Embracing the "Foggy Place" of Theatre History: The Chautauqua/Colloquia Model of Public Scholarship as Performance

In her December 2013 Slate polemic “The End of the College Essay: An Essay,” Rebecca Schuman calls for the end of assigning and grading papers in required courses. Since “the baccalaureate is the new high-school diploma” and “students (and their parents) view college as professional training,” professors should “declare unconditional defeat” and abandon the dated notion that writing essays is a necessary part of a decent undergraduate education.1 As a theatre historian with training in rhetoric and composition, I have incorporated numerous student-centered writing strategies in theatre history, literature, and theory courses, but ultimately I have taken a similar stance when discussing departmental curricula with my colleagues: I question the value of traditional (that is, reader-oriented and paper-based) research/writing assignments within the major

LMDA New & Noteworthy, October 2018

Contents include: Welcome: Letter from the President Martine Kei Green-Rogers; LMDA in the Academy; The Challenges and Rewards of Introducing Dramaturgy to a Department; New Regional Events for 2018-2019; Find your Facebook Regional Group Here; Missed out on Toronto? Join us in Chicago for #LMDA19; Call for Translators.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdanewsletter/1022/thumbnail.jp

Review: The Journal of Dramaturgy, volume 22, issue 2

Contents include: Editor\u27s Note; Elliott Hayes Award Acceptance Speech From Denver to Gulu, With Thanks to Lynn Nottage; Learning to Speak American: A Writer\u27s Journey, Keynote Remarks Delivered at the Annual Conference of the Literary Managers and Dramturgs of the Americas, Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA June 28, 2012; Michael Mark Chemers\u27 Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy; Creative Process in Theatrical Translation: An Interview with Adam Versenyi; Croisades in Quebec: On the Semiotics of Contemporary French Dramaturgie. Issue editors: Sydney Cheek-O\u27Donnell, Debra Cardona, Janine Sobeckhttps://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1044/thumbnail.jp

Small-molecule allosteric activators of PDE4 long form cyclic AMP phosphodiesterases

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4) enzymes degrade cAMP and underpin the compartmentalization of cAMP signaling through their targeting to particular protein complexes and intracellular locales. We describe the discovery and characterization of a small-molecule compound that allosterically activates PDE4 long isoforms. This PDE4-specific activator displays reversible, noncompetitive kinetics of activation (increased Vmax with unchanged Km), phenocopies the ability of protein kinase A (PKA) to activate PDE4 long isoforms endogenously, and requires a dimeric enzyme assembly, as adopted by long, but not by short (monomeric), PDE4 isoforms. Abnormally elevated levels of cAMP provide a critical driver of the underpinning molecular pathology of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) by promoting cyst formation that, ultimately, culminates in renal failure. Using both animal and human cell models of ADPKD, including ADPKD patient-derived primary cell cultures, we demonstrate that treatment with the prototypical PDE4 activator compound lowers intracellular cAMP levels, restrains cAMP-mediated signaling events, and profoundly inhibits cyst formation. PDE4 activator compounds thus have potential as therapeutics for treating disease driven by elevated cAMP signaling as well as providing a tool for evaluating the action of long PDE4 isoforms in regulating cAMP-mediated cellular processes

Staging the Numinous

As a New York theatre critic recently noted, in reference to Orson Welles\u27 Moby Dick Rehearsed, it takes a fool or perhaps a genius to adapt one of the greatest American novels for the stage. John Gentile, chair of the Department of Theatre and Performance studies at Kennesaw State University, has dared to tackle this Leviathan work in a new stage adaptation, developed over the last five years

Locomotive leisure : the effects of railroads on Chicago-area theatre, 1870-1920

textIn the years between 1870 and 1920, while Chicago solidified its status as “second city,” outranked only by New York in metropolitan might, American theatre underwent its own industrial revolution. Like other service-oriented businesses of the time, theatre became a centralized, consolidated industry, managed from the top down by profit-maximizing producers. During this same time, railroads transformed the nation’s cultural and geographical landscape, quite literally laying the tracks for mass (re)production and distribution, and, by extension, consumer capitalism itself. The connection between these events was more than coincidental. In this x half-century, theatre and railroads both thrived in cocksure Chicago – indeed, railroad’s success fueled theatre’s, and theatre’s reliance on touring in turn influenced rail development. These three main characters – the city of Chicago (and, to a lesser extent, the surrounding Midwest), the railroad business, and the touring theatre business – guide the following study, which seeks to answer the question “how did railroads affect Chicago-area theatre, 1870-1920?” On economic, social, and aesthetic levels, railroad reliance changed American theatre in ways that remain apparent today. From the rails, theatre learned the strategies of this nation’s paradigmatic big business – and these strategies would in turn influence the everyday lives of actors and audience alike. As railroads grew to be an assumed part of daily routines, they infected the imaginations of the American public in ways that were reflected in the artwork of this period, from lithography and literature to musical and stage compositions. Overall, the sense of what it meant to be “transported” – both literally and figuratively – became a central issue to Americans grappling with Modern life at the turn of the twentieth century. Based largely on archival research, my dissertation explores how this transportation sensibility resonated in the locomotive leisure of midwestern America. It does so through two trajectories: the first, focusing on the effects railroads had on theatre business, looks at the managers, actors, and spectators of locomotive leisure. In the second, I consider how some of the same concerns wrought by the rails (efficiency, urbanization, and nervousness) surfaced in theatre practice, using a popular extravaganza as my case study.Theatre and Danc

Betwixt and Between: Creating Communitas Without Getting Bendy with It

While it is common knowledge that faculty learning communities (FLCs) are a powerful means to encourage vibrant intellectual exchange and professional growth, we often overlook the possibilities forged in FLCs that focus on the body and spirit as well as the mind (Goto, Marshall, and Gaule, 20). During our multi-year participation, we found that communal yoga practice, shared readings, discussions, and reflective wiki writing allow faculty members to shed their academic selves (and/or poses) in favor of behaviors indicative of more integrated professionals. In this session, attendees will practice simple, non-bendy, standing poses (e.g., mountain pose) and perform and interpret academic postures (e.g., standing behind a lectern). These activities will lead to discussion about creating communitas in liminal institutional spaces. Furthermore, along with identifying strategies and implications for integrating yoga pedagogy and teaching, attendees will receive resources for further inquiry into the field of contemplative pedagogy