Everything Nac

The A Cappella Choir at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the virtual concert “Songs for Eternity” when the ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 5.

The choir will perform works by J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Hawley. The concert explores eternal love in both sacred and secular poetry, according to Dr. Michael Murphy, director of choral activities at SFA and the choir’s conductor.

The concert opens with Vaughan Williams’ festive and virtuosic “A Choral Flourish.” Three movements from Bach’s Cantata 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, will also be performed.

“This cantata is rich with biblical allusions and explores the idea of a bridegroom meeting his bride,” Murphy said.

The choir will perform Brahms’ last song in his “Three Quartets,” Der Gang zum Liebchen. Murphy describes its inspiration as a “straightforward poem where a lover walks to his sweetheart under the moonlight.”

Dr. Ron Petti, director of collaborative piano at SFA, will accompany. School of Music faculty members Jennifer Dalmas, Abby Held, Alba Madrid, Melissa Nabb and Evgeni Raychev will collaborate on the concert.

Free access to the online, livestreamed concert will be available at music.sfasu.edu on the night of the performance. For more information about the School of Music, call (936) 468-4602.

Stephen F. Austin State University President Dr. Scott Gordon signed an articulation agreement with Alvin Community College during a virtual ceremony Feb. 22 to make a clear pathway for ACC students wishing to pursue a bachelor’s degree at SFA.

“It’s an exciting day as we take another step together to expand higher education to more Texans in the Houston area,” Gordon said. “I am thrilled about this relationship, and we are ready to welcome ACC students with open arms. This agreement will help remove road blocks to access and affordability as well as provide students a seamless transition to SFA.”

During the signing event, Gordon made note of the fact that more than 600 students from the Alvin region were admitted to SFA last year.

“This agreement is designed to expand opportunities for ACC students who want to transfer to SFA,” said Dr. Christal M. Albrecht, ACC president. “This is a win-win for our institutions and most of all a winning arrangement for our students.”

The agreement will ensure that students at ACC can transfer completed courses to SFA without any loss of credit or recognition of approved courses applied toward the degree.

“Signing this agreement is a symbolic gesture, but the symbolism is of a partnership carefully made,” said Dr. Steve Bullard, SFA’s provost and vice president of academic affairs. “You may all be familiar with the phrase, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.’ This is example of going far together.”

Under the agreement, students taking associate degree courses at ACC in business administration, criminal justice, general studies and teaching can use their courses toward SFA bachelor’s degree programs in business administration, criminal justice, general studies and interdisciplinary studies.

“This articulation agreement also provides a mechanism to enable students who have completed courses prescribed by this agreement to transfer those courses from ACC to SFA and, thereby, satisfy up to 66 semester hours credit toward the degree,” said Dr. Jessica Ranero-Ramirez, ACC director of College and Career Pathways. “In addition, this process will streamline the reverse transfer process for students to complete their ACC degrees by applying courses taken at SFA back to the associate degree.”

For more information about programs at SFA, visit sfasu.edu. For more information about programs at ACC, visit alvincollege.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre’s presentation of the student-directed one-act play “Last Chance,” originally scheduled for Feb. 19 and 20, has been rescheduled for April 16 and 17.

Johana Lenington, senior theatre education major from Houston, directs “Last Chance,” written by SFA School of Theatre senior lecturer Jackie Rosenfeld. The play revolves around the lives of a young married couple and issues that develop as a result of alcohol addiction.

The play will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 16, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 17, in Regents Suite A in the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus. The show will also be livestreamed.

Tickets are $4. Seating is limited, and face coverings are required. Social distancing protocols will be observed. To purchase tickets or virtual access, visit the SFA Fine Arts Box Office online at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the much-anticipated spring Garden Gala Day Plant Sale in a modified, reservation-only format April 10 through 14.

The plant sale will feature a wide variety of Texas tough perennials, shrubs and trees. Many hardy southeastern native plants will be available as well as colorful annuals, exotic tropicals and a variety of edible plants. An extensive plant list will be made available online when registration opens.

Shoppers must register for a two-hour window, and 10 reservation spots will be available each hour from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Couples may register for one spot.

Registration will open at 9 a.m. March 15. To register, visit sfagardens.org or the SFA Gardens Facebook and Instagram pages; or register by phone by calling Anne Adams, SFA Gardens program associate, weekdays from 1 to 5 p.m. at (936) 468-4129.

Registrants will be emailed a shopping pass, parking information, COVID-19 safety protocols and a final plant list the Monday prior to the plant sale. The sale will be held at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

For more information, email Dawn Stover, SFA Gardens research associate, at dawnstover@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band will present the livestreamed concert “Kaleidoscope” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 2.

Conducted by Chris Kaatz, assistant director of bands at SFA, the Symphonic Band opens the concert with a performance of “Old Home Days,” a suite of short songs arranged by Charles Ives.

“The six movements feature the pleasant warmth of Ives’ Americana sentiments as well as the humoresque bitonal dissonances for which he was famous,” Kaatz said.

Symphonic Band will also perform Edvard Greig’s “Funeral March,” which was written in memory of Grieg’s friend Rikard Nordraak who died from complications of tuberculosis at the early age of 23.

The Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, associate director of bands, will open its portion of the concert with “Two Pieces from Lieutenant Kije,” originally composed by Serge Prokofiev and arranged by Fisher Tull.

“Written for the film of the same name in 1933, Prokofiev later arranged a five-movement suite in 1934 for orchestra,” Anglley said. This brass and percussion arrangement by Tull features two of the movements, “Wedding of Kije” and “Troika.”

The Wind Symphony’s woodwind section will be featured in Frank Erickson’s arrangement of the famous band piece “Irish Tune from County Derry” by Percy Aldridge Grainger, based on the famous folk song “Londonderry Air,” more famously known as “Danny Boy.” The full Wind Symphony will also perform John Mackey’s “This Cruel Moon,” which is an adaptation of the middle movement of “Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band.” The Wind Symphony will conclude its portion of the concert with the third movement titled “Exhilaration” from “Southern Harmony” by Donald Grantham.

The Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. David Campo, director of bands, will close the concert with composer Ron Nelson’s “Medieval Suite,” a multi-movement work that pays tribute to three great masters of French music from the Middle Ages. The first movement, “Homage to Léonin,” celebrates composer Léonin’s sinuous melodic style and use of Gregorian chant.

“It is a mood piece in which a chant on the Dorian mode is gradually transformed into a perfectly symmetrical eight-tone scale,” Campo said. “The movement follows the form of an arch with a large climax, after which it closes as it began.”

The second movement, “Homage to Pérotin,” celebrates the driving rhythmic intensity, repetition and pedal points of Pérotin’s “Viderunt.” The opening section features insistent dissonances in alternation with brass fanfare-like passages. A second theme played by unison brass is written in the Aeolian mode. The final movement, “Homage to Machaut,” evokes the stately, gently syncopated and flowing sounds of Guillaume de Machaut’s choral writing.

“The movement consists of a statement with two repetitions, each with different instrumentation,” Campo explains. “It closes with the same chant and instrumental textures which opened the suite.”

To access the live virtual concert free of charge, visit music.sfasu.edu the night of the performance. For additional information, contact the School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

It’s difficult enough that Stephen F. Austin State University theatre students are having to take extra precautions to socially distance and stay safe while rehearsing and preparing for this week’s School of Theatre presentation of Jean Genet’s “The Maids.”

Add to that an unprecedented winter storm that caused the campus, the city and most of Texas to essentially shut down for a week. That meant a full week of rehearsal time was lost, not to mention the additional stress that endless days without electricity, water and, in some cases, hot food, caused for students.

But SFA theatre students and their faculty leaders have regrouped and made adjustments to overcome these newest obstacles to make sure that the show goes on. “The Maids,” originally slated to open on Feb. 23, will now open at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, in Kennedy Auditorium on the SFA campus with additional performances at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. Virtual access may also be purchased.

Plans for a Feb. 14 load-in at Kennedy Auditorium were cut short because of the oncoming inclement weather, and very little could be done in subsequent days to get ready for a traditional opening night, according to Rick Jones, professor of theatre and the shows director.

“We weren’t able to do much of anything,” Jones said. “Instead of having all day Sunday, the 14th, to load the set into Kennedy Auditorium, hang and focus lights, etc., crews got sent home at lunchtime. We were able to do ‘paper tech’ – when the director, designers and stage management staff plan out what lighting and sound cues will be happening and when – that afternoon via Zoom, but we had to cancel the rehearsal that night, and we didn’t get back to work until Monday, the 22nd. In fact, the actors ended up going 11 days between rehearsals. Just about the only good thing to come out of this was that the actors had a little more time to work on lines, think about characters, and so on.”

Inspired by an actual murder case, “The Maids” shows the title characters, Solange and Claire, entertaining violent fantasies about murdering their employer. The work explores issues of violence, jealousy, mental health, sexuality, gender and class.

The show has only three characters, and because of the pandemic, there was a chance that one or more student actor could be exposed to COVID, so Jones decided to use understudies in another precautionary measure to make sure the show could continue. “This way, we’ve got someone to step in as needed,” he said. “There are also fewer Mainstage roles this semester than there often are, so, since we’re guaranteeing everyone a performance (assuming health, etc. allows), we’re actually giving more student actors an opportunity to work with an experienced director on a Mainstage show.”

Jones has seldom used understudies in the plays he’s directed during his 20-year tenure as a theatre professor at SFA. He believes that not casting actors as understudies frees them up for other productions.

“For example, acting in our very active student productions program will likely be more rewarding than simply being available for a Mainstage show, if needed, ” Jones said. Additionally, rehearsing understudies takes time away from rehearsing a regular cast.

Even before the storm’s effects delayed rehearsal time, student actors Kelsey Lesseig, New Braunfels junior, and Hannah Marfin, San Antonio freshman, considered “The Maids” a challenging play.

“We said this almost every single day in rehearsal: this show is a beast!,” Lesseig said. “This has been, by far, the largest amount of lines I’ve had to memorize for a show, let alone the longest monologue I’ve ever had to memorize and perform. Additionally, the mental states of the maids themselves are rocky at best – I couldn’t tell you with full confidence what’s real, what’s in their mind, or what’s just part of their sadistic game. Navigating a show like this has been simultaneously terrifying and exciting.”

Marfin echoed her fellow actor’s thoughts on deducing what is real and what is not in the characters’ minds.

“The maids have their own fantasy world where they are Madame and another world where they tend to Madame’s every need,” Marfin said. “You start to question what is real, as the maids themselves are severely mentally unstable. What have they created? Is their fantasy their actual reality? Many of these questions have popped up and it makes the journey very exciting and fun.”

Under normal circumstances, a cast and crew would have at least one rehearsal (often several) in a performance space before three technical rehearsals, and then three dress rehearsals. The winter storm changed that.

“This week, our first time on the Kennedy stage, the first time most of the actors will have even seen the set or even the actual furniture, will be our one and only technical rehearsal,” Jones said. “Then we’ll have two dress rehearsals, but because of the way we’ve double-cast the show, that’s only one per actor. Luckily, the people who are in the rehearsal room every night – the actors, assistant director and stage managers – are all looking at this as a challenge. Their determination is impressive, even inspiring. And the literally dozens of other people who make the show work – the designers, technical crews, front of house staff – all seem to have adopted the same attitude. ‘The show must go on,’ and all that.”

But there are valuable lessons to be learned in the face of adversity.

“If there’s one attribute you need to succeed in the theatre, whether in the commercial world or in an educational venue, it’s toughness,” Jones said. “There will inevitably be rejection, there will always be challenges outside your control. What do you do? Knowing that you can adapt, having the confidence that you can overcome – these are essential in the theatre, and they’re the sort of ‘soft skills’ that translate well into any professional environment.”

Patrons who attend the show in person will be required to wear face coverings and socially distance themselves from other audience members not in their immediate group. The play is recommended for mature audiences.

General ticket prices are: adult, $15; senior (62+), $10; non-SFA student, $10; SFA faculty/staff, $7.50; youth, $7.50; SFA student, $5; virtual access, $15. Live virtual access is available for all performances. Purchase tickets/access at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407. Seating is limited. For questions about the play, contact the School of Theatre at (936) 468-4003.