IACE presents theater here and abroad
UB represents U.S. in Montreal festival, while Belgian theater company performs here

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Editor

The performance arts at UB will take on a decidedly international flavor next month, thanks to the efforts of the Department of Theatre and Dance's International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program.

Students and faculty from the Department of Theatre and Dance in UB's College of Arts and Sciences will be the only participants from the United States in the prestigious Les Fetes Theatricales du Suroit International Theatre Festival, which will be held next month at the College de Valleyfield in Montreal.

The week-long festival will take place under the umbrella of the International University Theatre Association, an initiative of the UNESCO International Committee for Culture and Development.

UB's performance in Montreal-its ninth international theater festival appearance since 1995-was organized by the theatre department's International Artistic and Cultural Exchange Program (IACE), founded and directed by Maria Horne, assistant professor of theatre and dance.

The university will present a production of "Savage in Limbo" by Academy Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley. The play will be directed by Horne and feature a cast of five UB students: Amanda Casarella, Kree Fieldsa, Tom MacVittie, Morgan Trant and Christopher C. Young. Two student designers, Sarah Babitt and Eric S. Kangar, also will participate, along with Brian Cavanagh, technical director of UB's Pfeifer Theatre, who will direct technical aspects of the production.

The Department of Theatre and Dance also will present "Savage in Limbo" at 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday and at 5 p.m. Sunday in the Katharine Cornell Theatre in the Ellicott Complex on the North Campus (see box).

The festival will feature performances by companies from Belgium, France, Canada and Poland, as well as the UB performance representing the U.S., and workshops by directors, including a session led by Horne on Lee Strasberg's program of "method acting."

All these activities, Horne says, will give UB students an opportunity to hone their craft in a competitive setting; meet actors, directors and technical designers from several nations, and compare performance techniques with actors from other cultures.

Under the auspices of the IACE, delegations from the UB Department of Theatre and Dance have represented the U.S. at distinguished international performing-arts festivals in Argentina (1995), Costa Rica (1996), Canada (1997), Colombia (1997), Miami (1997), Spain (1997), Mexico (1998) and Belgium, (1999). Theater artists from many countries have served artistic residencies at UB under IACE auspices as well. Belgium's Theatre Company of the University of Liege (TULg)-one of the world's oldest and best-known university theater companies-will visit UB April 13-17.

TULg will present a free public performance in French of the play "Kafka," an adaptation of "Communication a une academie," a witty, absurdist short story by Franz Kafka.

The performance will take place at 7 p.m. April 14 in the Katharine Cornell Theatre in the Ellicott Complex on the North Campus. It will be followed by an open discussion with the director and actors.

This performance by TULg will be the principal event of its residency with the UB Department of Theatre and Dance and comes a year after UB students from the department appeared in the University of Liege Theatre Festival.

The TULg production has been presented in Israel, Russia and Belgium. Saul Elkin, professor and acting chair of the UB theatre department, saw the Belgian performance last year and pronounced it "a wonderful piece of theater." It will be directed by Robert Germay, founding director of the Liege Germanists' Theatre Company and a member of the board of directors of UNESCO's International Theater Institute.

The TULg residency, sponsored by UB's IACE, calls for Germay to present lectures to students of theater, dance and French.

In addition to performances at UB, each international residency has included seminars and workshops for UB theatre-and-dance students, language students and the general public.

Horne says she could not have accomplished as much as she has without the collaboration and assistance of her UB colleagues. For instance, she says, the TULg visit was made possible with the help of Gerard Bucher, Melodia Jones Chair in French; Maureen Jameson, associate professor of French; the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures; the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Council on International Studies and Programs.

"In particular," she says, "Kerry Grant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has offered invaluable assistance through his continuous encouragement to keep developing opportunities that will strengthen international relationships and cross-cultural understanding."