Showcase of Student-Choreographed Dances in Concert
DANCE EMERGE - Artistic Director, Corrie Cowart
April 17-18 at 8 p.m., April 25 at 8 p.m., April 26 at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.

The Muhlenberg Dance Association presents an intimate concert of lively and original dance works April 17-18 and April 25-26 in the Dance Studio Theatre of the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance. Under the artistic direction of Corrie Franz Cowart, Professor for the Dance Program at Muhlenberg, dance majors premiere works full of artistic truth, beauty, and imagination choreography. The performance is a result of peer collaboration to develop new works that speak to life and art in an intimate setting.

Dance Emerge showcases the talents of young artists as they carve their own paths to creating dynamic and captivating dances. The concert’s choreographers draw from their diverse liberal arts education and find inspiration from a broad range of disciplines.  The eleven original dance works, created by dance majors, explores art in many forms from music to famous paintings to the art in everyday movement.

Choreographers:
Christina Lindsay ’08 is choreographing a work exploring art in everyday common movement. Tori Puff ’08 is working with an all female cast focusing on lifts and relationships developed through partnering. Ali Ordermann ’08 is choreographing a modern/tap dance working with rhythm in 3-Dimensional space. Elizabeth Seavy ’08 has been focusing on the painted images of Edgar Degas bringing them to life in motion. Lauren Sion ’08 sets out to turn life’s transitions into movement. Jackie Starner ’08 is using the influences of Butoh dance to challenge the audience’s preconceptions of dance. Carin Fenstermaker ’09 is combing hip-hop and ballet to create a fresh look at the often clashing dance forms. Dana Harrington ’09 is using a trio of dancers to investigate conflict against the sounds of a cello and piano duet. Lauren Naab ’09 is combining dance and behavioral psychology of being watched. Janel Sipala ’09 is choreographing an emotional jazz and modern piece.

ONLINE TICKETS • Box Office: 484.664.3333 • Email: boxoffice@muhlenberg.edu

LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST
Directed by James Peck. Featured faculty actor, Troy Dwyer.
April 24 - 27 in the Baker Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance.

Among Shakespeare's most dazzling poetic achievements, Love's Labor's Lost is a complex comedy of desire and self-delusion, love and (perhaps) learning. The Muhlenberg production conceived by director James Peck brings this rarely produced comic gem to live in the contemporary world of a luxury sea-side resort. Scenic/lighting designs are by Curtis Dretsch and costume design is by Constance Case, both faculty members of the Department of Theatre & Dance.

Featured in the performing company is Troy Dwyer, who also serves as the voice, text & dialect coach for the company. This genuinely witty comedy of the Elizabethan poet-playwright creates a timeless and yet very modern almost-love story, catching its characters in the romantic, foolish and hopeful aspects of falling in love - and yet ultimately tempering desire with caution and wisdom.

Engage in a battle of the sexes writ with elegance, edge and wit!

This is a rare opportunity to see one of Shakespeare’s most sophisticated – and funny! – plays. Shakespeare set Love’s Labor’s Lost in the royal court of King Henry of Navarre.  Set designer Curtis Dretsch has designed a luxurious Mediterranean spa to take the place of Navarre’s secluded court.  “Spas are a sequestered place where one goes to better oneself, but they are at the same time reserved only for the privileged,” director James Peck explains.  “They are places where one is catered to, like the court in the world of the play.  It actually feels very much like Shakespeare’s canonical court.”

Making certain that any changes to the canon remain relevant and pertinent both to Shakespeare’s original script and to our modern-day world was a key part of Peck’s decision making.  He says, “The updates are not a deconstruction of the play, but follow from resonances Love’s Labor’s Lost has with the modern world.  They’re not arbitrary; they emerge from my reading and understanding of the play.”  As a result, many aspects of this staging are grounded in traditional productions of Shakespeare.  Naturally, Shakespeare’s language is unchanged, and Peck describes the focus as being on “telling the story clearly and making the language accessible and easy to understand.”

At its core, Love’s Labor’s Lost questions the purpose of education and the makings of fame, making it a perfect show for students of all ages.  The obsession with fame and power that motivates Shakespeare’s characters to pursue higher education primarily manifests itself these days in the world of high fashion and the pages of Vogue Magazine.  Celebrities like Paris Hilton have their fame based in notoriety and praise, much like the celebrities of the Renaissance court.  Shakespeare works to chasten this notion over the course of the play, but the obsession with artifice in both the characters and Shakespeare’s own poetry remains throughout, marking Love’s Labor’s Lost as one of Shakespeare’s most deliciously sophisticated and paradoxical works.

Cutting irony and witty repartee is the basis of many of Shakespeare’s comedies and in this, at least, Love’s Labor’s Lost is true to form.  Women in particular will enjoy the play’s running gag which pokes fun at men’s inconstancy.  “One of the play’s big appeals for me is the intelligence and agency it gives to the female characters, especially regarding their romantic dealings,” Peck explains.  Henry, King of Navarre (played by William Schmidt ’08), and his comrades Berowne (Craig Hanson ’09), Dumaine (Tim Popp ’09), and Longaville (Tyler Rackliffe ’08) – like so many of their modern peers – have trouble with commitment.  First swearing to devote themselves solely to their studies for three years, the first sign of trouble comes when the charming Princess of France (Elizabeth Wasser ’08) arrives with the rest of her female entourage (Tricia Conti ’08, Karissa Harris ’09, and Desirée Sedehi ’08) and advisor, Boyet (played by Assistant Professor of Theatre Troy Dwyer).  Naturally, the men’s determination is unable to withstand such a tempting assault.  But, knowing how easily Navarre and his lords were able to abandon the first of their vows, the women can’t help but wonder whether the same might be true of the men’s vows to them!  “As in many of Shakespeare’s comedies, the women have more insight than the men.  What isn’t typical is that this play doesn’t end in marriage – that’s the surprising paradox at the end of the play, when love’s labor really is lost.”

While such a plot could easily cross over into farce, a certain purity of intention keeps the action – and the laughs – genuine.  The men truly do want to prove themselves worthy of something, and sooner or later it’s obvious they will have to, in order to maintain their own self respect and also finally earn the respect of the women they love.