College Center

As another school year draws to a close, BroadwayWorld's Student Center signs off for the summer break. Before we go, take a look back at some of the high-school and college stories that we featured this past year.

There are a few things I have learned about the UMass theatre department this semester. One, they love using the aisles of the theatre to make entrances and exits, two they are extremely fond of nudity (no matter the show), and finally they love modernizing stories. These things are what make me love all of the shows I have seen this semester, and Casanova by Constance Congdon was no exception.

Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts presents Leslye Headland's ASSISTANCE through May 5, directed by Samantha Rios.

In this week's School in the Spotlight, we feature the Theatre Department at Louisiana State University (LSU in Baton Rouge). Read on to learn about their program and to see photos from past productions!

This week, we travel to Brookville, New York, to visit The Department of Theatre at Long Island University!

Jump on the bandwagon and join in on the rip-roarin'and rootin'-tootin' fun as Rider University's Westminster College of the Arts presents 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', running April 24-28 in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater on the main campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Unusual production elements will be evident when 'bobrauschenbergamerica' opens at 7:30 tonight in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

The Florida State University Student Theatre Association presents their ten minute play festival entitled FLOW. This production will run from April 26 - 28 in the Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre, located in the Williams Building.

"The University of Massachusetts-Amherst Department of Theater is fortunate to count renowned playwright Constance Congdon among its alumnae. We are pleased to end our celebrating of women playwrights with one of her favorite works, Casanova. This play nimbly examines the story of the famous Italian seducer and across time and space, weaving memory with fantasy and prompting intriguing questions about the nature of love and remembrance. Sensual and rich, elements that include touches of Restoration comedy, hints of Commedia dell'Arte and allusions to the lavish and bawdy European capitals of the 18th century come together to create a delightful and insightful whole."

'The Venus Hottentot is dead. There won't be any show tonight.' This is one of the first lines you hear in the opening scene of Venus. You don't know who or what the Venus Hottentot is, or how they died, but you already want to know what happened. You want to know what kind of impact she had on these people. Was it good, was it bad? This show had me hooked within the first scene.

Today, BWW's Student Center is thrilled to feature the School of Theatre at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina!

Sarah Bartmaan also known as the Venus Hottentot, was a Khoisan woman from South Africa who lived during the early 19th century. Because of her large buttocks, she was taken from her country and put on display all over Europe and was considered a freak. In the show Venus, author Suzan-Lori Parks remembers and re-imagines this historical figure and looks at how the mainstream culture views Black bodies. Venus ran from March 28-April 6 at the Curtain Theatre at UMass Amherst. All shows were sold out.

The Florida State University Student Theatre Association presents their phenomenally heart-wrenching and thought-provoking spring musical production, See What I Wanna See, directed by FSU student Casey Vaughan. This production will run from April 19 - 21 in the Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre, located in the Williams Building.

Spring Awakening is an extra is an extraordinary musical that celebrates youth and rebellion in a daring fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll. Set in repressive 19th-century Germany, a group of teenagers are caught between their sexual urges and society's contradictory teachings. Revealing their alluringly melancholy story of self-discovery and coming-of-age anxiety, they attempt to reckon with the thrilling, complicated, and confusing time of their sexual awakening.

This week's School in the Spotlight is the Department of Theatre & Drama at Indiana University Bloomington! Scroll below to get to know the department and see photos from past shows!

A unique collaboration between the Stephen F. Austin State University Schools of Theatre and Art has resulted in a rare opportunity for East Texas patrons of the fine arts to simultaneously experience the opening nights of an art exhibition and a theatre performance involving the same subject.

The Theatre Department at Miami University will present Stephen Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS beginning April 18 at the Gates-Abegglen Theatre in the Center for Performing Arts. BroadwayWorld brings you a look at a promo shot below!

The Florida State University Student Theatre Association and the Possum Effect Comedy Troupe present GASP! A Sketch Comedy Show directed by FSU students Audrey Polinski and Claudia Castillo. This production will run from April 12 - 14 in the Augusta Conradi Studio Theatre, located in the Williams Building.

Midsummer Night's Dream is a long-time favorite of Shakespeare's plays. It has been done by actors, dancers, and musicians alike. Now the Casper College Department of Theatre and Dance has taken it into the urban 21st century dance scene! Come enjoy the sheer playfulness of this classic that has been transformed into neon colors, 21st century characters doing 21st century dance to Mendelssohn's score with a 21st century twist.

Author Sheila Callaghan can certainly be considered experimental, but she is certainly no stranger to high praise. In 2010 she was named by Marie Claire as one of '18 Successful Women Who Are Changing the World'. She's been published by Playscripts, Inc., Samuel French Inc. as well as many others, and her plays have been produced internationally in New Zealand, Norway, Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic. She has written over ten plays, her most well known being Dead City. It wasn't Dead City, though, that made Rider University faculty member Ivan Fuller want to direct a Callaghan piece, it was the darkness of Crumble: Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake that caught his attention.

This week's School in the Spolight is the Department of Theatre and Dance at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where students can pursue a B.A. in Theatre with concentrations in Performance, Design/Technical Theatre, or Teacher Certification (K-12).

Baldwin Wallace University's Theatre Department presents Anton Chekhov's classic work THE SEAGULL. This comedy concerns the romantic entanglements and regrets of a group of actors, writers and artists gathered on a Russian estate. Scroll below to see production shots from Wallace Theatre's production - now on stage thru April 7!

The Duke University Dept. of Theater Studies will present Young Jean Lee's Lear April 4-14, 2013 in Sheafer Theater in Duke's Bryan Center. Jody McAuliffe, chair of theater studies and professor of the practice of theater studies and Slavic and Eurasian studies, is directing the play. Click below to see a promo shot!

Commissioned by Pepperdine University and first presented in its world premiere by Pepperdine students in summer 2012 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award for 'innovation and outstanding new writing' and was a finalist for three more honors, including Amnesty International's Freedom of Expression Award.

From 1964-68, Famed photographer Ansel Adams spent time at the University of California on a groundbreaking photographic project commissioned by UC President Clark Kerr. At its core the project, entitled Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light, the University of California motto) asked Adams to answer the question "How can we imagine our future?" Over the course of the project, Adams took thousands of photos of the entire UC system, culminating in a published book written by Nancy Newhall in 1967, which was revisited in a full-year, campuswide multimedia exploration of Adams' work this year called On the Same Page.