Dear Readers,
We launched The Through-Line in January 2014 in an effort to share with you—our students, alumni, prospective students, and colleagues in Seattle and across the country—the excellent work being done by our faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Like all units at the University of Washington—and higher education institutions world-wide—we here at the School of Drama strive for academic excellence. Positioning ourselves as a hub for academic, as well as creative, excellence is the challenge we share with our fellow arts units at a top-tier research university.
We easily understand scientists as people who do research. Do we understand the same for artists? I’m not an expert on research methods, but I think I remember from high school biology that you start with a question you want to answer. Artists are full of questions. Their expression of those questions is what we call art. Like scientists, they run their experiments over and over. Their answers lead to new questions.
The quarterly production of The Through-Line has granted me the opportunity to meet and engage with the faculty, staff, alumni, and students of the School of Drama—our creative researchers. Interviewer is one of my most favorite job descriptors. Each interview I conduct I am blown away by the intelligence, passion, and interrogative questioning of the members of this community of artists.
This issue of The Through-Line features the excellent Judith Shahn (senior lecturer in voice and dialects), Desdemona Chiang (MFA Directing ’09), Moises Castro (PATP ’16), and three undergraduate students—Rhoya Selden, Dominic Racelis, and Simon Tran. I hope learning about their artistic and academic pursuits becomes one of your most favorite things, too.
Sincerely,
Katrina