Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University will conduct a phone switch upgrade Monday, Dec. 15, causing all voice calling on campus to be interrupted.

The work will begin at 5:30 p.m., and the outage is expected to last five to six hours. During this time, the University Police Department may be contacted for emergency needs at (936) 552-1981 or (936) 552-1982.

The recent production of Monty Python’s “Spamalot” presented by Stephen F. Austin State University’s schools of Theatre and Music has garnered a number of awards and nominations from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

KCACTF is a national organization that celebrates the educational and creative process of university and college theatre. It promotes professional standards and provides students and faculty with opportunities to bridge the academic and professional worlds, according to Angela Bacarisse, professor of theatre at SFA who served as director and choreographer for “Spamalot.”

“This brings regional and national attention to the school and the students,” Bacarisse said of the honors. “The students will be seen at regional auditions, and they could possibly advance on to national auditions. Just being nominated will be a great line on their resume. For all of us, myself included, it is an acknowledgement of excellence in our area.”

KCACTF Region 6 (which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas) awards and nominations for “Spamalot” include:

• Meritorious achievement for ensemble acting to exchange student Matt Kelly (King Arthur), Rosharon senior Thomas Elam (Patsy), Pearland senior Nnamdi Nwankwo (Sir Bedevere), Fort Worth senior Austin Davis (Sir Galahad), Sugar Land senior Daniel Miller (Sir Lancelot) and Allen sophomore Stuart Neef (Sir Robin).

• Meritorious achievement to musical director Dr. Stephen Lias, SFA professor of composition, and the orchestra.

• Meritorious achievement for costume design to guest designer Randon Pool.

• Irene Ryan Scholarship nominees are Daniel Miller, Stuart Neef and Austin Davis.

• Musical theatre initiative nominees are Lufkin junior Amy Miller-Martin, San Antonio senior Allison Day and Nnamdi Nwankwo.

KCACTF has invited the musical number “His Name is Lancelot” to perform at the regional festival, which will be held Feb. 23 through 28 in San Antonio. KCACTF officials have “held” the entire show for consideration to be performed at the festival, which is a highly prestigious nomination, but one that the School of Theatre will have to respectfully decline, Bacarisse explained.

“This means that they thought the show was good enough to bring it to a larger audience,” she said. “I have traveled a show all the way to the national performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was a great opportunity for the students to pack a show in a truck and perform it in a different theatre.

“We gratefully thank KCACTF for this acknowledgment,” she said. “However, ‘Spamalot’ is just too big and involves far too many people, including the large cast, the orchestra and technicians, for us to be able to re-mount the production. So we are declining the nomination.”

More than 2,200 people came to W.M. Turner Auditorium in November for the six-performance run of the musical by Eric Idle, John Du Prez and Neil Innes. Some returned to watch the show multiple times, bringing friends and family members to enjoy the humorous dialogue and clever songs.

“We are grateful that the community embraced our efforts and came out to see the show,” Bacarisse said. “We do a lot of different types of theatre. Some may be your cup of tea, and some may not. But we strive with every production to put our best foot forward.

“This was an ensemble effort,” she said. “There is a saying: ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ I have been saying: ‘It takes a village to put on a show!’ It was really great how everyone pulled together to make this happen, and in such a joyous way.”

The School of Theatre continues to solicit financial support for Bacarisse’s next major project, which will be directing two new plays that will travel to Edinburg, Scotland, next summer to be included in the 2015 International Collegiate Theatre Festival.

During a two-week trip to Edinburgh in August, the School of Theatre will produce “Hate Mail” by SFA playwright-in-residence Jack Heifner and the student-written “Mom and Dad” by Nick Pinelli and Allison Day. Pinelli, The Woodlands senior, and Day wrote the play as an honors project for their class with Heifner.

For information on the project, contact Bacarisse at abacarisse@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-1126. Tax-exempt donations can be made at sfasu.edu/giving by clicking on the “give online” tab and writing “Scotland trip” for special instructions.

Cutline: The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival has recognized Stephen F. Austin State University’s recent production of “Spamalot” with a number of awards and nominations.

Dr. Dana Cooper, associate professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, was interviewed for a three-part documentary series scheduled for broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel in January.

“Million Dollar Princesses” explores a period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when many American heiresses married into the British aristocracy. The series will debut on Jan. 4, 2015, and subsequent episodes will air Jan. 11 and Jan. 18.

Cooper, author of the recently published book “Informal Ambassadors: American Women, Transatlantic Marriages and Anglo-American Relations, 1865-1945,” was interviewed for the documentary by series director Michael Burke in June in New York.

“This was a very serious undertaking by an internationally renowned production company that beat out several other production crews to win the rights to make this documentary,” she said. “I am unbelievably humbled and honored to be a part of this project.”

The documentary was produced by Finestripe Productions based in Glasgow, Scotland, in response to the global sensation “Downton Abbey,” which will begin its fifth season on the same night as the documentary’s premiere. Actress Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Cora Crawley in the PBS series, is a fictional depiction of one of the hundreds of American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. McGovern also served as the narrator for the Smithsonian Channel series.

Along with Cooper, contributors to the documentary include a who’s who of experts on the period and many members of the British aristocracy, notably Carol McD. Wallace, author of “To Marry an English Lord;” Jessica Fellowes, author of “The World of Downton Abbey;” Clive Aslet, editor-at-large of Country Life magazine; Charles Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales; and the current Viscount Astor.

Filming for the documentary took place on both sides of the Atlantic, and locations included Floors Castle in Scotland, home of the Duke of Roxburghe; Blenheim Place, home of the Dukes of Marlborough; Kimbolton Castle, former home of the Dukes of Manchester; and Althorp House, home of the Earl of Spencer where the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is buried.

In her recent book, Cooper examines the lives and marriages of the American-born, British-wed Lady Jennie Jerome Churchill, Mary Endicott Chamberlain, Vicereine Mary Leiter Curzon, Duchess Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and Lady Nancy Astor.

“This cohort of women surprised their families – both British and American – by exhibiting an extraordinary degree of agency in a period that placed women solidly outside the boundaries of politics and diplomacy,” Cooper said. “Without the formal title of diplomat or membership in Parliament, these women nonetheless exerted significant influence in the male-dominated arena of foreign affairs and international politics.”

Cooper earned her Ph.D. in women’s studies at Texas Christian University. She joined the SFA faculty in 2007 and primarily teaches courses in American history, as well as women’s and diplomatic history.

Stephen F. Austin State University and the Family Crisis Center of East Texas hosted a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday for the new outreach office located in the University Health Services Clinic. The office will provide an array of confidential services and support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Pictured (front row, from left) are Dr. Michael Walker, Peggy Muckelroy, Tony Brown, Paige Pattillo Brown, Amanda Ellsworth, Heather Kartye and Susan Robertson. Also pictured are Christyne Stewart, Kim Herman, Maria Raley, Whitney Burran, Trish Agnew, Jean East, Amanda Kennedy, Lissy Turner, Jaime West, Cyndra Krogen-Morton, Jose Castaneda, Nathan Collier, Monique Nunn, Harriet Tamminga, Jim McReynolds, DawnElla Rust, Glenna Harkness, Becky Brown, Jill Milem, Janice Ledet and Penny Jeffery.