Ensembles:

Darwin Turner Action Theatre

Darwin Turner Action Theatre, the social outreach component for The UI Theatre Arts Department, presents dynamic, thought-provoking pieces of theatre for social and cultural awareness, including interactive folk tales, 10-minute and one-act plays, and developmental scenes based on requested issues. Previous topics include (but are not limited to): race/cultural identity, gender, racial/age/sexual discrimination, and historical biographies and events.

Since its founding as Black Action Theatre in the late 1960’s, the group has exposed Iowa audiences to African-American culture, thus promoting knowledge and understanding to people of different backgrounds. DTAT is now more culturally and socially inclusive, reflecting the growing diversity of our state and country.

With offerings for all ages, DTAT's performances and workshops are interactive and aimed to provoke awareness and discussion.

Iowa Acting Ensemble

Iowa acting ensemble is available for workshops/performances involving selected scenes from Skakespeare and contemporary American plays. This talented group of students from UI's theatre department brings alive some of drama's most famous moments.

Rage Theatrics

Rage Theatrics is an action theatre company based in Iowa City, IA. Rage has been bringing stage combat oriented performances, workshops and demonstrations to schools, conferences and Renaissance Festivals throughout the Midwest and beyond for the past eight years (mostly under the name "Shattock School of Defense"). Beginner and master classes in stage combat are available, as well as original comedic shows and educational workshops. For more information, please visit www.ragetheatrics.com. Great for ages 10 & up.

Faculty Artists:

Kate Aspengren

Explore the elements of playwriting through workshops conducted by UI Theatre faculty member Kate Aspengren. Workshops will acquaint students with the techniques required for writing for the stage and give students the opportunity to hear their own work performed through script in hand readings. Ms. Aspengren’s plays, Dear Mrs. Martin, Mother’s Day and House of Wonders, are published by Samuel French and produced regularly throughout the country. She has taught playwriting to adults, junior and high school students, and was the keynote speaker at the 1997 Grant Wood AEA Young Writer’s Conference.

Eric Forsythe

A theatre professional for most of his life, UI faculty member Eric Forsythe brings a lifetime of experience to his workshops on theatre topics that include: characterization, improvisation, scene study, auditioning, Shakespeare acting, directing tips and perspectives, and every actor’s challenge – overcoming self-consciousness. Mr. Forsythe has acted in or directed over 300 stage and media productions including feature films, soaps, television and radio.

Carol MacVey

Students explore and understand Shakespeare’s drama with UI Theatre faculty member Carol MacVey’s entertaining and informative introduction to Shakespeare workshops and discussions. Ms. MacVey provides workshop instruction in areas such as commedia dell’arte masks, acting techniques, and Shakespeare acting. She is also available for teacher workshops on incorporating drama into classroom curriculum. A former high school teacher, she has also conducted Master Teaching Classes for the National Endowment for the Humanities in aspects of English classroom teaching.

Kim Marra

Long before the age of film and television, theatre was the primary performance medium through which societies made “pictures” of themselves to understand their place in the cosmos. Explore theatre history and dramatic literature with UI faculty member Kim Marra as she lectures on how theatre – form ancient Egypt to the present – has reflected humanity’s changing perceptions of the environment, human nature and the divine in divergent cultural contexts. Her slide lecture and discussions range from Medieval theatre to women in American theatre.

Lisa Schlesinger

Lisa Schlesinger offers playwriting workshops that explore dramatic exercises, utilizing short scene reading to aid participants in writing their own plays.

Margaret Wenk

From concepts to construction, from gussets to gables, UI Performing Arts Production Unit Resident Staff Designer, Margaret Wenk shares the intricacies of theater design in workshops and seminars. Drawing on her expertise as set and costume designer for opera, dance and theater productions, she discusses the backstage wizardry necessary for successful theatrical productions.

Artists:

Cyndi Coyne

Cyndi Coyne is a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow and an O'Neill Finalist. She received her MFA from The Iowa Playwrights Workshop at The University of Iowa. A professional actress, she has performed in many plays in New York and LA, and made television appearances on Law and Order and Boy Meets World.

Coyne teaches creative and playwriting workshops at different age levels.

She is also an acting coach and works one on one with monologues for auditions as well as scene work.

Jennifer Fawcett

Jennifer Fawcett is a member of the MFA Playwrights' Workshop and a professionally trained actor. Fawcett is specifically interested in teaching playwriting to students (grades 7-12) incorporating excerpts of her solo play, goat show, to aid students in creating autobiographical performance pieces. goat show has been toured across Canada and will be a part of Riverside Theatre's 2007/2008 season.

Fawcett has taught playwright/performance at the University of Iowa, Ryerson University (Toronto) and Interlochen Summer Arts Camp (MI), as well as teaching Shakespeare workshops in Eastern Iowa schools with Riverside Theatre, and dance/drama workshops as part of the Ontario Arts Council's Artists in Education Program.

Nancy Rather Mayfield

Join Nancy Rather Mayfield for this exciting Theatre Workshop! Learn about the different jobs in theatre (acting, directing, design, etc.) and what goes into putting on a play. In a longer workshop, students have the opportunity to dramatize a fairy story. For an additional fee, the workshop can be built around a topic of the teacher’s choice, such as Native Americans, animals, etc.

Connie Winston

Connie Winston is a first year MFA student in dramaturgy at the University of Iowa. She is a stage-trained actress and has worked in the theatre for approximately 25 years; most recently in New York City where she performed at venues such as LaMaMa, e.t.c., Dixon Place, New Dramatists, the Ohio Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Soho Rep, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the WorkShop Theater, H.E.R.E. Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center, the 78 th Street Theatre Lab and HB Studios. Additionally, she has worked with the Talking Band; comprised of former members of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theatre and focuses her performance work upon the development of original and avant-garde theatre pieces. She is also the author of My Name is Harriet Tubman, Confession and The Autobiography of Dorothy Dean and has adapted Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path for the stage.

Connie is interested in developing one-person theatrical events that revolve around the lives of historical figures…known and unknown. This form of “documentary theatre” will enable to students, young and old, to enjoy learning history while tapping into their individual creative resources and imagination. She is also interested in the adaptation of literary works for the stage.