| ______________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| ______________________________________________________________________ |
| Sept. 7, 2006
|
____________________ Simone wins Wilde Award for Best
Actor Simone was given the award for his work as Shylock in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in the 2005 season of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Simone learned of his nomination shortly before beginning rehearsals for the 2006 season of the Shakespeare festival in June. "The managing director and the artistic producer both phoned me to tell me I'd been nominated. It was quite a surprise," said Simone. Simone's performance as Shylock (which he played in repertory with Sir Toby Belch in "Twelfth Night") was hailed by critics as "brilliant" and "moving." "It was a fabulous performance," said John Neville-Andrews, Michigan Shakespeare Festival's artistic producer and Simone's director for "Merchant." "Ed.'s award is so well deserved," he added. "It's a wonderful thing for Ed. And for the Festival," said Mary K. Matthews, the festival's managing director. "I was so happy when they announced he'd won." The Wilde Awards are given annually by Between the Lines magazine, a Detroit Metro paper and online weekly that focuses on gay and lesbian issues and the arts. Readers nominate performances and winners in each category are then chosen by theater critics and arts editors. Simone couldn't attend the gala ceremony on Aug. 30 and had recorded an video acceptance speech ahead of time at the awards' committee's request. "That was a little odd," Simone said. "I had to thank people for an award I might not actually win. I couldn't attend the ceremony, though, because I was auditioning students here at SBU that night!" Simone's video acceptance speech was played on screen at the historic Gem Theater in Detroit when his win was announced. What does the award mean to Simone? "There's a tremendous sense of relief when one's work is appreciated by people who live by the theater and the arts," Simone said. "It's good for the festival, too: some good PR, audience development." Simone spent this past summer playing Claudius in "Hamlet" and Peter Quince in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, and again received excellent critical responses. "Good reviews and awards are great, but it's really about the work, the opportunity to do Shakespeare with strong casts and strong directors and designers. That's what matters," he said. Click here to return to the top of the page _____________________ Travel, Study, Eat - That's Italian! In 2002, St. Bonaventure considered developing an academic presence in the region of Assisi, Italy — not just a pilgrimage — but a study abroad program for the University. Dr. Michael V. Chiariello, working with Dr. Patrick Panzarella, did a search of academic centers in the area and discovered a site in Perugia, Italy, which seemed to be a good fit. Perugia is 20 minutes from Assisi, home of St. Francis and St. Clare, in the Umbria region. Panzarella soon established a successful summer program there at the Umbra Institute. In exchange for a cooperative agreement with the Umbra Institute, St. Bonaventure was invited to establish a Bonaventure presence in Perugia – a full semester program beginning in spring 2007. Panzarella and Chiariello were instrumental in formalizing the agreement with the Umbra Institute. To prepare, Chiariello traveled to Perugia with his wife, Judy, and enrolled in the Università per Stranieri (University for Foreigners). He and his wife took a one-month intensive Italian course, 20 hours a week. “It was very intense, but a great experience,” he said. He spent a lot of time at the Umbria Institute observing its operation and a little time thinking about the courses the full-year program should have. “The choice of Perugia vs. Assisi was made because Assisi is a very contemplative place,” Chiariello said. “It is a place that deserves quiet and respectful observance. In other words, not a good college town.” While Perugia has the proximity to Assisi, it also is a great cultural center of its own. “Perugia is where Raphael studied with Perugino,” he said. “It’s got incredible character with thousands of college students from all over the world who come and study Italian, including individuals from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Australia and America.” Perugia, in addition to its Italian, Franciscan cultural presence, has Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance cultures all historically preserved. It is off the beaten path. Not a tourist destination. “It is the perfect location for our program,” said Chiariello. Samples of courses to be offered include “The Franciscan Heritage Program.” It will consist of a series of courses that are designed to take advantage of the Umbria region, in proximity to all the sites where Francis and Clare lived. “We wanted a program that would take advantage of the location; it would be a general study abroad program where students learn something about the culture of the region, and one that would satisfy St. Bonaventure University requirements, Clare College requirements specifically, and would also be appealing to other Franciscan and Catholic schools who are interested in the Franciscan legacy,” he said. Franciscan Heritage courses cover material that would be essential to the Franciscan Tradition, the lives of Francis and Clare and some of the philosophers such as St. Bonaventure who have written and thought about that legacy, including some of the art and literature that has grown out of that. “ ‘The Life of Francis and Clare’ is an ethics course to be understood as exemplars of a certain kind of good life — the Franciscan life,” said Chiariello. “They are the models. The course will look at their lives, study their biographies a bit and we’ll travel to places they lived and prayed. But we will also be talking about contemporary ethical concerns such as environmental problems — Francis as patron of the environment.” “The Franciscan Intellectual Tradition” is a course looking at the influence Francis and Clare and other Franciscans had on the universities of the Middle Ages. “One of the things that happened very early on is a move from the early development of the Franciscan brotherhood as an order of preachers to an established order of philosophers and thinkers,” said Chiariello. “Within a generation, Franciscans had a house in Bologna and at the University of Paris. St. Bonaventure was born toward the end of St. Francis’s life, beginning a new generation. He was a world-class philosopher at the University of Paris before he became a friar. The Franciscans had a huge impact on European intellectual history.” This will also be a history course of Western civilization. He said, “We’ll go back to the ancient world because the Franciscan and medieval philosophers were really studying Plato and Aristotle, so this will give us a window on the ancient world. We’ll bring it up into the medieval European world where we will focus most of our attention and then we will move into some contemporary discussion on what Franciscan thinking is today.” Applications for the Perugia, Italy, program will be taken through Oct. 15. To learn more or for an application, visit http://WWW.SBU.EDU/ITALYSTUDY or contact Dr. Michael V. Chiariello at mchiarie@sbu.edu, (716) 375-2201. Click here to return to the top of the page _____________________ 'Unquiet' Sculpture of Ellen Steinfeld opens Friday at QCA Ellen Steinfeld has described her recent work as being, above all, about energy and movement. "They are not quiet works," said Steinfeld. As one of three special exhibitions kicking-off the 11th exhibition season at The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Synergy in Steel, Sculpture by Ellen Stienfeld, opens Sept. 8, and continues through Jan. 14, 2007. Steinfeld's colorful, graphic, buoyant steel sculptures are deceptively simple. There is an inherent tension in the contrast between the weight and presence of her chosen material - steel - and the graceful, delicate balancing acts that her finished sculptures represent. Steinfeld starts with castoff scraps of steel, combining them with her own designed organic shapes and lines. She is fascinated with the industrial past of her hometown of Buffalo where everything from nuclear reactors to special steel blades for cutting down rain forests was once manufactured. She visits the sites, talks with the owners and collects the discarded material. Then the transformation begins. Adding her own forms - pushing, stretching and juggling - she morphs the fabricated metal associated with destruction and hazardous waste into sculpture that has a "living spirit." "They imply nature, the human-made environment and the inter-relationship between the two," she said. "Steinfeld's sculptures seem to be in flux; reconfiguring themselves, taking flight. Her use of lines to connect the forms - from stylish arcs to jazzy squiggles - allows many of the works to function like 'drawings in space.' They are really a delight," enthused Ruta Marino, deputy director of the Quick Center for the Arts. Steinfeld received a degree in painting and design from Carnegie Mellon University. In 1982, she received a Creative Artists Public Service Program (CAPS) fellowship funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In 1993, Steinfeld was chosen to represent New York State in Absolut Vodka's statehood campaign. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Museum, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Washington State Art in Public Places Collection, the State of Florida Art in Public Buildings Collection and IBM, among many others. The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. The galleries of the Quick Center are free and open to the public year round. For general information or group tours call (716) 375-2494, visit www.sbu.edu or e-mail Quick@sbu.edu. Click here to return to the top of the page _____________________
Campus community invited to celebrate life of Stephen Gray-Lewis, Ph.D. Please join us for a
ceremony and gathering in memory of
A fund has been established in memory of Stephen Gray-Lewis for improvements to the Garret Theater, his artistic home for more than 30 years. Contributions may be made at the memorial service or sent to: SBU Theater/Gray-Lewis Fund, Quick Center for the Arts, Drawer BH, St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, NY 14778. Please make checks payable to SBU Theater. Click here to return to the top of the page Native American activist Winona LaDuke to lecture at
SBU The public is invited to attend the free lecture, slated for 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, in Dresser Auditorium of the John J. Murphy Professional Building. LaDuke, an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg (also known as Ojibwe and Chippewa) and mother of three, lives and works on the White Earth Reservations in Minnesota. As program director
of the Honor the Earth Fund, LaDuke works on a national level to advocate,
raise public support and create funding for frontline native environmental
groups. Honor the Earth seeks to create awareness and support for native
environmental issues and develop resources for the survival of sustainable
native communities. In addition, she has worked for two decades on the land issues of the White Earth Reservation, including litigation over land rights in the 1980s. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch universities, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. Her books include “Last Standing Woman” (fiction), “All Our Relations” (non-fiction), “In the Sugarbush” (children’s non-fiction), “The Winona LaDuke Reader” and “Recovering the Sacred.” LaDuke is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and serves as co-chair of the Indigenous Women’s Network, a North American and Pacific indigenous women’s organization. In both 1996 and 2000, LaDuke ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nader. In 1989, LaDuke received the Reebok Human Rights Award, with which, in part, she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project. In 1994, she was nominated by Time magazine as one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age, and, in 1998, Ms. Magazine named her Woman of the Year for her work with Honor the Earth. LaDuke was also awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, the Ann Bancroft Award for Women’s Leadership Fellowship, the Global Green Award and numerous other honors. LaDuke and the White Earth Land Recovery Project recently received the prestigious international Slow Food Award for their work with protecting wild rice and local biodiversity. Her visit to St. Bonaventure is sponsored in part by a grant from The James Martine Faculty Development Endowment and the University’s Diversity Action Committee.
Happy Anniversary
HEOP! This semester marks the 25th anniversary of the program and will be celebrated this weekend, Sept. 8-9. HEOP, sponsored by New York state, strives to provide citizens with an opportunity to attend independent colleges and universities within the state. The program is intended for students with both financial and academic needs who normally would not meet St. Bonaventure University’s standard requirements for admission. All HEOP students are provided with financial, academic, personal and occupational support services. “HEOP has evolved over the years to what we feel is a very comprehensive program,” said HEOP Director Margaret Bryner. “To make sure the students are settled on campus, we do a lot of student activities with them. Our students are also heavily involved with service. Over 71 percent of our students are involved in campus organizations, and a great many of them have leadership roles.” The anniversary celebration will begin with registration on Friday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. in the Hall of Fame Room located in the Reilly Center. A reception and networking discussion group between current students and alumni will follow at 7:30 p.m. The celebration will continue on Saturday, Sept. 9, with a lunch in the Hall of Fame Room at 11:30 a.m. Students and alumni will be joined by faculty and staff members. Tours of the Sandra A. and William L. Richter Center and The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will follow. A social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at the Old Library Restaurant. Members of the University administration and New York State Assemblyman Joseph Giglio will be attending the dinner. “We are really excited to be able to host such an event, and we have a number of alumni who are excited to come back and share their enthusiasm,” Bryner stated. More information and an online registration form may be obtained from the St. Bonaventure Web site at http://www.sbu.edu.
Career Center News ... Click here to return to the top of the page _____________________ All SBU faculty, staff and administrators are welcome to all the Friday Forums. Date: Sept.
8, 2006 (this Friday)
|