School of Drama Blog

Student Interview: Monica Cortes Viharo (Ph.D.) and her research on the Civil Rights Movement in Tacoma

Monica Cortes Viharo, Ph.D. Student at the School of Drama
Posted on: Jan 26, 2017

Ph.D. student Monica Cortes Viharo was recently awarded a $8,500 Mellon scholarship from the Simpson Center to do a resarch porject that engages the public in the sphere of storytelling and performance. Over the next year she will be collaborating with Sara Freeman, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at University of Puget Sound (UPS) in Tacoma, on a Performance Walk  project. This event will have a self-guided tour that takes participants around Tacoma as they learn more about the Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest. They will also be presenting their resaerch at the Race and Pedgogy conference at UPS in Fall of 2018. We sat down with Monica to learn a little bit more about the origins of this project. 

BR: Can you tell me a little bit about this project? Where did your inspiration come from?

MCV: The inspiration came from three places,...

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Faculty Interview: Welcoming Tim Bond  

Tim Bond
Posted on: Jan 23, 2017

We are so excited to welcome back Tim Bond who received his MFA in Directing from the School of Drama in 1983. He has now returned to be on the UW School of Drama faculty as a professor of Acting and Directing. We sat down with Tim to learn a little bit about what he has been doing in the meantime, and what's he has observed in his time back here. 

BR: How was your first quarter? How are you settling back into Seattle and back into the School of Drama? 

TB: I love being back in Seattle, but it’s a very different city from when I was here. Both in terms of how the city feels, how people travel through it, and what it looks like. Many of my favorite landmarks are gone. I’ve been back and forth for the last twenty years, and in that time, Seattle has gone through a major shift. The theatre ecology is entirely changed. So I am still getting to know it, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of getting to know what Seattle theatre...

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Alumni Spotlight: Richard Nguyen Sloniker and The Trojan Women

Richard Nguyen Sloniker in The Trojan Women
Posted on: Jan 19, 2017

Faculty member L. Zane Jones' local theatre company, CIVIC REP, is currently running a production of The Trojan Women, by Caroline Bird. This radical retelling of Euripides' Greek classic is bursting with UW talent, including direction by Leah Adcock-Starr, performances by L. Zane Jones, Anna LaMadrid, Ray Tagavilla, and Richard Nguyen Sloniker, and design by Julia Welch. We sat down and chatted about the project with PATP '09 alumnus, Richard Nguyen Sloniker.

BR: Can you tell us a little bit about this play? 

RNS: Trojan Women is a contemporary re-telling of the Euripides epic by the talented Caroline Bird. What I really enjoy about Ms. Bird's text is her use of language. It's not overly poetic but it does have a lyrical quality that makes her words easy to speak, the text rolls out of your mouth like a beautiful song, even though what the characters are saying is quite, quite grim. The language she's...

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New Faculty Spotlight: Bridget Connors

Bridget Connors Headshot
Posted on: Nov 17, 2016

We are so excited to be welcoming Bridget Connors into our School of Drama community. Read the interview below to learn more about Professor Connors and her unique take on the education of voice and dialects! 

BR: Hi Bridget! Can you tell me a little bit about how you came to the UW? 

BC: Before coming to the University of Washington I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I taught at Point Park University for ten years.  As Head of the Voice and Movement Program I taught voice, speech, dialects, language and acting.  I have always admired the program here at the University of Washington and it’s outstanding reputation. When I became aware that my friend Judy Shahn was going to retire, leaving an opening  at the UW School of Drama,  I believed the position as voice teacher would be a good match for my personal and professional life and my teaching career. I was ready for a new chapter in my life, helping me to grow both as a teacher and as an actor. I was...

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Alumni Spotlight: Julia Sears --We Cry Havoc --Women in the Theatre of War

Julia Sears
Posted on: Oct 10, 2016

When the world is too much I turn to art. The only thing that has made sense to me of late has been to use my art form to process, explore, and probe relevant social issues that impact myself and my community. The theatre I make shows an audience a real life situation expressed in a metaphorical or fantastical way. By interrogating difficult issues in captivating heightened moments of performance I invite audiences into a conversation that otherwise may be too fraught to tackle. I hope these conversations spark the difficult questions that allow us to productively reflect on our endlessly fascinating, endlessly flawed world.

I have the unique privilege of being a director, which means I often get to choose what kind of theatre I make. I am currently in development for a project called We Cry Havoc a devised physical theatre piece created by a group of civilian and veteran artists. The play...

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Fresh from the Fringe: Isabel Martin's (BA '17) Lesson in Art, Scotland, and Self-Discovery 

Isabel Martin in Scotland
Posted on: Sep 15, 2016

by Isabel Martin

Almost one year ago now, I asked Professor Andrew Tsao when applications for the School of Drama’s summer study abroad expedition would be posted. As a freshman, I’d heard rumors about a magical trip undertaken by UW drama students to Edinburgh, Scotland, where the international festivals took place. There  these students  gorged themselves on theatre for a month, and I was determined to experience this first hand. Unfortunately, Professor Tsao  replied, the program wouldn’t be going ahead this year as he wasn’t available to lead it due to other commitments and student interest had slackened in recent years. Probably somewhat belligerently, I asked what could be done to make the program happen and he doubtfully suggested I find out if there were any other interested students. 

As it turned out, there were. A whiteboard full of signatures, a petition to the Dean, a small mountain of...

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Goodbye for Now to the School of Drama, from Judy Shahn

Posted on: Jun 16, 2016

From Judy Shahn:

I have crossed the threshold. I am now officially retired from the School of Drama after 26 years. Actually, “retired” isn’t really accurate. As some wise friends coined it, I am “L.A.” (Leaving Academia).

If you know the School of Drama, you know Sue Bruns. Sue is the Graduate Programs Advisor and lucky for us, she can advise on many other things we need on a daily basis. Evidently, she added up that I have taught 251 actors during my time in the PATP (Professional Actor Training Program)! Here are some of the things I look back on:

  • Over the years, besides teaching the graduate actors, I had the pleasure of occasionally teaching undergrad classes in Voice, Shakespeare, and Dialects.
  • I was a guest lecturer for Drama 101. Since I don’t lecture, I remember getting the room of 250 students to do text from Greek plays in a chorus!
  • I directed six productions: a Noel Coward, two contemporary...
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Judith Shahn (faculty): A Week on the Orkney Islands

Judith Shahn (right) with Kristin Lanklater at the new Kristin Linklater Voice Centre on Orkney Island.
Posted on: Apr 20, 2016

by Judith Shahn

I had the good fortune to spend a week with Kristin Linklater at KLVC (the new Kristin Linklater Voice Centre) on the main Orkney Island for about 10 days. Kristin has built a beautiful studio with attached kitchen and living room area for residential retreats in the area of Voice & Text. The attached dormitories will be completed by the end of the month. Meanwhile, we lived in modern, comfortable cottages five minutes away.

Releasing your voice is always a worthy pursuit wherever you are and Kristin’s method is known worldwide as “Freeing the Natural Voice” (also the name of her much used book in drama programs around the world). It is inspirational, however, to free one’s voice while looking at the rolling Scottish farmland and the sea just beyond. One beautiful day, we went down to the beach and practiced our Shakespeare text out to the waves!

Kristin arranged for me to do a singing workshop for...

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Drama PhD Students Delve into Medieval Manuscript Pages in UW Special Collections

Drama PhD students look at medieval manuscripts in Special Collections.
Posted on: Apr 5, 2016

by Jay Eckard

“You’re getting a PhD in the theatre? …are you, like, an actor?”

“No,” I say, without dropping my smile. I’ve had practice with this response. You can tell: for example, I never, ever use the word “dramaturg” in the sentence, however accurately it might describe what I used to do for a living. “I used to be a director, but then I decided to go back to school. I’m a scholar: I study medieval and early modern drama.”

At this point, the faint look of bemusement on my interlocutor begins to fade into boredom and disappointment. “Like Shakespeare,” they say, their voice trailing off. Their response is ironic, because I think Shakespeare is boring and disappointing. “Sort of. Mostly before him, though,” I respond. At this point, my spooked interlocutor usually scuttles off to find the nearest wine (at best) or any other person they can eyeball up and be reasonably certain is sane (at worst). My mother made it slightly...

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Simon Tran (BA '16) reflects on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage

Simon Tran at the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the Civil Rights Pilgrimage with UW's Dept. of Communication.
Posted on: Mar 28, 2016

by Simon Tran

It all starts with Drama and ends with Drama.

This last October and again this March I participated in the University of Washington Department of Communication’s Civil Rights Pilgrimage, a nine-day intentional trip to the Deep South to learn about the Civil Rights history in the places where the monumental Civil Rights events occurred. On the pilgrimage we met with living Civil Rights activists, saw theatre performances about the Civil Rights, and dove into the racial history and realities of our country. On these pilgrimages I was joined by 52 others. Our pilgrimage community included students from the University of Washington, Bellevue College, Utah State, faculty, and staff, in addition to adults from the community. The pilgrimage community was intentionally interracial and intergenerational. This fostered people on the pilgrimage to broaden their perspectives and the humanity and...

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