Press Release

East Meets West in the Theater

Naropa's MFA Contemporary Performance program attracts acclaimed East Coast directors and teachers to the mountains

Boulder, Colo. (Oct. 6, 2008)—Naropa University’s MFA Theater: Contemporary Performance program announces a winter production schedule that includes the plays Our Town and Trojan Women. These performances are being presented under the supervision of New York–based directors Stephen Wangh and Kevin Kuhlke.  

Thornton Wilder's Our Town has been characterized as the "the most zen of American plays," and director, Stephen Wangh, has called it "the American play of living and dying." Wendell Beavers, director of the MFA Contemporary Performance program at Naropa University, is acting as choreographer for this production. Our Town will be performed on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6, at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Tuesday, Dec. 9, through Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. All performances will be held in Naropa University’s Performing Arts Center at 2130 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, CO 80302. The cost is $15 for general admissions, $10 for seniors and students, or free to the Naropa community with valid ID.

In February, Kevin Kuhlke will direct the MFA ensemble in a production of the Greek tragedy, Trojan Women. The performance will feature original music by the acclaimed composer Cynthia Hopkins and choreography by University of Colorado Dance Faculty Instructor Onye Ozuzu. Trojan Women will be staged at University of Colorado’s ATLAS Center for Arts, Media, and Performance in Boulder. It will be performed on Feb. 20 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.

Stephen Wangh is a director and a teacher as well as the author of An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical Approach to Acting. Kevin Kuhlke, whose most recent directing credits include a production of The Bacchae at the American Repertory Theater, is the former department of drama chair at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. “The residencies of these acclaimed New York City–based guest artists at Naropa is indicative of the momentum and tremendous following that Naropa's MFA program is gathering in the theater community” says Beavers. Both productions will showcase the second-year MFA students and highlight their training in the avant-garde niche of physical theater and multidisciplinary performance.

Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, nonsectarian liberal arts institution dedicated to advancing contemplative education. This approach to learning integrates the best of Eastern and Western educational traditions, helping students know themselves more deeply and engage constructively with others. The university comprises a four-year undergraduate college and graduate programs in the arts, education, environmental leadership, psychology and
religious studies.