Everything Nac

Collaboration among university departments and programs sounds like a good thing. Faculty members and students working together across disciplines and learning from each other creates better opportunity for all.

But in reality, cross-discipline collaboration can be hard. Departments establish routines and schedules that can make it difficult to align with other programs. For example, in most cases, theatre rehearsals take place in the evening, while music rehearsals happen during the day, followed by performances in the evening.

“Although these scheduling matters may seem trivial, they have the cumulative effect of often stifling collaboration,” said Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition at Stephen F. Austin State University. “So there are many schools in which the composition students wouldn’t get the opportunity to score live theatre – or films, or dance, or video games.

“We’re lucky at SFA in that we have a supportive dean and other like-minded colleagues who all work together to make these things happen regularly,” he added.

SFA junior music composition student Jesse Edwards of Tyler is working with Dr. Rick Jones, professor of theatre, to compose music for the School of Theatre’s upcoming presentation of the play “(Biedermann and) The Firebugs.” It is the second time Jones has called on Edwards to compose music for a play he was directing.

“For whatever reason, I tend to be drawn to plays that aren’t musicals but include singing: I must have done at least a half dozen shows like that at SFA,” Jones said. “So when we were deliberating about the Mainstage schedule for 2016-17, I gave Steve Lias a call, as I’d done numerous times in the past. Did he have someone who could help with ‘By the Bog of Cats?’ We talked about the specific needs of the show, and he suggested Jesse.”

For that play, Edwards wrote music to existing lyrics for two songs.

“We worked very well together and the songs were really good,” Jones said. “Equally as important, Jesse understood, probably better than some other students I’ve worked with over the years, that the people singing the songs are theatre majors who can sing, not voice majors. I called Steve again last spring about ‘(Biedermann and) The Firebugs,’ and when he said Jesse was available, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Edwards has been composing for about seven years, starting as a high school student in Tyler where he wrote music for three of his high school’s plays. As a freshman at SFA, his piece “Shipwreck” was premiered by the Orchestra of the Pines, and he’s had numerous student commissions since. He was a Composition Fellow at the 2017 Alba International Music Festival (Alba, Italy) and placed third in last year’s Dmitri Shostakovich International Composers’ Competition (Lviv, Ukraine). He was a finalist in the Alfred Schnittke International Composers’ Forum and Competition. He is currently commissioned by SOLI Chamber Ensemble to compose a piece for the group to perform in the 2018 Alba International Music Festival.

But with all these accolades, Edwards says composing for theater is “starkly different from composing for concerts.”

“For one, the other artists involved operate in quite a contrasting world,” he said. “Actors think, speak, create and perform differently from musicians. The vocabulary is foreign. The methods are dissimilar. Admittedly, there’s a common thread, as they both involve similar essentials – communication, expression, nuanced performance – but it’s a different world. It’s like moving to a different country and trying to figure out how things work. It takes a lot of watching, listening and waiting.

“So for this project, in particular, my approach was pretty typical to the way I approach any new project,” he explained. “I waited, and I listened a lot to what was being said by the production team about the script and by the script about itself. I’ve found it takes a great amount of time when writing music for theater to absorb what the whole thing is trying to accomplish. You give it time, and once those answers are clear, the purpose of the music typically is also.”

While composing for “The Firebugs” is more intense and involved than his work on “By the Bog of Cats,” Edwards said both experiences have been “amazingly positive.”

“Rick’s great to work with,” Edwards said. “He allows for a lot of creative freedom while also giving very clear direction.”

Jones’ musical direction for this play: “the demon spawn of Kurt Weill and an oompah band, with a sprinkle of Broadway.” “And that’s what I got,” Jones said.

“Jesse is the real thing,” Lias said. “He is smart, creative, self-motivated and a great team player. The talent and initiative he has shown since his arrival at SFA has made him (quite deservedly) a leader in our studio.”

“Writing music for existing lyrics has got to be hard enough,” Jones said. “But I suspect that working with a translation, which is the case here, and which is likely to have more irregular rhythms than the original, must be an added challenge.

“I think this ongoing cooperation between our programs is mutually beneficial,” Jones added. “Our shows are better, and student composers get an approximation of a real-world gig.”

The School of Theatre and School of Music are also collaborating again to present the upcoming SFA Opera Theater, featuring W.A. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Opera performances are at 7:30 p.m. April 12 through 14 in W.M. Turner Auditorium.

Max Frisch’s “(Biedermann and) The Firebugs” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Feb. 27 through March 3, in Turner Auditorium in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive, on the SFA campus.

The play is appropriate for all ages; however, young children probably would not understand it, while those in mid-teens and up would comprehend its themes.

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

Fans of music made popular over the past 70 years won’t want to miss the fourth installment of the concert series “Broadway, Movies and Classics” presented by Stephen F. Austin State University’s Orchestra of the Pines at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 5, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The program will take audiences through generations of music with the tunes of popular artists such as Journey, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Paul Simon and much more, according to Dr. Gene H. Moon, director of orchestras at SFA and of the Orchestra of the Pines.

Special guest and emcee for the night is Brad Maule, acting/directing and filmmaking instructor at SFA known for his long-standing role as Dr. Tony Jones on the TV serial “General Hospital.” Guest performer will be violinist John Ma, orchestra director at the University of Macau. Six student members of the Macau university orchestra will also perform.

“We have very special guests flying from halfway around the world to join us,” Moon said. “SFA has relationships with several universities in Hong Kong and Macau. Last year, 12 SFA students took the journey across the Pacific to collaborate in concert with the orchestra of the University of Macau. Now, six students from the University of Macau will make the journey to Nacogdoches and join the Orchestra of the Pines for our March 5 program.”

Ma will also join the orchestra in its performance of John Williams’ “Por Una Cabeza,” a tango for violin and orchestra popularized in many movies, but none so much as “Scent of a Woman,” Moon explained.

The concert will feature songs that every generation will recognize, Moon said.

“Nearly every piece will be very well known,” he said, “including ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ music from ‘Star Wars,’ and even a song from back in the ’60s known as ‘Pinball Wizard.'”

Other favorites will include “Eye of the Tiger,” “Mack the Knife,” “Moonlight Serenade” and “Danzon No 2” by Arturo Marquez, along with a tribute to the “king” of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, and music by Cole Porter.

Concert 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.

When Elizabeth Hutchison, lecturer in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Computer Science, learned about the Girls Who Code club at the Nacogdoches Public Library, she immediately wanted to be involved, and students in the department responded just as enthusiastically.

For an hour each week, computer science students meet at the library and help local girls learn how to code. The nonprofit organization Girls Who Code teaches girls the basics of computer programming while the SFA students assist and answer questions.

“We have been having a blast getting out into the community and sharing our love of computer science,” Hutchison said.

The club meets from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and works on a “community service impact project,” said Crystal Hicks, Nacogdoches Public Library director.

“They’re thinking about ways they could create something that could positively impact some element of the community, in addition to learning coding and problem-solving skills,” Hicks said.

At the first meeting, participants picked an activity to work on long term, choosing to build a website. Additionally, the girls use code.org to do activities that supplement their coding knowledge.

“The girls learn computing skills that include functions, variables, conditionals and loops,” Hutchison said. “Beyond the computing skills, they also learn time management and teamwork, build confidence and enhance communication skills.”

The volunteering students assist the girls when they have questions, help debug their programs and explain programming concepts, said Ariel Inman, junior computer information systems major from Lufkin.

“I think it’s really great,” said Jordan Barge, senior computer science major from Houston, “and maybe not all girls are into that kind of thing, but if they are, it’s amazing that they have the opportunity.”

Tenay Barker, junior computer science major from Austin, volunteers with the group regularly out of a desire to be a positive role model for girls interested in STEM.

“I want to show them that they can be successful, and just because there are boys in the industry doesn’t mean only boys can code,” Barker said. “I love being a woman in a STEM major and hope to inspire other girls of all ages to pursue a degree in computer science or any other STEM major.”

While the club only meets once a week, Inman can already see the girls’ skills improving.

“I can definitely see it making a difference in these girls’ lives,” Inman said. “All of these girls are very smart and eager to learn. They come up with very inventive solutions to challenges we give them, and they constantly surprise me with their creativity.”

The ultimate goal, Hutchison said, is encouraging girls to express their interests in STEM.

“We want to show them that yes, you can be a girl and have an interest in computer science,” Hutchison said. “It is an awesome opportunity for these girls to see young women in college studying computer science.”

This partnership between the students and the girls in the club has been a vital part of its success, Hicks said.

“SFA students’ involvement has been critical,” Hicks said. “They are close in age to the girls but have lots of coding experience. They are friendly and patient and have really helped in explaining some of the future opportunities with coding.”

Barker is optimistic that the club will change how young women look at computer programming.

“Hopefully with clubs like Girls Who Code, more girls will see that they can directly impact society and be the change they want to see in the world by writing code,” Barker said.

By Joanna Armstrong, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University