Well, submissions are being read, and the results are coming in. Students should be notified starting Tuesday of next week. The conference schedule is taking shape nicely as well, and we're eager to announce that we have several special sessions planned for the day's proceedings on March 21st.
Dr. Kevin Curran will be the keynote speaker!
As stated in the last post, we’re excited to host Dr. Kevin Curran, Associate Professor of English at the University of North Texas, who will be delivering the keynote talk entitled “Richard III: The First Modern Criminal.” Dr. Curran specializes in Renaissance literature and theater with particular interests in Shakespeare, law, political theory, and the history of selfhood. His first book, Marriage, Performance, and Politics at the Jacobean Court (Ashgate, 2009), looks at how political, religious, and sexual understandings of “union” came to bear on the formation of a uniquely Jacobean political imagination. He is currently working on a new book called "Legal Ecologies: Law and Selfhood in Shakespeare," and he recently co-edited a special issue of the journal Criticism on “Shakespeare and Phenomenology.” Curran has received grants and fellowships from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Huntington Library, the Bibliographical Society of America, and the Harry Ransom Research Center, among others. He is the editor of a new book series called “Edinburgh Critical Studies in Shakespeare and Philosophy,” published by Edinburgh University Press. At UNT, he is co-convener of the Medieval and Renaissance Colloquium. In 2012, Dr. Curran won the Kesterson Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching and the Professor of the Year Award from the Graduate Students of English Association.
Other Special Session Speakers will include Steven Young!
The Oakridge School is thrilled to welcome Steven Young, Assistant Professor of Acting at Texas Woman’s University, who will be leading a special workshop on Shakespearean acting.
 |
| Steven Young, Assistant Professor of Acting, Texas Woman's Univeristy |
Steven Young was trained as an actor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professional Theatre Training Program and received an MFA in directing from Illinois State University. Most recently, Steve was a finalist for the 2012 Stage West new play competition in Fort Worth. In May, his play The Night We Bombed Lincoln Towing was a finalist for the ‘Method and Madness’ Playwriting Festival. Summer of 2012, Young performed as Toby Belch in Twelfth Night and as Duncan in Macbeth both with Shakespeare Dallas. In 2011, Young had a play produced, to rave reviews, Off-West End in London. This past January Steve’s play Boiling Frog was produced at Chicago’s Side Project Theatre. Steve was a contributing writer to Longing With Language at the 2011 Philadelphia Fringe. His script The Resurrectionists was originally performed at The Virginia Stage Company and then produced in Chicago; the windy city production was nominated for two Joseph Jefferson Citations. The Wal*Mart-ians, first produced by the Boxer Rebellion Ensemble, was a Jerome Fellowship Finalist at the Minneapolis Playwrights Centre and hailed by Chicago Arts and Entertainment as the best comedy of 2002. Cheddar Heads was a Prop Theater National New Plays finalist in conjunction with the National New Plays Network; it received productions at the Theatre Building-Chicago and the Milwaukee School of the Arts. Last year he adapted both Strindberg’s Creditors and Sophocles’ Oedipus for Broken Gears Project Theatre in Dallas. Steve has appeared in over 39 Shakespeare productions playing characters as diverse as Hamlet, Falstaff, Richard III, Caliban, Romeo and Jacques. As a director he has over 75 productions to his credit. In 1996, Steve was selected as an alternate for New York Drama League’s Directing Fellowship. Steve is also a Stand- up comedian and has performed in venues across the UK and Ireland. Young studied acting at the U of W-Milwaukee PTTP, has an MFA in directing from Illinois State University, and has a certificate in novel writing from City University of London. His working novel The Anatomist was selected in the top 40 out of 2,000 entrants for the BBC show Novel Pitch.
Professor Young’s workshop at the R3 Colloquium this March 21, 2014, specifically will focus on Period Styles, providing exposure to acting in classical roles, especially those of Shakespeare. There will be exploration of vocal and physical styles appropriate for these periods as well as practice with period costumes and props. Time and location for workshop is TBA.
John Dement will also lead a special session!
The Oakridge School also is excited to announce that John Dement, Associate Professor of Theatre at Midwestern State University, will be leading a special session workshop on staging certain scenes from Shakespeare’s history play.
 |
| John Dement, Associate Professor of Theatre, Midwestern State University |
John Dement is an Associate Professor of Performance at Midwestern State University. He has directed more than 45 productions, including numerous Shakespeare plays including Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew. His undergraduate work at Baylor emphasized classical works from ancient Greece to Elizabethan England. John currently teaches Period Style and Movement and Advanced Acting Styles at Midwestern State. In addition to his eighteen years of teaching experience, John’s professional resume includes acting, directing and design credits in the theatre, television and film industries. John is privileged to have worked at the Alley Theatre in Houston, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, various theatres in Austin and Dallas, TX and Playmakers of Baton Rouge, a professional children’s theatre in Louisiana. He is honored to be invited to participate in The Oakridge School’s Richard III Paper Colloquium.
More specifically, Professor Dement’s session will focus on Scene Exploration. Students will bring in prepared scenes or monologues from Richard III and work one on one with our guest director to explore the scene and improve its staging. This is a great chance for actors to work with a college director and perform for your peers. Time and location for workshop is TBA.
Beau Dubroc will be speaking about the recent excavation!
 |
| Beau Dubroc, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Richland College |
Mr. DuBroc was born and raised in the Dallas area and continues to live in Richardson. Beau has his BA in Anthropology and MA in Archaeology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently working toward a PhD in History at UNT. Beau works as a lab coordinator for the Geology and Environmental Science programs at El Centro College and as adjunct faculty for the Anthropology program at Richland College. His primary area of interest is the Early Iron Age and Colonial Period of southern Africa. The title of his presentation is “Mortuary Archaeology from Kings to Peasants and everything in Between,” and the time and location for his presentation is TBA. We look forward to Professor Dubroc’s workshop this March!
Registration forms for signing up for sessions will be distributed soon to those who have already indicated plans to attend. If you want to attend (the colloquium is open to all students, faculty, and parents of the surrounding independent schools!) and have not contacted Mr. Colley, Chair of English Department at The Oakridge School, please do so at one of the following:
We look forward to seeing everyone this March!!
