Everything Nac

Tickets are selling quickly for the biennial Festival of New American Plays at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The popular staged-reading event, slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, April 24 through 28, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28, in the Downstage Theatre, almost always sells out for each performance, according to Jack Heifner, director of the festival and SFA’s playwright-in-residence.

“Many of our audience members share our excitement about new plays and return every two years,” Heifner said. “Seeing three new works by three invited playwrights in one week is a unique theatrical experience. To our audiences, nothing is a thrilling as being in the theatre with the playwrights when they are seeing their plays for the first time.”

Presented by the SFA School of Theatre, the festival, in its 11th season, will present exciting new works by guest playwrights S. Denise O’Neal and Ted Swindley, as well as Heifner’s adaptation of a best-selling novel by the late Barbara Raskin. The plays will be performed as “staged readings” that involve audiences and actors in the process of new play development.

“Plays are meant to be performed, and the best way to see whether a new play works is to present it in front of a live audience,” according to Heifner.

The actors will perform with the script in their hands, relying on their talent and training to interpret the text without the advantage of a long rehearsal process, Heifner explained.

“These readings have been designed to concentrate on the words of the writers and the talents of our young performers and designers,” Heifner explains in his director’s notes contained in the festival program. “We have included a minimal amount of scenery, costumes and lights to give the writers what they envisioned in their scripts.

“We attempt to present the world of the play as closely as possible to what the author has written,” he added. “The results may be a different type of theatre from what most audiences are accustomed to seeing. Our hope is that those who attend will find the event both adventurous and exciting.”

One of Heifner’s goals when he started the festival in 1998 was to bring established writers to the university campus to work with theatre students. In the past, SFA has welcomed such famous American writers as Tina Howe, David Ives, Carol Hall, James McLure, Beth Henley, Gretchen Cryer, William M. Hoffman, Barbara LeBow, John Cariani, Staci Swedeen and Constance Congdon.

“We have always asked our invited playwrights to send us any script they wished to hear and, in return, we have promised to give them our best interpretation of the text,” Heifner said. “Another goal has been to give audiences in Nacogdoches the unique opportunity to see new plays while they are being created.

“Our first 10 festivals were great successes,” he said. “Now with this 11th festival, I hope the community will once again enjoy this celebration of new theatre in the making.”This year’s festival features “Hot Flashes,” which is Heifner’s adaptation of Raskin’s best-selling novel, along with “Sorry, Not Sorry” by S. Denise O’Neal and “… And the Pursuit of Happiness 1994” by Ted Swindley.

The festival opens with Heifner’s “Hot Flashes,” which will be read at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, April 24 and 27. O’Neal’s “Sorry, Not Sorry” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 28. Swindley’s “… And the Pursuit of Happiness 1994” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, April 26 and 28.

The Downstage Theatre is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. For more information, visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students and youth. For tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night special screening of the documentary “Jane” at 7 p.m. Friday, April 27, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Drawing from more than 100 hours of never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives for more than 50 years, award-winning director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research challenged the male-dominated scientific consensus of her time and revolutionized understanding of the natural world.

Set to a rich orchestral score from legendary composer Philip Glass, the film offers an unprecedented, intimate portrait of Goodall, who was a trailblazer who defied the odds to become one of the world’s most admired conservationists, according to information at www.nationalgeographic.com/jane-the-movie/.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, Brad Maule, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and Main Street Nacogdoches.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts will recognize four students during the presentation of the annual Dean’s Awards at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 20, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Madeline Castillo, art major from League City; Marilyn Chatary, music education major from Houston; Dan R. Casso, music education major from Amarillo; and Sidney Lowell, theatre major from Huffman, were selected by the faculty of their respective schools on the basis of their potential to further develop their artistic goals and serve as role models, according to Dr. A.C. “Buddy” Himes, dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The Dean’s Awards not only recognize the recipients for what they have already accomplished, but the awards are also designed to inspire them to reach deep from within to aspire for the ideal, Himes explained. The awards were established by the Dean’s Circle, an external support organization of community members founded in 2008 and “dedicated, in part, to nurturing potential young artists within the College of Fine Arts,” Himes said.

Castillo, who will receive the Ed and Gwen Cole Dean’s Award in Art, is a sophomore from League City, Texas, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in metals and jewelry. Castillo enjoys volunteer work and is a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts of America in which she achieved the highest honors of earning Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. She is a member of the SFA Girl Scout Alumnae Association. She participated in Art Day, the Art Alliance service initiative for high school students, as well as other Art Alliance activities. She has been on the Dean’s List for the last three semesters and is a member of the School of Honors. She is working diligently towards her goal of graduating as a University Scholar. Castillo plans to participate in a study-abroad program next summer and continue her studies in a graduate program to further cultivate her passion for the arts.

Chatary, who will receive the Naioma Shannon Dean’s Award in Music, is a junior music education major from Houston, Texas. In her studies at SFA, she has been a member of the Wind Ensemble, Orchestra of the Pines, The Lumberjack Marching Band and Bassoon Ensemble. She represented these ensembles twice at the Texas Music Educators’ Association convention in San Antonio. Additionally, she is the operations manager for The Lumberjack Marching Band and works in the band office as a student assistant. During the summer, Chatary is involved in the SFA Summer Band Camps, first working as a counselor and now as an office assistant. Chatary has been awarded various Alumni Association scholarships, the J.T. Cox Band Scholarship, Pi Kappa Lambda High Achieving Sophomore Scholarship, and two four-year scholarships for Academic Excellence in the School of Music. She has been on the President’s List since her first semester at SFA.

Casso, who will receive the Dr. Robert G. Sidnell Memorial Dean’s Award in Music Education, is a junior music education major from Amarillo. In his time at SFA, Casso has served as principal trumpet in the Wind Ensemble and the Orchestra of the Pines. He has also served as the solo chair in the Swingin’ Axes jazz band, a co-section leader in The Lumberjack Marching Band, a member of the Roarin’ Buzzsaws Basketball Pep Band, and an original member of the Empyrean Trumpet Ensemble, which performed in the 2017 and 2018 National Trumpet Competitions and at the 2017 TMEA convention. In addition to the Sidnell Memorial Dean’s Award, Casso has received the Hubert A. “Butch” Almany Band Scholarship, the Zach Brittain Jazz Scholarship, the Young Artist Music Scholarship and the SFA Academic Excellence Scholarship. These scholarships have assisted him in pursuing his dream of becoming a better musician and educator.

Lowell, who will receive the George and Peggy Schmidbauer Dean’s Award in Theatre, is a junior theatre major from Huffman. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in acting and directing. While at SFA, she has been involved in many theatre productions, including acting in “(Biedermann and) The Firebugs,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” “Baby with the Bathwater” and “Pride and Politics.” She has also worked on technical crews for several shows, including “The Skin of Our Teeth,” “Twister” and “Intimate Apparel.” She is a member of the devised group Speak Up. She is also a member of the Beta Phi cast of Alpha Psi Omega, the national theatre honor society. As a member of this organization, she is active in the community and has participated in service projects to help better both the theatre department and the outside community. Those endeavors included helping to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and working at social events for new students in the School of Theatre. Lowell has also remained on the President’s List since her first semester at SFA.

The awards are made possible because the Dean’s Circle believes in investing in the future and is willing to contribute and raise the money needed to fund these $3,000 individual awards each year for a total of $12,000, Himes said. For more information about the Dean’s Circle, contact Himes at himesac@sfasu.edu or at (936) 468-2801.

The Contemporary Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a program of modern jazz when the group performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

“I chose this theme because jazz is some of my favorite music to play and to listen to,” said Andrew Sperandeo, Sound Recording Technology and guitar instructor at SFA and director of the Contemporary Ensemble.

The program will feature Jaco Pastorius’ “Portrait of Tracy,” a piece Sperandeo describes as “beautifully written.” The solo bass instrumental showcases “the multifaceted talents of the late great Pastorius.”

“It has always been important to me as an educator to try to expose students to artists they would most likely never encounter in their own musical pursuits in order to broaden their perspectives as musicians,” Sperandeo said. “Our arrangement of this piece has been expanded to include our full ensemble based on Brian Bromberg’s arrangement.”

The ensemble will also perform “Are You Going With Me?” by Pat Metheny.

“Growing up, Metheny was always one of my most favorite, well-rounded musicians, and he continues to be so,” Sperandeo said. “Competent player, composer and arranger, his work has inspired me to pursue the development of these same skills.”

Sperandeo arranged this Metheny piece based on a “haunting recording” on the “Upojenie” collaborative album with Polish folk and jazz singer Anna Marie Jopek, on which Metheny played. “It has quickly become my favorite version of this tune,” Sperandeo added.

Also on the program, Chris Potter’s “High Noon” contains a lot of “attitude and personality,” Sperandeo said. “This medium groove tune, with dark changes and odd time signatures, is a lot of fun to play,” he said.

The concert will also feature music by Michael Brecker and Mike Stern and an original piece.

The concert is a joint presentation of the 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.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Army ROTC marksmanship team had the opportunity to hone their skills during its recent participation in the second annual Battle of the Piney Woods Shootout at the Meadow Ridge Archery and Gun Range in Nacogdoches.

SFA’s marksmanship team, comprising eight members and two alternates, competed in three events: bull’s-eye, where the cadets attempt to hit their target as accurately as possible; Alt-C, an event where the cadet attempts to score 40:40 on a target with 10 silhouettes; and Team Shooting, where the team has three minutes to hit 32 balloons in a specific sequence.

According to second-year team member Cadet Nathan Foy, participating has allowed him to expand his skills while adding variety to his list of targets.

“In both practice and competition, we shoot balloons and targets, which is not something I had done prior to joining the team,” Foy said.

The idea of establishing the Battle of the Piney Woods Shootout began with SFA’s marksmanship team wanting to showcase their abilities in a friendly competition.

“Many ROTC cadets are really competitive, so this team just adds to our competitiveness,” Cadet Tacy Caffey said. “It provides a venue to compete against our rival university.”

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.