Folk band to perform Wednesday at Bishop
They all grew up playing music together in Chesapeake, Va. They worked together in their church worship band, which was led by Ben Hardesty’s father.
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They all grew up playing music together in Chesapeake, Va. They worked together in their church worship band, which was led by Ben Hardesty’s father.
Jamaican American photographer Renee Cox and filmmaker Bridgett Davis will present separate and joint lectures this week.
Chad Rabinovitz read one of the 300 submissions for the annual Reva Shiner Comedy Award at 10 p.m.
Trumpets blare and the audience claps as the members of the platform party march onstage at the IU Auditorium.
The Deer Park Manor will premiere its first Americana Music Series at 6 p.m. Sunday .
Cardinals, peonies and tulip trees form the center of the Grunwald Gallery of Art’s latest two exhibitions opening Friday.
Eight months of work went into the Mathers Museum of World Cultures’ latest ?exhibition.
Academy-Award winning actor Kevin Kline will return to Indiana University to receive an honorary doctoral degree in an open event at 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at the IU Auditorium.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When one-third of Bloomington’s population moves away for the summer months, community shops remain open.The Venue Fine Art & Gifts is opening one more exhibit before the summer begins and is offering keepsakes for Bloomington residents and IU students to take wherever they are traveling, owner Gabriel Colman said. “Bloomington is Beautiful” opened May 2 and will remain on display until May 15.“When I travel, if I can get a piece of art that can remind me of that living experience, I’ll do that,” Colman said. “It offers an opportunity for them to buy something to remind them of Bloomington and the beauty of the place.” Community members can come into the gallery to view the artwork before leaving Bloomington or they can purchase a piece to take with them. The keepsakes range from $10 to $5,000 and include paintings, prints, wood turnings, ceramics, stained glass, cards and pens. The paintings feature iconic Bloomington locations such as the Sample Gates, the Monroe County Courthouse, Showalter Fountain and others. One item the Venue offers is a children’s book titled, “The Fish on the Dome.” The book tells the story of two kids who are lazily sitting on a couch all day. The mythological fish on the courthouse comes and tells them to get off the couch, taking them on a journey around Bloomington. Colman said it is a neat keepsake for Bloomington residents because it shows each iconic place of the city. The Venue has been in business for six years. During that time, it has commissioned various artists to create paintings, prints and other locally crafted objects. Colman said many times these objects evoke the spirit of Bloomington in one way or another. “I think coming to look at the art will point out how picturesque our community is,” Colman said. “And it’s nice to have pleasant reminders of Bloomington with you.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As hundreds of college students caravanned down to Florida, one group of Ivy Tech-Bloomington students boarded a plane to Guatemala this past spring break. It was there they learned about fair trade and worked to build new facilities for Guatemalan coffee farmers. Their journey was documented by Ivy Tech-Bloomington faculty member Chelsea Rood-Emmick, who took photographs of the students throughout the trip.These photos make up one of the four new exhibits opening Friday at the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center, with an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. The exhibit shows 21 different photographs accompanied with quotes written by the students in journals while they were in Guatemala. The photos depict the international experiences of the students, the students’ construction of the buildings on the farms and the process of growing and selling coffee. The students also constructed a coffee storage building and repaired a farmer’s house, where about 25 people and 200 chickens were living, Crood-Emmick said. The photos in the exhibit offer the students and faculty a way to show off a great program from Ivy Tech, Crood-Emmick said. “Ours is a unique program because it’s scholarship-based,” she said. “This is a learning opportunity these students wouldn’t have otherwise. Most of them have never traveled or done service trips.” The second exhibit opening Friday is a showcase of 22 different artists who are part of Bloomington potter’s guild Local Clay. Guild member Susan Snyder is showing two different pieces.One piece is a tile-frame mirror, which is a project Snyder said she has never completed before. Creating the piece involved hand-painting 16 tiles to place around a two-foot mirror. Snyder uses a process called Maiolica, which she learned in Italy. The third exhibit also features international experiences through the work of two sisters, Deborah and Abby Gitlitz. The show is a dual exhibit focusing on food. Deborah is exhibiting her photographs of food from Mexico, India and the United States. “Those are cultures that have these outdoor markets where food is on display,” Abby said. “It’s a feast for the eyes and just something we don’t do here.” Abby is a glass blower who focused her work on food-related cake stands, fake food and other random objects. The glass is created with bright, vibrant colors that offer a sense of whimsy, Abby said. The sisters’ use of bright colors comes from the time they spent in Central America as young girls. “In Central America, more colors is a good thing,” Abby said. “That has definitely influenced my color pallet.” The food theme came from the enticing quality of food that has always attracted the artist, Abby said. “There’s something about food that is exciting,” Abby said. “It’s unlimited. It can be beautiful, it can be crazy, it can be disgusting, it can be everything in between.” The eight pieces of blown glass and the 15 photographs serve as the sisters’ first joint show together. “I hope that it brings people joy,” Abby said. “I want people to think about it and let their own imaginations run wild.” The fourth exhibit shows the recent works of artist Nakima Ollin. Each exhibit will remain open until May 31.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At the end of the premiere of her newest play, “Trigger Warning,” Iris Dauterman wasn’t sure how the crowd was going to react.The play featured an all-female cast and portrayed a narrative about ending rape and sexual violence on the Bloomington campus — something Dauterman thought few people would want to see. Dauterman wondered whether the men in the audience would be able to connect, what they would think and whether they would be bored. A man approached Dauterman a few days after the premiere and told her, “You know, I didn’t really know what to think about it. I sort of felt that I wasn’t really allowed to think anything about it, but then I went home and my girlfriend and I talked about these issues for like an hour and a half. So I think your play was successful.” Dauterman wrote the play as part of an effort to provide more opportunities to women in the theater department. Despite making up 60 percent of the department, females are only given 46 percent of the roles in the main stage season.Fewer roles for a greater number of students means increased competition for female drama students in the department.The department has very little racial diversity, with fewer than 10 African American or Latino students in each degree program. These problems are a part of nearly every campus and theater department in the country, theater department director Jonathan Michaelsen said. The problems lie not only with the play selection committee at the department but the lack of diversity in the theater world as a whole, Dauterman said. Dauterman is an example of this lack of diversity, being the only female playwright student in the MFA program. “The playwriting field right now is not a very hospitable place for female playwrights,” Dauterman said. “They just aren’t getting produced. I didn’t know that when I came into this program.”After graduating from IU, Dauterman worries about the fate of her plays. Unlike at IU, which is committed to producing students’ plays, her success after college is not guaranteed. “I’ll have to just put my stuff out there and watch it go through the ringer and watch it not get picked up by theaters and wonder why,” she said. The reason many people give her for the problem is that works written by females or works featuring strong female leads are not as likely to sell at the box office. “I think if you tell a good story, people will come,” she said. “What you care about is the story in front of you, not the person behind it. I don’t think people care that I’m a woman when they see my work. I hope that is how it is in the real world, but I fear that it is not.” When “Trigger Warning” was showing at the department’s studio theater the first week of April, it sold out every performance, and both men and women were in the audience. Dauterman received feedback from males in the audience telling her that it was nice to be included in a conversation they wouldn’t have been part of otherwise. “Trigger Warning” tells the story of five female college students who come together to build an anti-rape device. Two years ago, Dauterman began writing the play with a new mission in mind. Her previous two plays had failed the Bechdel Test, a short test used to analyze whether a work of fiction is gender-biased. The Bechdel Test requires that the work feature two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man. “That’s not the be-all and end-all for feminism in theater, but it is a pretty low bar to set, and I wasn’t reaching that bar,” she said. “It sort of made me pause and really made me think what stories I am telling.”Dauterman made sure her play passed the Bechdel Test the third time around, but it didn’t come without hardship. Dauterman constantly worried about the reactions from the audience and whether the men in the audience would like it. For advice, she sought the help of drama professor Amy Cook. Cook passionately told her that her story wasn’t about women and women’s issues as much as it was a story about human beings and encouraged her to go through with the production. “She really gave me the confidence I needed to push through the writing process and whenever I got scared to just say to myself, ‘I don’t fucking care if they like it. I’m going to tell my story or die trying,’” Dauterman said. “It’s hard, but it’s important, and it’s worth doing in the way you want to tell it.” “Trigger Warning” was part of that reach for comprehension while also creating a dialogue about the role women play in the theater world, Cook said. She said students and faculty are getting better at understanding the meaning behind the shows the department puts on and how they represent women. This holds true in the same way for race and other minority representations, Cook said.“We feel a pretty important mission of ours is to pay attention to diversity,” Michaelsen said. “Are we always able to do it well? Not as well as I’d like to.” Theatre and drama major Ian Martin said diversity is about creating a culturally diverse community in the department by bringing in students and faculty of different races and backgrounds. “I want it to be more representational as opposed to presentational,” Martin said. “There’s a difference between just doing ‘black’ shows and just being diverse.” Martin began attending IU two years ago after coming from a diverse performing arts high school in Cincinnati. His high school practiced color-blind casting.Color-blind casting means the director casts characters without considering race, regardless of how the character has traditionally been performed. “I experienced that all through high school, so coming here I expected it to be a lot different,” Martin said. “And it was.”Martin said that, being an educational institution, the theater department has a unique opportunity to cast students regardless of race. But because they haven’t, Martin has begun questioning the opportunities he’s been given with the main stage productions. So far, Martin has performed three times during the main stage season, but each role has been an African-American character. “It makes you think, ‘Is it because I’m talented? Or just the best of a small pool?’” Martin said. However, this summer he’s been offered the lead role in the Indiana Festival Theatre’s show “Twelfth Night.” Martin will portray Duke Orsino, a powerful 16th-century nobleman traditionally played by a white actor. However, Michaelsen, who is directing the production, decided to take Martin on as the lead role. “He’ll be fantastic,” Michaelsen said. “We are after giving those opportunities to our students.” That opportunity has changed Martin’s view of his own acting experience, working to increase his confidence that he is talented enough for his parts, both present and past. Although the department is making strides, Martin said there is still a long way to go. “I want the conversation to not be as black and white,” he said. “It’s not just about doing a ‘black’ show. That’s the easy way out. It’s about doing shows that foster diversity.” The theater department also hired two new African-American faculty members that will join the staff in the fall of 2014.“In dealing with diversity, to have faculty that are diverse makes a difference to students, without a doubt,” Michaelsen said. “This is a major step for us to have this faculty. It’s an outstanding way to start things.” The Department of Theatre and Drama is not only taking strides to help create more racial diversity but is also working with gender bias and diversity in their shows as well. Michaelsen and the other theatre department directors from Big 10 schools have partnered to commission a new play every year for five years. It is required that the play be written by a female playwright and include a set number of male and female roles. Next year’s play will be the first production from this partnership. It was written by playwright Naomi Iizuka. The play is titled “Good Kids” and features eight female roles and four male roles. The play will be included as part of the main stage season and will be made available to other college campuses across the country after next year, Michaelsen said. “It’s a tricky issue because we have to balance the needs of our students to be represented on stage and our need to present different kinds of plays to give them varied experience,” Cook said. “I think our department has really done that to a varying degree of success.” Choosing a season comes with many considerations, but it still comes down to whether the department can sell the season to their audience. “The department financially lives off the box office and has to carefully select a balance of shows they know are going to sell,” Michaelsen said. “I can’t ignore the economic sense in things.” Although students are finding other opportunities to gain experience, the department continues to work on fixing the problem. “I don’t want actors to come here and be told from the beginning that ‘There’s not a place for you on stage,’” Dauterman said. “That’s not something you want an actor to learn. Theater is where everybody goes to feel like they’re a part of something.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Grunwald Gallery of Art will present its sixth Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibit today with an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. The exhibit is free and open to the public, featuring different mediums including printmaking, photography, painting and textiles. The exhibit will be on display until May 3. It runs in conjunction with the MFA thesis exhibit that was displayed April 22. Here are three of the students who will have work displayed in the exhibit:Matt Lawler, painting Lawler is displaying seven oil paintings depicting Western, post-apocalyptic scenes, relating to metal music. Lawler drew his inspiration from Stephen King novels and his own interest in metal music. Through these paintings, he is trying to give back to the metal genre, he said. “I’m hoping people will become more open to the ideas portrayed through metal in general,” he said. “They always think, ‘Oh it’s just metal with screaming and incoherent instrumentals.’ But there’s a lot more behind it.” Each painting took around a month to create, but to catch up at the end of the semester, Lawler worked for eight hours a day to finish three in one month. His biggest challenge was trying to paint his figures in a realistic way. He said his influence from video games would come through in his painting work. “I don’t want to have that come across too much,” he said. “I’m afraid people will quickly disregard them because they might not understand video games.” Lawler focused on artists like Francisco Goya and Hieronymus Bosch to make his figures seem more realistic and life-like. Celina Wu, photographyGrowing up in America, Wu not only encountered Western culture, but was exposed to Taiwanese culture by her parents, who were born and raised on the other side of the world. Wu used her photographs as a way to show the duality and opposition she has within herself because of the two cultures she has grown up with, and the emotions that come with that experience. But Wu did not immediately come to that idea. Originally, she thought she would show alternate realities, but didn’t think that was deep enough for her thesis exhibit. Eventually she realized that the source of her interest in alternate realities was from the same duality in herself. This led her to the concept of her show. Thirteen photos and a book of photographs make up Wu’s section of the exhibit. She used family photos that she reconstructed by mixing two-dimensional and three-dimensional aspects and recreating them into a photograph. “I hope people enjoy the personal aspect of it,” Wu said. “I’ve never been this personal with any work of mine. It gives a better understanding of who I am.” Izzy Jarvis, printmaking Jarvis only ever wanted to be good at drawing. “That was my goal as a kid and I always loved drawing people,” she said. “Whenever you’re drawing the human form, it’s a self-portrait.”Portraits make up three of the five relief prints making up Jarvis’ thesis exhibit. Relief prints involve the artist carving into the wood in order to make the print, but in this process, the artist is doing the opposite of drawing. The carving is creating the negative space, or the part of the depiction that will not be printed or seen. The artist is taking away parts of the print instead of adding them like in drawing. Jarvis said it was a physical process, but because the wood pieces were around four feet by four feet, there were more chances for expression. “I want people to see the care I put into it,” she said. “If they just see the beauty and care, then that’s enough.” The other two prints show natural objects that Jarvis added her own symbolism to, all of which show her own identity as an artist and person. Creating the prints was a way for Jarvis to explore her own identity. “I think artists find ways to figure out who they are through the work they make,” she said. “I think this show is very much about an experience of who I am.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Cereal boxes, recliners and ceramic sculptures are three of the works to be featured at the master of fine arts and bachelor of fine arts thesis exhibits opening today at the Grunwald Gallery of Art. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. MFA student Catherine Chi is contributing her work, “Part of a Complete Breakfast,” which is an interactive video installation. It includes projectors, a distance sensor, a shopping cart and about 200 cereal boxes. Chi said she finds cereal boxes to be some of the most interesting parts of a grocery store. The cereal boxes are designed to make people believe the cereal will bring them happiness, health and success. The boxes are meant to draw consumers into that fantasy, Chi said. “Usually when we interact with the cereal box in the grocery aisle, just the image of a familiar character or even the color of a package is all it takes to trigger our memory of advertisements and the sweet taste of the food,” Chi said.Her video installation explores the point in which people actually connect with the cereal on a deeper level. It begins with the boxes being painted white, making them invisible to any recognition. To bring back the identity of the boxes, Chi adds in the color, then ingredients and nutritional information and finally the advertisement elements. Another part of the exhibit is BFA student Samantha Sondgerath’s weaving work. Sondgerath said there is a basic structure of weaving she tries to stray away from in her work. To accomplish this, she weaves in and out of the loom at random places and includes material that is not typical in traditional weaving. Sondgerath bought a recliner and weaved the upholstery with wire, nails and glitter. She followed the same process to create a lamp, floor and wall pieces. “I hope that people think of textiles and weaving in a different way,” Sondgerath said. “A lot of people think I make rugs and scarves when I weave, but that’s not what I aspire to do at all.” MFA student Kelly Novak said she also hopes to allow for multiple interpretations of her work. Novak is exhibiting 16 pieces of jewelry made from resin, silver, copper and other materials. Novak’s exhibit is called “Fragments of Utopia,” and explores the concept of utopia through her own travel experiences, which she has incorporated into her jewelry. Preparation began in Florence, Italy, this past summer, where Novak took a resin workshop, creating her first pieces and sharpening her skills.The artists have been working on their pieces for at least a semester, culminating in the opening of their thesis show before graduation. “Student support is integral to the arts,” Novak said. “Opening events are a great opportunity to interact with artists and a wide range of interesting and engaged people within the community.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Opera and Ballet Theater has announced its 66th season “Go Boldly,” which will feature six operas and three ballets. Subscriptions go on sale April 28. Single tickets go on sale Sept. 2, except for “The Nutcracker,” which will go on sale Nov. 4. OPERA“The Italian Girl in Algiers” When 8 p.m. Sept. 19-20, 26-27This Italian opera is a comedy about a young Italian girl named Isabella. She is captured in a shipwreck by pirates and taken to the leader of Algiers to be considered for marriage. The leader, Mustafà, already has a wife and has enslaved Isabella’s fiancé. Isabella tries to outwit Mustafà in order to escape Algiers and return home. Sung in Italian with English supertitles “La Bohème”When 8 p.m. Oct. 17-18, 24-25 and 2 p.m. Oct 19“La Bohème” follows the romance of poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mimi. In Act III, the two independently decide to separate. Mimi thinks Rodolfo has become too jealous, and Rodolfo fears for Mimi’s health — which he believes poverty has made worse. Sung in Italian with English supertitles “The Last Savage” When 8 p.m. Nov. 14-15, 21 and 7 p.m. Nov. 20 This production makes its IU Opera debut this season. Anthropology student Kitty is searching for a primitive man who has not experienced modern society to use for her project. Kitty’s parents want her to give up her studies and marry a wealthy leader. To avoid this, Kitty hires a local peasant to act as her project study, until she actually falls in love with him. Sung in English with English supertitles “Alcina”When 8 p.m. Feb. 6-7, 13-14“Alcina” is set on a magical island ruled by two sister-sorceresses, Morgana and Alcina. Each knight that ventures to the island is seduced by Alcina, who transforms them into stones, animals or plants after growing tired of them. Eventually a knight comes that Alcina falls madly in love with, but he rejects her — much to her shock. Sung in Italian with English supertitles “South Pacific” When 8 p.m. Feb. 27-28, March 6-7 and 2 p.m. March 1“South Pacific” is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book, “Tales of the South Pacific.” ‘The opera follows an American nurse as she falls in love with a Frenchman and struggles to accept and love his mixed-race children. At the same time, a U.S. Lieutenant and Tonkinese woman face the difficult consequences of their marriage.The opera explores themes of racial prejudice and acceptance on a South Pacific island during World War II. Sung in English with English supertitles “The Magic Flute”When 8 p.m. April 10-11, 17-18“The Magic Flute” returns to IU this season, telling a tale of good and evil. Newlyweds Pamina and Tamino work to gain enlightenment. Along the way, they are influenced by the evil Queen of the Night and bird catcher Papageno. The opera also features a dragon and colorful puppets. Sung in German with English dialogue and supertitles BALLETFall BalletWhen 8 p.m. Oct. 3-4, additional performance at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 This three-part ballet features work from three famous ballet choreographers. The first part of next season’s fall ballet is, “Emeralds,” the first act of George Balanchine’s ballet, “Jewels.” The second section, “Dark Elegies,” explores the emotion of losing children. The third and final part, called “The Envelope,” is a comedic dance to the tune of light and melodic music. The NutcrackerWhen 7 p.m. Dec. 4, 8 p.m. Dec. 5, 2 and 8 p.m. Dec. 6,2 p.m. Dec. 7One of the most popular ballets of all time and a regular season show for Jacobs, “The Nutcracker” is a classic Christmas story. Clara receives a nutcracker for Christmas. Falling asleep with it in her arms, she awakes to a new world where her Nutcracker has grown to a full-size prince. She follows him to his kingdom where she meets sugar plum fairies and evil mice. Spring BalletWhen 8 p.m. March 27-28, additional performance at 2 p.m. March 28Like the Fall Ballet, the Spring Ballet is sectioned into three different ballets. The first part is the second act of Swan Lake, choreographed by George Balanchine, which tells the tale of a princess who was turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer. The second ballet is “Duets,” which features a set of dances for six couples. The final part is jazz ballet “Rubies,” which is the second act of Balanchine’s production “Jewels,” continuing from the spring ballet. Allison Graham
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Girls, gangsters and gambling will come to the IU Theatre this weekend in its newest production, “Guys and Dolls.” Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre, with additional shows at 7:30 p.m. April 22-26 and at 2 p.m. April 26. Tickets start at $15 for students and $25 for general admission. “Guys and Dolls” follows four main characters through their complicated romantic relationships. Sophomore Joey Birchler plays gambler Sky Masterson, a suave character who never gave time to serious relationships with women. His friend, Nathan Detroit, is played by junior Markus McClain. Nathan bets Sky that he won’t be able to convince missionary Sarah Brown to go out with him. Sky takes the bet and pursues Sarah. The two eventually fall in love, and their differences change each other for the better. At the same time, Nathan has been engaged to Miss Adelaide for 14 years, and she is trying to convince him to get married. However, Nathan repeatedly refuses because he’s not ready. “It’s about two different styles of relationships,” McClain said. “All Adelaide wants is to get married, but Nathan isn’t ready. This contrasts with the growth and budding relationship of Sky and Sarah.”The musical’s themes contribute to the popularity of the production. “I think it’s one of the best musicals ever written,” Director Lee Cromwell said. “I think there’s something universal about this story, about these larger-than-life figures being who they are and going after what they want, not apologizing for living.” Despite the musical being set in the 1950s, McClain said the audience will be surprised by how much they can relate to the characters. For the actors, portraying and connecting to those characters was one of the hardest parts of preparation. Birchler struggled gaining the confidence Sky has in the musical. He said embodying the persona of someone who always feels like he’s the smartest guy in the room was a huge challenge. “It’s a mental thing as well as a physical thing,” Birchler said. “It’s about being smooth in your actions.” Junior Meghan Goodman, who plays Sarah, found understanding the character’s transformation her biggest challenge. “She’s exposed to so much at once that she never imagined would happen to her,” Goodman said. “I had to find that progression throughout the show.” McClain also had to learn the dynamics of his character, specifically with the relationship Nathan has with Adelaide. “It’s a huge contrast of being in love and having a soulmate and the rough waters you go through in a relationship,” McClain said. Overcoming the challenges and putting the show together culminate in the performance. “I’m really looking forward to the actors’ experience of sharing this with an audience,” Cromwell said. “I think they’re really hungry for it.” McClain said this type of show deserves an audience because of the energy and humor that requires an audience’s responses. “Because the actors that are doing this production are singing, dancing, acting, throwing themselves literally around the stage with such passion and dedication, it is just a joy to see,” Cromwell said. “I think there’s something really exciting about being in the same room when people are diving off of a cliff, metaphorically.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Attendees murmured with excitement as they waited to catch a glimpse of acclaimed actress Meryl Streep. The crowd was hushed by the sound of four trumpet players. The platform party filed onto the stage of the IU Auditorium, and the crowd erupted into applause and cheers the moment Streep appeared on stage. Audience members rose to their feet. Streep smiled and sat down, placing her hand over her heart and nodding to the audience. IU President Michael McRobbie stepped up to the podium. “Today, we honor Meryl Streep.” The audience cheered again. IU Auditorium was host to Meryl Streep and the conferral of her honorary doctoral degree from IU. Nearly 3,200 seats to the event sold out within three hours of ticket sales opening. Almost all of the seats in the auditorium were filled to witness Streep’s ceremony and a conversation between her and Barbara Klinger, professor of film and media studies. McRobbie presided over the ceremony and introduced Streep and her many accolades. Streep has been honored with three Academy Awards and eight Golden Globes, McRobbie said.McRobbie said the way she delves deep into her roles allows us to not just be movie-goers, but witnesses. “By disappearing into her roles, Meryl Streep has made the world visible to us, and all of us are truly grateful,” he said. After the ceremony, Streep and Klinger sat on two cushioned chairs in the center of the stage. Klinger’s first question was about how Streep came to the acting profession. “I think I was probably like every other girl who puts on a princess dress and expects everyone to pay full and total attention,” Streep said. “And most of us grow out of that.”The audience erupted into laughter until Streep continued to say she had always been interested in people and wanted to work as an interpreter for the United Nations after her mother drove her to the headquarters in New York. “I thought it was vain to want to be an actress,” Streep said. ”Plus, I thought I was too ugly to be an actress. Glasses weren’t fabulous then.” Streep received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College and decided to apply to drama school at Yale. She signed up for law boards in her third year because she still didn’t believe she had the right to be an actress, Streep said. “Many of my friends woke up at 3 years of age and said, ‘I have to be on stage.’ I never had that,” Streep said. “I’ve always been an omnivore, and I actually fell into the profession that fed all my appetites.” Streep said she slept through the law boards because she had a performance the night before, and the rest was history. She graduated and quickly got work. She said the day she paid off her student loans was the happiest day of her life. After graduation, Streep appeared in several theater productions and later made the transition to film. She said every role is different and requires something new. “The whole movie happens in a moment between you and who you’re working with,” she said. “You have no idea what they’re going to bring, so the preparation only goes so far. You have to throw away all your preconceived ideas.” One way she connects with her characters is by being empathetic for the person she is playing.“It is possible for people of very diverse backgrounds to feel the feelings of someone not remotely like them,” Streep said. “Even crossing the gender line and the age line, even all the things that divide us. You can still feel what that person feels. That’s such an interesting, underused quality human beings have.” That gender line has been clouded in more recent times, Streep said. Now, women lead big corporations like Sony and Universal. “The business is changing,” Streep said. “That’s a really big difference from when I started. There was almost an impenetrable line of suits.” Her advice for women acting today is to not worry too much about their weight. “Girls spend way too much time thinking about that,” she said. For all actors, Streep advised finding the thing that’s weird about them and using it to their advantage. Directors pick up the people who are different, Streep said.This coming year, Streep will appear in three different films — “The Giver,” “Into the Woods” and “The Homesman.” Despite all of the fame and awards, Streep said she feels lucky for her opportunities. “I feel very, very guilty when the litany of my awards is trotted out because I feel like there are many women my age, in our industry, who are plenty capable of the work I’ve been doing,” Streep said. “The only reason I have a career at 64 is because I had hits late in life.” The event ended with a discussion of Streep’s role in the 2015 movie, “Suffragette,” about the heavy violence that occurred during Britain’s women’s suffrage movement.Streep watched the only video available of her character, Emmeline Pankhurst.Because she had never seen herself on camera or video, Pankhurst’s movements were not self-aware.“She has a demeanor you will never be able to achieve,” Streep said. “You’ve all been photographed and know what you seem like. You’re used to your outer performance.”Streep found the video interesting because nothing was designed about Pankhurst’s movements. “You could see the difference between people now who are so used to seeing themselves as objects and the people who are so in the gestalt of their bodies,” Streep said. “It taught me something about how to strive for unselfconsciousness.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Art Museum will present the Lilly Lecture Competition from 1 to 5 p.m. Friday in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. Four students will discuss specific pieces from the museum’s collection for 20-30 minutes each. Participants were instructed to choose whichever piece they wanted to research and compose a paper and lecture to present their findings. IU student Sam Tavlin found out about the competition when she was studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain, last summer. She saw information for the competition on the museum’s website and created a one-page proposal last fall to conduct year-long research about the etching “Male Nude” by German artist Oskar Schlemmer. Her research consisted of viewing the artwork through two different theories from German philosophers. One theory explores the idea of the separation between objects and the human body. However, when humans use certain objects, they become almost a part of the body itself, Tavlin said. The second theory is called the alienation effect.It states that when an audience does not get the chance to empathize with a character onstage at a theater production, they are forced to look at the production with a critical eye instead of getting lost in the story. Tavlin applies these two theories to the piece she selected for the lecture competition. “I found that it’s one of those pieces that you look at,” she said. “Although it’s very simple, at the same time you can’t look away.” Tavlin also said she liked the challenge of this particular artwork because very little research exists on it. The same uncertainty appealed to IU student Eric Beckman, who will also give a lecture Friday. Beckman selected a fragment from a Roman sculpture that was part of a Roman religion called Mithraism. The fragment depicts a bull with a dog jumping up against it and would have served as the main focus for a place of worship in Roman culture.Through his research, Beckman has traced the origins of the piece back to the 19th century, when it was found at the bottom of a riverbed in France. Beckman followed the piece’s whereabouts until it finally reached the museum in 1985. His research led him to discover that the symbols on the piece itself correspond to different constellations and astronomical bodies. The piece depicts a certain time of the year and provides a road map for the Mithraic belief in the ascension of the soul after death. “These types of scenes are extremely rare,” Beckman said. “There’s only 700 of them. To have as much information as possible just seemed like the right thing to do.” In addition to Beckman and Tavlin, Anne Kneller will present a lecture on the museum’s “Seated Hermaphrodite,” and Rachel Schend will provide an interpretation of the Bilingual Eye Cup.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ben Nichols turns on his camera.It’s the first rehearsal for his feature-length film. Now that the red recording button is on, Kaleb Rich-Harris transforms into his character. He plays Victor, a high school senior trying to get into college. Victor asks his retired teacher Dr. Jack Conners, played by Ken Farrell, to write him a recommendation letter. Victor isn’t the best student. He isn’t in many clubs, he doesn’t get good grades, and he never speaks a word in class. Doc has written recommendation letters before, but not for students like Victor. Doc only writes for the top students — the ones who show initiative and promise. “They all have something that makes them remarkable,” Doc said. “They are people who really have something to offer the world.” Victor stares at Doc. “I feel there’s more to me than you know,” he said. Nichols, a freshman at IU, wanted his independent film project, “Just Call Me Jack,” to be about the future of young people. In high school, after he received good grades and had teachers write letters for him, he wondered what it would have been like if he wasn’t the same kid. “I thought that there were a lot of kids I know that didn’t have the grades I had but have still done really cool and incredible things, but no one really knows about it,” Nichols said. “Not everything has to be academic. This is revealing a kid that maybe you ignored in high school or didn’t really know about.” Nichols is the producer, writer, director and composer of the feature-length film. “Just Call Me Jack” is about Victor, who needs a letter of recommendation for his college applications. Although he doesn’t know where he wants to apply, he thinks a great letter of recommendation will guarantee his acceptance. The movie is set in Doc’s house as Victor tries to convince his teacher that he is worth his recommendation. “The entire film is this conversation, interview-style, where the kid basically fights back and says, ‘No, this is why you should believe in my future and the future of young people as a whole,’” Nichols said. Nichols first started writing the script in 2012. “In the first draft of the script, Victor is a lot more sarcastic and drops the f-bomb a lot,” Nichols said. After reading it again and thinking about how he wanted to actually portray his character, Nichols created Victor to be more mild-mannered and shy. “It’s better for his character development because at the end he becomes more overt and open,” Nichols said. “So you get to see his character change more, unlike in the previous drafts where I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.” The final draft of the script was finished during spring break, and shooting for the movie is scheduled for late May. IU sophomore Kaleb Rich-Harris will perform the role of Victor, which he was offered after auditioning at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in February. “Kaleb came in and did a monologue from ‘Death of a Salesman’ and a song from ‘Godspell,’” Nichols said. “He took two really professional pieces and just blew us away, and that’s when we knew we had our guy.” Rich-Harris said he first saw advertisements for auditions in the theater building and emails from theater professors about the opportunity. “I’m very interested in film and saw it as a great challenge,” Rich-Harris said. “I was staying in Bloomington this summer, and I just really wanted to do it.” Bloomington resident Ken Farrell didn’t audition for the film, but was offered the role of Doc after the first actor dropped out of the movie.Nichols sent Farrell a message on Facebook after seeing videos of his performances for the Cardinal Stage Company. Farrell met with Nichols and signed the contract on the spot. “I was immediately interested in the concept about what the script has to say about relationships in the time you’re struggling in adolescence,” said Farrell, who has been acting for 48 years. Shooting for “Just Call Me Jack” will last for two weeks. Nichols plans to stay in Bloomington to edit the film in order to finish before September, when he can start sending it to film festivals. Each film festival submission requires an application fee, so Nichols said he wants to wait until he has finished the movie before deciding which ones to send it to. “I want it to be good,” Nichols said. “And since it’s my first movie, I’m open to the idea of making a movie that’s good, but maybe not perfect because it’s a learning experience.” Part of that learning experience for Nichols was allowing himself to take every opportunity he could with the movie, he said. Nichols wrote the entire script, developing each character and revising it until he was satisfied. He also wrote the lyrics and composed the score for the song in the movie, “Rest Yourself Tonight.” “I think a lot of people that want to get into film limit themselves a little bit,” Nichols said. “As in, ‘I want to be a director, but someone else has to write the script, and someone else has to act.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Well, if you do everything, even if you’re not the best at everything, at least you have that experience.’” Taking on so many roles in the movie opens doors for Nichols to explore, he said. Nichols said he first thought about film while watching Disney movies as a kid. After watching “Bambi,” the end of the VHS tape had a short documentary about how the animation for the film was created. It was then that Nichols realized people created the movies he loved, and it was an option for him to pursue in the future. Nichols started making short YouTube videos and then films for high school film festivals and the Indianapolis High School Playwriting Competition. Music came when he started taking guitar lessons six years ago. Nichols said he dreamed of learning the electric guitar but was forced to begin lessons on an acoustic guitar.“For me, acoustic was like, ‘Well that’s not going to impress any girls. I don’t even like country music,’ and the day I started, I just fell in love with it,” Nichols said. Nichols also performed in supporting roles in his high school theater productions. All of these aspirations culminated in the production of “Just Call Me Jack,” he said, where he was able to fuse them. The combination was Nichols’ way of showing the power of the younger generations and the potential they can create for themselves, he said. “Older generations have a responsibility to pass the torch to their descendants,” Nichols said. “The film will inspire students to not limit themselves and think outside the box.” Through “Just Call Me Jack,” Nichols said he is also trying to prove to the University that even without a film school, students are doing great things.“Even though this movie is an independent project, I want it to inspire people to keep making things, keep pushing the envelope,” Nichols said. “The bigger our content becomes, the better our school and our education will be and the more we can convince people here at IU that we are talented.” Creating things doesn’t just apply to film students, but all students on campus, Nichols said. “There is no excuse not to create things,” he said. “The world is at our fingertips.”
IU freshman Ben NIchols films during a rehearsal for his upcoming movie, "Just Call Me Jack."
Actors Ken Farrell and Kaleb Rich-Harris read through the script of "Just Call Me Jack," an upcoming feature-length film directed by IU freshman Ben Nichols.