Performing Magic on the Western Stage: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present by Eugene Burger (Foreword), Francesca Coppa (Editor), Lawrence Hass (Editor), James Peck (Editor), was published in 2009 by Macmillan Publishers for the Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History, a series devoted to the best of theatre/performance scholarship currently available and accessible.
Performing Magic on the Western Stage examines magic as a performing art and meaningful social practice. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection analyze the work of numerous western theatrical conjurers and several non-western magical performances in their historical context. Throughout, the contributors link magic to cultural arenas such as religion, finance, gender, and nationality. All of the contributors are connected to the internationally acclaimed Theory and Art of Magic program at Muhlenberg College, through which artists and scholars study the history, theory, and practice of the magical arts.
Dr. James Peck of the Department of Theatre & Dance also contributed the chapter entitled "Conjuring Capital: Magic and Finance from Eighteenth-Century London to the New Las Vegas." Karen Dearborn, Director of Dance in the Department, contributed "Intersecting Illusions: Performing Magic, Disability, and Gender." Joseph Roach, Sterling Professor of Theatre at Yale University, writes, "Performing Magic on the Western Stage skillfully conjures the interdisciplinary powers of performance studies to achieve an apparently impossible feat: an edited collection in which every contribution is equally strong and equally necessary."
Shelley Oliver, dancer, choreographer, and educator and member of the Dance Faculty, earned the annual Outstanding Dance Educator/ Choreographer Award this year by the LVAIC Dance Consortium of the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges. Canadian born tap dancer, choreographer, and educator, Ms. Oliver has appeared internationally with some of the legends. She is the Artistic Director of The Shelley Oliver Tap Dancers, performing with the David Leonhardt Jazz Group and touring jazz festivals and concerts around the country. She is a founding member of Manhattan Tap and a noted soloist who has performed with many great jazz musicians including Slide Hampton, David “Fathead” Newman, and Robin Eubanks. Ms. Oliver was recently guest soloist with The River City Brass, one of the nation’s premier brass bands, and will join the band again on tour this summer.Click to learn more.
Actor/writer Troy Dwyer, and choreographer/storyteller Charles O. Anderson collaborate to re-imagine the mythology of Uncle Remus's origin in the world premiere of Caw. The original performance piece spins a twisted tale of the magical and mysterious queen of crows, who will be played by Philadelphia's queen of spoken word poetry, Ursula Rucker. With a fusion of dance and theatre, Caw conjures an eccentric pantheon of unforgettable characters-in-motion and sets them in motion to examine how popular myths reinforce social inequality in American culture. Guest artists include members of Philadelphia company, dance theatre x, andHolly Cate, guest Equity Artist. Click to learn more.
Holly Cate comes to Muhlenberg after more than a decade as a professional actor in New York. Ms Cate will be the featured Equity guest artist in the 2009 production of Caw along with visiting artist Ursula Rucker. She was featured as the Mother-Showman in the 2008 production of Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus for the Muhlenberg Theatre Association. In addition to performing and teaching at Muhlenberg College, Holly Cate is also currently developing HENRY, a theatrical exploration of violence based in Shakespeare's Henry VI tetralogy. She is a member of Equity, SAG, AFTRA and holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.F.A.from Brandeis University. Holly is appearing through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. Click to learn more about the Caw project.
Leslie Pasternack performs Clean Room as part of the celebration of solo performance art this semester. Leslie’s characters confront the fragility of the body and the elasticity of the mind. Carving out small spaces of competence and compassion, they explore the grotesque in order to redefine the human. She holds her B.A. in English from Brandeis University; her Ph.D. in Theatre History from the University of Texas at Austin; and she is a graduate of the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, where she studied clowning, commedia, and mask-making. Leslie Pasternack was named to receive a "Bridge Builder's Award" from the Muhlenberg Academic Resource Center, an award recognizing the "professionalism and a caring attitude" on the part of faculty in mentoring peer tutors and students with disabilities. Click to learn more.
Leslie Pasternack performs Clean Room as part of the celebration of solo performance art this semester. Leslie’s characters confront the fragility of the body and the elasticity of the mind. Carving out small spaces of competence and compassion, they explore the grotesque in order to redefine the human. She holds her B.A. in English from Brandeis University; her Ph.D. in Theatre History from the University of Texas at Austin; and she is a graduate of the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, where she studied clowning, commedia, and mask-making. Leslie Pasternack was named to receive a "Bridge Builder's Award" from the Muhlenberg Academic Resource Center, an award recognizing the "professionalism and a caring attitude" on the part of faculty in mentoring peer tutors and students with disabilities. 
Francine Roussel performed in 2007-08 with Footsbarn Theatre Company in Europe. She was featured as Hermia in the international company of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in tours through France and England. An international company (in this cast: English, French, Japanese, Javanese) based on Jacques Lecoq training, Footsbarn revels in a very physical, visual and musical type of theatre (the musicians were from Poland and India). The work is characterized by beautiful imagination, poetry, a great sense of humor, and original masks, all employed in an extraordinary space. Photo © Vincent Arbelet. 
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