TRI Report

Visiting Scholars

Costume designer Bobbie Owen accepted the TRI Visiting Scholar Research Award for 2015-15. Owen is the Michael R. McVaugh Distinguished Professor of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She came to Ohio to conduct research in the TRI's costume design holdings, including the Carrie Robbins Papers, the Daphne Dare Papers, and the Helene Pons Collection. Owen will use the research as the basis for a book in which the costume designer/costume maker relationship is expored.

Teresa Heiland, associate professor of dance in the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at Loyola Marymount University, accepted the Dance Notation Bureau Collection Visiting Scholar Award for 2015-2016. Heiland conducted research in the Dance Notation Bureau Collection to explore the evolution of pedagogical philosophies and the tenets of those who have used Rudolf Laban’s work as a teaching and learning tool with notation in dance education.

J. David Frego, the Roland K. Blumberg Professor of Music and chair of the Department of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio, accepted the Irwin and Jane Spector Visiting Scholar Award for 2015-2016. Frego explored the rich Dalcroze resources at the institute as demonstrated in the posters created by Hilda Schuster for use in her New York dance studio where many hundreds of children and adults studied.

Marketa Fantova, professional designer and former head of design for performance at Rowan University, accepted the Grayce and Jarka Burian Visiting Scholar Award for 2015-2016. Fantova left Rowan in 2015 and was appointed artistic director of the Prague Quadrennial. Fantova conducted research in the Jarka Burian Collection on the work of the great Czech director Jiri Frejka and the turbulent post-war years during the 1950s in Communist Czechoslovakia.

Lawrence and Lee Lecture

The annual Lawrence and Lee Lecture was given by Czech Theatre Artist and costume designer Dr. Simona Rybáková on Wednesday, September 9th at the Roy Bowen Theatre in the Drake Performance and Event Center at Ohio State. Rybáková's lecture drew a large audience from across Ohio State and the Columbus arts community. As part of her presentation she shared numerous images of costumes she has created throughout her career, focusing in particular on examples of "extreme costumes" created out of materials not always associated with the art of costume design and construction.

Margo Jones Award

In April, members of the Lawrence and Lee families and representatives of the TRI travelled to Miami to present the Margo Jones Award to Ricky J. Martinez, artistic director of the New Theatre. Martinez is a Cuban-American playwright, director, and choreographer who has worked tirelessly to encourage new and varied voices in the theatre.

The award was presented by Damon Jaggars, vice provost and director of The Ohio State University Libraries, and members of the Margo Jones Medal committee—Nena Couch, Beth Kattelman, Mary Tarantino, Deborah Robison representing the Jerome Lawrence family, and Jonathan Barlow Lee representing the Robert E. Lee family. Also in attendance were Neila Lee and Jenny Lee. The importance of the Margo Jones award was recognized by the Miami Dade County Office of the Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners proclaiming April 30th, the day of the ceremony, "Ricky J. Martinez Day" in honor of his award and of his work in expanding Miami's art landscape. This is the first time the Margo Jones Award has been the catalyst for a proclamation, and The Lawrence and Lee Institute is named multiple times in the document.

Undergraduate Research Fellow

During the 2016 summer term, Jayce Fryman, Special Collections Undergraduate Research Fellow, worked with Beth Kattelman to study the TRI’s newly-acquired Baby Pathé Film Projector. The Baby Pathé was one of the first home video projectors. Fryman studied the history of the Baby Pathé Company and of the TRI’s projector, in particular, which was originally owned by the West End Lyric Theatre in St. Louis. Fryman later presented his research findings at a campus-wide Undergraduate Research Forum.

William Case Kramer Fellows

Mandy Mitchell and Joshua Truett were the recipients of the 2015-16 William Case Kramer Fellowships.

Mitchell is pursuing a MFA in Theatre with an emphasis in acting, having received her BA from Salem State University. With the fellowship funding, Mandy travelled to Morinesio, Italy to take part in a week-long workshop on pageant puppetry where she learned about various techniques of puppet construction and animation.

Truett is pursuing an MA in Theatre. He arrived at Ohio State with his BFA from New York University and MFA from California State University, Los Angeles. With his funding, Truett spent the month of May in Juchitan de Zargoza in the isthmus region of Oaxaca, Mexico. This part of Mexico is known for its "local festivals", called velas, the most of which occur during May. During the month, Joshua observed the velas and gathered information that will form part of his Master’s thesis.

Collections

Beth Kattelman, Curator of Theatre, visited the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, Calif. in October. Dell'Arte was founded in 1971 by Carlo Mazzone-Clementi and Jane Hill to bring the European physical training tradition to the United States and to develop actor-creators. The company has trained and influenced hundreds of performing artists from around the world. The Dell'Arte archives will be coming to the TRI and will enhance the already rich holdings in mime and movement.

• Bob Cothran Papers (theatre design)
• Charles H. McCaghy Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs
• Dalcroze School of Music Collection
• Lucy Venable Dance Notation Papers
• J. Donald Smith Gilbert and Sullivan Collection
• Joel E. Rubin Collection (lighting and technical theatre)
• Sidney Kingsley Collection

Classes and Visitors

As always, the TRI was visited by numerous, local, national and international researchers and scholars, and its resources were used by many classes. Here is a list of just some of our 2015-16 visitors and classes:

• Franco Boggero and Father Danilo Galliani of Salerno, Italy and other faculty involved in the Cartelami: Sacred Scenography and Visual Narrative Project.
• Mardi Gras Indian Queen Rukiya Brown
• Bob Cothran, Scenic Designer
• Alexander Galin, visiting Russian playwright
• Bill Hirschman, chair of American Theatre Critics Association and Michael Grossberg, Columbus Ohio Theatre Critic
• Introduction to Theatre (honors)
• Theatre Research Methods
• Archive Spectacles of Agency and Desire: Digital Dance Histories and the Burlesque Stage
• Advanced Stage Lighting
• History of African American Performance
• Contemporary Theatre and Performance
• Introduction to Costume Design
• Dance Research: Theories and Methods
• Scene Design
• Research Seminar in Modern U.S. History