Renaissance coming to IU

This April, Dunn Meadow will be filled with swords, maidens and jesters as IU takes a step back into the past. A group of IU students has created a club dedicated to putting on a Renaissance fair at IU this spring, to be held April 15, in what the group members refer to as "the village of Dunnston Meadow." \nGraduate student Christine Task said she created the group after spending her undergraduate career at The Ohio State University, which has held an annual Renaissance fair for more than 30 years. \n"People come and sell things ranging from books, clothing, (children's) toys, handmade crafts and leathers, soaps, oils ... all the way to swords and chainmail," she said. "There's also performers. We have a fight guild ... a group of people that study stage combat and then perform a play that has a lot of combat in it, because people like to see sword-fighting at a fair." \nCurrently the group meets Wednesday evenings in the Indiana Memorial Union to sharpen the members' acting skills, discuss the structure of the fair and learn stage combat techniques. \nTask said the fair will appeal to a broad group of people because it will focus on the history of the Renaissance. She said she would like professors to come give "little lectures" to provide historical background.\nThe group is holding a call-out meeting at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Walnut Room of the IMU. \nBloomington resident Justin McNeely, who heard about the group in a meeting of the IU Gamer's Guild, is working on creating a friar character for the fair. McNeely said he believes Bloomington is the perfect location for a Renaissance fair because of the "diverse group of people on campus." "There's been an interest in something like this for a while, it's just that no one's taken the initiative to do anything yet," he said.\nSenior Sarah Tilson, who is working on creating a rat-catcher character for the fair, said she has had a long-standing interest in the Renaissance. \n"I've been going to Renaissance fairs since I was a little kid," she said. "I like the idea that it's going to have more content and a more historical aspect to it, because I'm really interested in that." \nTask said response to the organization has been overwhelmingly positive. \n"We are planning on this becoming an annual tradition," she said. "Most people we've talked to are extremely happy to see this happen." \nStudents interested in performing or participating in the fair can contact Task at breninfo@gmail.com or attend Sunday's call-out meeting.