener said they based their art on real people in their lives, but allowed their creative insight to portray them in a completely unique way. Or as they wrote in their statement for the show, “their paintings and drawings are not just realistic copies of the real world, they are windows through which (the artists) see the world
”

Le said she took inspiration for most of her pieces in the show from the women in her life, particularly her mother.

“My mom is an endless source of inspiration because of her beauty, her strong soul, and her limitless love for the family,” she said.

“Jessica” and “Contemplating” are two of Le’s charcoal drawings that specifically reveal her view of strong women.

The former shows a nude woman from the waist up with a determined and tough expression. The latter depicts what appear to be three different women, but Le said it was actually the same model who she drew in different positions.

“All of the figures in the drawing are gazing towards one direction as if they’re waiting for something, or someone,” said Le. “All of the figures are naked women, causing the viewer to question: ‘Why? What’s going on? Who are they?’”

Le interested not only in portraying women in a thought provoking way, but also in illuminating the diversity of the different people in her life.

“I do find a lot of inspiration in people,” she said. “I appreciate all the similarities as well as differences. While similarities connect people, differences make us human, not mass-produced robots. Differences makes me question my own values and become more open-minded, which is really important for me as an artist.”

Like Le, Michener draws inspiration from real people; but he said he is concerned more with portraying his subjects as accurately as possible.

“I really enjoy the struggle to convey some sense of recognizability,” he said.

Michener’s artistic style is distinctive. He utilizes saturated colors and a technique involving Mylar transparency in the portraits of his friends.

“I developed the Mylar process based on some printmaking ideas of color layering,” he said.

By painting a transparent sheet and then layering it on top of an already vivid picture, Michener creates vibrant and imaginative portraits.

Michener’s two self-portraits—“selfies,” as he jokingly calls them—stand out among his other paintings. For these two pieces he did not use the same layering technique, but instead made them distinct through their drastic size differences.

“Big Selfie” was the largest display in the exhibit, as the canvas was made up of two large wooden doors. Directly across from “Big Selfie” is the accompanying “Little Selfie,” which, as its name implies, is much smaller in comparison.

“I like that they’re staring at each other because they’re opposites in a way,” Michener said. “The large painting was done in about a day and in one shot, meaning I jumped straight into the final image. I was much fussier with the smaller one.”

The placement of the portraits, in addition to the size difference, allows viewers to more easily compare and contrast the two.

“Windows” received positive feedback from OWU’s campus, as shown by thanks and compliments left by friends, family and staff in a notebook in the exhibit hall. One particular comment thanked the artists for inspiring her to become a better artist. This remark is one of the many signs of the strong support system in OWU’s artistic community.

“[The department] always encourages me a lot, gives me advice when I’m in need, helps me out in any situation,” Le said. “Without all that, I wouldn’t have become who I am today.”

Soon after opening night, Le and Michener left to attend OWU’s New York Arts Program. The program helps arrange internships that will help students experience what it’s like to pursue a career in the arts.

Le is working with Jean Shin, an artist who is internationally recognized for her extravagant public installments. Le said she hopes to get a more practical take on the art world, as well as experience the diverse environment of New York.

Michener, on the other hand, is interning as a studio assistant with artists Ellen Altfest and Alexi Worth. Michener said the experience so far is “an amazing opportunity to shadow working painters and learn what sorts of issues that they need to overcome.”

As a final piece of advice to others who wish to follow in the footsteps of the two aspiring artists, Le said, “Art is not a game you play in your free time, nor a journey that has a specific destination. It is limitless, so you’d better prepare yourself.”

A Little Night Music

By Jane Suttmeier

Opera Workshop, a vocal performance club, has started rehearsals for their February 2014 performance of Stephen Sodheim’s musical, “A Little Night Music”.

Professor of Music Jason Hiester and Tim Veach, the Artistic Director and the founder of Columbus Dance Theatre, are heading the production. Stephen Sondheim wrote both the music and the lyrics based on the film “Smiles” of “A Summer Night”, by Ingmar Bergman.

“A Little Night Music” is set in Sweden in 1900 and follows the escapades of three couples.

Junior Gabe Incarnato, a music major who normally sings bass, is singing baritone-tenor for this production and said it is the hardest music he has learned to date. Incarnato is cast as lawyer Frederick Egerman in the production.

Junior Brianna Robinson, a vocal performance major, is playing Mrs. Nordstrom, a character that narrates the show with four other singers as the “Liebslieders.”

Robinson also said the music in the show is difficult, which she attributes to Sondheim’s technique.

“There are many key changes and somewhat unnatural melodies,” she said. “But even with this, the music is very beautiful and structured in a wonderful way.”

The cast has already started rehearsals and will rehearse throughout the fall for a February opening. Sophomore Hannah Simpson, who will play Charlotte, said she is glad the company is starting rehearsals early “because the music is very complex.”

Like Incarnato, she is switching vocal range for the show.

“Not only is my character’s vocal range much lower than what I am used to singing, (but) the music itself is also some of the trickiest music I have ever encountered.”

Simpson said she is excited to perform in a Sondheim show at OWU.

“I am a huge fan of Sondheim,” she said. “His music is brilliant, intricate and clever, and I am so fortunate that I get to perform his music.”

Sondheim’s work has won an Academy Award, eight Tony awards, eight Grammy awards and a Pulitzer Prize. His most famous pieces as a composer and lyricist are “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Company,” “Follies,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Into the Woods.” Sondheim also wrote the lyrics for the popular musicals “West Side Story” and “Gypsy.”

Robinson said she is happy to be on a stage performing at OWU this year.

“I could spend the rest of my life singing, acting and dancing on a stage,” she said.

Although the performance is months away, the cast has already begun picking their favorite songs.

Simpson said her favorite is “Everyday A Little Death,” which she will perform as Charlotte.

“It’s tragic, beautiful and unsettling all at the same time,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to performing it.”

Tony meltdowns: A memoir

I’m going to try to be funny, but I can’t promise anything because I can’t stop crying. I cried five minutes ago making notes for this column.  Maybe that’s funny to you. I’m a mess and I need cake.

I’ve been crying about the Tonys every day for the past week. The Tony Awards recognize the greatest achievements of the Broadway season. Some have said the Tonys are like the Super Bowl for theatre nerds. I can’t comment on the accuracy of that comparison because I’m not familiar with the Super Bowl.

I am vaguely aware of Super Bowl commercials and the fact that a minute of advertising time costs millions of dollars because ratings are so high. So I guess the Tonys are not like the Super Bowl at all—ratings for the Tonys are laughably low and every few years executives threaten to pull the telecast from network television. PBS could pick it up, but then Republicans would threaten to defund PBS just to block my gay rights.

I do know that a Super Bowl trophy can’t help you get an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony).

I’ve mostly been crying because of “Kinky Boots,” a new musical about a drag queen named Lola (Billy Porter) who reinvigorates a shoe factory with sparkling stilettos. Based on that plot description, I avoided the show while in New York for spring break with my mother and aunt. They were perplexed. The flashy billboards all over Times Square boasted a creative collaboration between esteemed playwright Harvey Fierstein and pop-rock sensation Cyndi Lauper.

One afternoon my mother came right out and said, “I walked by the theatre where ‘Kinky Boots’ is playing. Why aren’t we seeing that?”

“Oh, trust me, it’s not going to do well,” I said.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a lesson in why you should only trust me sometimes. “Kinky Boots” now has the most Tony nominations of the season, 13 in total, and is a major contender for Best Musical, the night’s top prize.

The Tony campaign for “Kinky Boots” has been vigorous and tugs at the heartstrings. My heartstrings are no exception, resulting in tears of regret, shame, and sorrow for not seeing it when I had the chance.

Every time I went to broadwayworld.com this week, the same “Kinky Boots” ad would pop up and I would cry because: a) I can’t stand that the guy doing the voiceover emphasizes the wrong syllable of “Kinky” at the beginning of the video and b) I pompously thought the musical was unworthy of my time.  I hadn’t even heard a full song from the show, yet the ad left me sobbing uncontrollably, a part of me hoping that “Kinky Boots” would sweep the Tonys even though I actually saw (and loved) its strongest competitor, “Matilda.”

Let me be clear: I am not an authority on the Tony Awards. I’ve only seen three of the nominated productions. The rest is merely (obsessive) conjecture. First I saw “Matilda,” based on Roald Dahl’s classic novel. With a book by Dennis Kelly and score by Tim Minchin, the musical tells the story of a five-year-old girl who loves books and mischief, but the adults in her life try to stifle her intelligence. Four actresses alternate in the title role (I saw the dynamite Milly Shapiro), and tonight they will receive Special Achievement Tony Awards for their performances.

While reviews for “Kinky Boots” were only lukewarm, critics loved “Matilda.” New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley called it “the most satisfying and subversive musical ever to come out of Britain.”

In an attempt to compare the two musicals, I listened to the cast recording of “Kinky Boots” since many consider Cyndi Lauper’s score the show’s strongest element. I was underwhelmed. Maybe all the hype has to do with Jerry Mitchell’s direction and choreography, but I found nothing in Lauper’s songs particularly brilliant. Tim Minchin’s music and lyrics for “Matilda” are much more substantive and sophisticated.

The other two nominated productions I saw were both plays. Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is a family comedy about three middle-aged siblings whose parents named them after Chekov characters. Hilarity ensues when Masha (Sigourney Weaver), a B-list movie star, returns home for a visit, yet there is great heart and depth amongst the chaos of this farce. Kristine Nielsen’s uproarious turn as Sonia should earn her the Tony for Best Actress in a Play, but she will probably lose to veteran Cicely Tyson in “The Trip to Bountiful.”

Tom Hanks will likely take the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his Broadway debut in longtime pal Nora Ephron’s play “Lucky Guy.” The play was an utter disappointment for me, even though I desperately wanted to love it. Ephron, one of my favorite writers, died last summer and “Lucky Guy” is her final completed work. A bio-play about controversial tabloid journalist Mike McAlary (Hanks), “Lucky Guy” is a tribute to New York City and the dying form of print journalism, two of Ephron’s greatest loves. Unfortunately, she tried to infuse journalism in the structure of the play, telling us the story via a chorus of reporters instead of showing us the action. The technique proved boring and the entire play suffered as a result.

Voters could go the sentimental route and award Ephron a posthumous Tony, but her problematic script makes this highly doubtful. Expect Christopher Durang to nab Best Play instead, or even Richard Greenberg for his complex drama “The Assembled Parties.”

Here’s a summary of who will probably get each award, who I think should get it and who might surprise us and take it home.

Best Play

Will Win: Christopher Durang, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Should Win: Christopher Durang, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Possible Upset: Richard Greenberg, “The Assembled Parties”

Best Musical

Will Win: “Matilda”

Should Win: “Matilda”

Possible Upset: “Kinky Boots”

Best Revival of a Play

Will Win: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Should Win: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Possible Upset: “The Trip to Bountiful”

Best Revival of a Musical

Will Win: “Pippin”

Should Win: “Pippin”

Best Book of a Musical

Will Win: Dennis Kelly, “Matilda”

Should Win: Dennis Kelly, “Matilda”

Possible Upset: Harvey Fierstein, “Kinky Boots”

Best Original Score

Will Win: Cyndi Lauper, “Kinky Boots”

Should Win: Tim Minchin, “Matilda”

Possible Upset: Tim Minchin, “Matilda”

Best Direction of a Play

Will Win: George C. Wolfe, “Lucky Guy”

Should Win: Nicholas Martin, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Possible Upset: Pam MacKinnon, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Best Direction of a Musical

Will Win: Diane Paulus, “Pippin”

Should Win: Diane Paulus, “Pippin”

Possible Upset: Matthew Warchus, “Matilda”

I didn’t realize how hot this race was until I looked up the nominees for this category! “Matilda” was one of the most magical nights of my theatergoing life, but based on video clips alone, Diane Paulus deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award for her reconceived, circus-themed revival of “Pippin.” Here’s another clip to show you what I mean:

Best Actor in a Play

Will Win: Tom Hanks, “Lucky Guy”

Should Win: Tom Hanks, “Lucky Guy”

Possible Upset: Nathan Lane, “The Nance”

Best Actress in a Play

Will Win: Cicely Tyson, “The Trip to Bountiful”

Should Win: Kristine Nielsen, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Possible Upset: Amy Morton, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Actor in a Musical

Will Win: Billy Porter, “Kinky Boots”

Should Win: Bertie Carvel, “Matilda”

Possible Upset: Bertie Carvel, “Matilda”

Best Actress in a Musical

Will Win: Patina Miller, “Pippin”

Should Win: Patina Miller, “Pippin”

Possible Upset: Laura Osnes, “Cinderella”

Best Featured Actor in a Play

Will Win: Danny Burstein, “Golden Boy”

Should Win: Danny Burstein, “Golden Boy”

Possible Upset: Courtney B. Vance, “Lucky Guy”

This is Danny Burstein’s fourth Tony nomination, and he deserves this one solely for losing last year for “Follies.”

Best Featured Actress in a Play

Will Win: Judith Light, “The Assembled Parties”

Should Win: Judith Light, “The Assembled Parties”

Possible Upset: Shalita Grant, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”

Though I loved Shalita Grant’s performance, Judith Light (“Who’s the Boss” and “Ugly Betty”) is poised to win her second consecutive Tony in this category.  I cried for her last year and I’ll cry for her again.

Best Featured Actor in in a Musical

Will Win: Terrance Mann, “Pippin”

Should Win: Gabriel Ebert, “Matilda”

Possible Upset: Gabriel Ebert, “Matilda”

Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Will Win: Andrea Martin, “Pippin”

Should Win: Andrea Martin, “Pippin”

Andrea Marin, best known as crazy Aunt Voula in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” is set to win her second Tony for her role as Pippin’s grandmother, Berthe. In her six-word Tony nomination story, which can been seen here on Facebook, she writes, “never too late to start living!” Weeps people.  Weeps.

The Tonys will air live tonight, Sunday, June 9 on CBS at 8 p.m. eastern. For my live blog of the telecast, follow @ryanjhaddad on Twitter or weepingonwheels.tumblr.com.

Will you still love me even though my screenplay is horrible? A review of Jeff Nichols’s “Mud”

Trying to decide what movie to see last week, my friend and I were left with few options.  I am not a Trekkie.  I don’t do superheroes.  I love Robert Downey Jr., but not when he ‘s covered in iron.  And while I adore Jay Gatsby, I cannot bring myself to watch his demise for a third time in three weeks.

I can’t handle that Gatsby has more beautiful shirts in his bedroom-within-a-closet than I could fit in my entire house.

I can’t handle that I’m attracted to Tom Buchanan even though he’s an absolute tool.

I can’t handle that a poorly timed summer release has cost Leonardo DiCaprio his long-overdue Oscar.

I can’t handle that I am so much like Gatsby, always reaching for the unattainable green light CGIed at the end of the dock.

We settled on “Mud” starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon (well, not starring Reese Witherspoon).  I knew nothing about this movie.  I presumed it was a small-scale indie getting a (sort of) wide release because of the names attached.  Cinematic offerings are generally devoid of intellect in the summer months, so I was hungry for even the tiniest morsel of something truly good.

Last summer I went into “Beasts of the Sothern Wild” knowing absolutely nothing and emerged drowning in a sea of tears.  The masterful meditation on nature and youth took me by surprise, and from the first shots of “Mud”—two young boys riding down a river—it seemed the two films might be similar.

The boys, Ellis and Neckbone (yes, that is his name), stop on what appears to be a deserted island and climb up to what appears to be an abandoned boat hoisted in the branches of a tree.

A boat in a tree.  How did this boat get to the top of this tree?  Who put it there?  Did the person swim off the island?  Did this person drown?  Did this person disappear into the ground?  These questions do not enter the boys’ minds as they rummage through porn magazines in the magical boat.

I can already tell that the five-year-old girl in “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is smarter than both of these boys combined, and they’re more than twice her age.  The actors, Tye Sheridan as Ellis and Jacob Lofland as Neckbone, are strong, but the same cannot be said for the material they’re given. Things are going downhill quickly.

Suddenly Ellis notices a bag of recently purchased food in the boat and exclaims, “Somebody lives here!”

So they leave. Not because they’ve just broken into someone’s boat, but because “it takes twice as long to ride upstream” and they can’t be late getting home. Oh. Okay.

But then—surprise! They find eerie boot prints in the sand and discover the mysterious Boat Man standing on the shore, eyeing their boat.  Boat Man is Matthew McConaughey, and his name is actually Mud.

Mud, as a name, lies somewhere between Boat Man and Neckbone in terms of plausibility.  We never learn why he is called Mud, but covered-in-dirt-because-why-bother-to-bathe-in-the-river McConaughey lives up to the name. Though he makes a valiant effort to disappear into his character through all the grime and sloppy speech, he is still Matthew McConaughey, gorgeous as ever, much more so here than in last year’s Magic Mike, a movie better-suited for his attractiveness.

We are introduced to Mud via a technique used too often in writer-director Jeff Nichols’s screenplay: putting together characters who’ve never met and throwing buckets of exposition at the audience. With no apparent creativity, we are spoon-fed character backstory and description, left with nothing to glean for ourselves about the people onscreen. Intellect? What intellect?

Mud asks the kids to bring him back food, and they do. They don’t ask him why he’s on the island, how he plans to get back to the mainland, or why they should help him; they just accept a promise for his boat-in-a-tree in exchange for their assistance. Sometimes Ellis rides out to Mud by himself in the middle of the night, which doesn’t appear any less stupid in the movie than it sounds here. We’re meant to infer that Ellis is endearingly innocent, but it’s difficult to root for a protagonist who just seems dumb.

Not only is a boat Ellis’s main source of transportation, but he lives on one, too. The houseboat is a major component of his father’s livelihood, but his mother, who technically owns the property, wants it torn down so she can move into town because she “needs a change.” Literally, that’s all the justification she gives for breaking up her family. Ellis expresses his angst by slamming doors and punching walls, all the while riding off to visit Mud, unbeknownst to his so-important parents, in order to escape his crumbling home life.

Mud is far from a stable influence on this child. In fact, Mud is wanted for murder. This surprises Ellis, but I wouldn’t call it a spoiler because, hello, the man is hiding away on an island.

Don’t worry, Mud did it all for Juniper, the love of his life. Mind you, her story is awful and tragic and Mud had every right to defend her; but murder is a bit extreme, and murder causes other people to want to murder you. Specifically the father of the man you murdered, who is wealthy and powerful and scary and says things like, “Let’s have a prayer circle for the death of my son’s killer.”

Neckbone is skeptical about helping Mud escape the police. This redeems his character a bit because it demonstrates that, unlike Ellis, he has some semblance of a brain in his head. Ellis is determined to help Mud find safety. He respects Mud. He idolizes him. Most importantly, he thinks anything done in the name of love is worth fighting for. He agrees to bring Juniper to the island so she and Mud can escape together, and Neckbone helps because he wants to protect Ellis from, you know, death.

Never mind that Juniper is only onscreen for three seconds. Never mind that she is Academy Award-winner Reese Witherspoon and has about as many lines as a mime in a silent movie. Never mind that her character is so underdeveloped it’s impossible to sympathize with her. And never mind that she doesn’t actually care about Mud’s feelings at all.

Ellis has jumped on the love train, in the name of Mud’s love for Juniper, in the name of his own love for a high school girl way too old for him (I can’t even bring myself to delve deeper into that awful subplot), and in the name of the love lost between his parents  Everything is about love. Love. Nothing else matters. Not even when you’re being followed by murderers.

In this sense, Ellis reminds me of Jay Gatsby. How come I so strongly identify with Gatsby, yet I can’t connect with Ellis at all? Gatsby’s one great love, Daisy Buchanan, has broken his heart, but Ellis is far too immature to know what love means. Though the adolescent has never felt real love himself, he is willing to put his life in harm’s way. We just don’t care. Gatsby has earned his delusional dreams. Ellis and his uneven screenplay have not.

“Mud” is now playing in select theatres nationwide.

Orchesis dancers, choreographers and designers explore what it means ‘to be human’

OWU music professors practice what they preach during faculty recital

Marilyn Nims pouts, acting to the lyrics of one of the songs she performed. Many of Marilyn Nims’s songs were sung in a foreign language, emphasizing emotion and body movement as valuable tools of performance.
Marilyn Nims pouts, acting to the lyrics of one of the songs she performed. Many of Marilyn Nims’s songs were sung in a foreign language, emphasizing emotion and body movement as valuable tools of performance.

By Jane Suttmeier
Photo Editor

On April 16, concert pianist and professor of music Robert Nims accompanied his wife, mezzo-soprano professor of music Marilyn Nims, in a four-part faculty recital in Jemison Auditorium. Marilyn Nims sang 23 short songs in the Nims’s production of “Manners
The Way We Are,” celebrating her upcoming retirement at the end of the year.

During her 29 years at Ohio Wesleyan, Marilyn Nims said she has performed in 29 faculty performances.
“It is an opportunity for faculty members to model what they are teaching,” she said. “While performing, the faculty artist is illustrating those concepts in technique, musicianship, musicality, and communication which have been discussed in applied lessons. Faculty recitals also add to the cultural life on campus and in the community.”

According to the department of music website, Nims has “been an opera or oratorio soloist with many orchestras and choral groups including the Columbus, Mansfield, Central Ohio, Welsh Hills and Columbus Youth Symphony Orchestras, as well as Cantari Singers of Columbus and the Columbus Bach Ensemble.”

The website also said Nims has performed with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in Souillac, France, and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

She has also sung chamber music with the Marble Cliff Chamber Players, OWU’s Duvall Ensemble, Mid-America Chamber Music Institute and the sextet Vocal Colour.

Robert Nims retired from teaching in 2002. He was a professor of voice and Director of Choral Activities at Ohio Wesleyan.

Since retiring Robert Nims has been an adjunct voice teacher at Ohio State University and an interim teacher of voice at Capital University and Cleveland Institute of Music.

He is also an adjunct professor at both Ohio Wesleyan and Otterbein Univeristy.

Robert Nims played piano for each piece, starting with a German song called “Fischerweise,” or “Fisherman’s Song,” by Franz Schubert.

“It’s very easy working with my husband, since we know each other’s musicianship and musicality so well,” Marilyn Nims said of working with Robert.

“It’s also a pleasure working with faculty colleagues, who bring their own background to the mix. Our work with students usually involves some element of instruction, which is a different situation than working with a colleague.”

Many of the songs Nims sung were in German, while others were in French, English and Spanish.

“Being able to translate and pronounce foreign languages is essential for ‘classically trained’ singers,” Nims said. “The study of German, French and Italian is always a part of our preparation. Spanish is of late becoming an essential, and many schools now offer training in Russian and Czech.”

The audience was able to follow along in the program, which had the lyrics translated into English.
Between each piece, Marilyn Nims briefly gave facts about the songs the audience couldn’t find in the program, as well as exchange short banter with her husband.

She has a particular interest in the Spanish zarzuela, which is a form of musical theater. She has “served as (a) singer and Spanish diction coach for the zarzuela theatre at Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California, and has made singing translations of two zarzuelas,” said the music department’s website.
Marilyn Nims used theater throughout the performance. Each song had a different movement or form of animation involved.

“Singers are most often presenting words as well as music, and since we face the audience directly, acting becomes an important factor for interpreting those words,” she said. “Some pieces seem to beg for physical communication; others seem best letting the music and words speak for themselves.”

Robert Nims played the piano during his wife Marilyn’s faculty recital on Tuesday, April 16.
Robert Nims played the piano during his wife Marilyn’s faculty recital on Tuesday, April 16.

One of the more animated pieces was a German song by Hugo Wolf called “Elfenlied,” or “Elf Song.” Nims used her body language and vocal fluctuations to perform as a mischievous German elf.

Another at the end of the second section of the performance was Jake Heggie’s “Once Upon a Universe.” Nims again used movement to act as a young version of the Christian God being scolded by his mother for breaking his toys, a pun on the universe and God’s creations.

Marilyn Nims’s last song out of the 23 she performed was Leonard and Felicia Bernstein’s “I Am Easily Assimilated,” a testament to her long, successful career making music as well as teaching it.

Films revisit memories, melodies and the perfect pie

A photo from senior Brittany Vickers documentary, “A Mouthful of Memories.” The film focuses on Vickers’s grandmother, the third adult from the left.
A photo from senior Brittany Vickers documentary, “A Mouthful of Memories.” The film focuses on Vickers’s grandmother, the third adult from the left.

By Ellin Youse
A&E Editor

Audience members listened to sounds of nature, watched University Chaplain Jon Powers deliver his opening prayer before Michelle Obama’s October speech and learned how to make one of grandma’s famous pie crusts at Friday night’s Ninth Annual Documentary Film Festival.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Ohio Wesleyan Media Center sponsored the event held at the Strand Theater on Friday. The films in the festival were the work of students in OWU’s Ethnographic and Documentary Film and Filmmaking class, taught by Professor of Anthropology Mary Howard and Director of Media Services Chuck Della Lana.
The festival showcased five documentaries. The first was by juniors Maggie Medearis, Max Bruch and Ashley Taylor. The film, titled “VDV: Always Remembered,” reflected on former OWU student Jake Von Der Vellen, who lost his life in a car accident last year.
The film focused on Von Der Vellen’s impact on students and his relationships around campus. Medearis, Bruch and Taylor interviewed Von Der Vellen’s Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers, friends and family for the film and showed their journey through grief over the loss of their loved one.
Because the three students were friends with Von Der Vellen, Medearis said the filmmaking process was emotionally charged.
“We had to make sure our judgment of what was best for the film was not being influenced too much by our emotional attachment to the project,” she said.
“Our professors told us they had a group from a previous class with a similar topic as ours, and they were not able to finish the film because emotionally it was too hard. We were definitely cautious of this when taking on this project, but we owed it to Jake to share his story.”
The filmmakers opening the floor to questions from the audience after each film. Bruch said the experience made the group more connected to Von Der Vellen than ever before.
“We got to know him all over again,” he said.
Medearis said the experience was cathartic for the group, and making the film was “rewarding” in two ways.
“The first was I felt like I became better friends with Jake through film and got to know him better,” she said. “The other rewarding part was having everyone see the film. Having Jake’s family, the Sig Ep brothers and other friends telling me they loved it or how much it meant to them made me feel like I did a good thing, and that we did Jake justice. It was so rewarding hearing some people say they didn’t know Jake, but after the film, they felt like they did. It made me feel like we truly honored Jake’s memory.”
The second film, “Mouthful of Memories” by senior Brittany Vickers, investigated the life and personality of her grandmother through food.
Vickers told the audience the story began as a look at how food helps strengthen a family, but upon hearing the testimonies of her family members she realized there was a much larger story to be told.
Each of her family members’ references to food began with a story of Vickers’s grandmother.
“I was really lost when I first started trying to think of a topic,” Vickers said. “I actually almost did my film on Delaware, but ended up thinking of my interest in health and wellness and how my family has had such a huge influence on me in that area.
“I wanted to know about their food history and how they had grown up with nutrition, but when I started asking them questions they all circled back to my grandmother and how she lies at all of their food memories. But because I never met her, I needed to ask them more questions about her to understand how she affected them. It became increasingly obvious that I needed to change the focus of my documentary to be about her and how she shapes my family even today.”
In her film, Vickers interviewed various family members about food and family to piece together a portrait of her grandmother’s love.
She said the love she was able to recreate for her family to enjoy was the most rewarding part of experience. Since she never met her grandmother, Vickers said she felt she now has access to “these wonderful memories and stories about her that I never would have known.”
Vickers said she finished the film before Christmas Eve, when she showed it to her family at their annual holiday gathering.
“Everyone cried and everyone told me they absolutely loved it,” she said. “It was so amazing to become even more connected with my family through this experience—not only my aunts and uncles, but cousins and extended family as well as my mom, dad and brother. And of course to my grandma.”
The third film of the evening focused on the history and everyday proceedings of OWU’s improv troupe, the Babbling Bishops.
A collaboration by junior Natalie Duleba and senior Dave Winnyk, the film “In Search of The Funny: From Babies to Babblers” interviewed alumni “babblers” and current troupe members about the all aspects of Babbling Bishop life, from the troupe’s founding to the intimidating audition process and the group’s annual trip to Chicago to practice with professional actors.
When Howard announced the fourth film of the evening, she explained to the audience she was “worried the students weren’t going to be able to pull together, but I’m told they did and did so quite well.”
In their film “In a Footstep,” junior Karena Briggs and junior Erika Nininger looked at the ways environments shape music. Exploring places like a serene mountainside and a bustling city, the film showed the audience that music is a reflection of its surroundings.
To prove the point, Briggs and Nininger interviewed a New York City saxophonist named Dusty Rhodes who called the streets his stage. In his interview, Rhodes told Nininger his music was inspired by all the movement around him.
“There is always a lot of rhythm around me,” Rhodes said in the film. “People, pigeons, footsteps. Everything is harmony.”
The film complimented sounds of classical and soft rock music with shots of rushing water and breathtaking tree tops. In their question-and answer segment, Nininger and Briggs said the film was shot locally in Delaware, as well as New York City and San Francisco.
The final film of the night was “Oh Chaplain, My Chaplain!” by junior Anthony Lamoureux and senior Macauley O’Connor. Although they said they would have liked to incorporate all of the wonderful personalities in OWU’s Chaplain Office, they focused on one in particular—University Chaplain Jon Powers.
The Chaplain can be found in his office, in the classroom or even in Chappelear Drama Center as an audience member or performer (he played the role of U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in OWU’s production of “8”). With Powers’s whereabouts seemingly changing every day, Lamoureux and O’Connor immersed themselves in interviews to get the full scope of Powers’s personality for the project.
“My one regret is that we couldn’t include all the interviews we conducted in the actual film,” O’Connor said in the question-and-answer session.
The emphasis on Powers’s interfaith journey and his support for the LGBTIQA community during the film revealed the compassionate and empathetic nature of his personality. Powers’s role as a counselor and supporter for OWU’s community is one of the film’s major themes.
Sophomore Kyle Simon said in the film that had it not been for Chaplain Powers, he would not “be here today, or at least be in a much darker place.”
“Chaplain Powers saved my life,” he said.
After the discussion, Lamoureux and O’Connor invited Powers to the front of the room for a comment on the film, but upon reaching them Powers extended his arms and encompassed both men in his embrace.
“I am speechless,” he said. “I only wish the film could have showed the entirety of the Chaplain’s Office, for they are such an amazing and hard working group. But this
this is such an honor.”

Seniors leave legacy at ‘Marks Made’ show

Some of the nineteen senior artists featured on Saturday night’s “Marks Made” art show.
Some of the nineteen senior artists featured on Saturday night’s “Marks Made” art show.

By Jane Suttmeier
Photo Editor

The seniors of Ohio Wesleyan’s department of fine arts showed their marks at the opening of their capstone show this past Saturday at Ross Art Museum.

The theme of the exhibit, “Marks Made,” conceptualized by senior Danielle Muzina and chosen by the senior class, encompasses pieces of art done by 19 fine arts majors. The senior students voted on “Marks Made” and four other concepts before proceeding with ideas for the show. According to senior Brandon Sega, they met in a committee, and the selection was a “group decision.”

The “Marks Made” description explains that the show is a manifestation of the seniors’ tenure at OWU.
“We understand our own personal marks and how the marks we make as artists and as people have a significant impact on our perception of the world,” it said. Senior Molly Curry said the theme reflects the small steps that creating a larger work involves.

“To me, ‘Marks Made’ means all of the small brushstrokes, pencil marks, and effort that goes into creating a final piece you are happy with.”

Senior Catherine Spence said there were some commonalities in “Marks Made,” but that every piece and artist is an example of themselves in some way.

“Everyone’s style is so unique,” she said. “I admire each artist in different ways.”

Sega said his individual “marks” are seen across his entire body of work.

“‘Marks Made’ means the marks that I create on any medium that I touch,” he said. “They are one of a kind.”

Senior Brandon Sega’s “Bronze Stache.”
Senior Brandon Sega’s “Bronze Stache.”

Senior Chelsea Dipman said it relates a lot to the legacy the seniors will leave in the fine arts department and the campus as a whole.

“‘Marks Made’ means not only the marks that we have made to articulate ourselves artistically, but also on ourselves, and on the lives of people that surround us,” she said.

Spence said it was hard to define what marks she made.

“I don’t feel I can give my work a permanent label, adjective or definition,” she said. “People are constantly changing, and so do your surroundings; my mood changes over time, and so do my interests.”
The seniors drew inspiration from new and old memories, as well as their favorite things to create their artwork.

One of Curry’s favorite things that inspired her work was natural lighting. Curry presented several portraits in the show, all incorporating styles that reflect natural lighting.

“I love how shapes immediately form when a natural light source is present that you don’t normally see,” she said.

Dipman said she drew inspiration from people.

“I’m fascinated with the human body, body image,” she said. “The process of getting a painting to resemble not only that person’s likeness, but their essence as a person.”

As for Spence’s inspiration, she said she finds it from the differences between the human figure and the human body. Spence’s work focuses on “the expressions that the body alone can create.”

Dipman said she thinks her artistic abilities were evolving before she came to OWU, but her years in school have helped her grow as an artist. Most of the work she has in the show came to be during this semester.

“I’d like to think that my work has progressed as the semesters have flown by at OWU,” Dipman said. “And I think the works I got accepted in the senior show are testament to that.”

And while the artists’ talents were the primary focus of the show, they took time to discuss their futures as well.

Sega said he hopes to go into digital art, even though most of his pieces featured in the show were not computer-generated.

“I plan on working in the field of graphic design, but I will most likely do some personal work on the side,” he said.

Dipman, Curry and Spence all plan to work in art education following graduation.

A piece by Senior Chelsea Dipman.
A piece by Senior Chelsea Dipman.

“(My) passion is working with children and developing their artistic abilities,” Curry said. “I want to help students feel successful and confident by encouraging them, the same way my professors at OWU challenged and encouraged me.”

Spence said the reason she finds art education is so important is because of the therapy art provides to children.

“I hope I can help kids form the same appreciation for art as I had, and continue to have,” Spence said.