Everything Nac

Cast and production staff members of “The Arabian Nights,” the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre’s current Mainstage Series play adapted from “The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” have learned a lot about the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and North Africa.

In the weeks leading up to the play’s Oct. 6 opening before enthusiastic crowds, students and their teachers explored cultures with which many were unfamiliar. But theatre professor Angela Bacarisse, who designed costumes, hair and make-up for the play, and her hair and make-up assistant designer, student Samantha Friedrich, each brought unique insights to the production.

As a freshman student at the University of Delaware, Bacarisse’s assigned roommate was from Saudi Arabia, and through that new friendship with Farida, Bacarisse got her first “real taste” of Middle Eastern culture. But midway through that first semester, Bacarisse returned from class one day to the dorm room they shared to find Farida’s father, who was an economics professor at another university in Pennsylvania, had packed his daughter’s belongings and was taking her home.

“He had decided unmarried women should not live away from their fathers, and he took her home,” Bacarisse said. “That was kind of shocking to me. That’s when I decided I needed to know more about this culture.”

The incident started Bacarisse reading about and researching the culture. When the first Gulf War broke out, Bacarisse had just started her first teaching job. The war made her want to learn even more about the Middle East so she could better explain the daily news events to her students. She also read a series of books by author Jean Sasson about the life of a Saudi princess and how women of the Middle East are treated within their countries and their own homes.

“It was eye-opening to understand the difference between someone who believes in their faith and the good things about it,” Bacarisse said, “and doesn’t believe in the people who are trying to kill those who don’t have their faith.”

Deeper reading about women like Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark, who traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and wrote about their experiences, gave her greater insight into the history of the Middle East and how the countries were shaped and divided without taking into consideration the impact dividing various religions would have.

“I developed this fascination with the culture and women’s studies,” Bacarisse said. “There is a lot of reverence for women as opposed to hatred for women in the culture that I don’t think a lot of people realize. Part of keeping women separate is so that others don’t ‘steal’ them. So some of the thinking is ancient, but what they do is based on reverence.”

At one point during the mid-1980s, Bacarisse worked in an exclusive clothing store in Detroit where she was the only American in the workroom. Every other employee was from Iran. Bacarisse listened to the women tell their stories of escape “with only the clothes on their backs.”

“These were wealthy women who left it all to break away from the ayatollah,” she said.

Bacarisse and Friedrich have had many long conversations about the Middle East. As an American female growing up in the Middle East because of her father’s job in the oil industry, Friedrich had to, at times, “behave in a certain way” outside the home.

Born in Texas but moving to Dubai when she was 4, Friedrich, a self-described “oil brat,” spent most of her early educational years in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

“Through living overseas, we were able to travel a lot and experience a lot of different cultures,” she said. “I would love to live back overseas. The culture is so beautiful with so much loyalty and devotion to religion.”

Friedrich plans to use her travels and experiences in the Middle East to create “a melting pot of cultures” for “The Arabian Nights.”

SFA’s production of Mary Zimmerman’s “The Arabian Nights” will not be specific to one Middle Eastern culture, Bacarisse said. Rather, the play will portray and the costumes will reflect many cultures of the region. A donation of Middle Eastern clothing several years ago provides the costume backdrop for the play.

“If you do the research, you’ll find that Kurdish women dress differently than Saudi Arabian women, and they dress differently than women in Yemen and women in Palestine,” she said. “Since the stories in this play take place all over the Middle East and North Africa, we’re not being specific. There is a sort of romanticized version of what the Middle East looks like, and it’s very biblical. These are the clothes you would see in your Christmas pageant in church. But we’re also pulling in the look from Disney’s ‘Aladdin.'”

“I want to represent the beauty the women and men have, and I want to translate that into the hair and make-up design,” Friedrich said. “I loved and cherished my life there, and I want the people to be represented in a loving way.”

The School of Theatre presents “The Arabian Nights” at 7:30 nightly through Saturday, Oct. 10, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

The Mainstage Series is sponsored in part by Tipton Ford Lincoln.

The Children’s Performing Arts Series at Stephen F. Austin State University opens its 2015-2016 season by presenting Theatreworks USA’s “Fly Guy & Other Stories” in two performances Friday, Oct. 16, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

Seven delightful stories come to life in this hour-long musical revue based on popular children’s books, including “Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl,” “Diary of a Worm,” “Fluffy the Classroom Guinea Pig,” “Horace & Morris but Mostly Dolores,” “Kitten’s First Full Moon,” “Lilly’s Big Day” and “Paper Bag Princess,” according to Diane Peterson, manager of the SFA Fine Arts Box Office and director of the series.

“Performed by a multi-racial cast, the stories represent various issues, themes and ideas relevant to a broad and diverse audience of children,” Peterson said.

“Fly Guy & Other Stories” targets children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades. Stories in the production are subject to change.

Performances are at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $7.50 for individuals and $6 per person for groups of 20 or more.

To order tickets, call 936.468.6407 or 888.240.ARTS. Visit the CPAS website at www.cpas.sfasu.edu for additional information.

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the student-directed “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, in the Downstage Theatre on the SFA campus.

Fairfield senior Eric Gibson directs Alan Ball’s comedy about a newly married couple’s overdone wedding reception.

“During an ostentatious wedding reception at a Knoxville, Tennessee, estate, five reluctant, identically clad bridesmaids hide out in an upstairs bedroom, each with her own reason to avoid the proceedings below,” Gibson said in describing the play. “As the afternoon wears on, these five very different women joyously discover a common bond in a wickedly funny, irreverent and touching celebration of the women’s spirit.”

The cast includes New Boston senior Tori Bean as Frances; Frisco senior Shelby Gilliland as Meredith; Dallas senior Jonee Lewis as Trisha; Beaumont junior Angel Williams as Georgeanne; Port Neches senior Marley Graham as Mindy; and Carthage junior Zach Barlow as Tripp.

The production staff includes Brooke McPherson, Leander junior, stage manager; Jason Trevino, Houston sophomore, scenic designer; T.J. Davis, Beaumont junior, costume designer; K.C. Counts, Gladewater senior, lighting designer; Devin Bruton, Nacogdoches junior, sound designer; Tevia Loeser, Spring sophomore, props designer; Jessica Benson, Austin sophomore, hair and makeup designer.

Faculty production advisor is Zach Hanks.

Gibson is a theatre major who will graduate in December, after which he plans to pursue a film-stage career in Dallas. As an SFA student, he directed “The Patient” and “Manhattan Drum Taps” and was assistant director for “Alice In Wonderland” and “Bad Dates.” He has performed in “Loyalties,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “W;t,” “Woman and Scarecrow” and “The Valiant.” He was also a member of The Fredonia Players.

The Downstage Theatre is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

Tickets are $6. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

The exhibition “Ron Y. Nakasone: Formless Form, the Art of Sho” will open with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Griffith Gallery on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

The exhibition features the modern expression of a traditional art form that is still highly respected in East Asia. The art of “sho” and its metaphysical support, Buddhist thought, especially that of Zen, had a great impact on Western art in the later half of the last century, according to John Handley, director of SFA art galleries.

Nakasone states that “the Art of Sho (calligraphy) uses the soft (Chinese) brush, free flowing ink, and absorbent paper to give form to the artist-writer’s being, feelings and thoughts. The art is an opportunity for the sho-artist to give form through line and space to his or her spiritual landscape.”

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, sho artists, intent on revitalizing their tradition, saw a commonality with the non-representative subject matter of modern art and the spontaneity of the creative process in the action paintings exemplified by Jackson Pollack. Many Western artists felt a kinship with the expressive spontaneity of Zenga (Zen paintings) and Zen-inspired sho.

“This affinity resulted in a number of exhibitions that highlighted the expressive possibilities of the brush to mirror the inner life of the artist,” Nakasone said.

While the more subtle technical aspects of and aesthetic qualities created by the soft brush may be difficult to discern, audiences beyond East Asia can appreciate the expressive movement of line and vitality of space, he said.

Among the comments from the guest book at Nakasone’s show last fall at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkley, California: “These are so beautiful … have opened my eyes to a new kind of artistic expression of humanity.” Cindy Pinus, GTU student.

The exhibition is presented by the SFA School of Art and is sponsored in part by the Friends of the Visual Arts and Nacogdoches Junior Forum. Griffith Gallery is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. The show runs through Nov. 20. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.

Nakasone will present a public lecture and demonstration at the Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. The lecture is free.

The Wind Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Legends” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in W.M. Turner Auditorium in the Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus.

“We have three featured performers on this concert,” said Fred J. Allen, director of bands.

Staci Spring, bassoon instructor in the School of Music, will perform as soloist on Dana Wilson’s “The Avatar,” a concerto for bassoon and chamber ensemble.

“This music has an Indian flavor to it,” Allen said.

Composer Jess Langston Turner will be present for the performance of his work “Rumpelstilzchen.”

“Turner is an award-winning composer, writing for band, orchestra and voices,” Allen said. “His ‘Rumpelstilzchen’ uses music to tell the familiar fairytale of the miserly gnome who could spin straw into gold.”

SFA alumnus Larry Ward, ’74 and ’76, will guest conduct John Philip Sousa’s “George Washington Bicentennial March.” Ward is being honored as the 2015 inductee into the SFA Band Directors Hall of Fame, a project of the SFA chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, national honorary band fraternity.

“Ward retired this year after a successful career as a band director,” Allen said. “He was most recently the director at Atascocita High School. His bands were outstanding there, as were his bands in Athens, Kingwood, Lufkin and the other places he taught.”

The concert also includes pieces by the American composers Howard Hanson and Joseph Turrin.

The concert is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.