Everything Nac

The SFA Opera Theater continues at 7:30 nightly through Saturday, March 27, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. This year’s performance features portions of two operas: Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” or “School for Lovers,” followed by Act II finale of “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss. Rehearsing a scene are music students, from left, Rudy Barrera, Spring junior; Jessica Baker, Longview graduate student; and Aaron Fish, Stinnett sophomore. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, visit finearts.sfasu.edu or call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407. Seating is limited, and face coverings are required. Free access to online, livestreamed performances will be available each night at music.sfasu.edu.

An April 1 deadline to register to participate as a booth exhibitor or sponsor for the Stephen F. Austin State University Music Preparatory Division’s 40th anniversary outdoor music festival is drawing close.

The all-day outdoor event on Saturday, May 1, will feature the talents of Music Prep’s outstanding student musicians and give local merchants the opportunity to showcase their businesses while showing support for the School of Music’s outreach programs, according to Alba Madrid, Music Prep director and program instructor.

“This family-friendly outdoor music festival is the perfect way to end our school year, and it is a fitting tribute to 40 years of making music,” Madrid said. “This music festival will be a socially distanced event allowing music lovers to enjoy exceptional music, exhibition booths, food vendors and the great outdoors.”

Local merchants can be a part of the celebration by showcasing their businesses at booth spaces that will line the grounds of the Music Prep House at 3028 Raguet St. and/or by donating door prizes to be given away during the festival. Event sponsorships are also available, and local food trucks will be onsite.

Proceeds will help fund, in part, two major projects, including the creation of the Shirley Watterston Piano Lab and establishment of the Strings Project, Madrid said.

The Watterston Piano Lab, which will be housed in a renovated garage area at the Prep House, will provide space for the SFA Music Prep to deliver affordable group piano instruction to members of the Nacogdoches and East Texas community. Classes will be offered for students of all ages (retirees, adults, teenagers, elementary) and skill levels. In addition to outreach potential, the piano lab program will also provide music majors internship opportunities to gain valuable teaching experiences in conjunction with their piano pedagogy classes.

“These supervised teaching opportunities fit the university’s strategic plan by being a recruiting tool for college music majors seeking these types of transformative experiences as part of their academic and practical studies at SFA,” Madrid said.

The Strings Project will establish classes that provide practical hands-on training for undergraduate string education majors during their college years and give children from the community the opportunity to study a stringed instrument in a group setting. Classes are offered for elementary, middle and high school students.

The 40th anniversary celebration and outdoor festival is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 1. Deadline to register for event booth space is April 1. For more information about sponsorships, or to register for a booth, contact Madrid at (936) 468-1291 or musicprep@sfasu.edu. For more information about Music Prep, visit sfamusicprep.com.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present “Reality’s TV: The Perception Project” in virtual performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 1 through 3.

“Reality’s TV: The Perception Project” was created by SFA theatre students as an interactive adventure designed to be entertaining and potentially change public perception of what theatre is and can do, according to Dr. Slade Billew, assistant professor of acting and movement and the project director.

“The show, which was created purely by the creative team, explores questions of reality and power,” Billew said. “It engages with the idea that forces beyond our control shape many of the experiences we have and how we perceive our reality.”

The students wanted to create a show that was a uniquely Zoom experience, Billew said.

“We have all seen a lot of Zoom theatre in the last year, and we wanted to do something that wasn’t just live in Zoom, but actually used the interactive nature of the medium to invite the audience into a more complicated experience of the show.”

“Reality’s TV: The Perception Project” is a form of devised theatre, which can “look like a lot of different things,” according to Billew.

“Some of it is very experimental, and some if it looks like a standard play or musical,” he explained. “A driving force in our process was to create a piece that was neither a play done online nor a low-tech movie, but rather a unique audience interactive experience specifically conceived for the medium of Zoom.”

Devised theatre is a constant process of thinking big and broad, and then narrowing down to specific choices, Billew said.

“A lot of work gets created and then abandoned, not because its bad, but just because it doesn’t fit in some way,” he said.

The process is also a form of what the dance theatre company Pilobolus calls “radical democracy,” meaning many of the traditional hierarchies of a rehearsal process are eliminated or minimized. The performers comment about design and rehearsal process, and the designer and management team provide input on the performance choices and staging. Billew, as director, served less as the creator of a vision for the show and more like a project manager, guiding the team through idea creation and decision making while minimizing his own power as a faculty member as much as possible, “so that the voice of the group could come through clearly,” he said.

“This show is so much fun and full of unexpected turns and mysterious characters,” said Astrid Maldonado, freshman theatre major from Katy. “We have all worked so hard to turn this into an amazing event, and I recommend everyone watch and take part with us.”

Ty Carter, senior theatre major from Beach City, said he was most excited to observe how the rehearsal process explored and researched new ideas and Zoom room restrictions.

“It’s a great learning experience to devise with all of the other artists and bring everything together as a piece,” Carter said. “People should see the show because it’s a fresh view of the conference room as well as seeing what can come from scratch.”

Virtual access is $15 and may be purchased at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or by calling (936) 468-6407. SFA student access is $5. Box office sales end at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 1. For questions about the project, contact the School of Theatre at (936) 468-4003.