Vol. 24, No. 9	November 13, 1998

School of the Arts Shines This Season in NYC

ALUMNI, STUDENTS AND FACULTY ARE FEATURED IN GALLERIES AND THEATERS ACROSS NEW YORK CITY

By Kim Brockway

This season, a number of Columbia faculty, alumni and students, mostly from the School of the Arts, are performing in off-Broadway productions and exhibiting their work in notable galleries throughout the city.

The Manhattan Theatre Club's staging of Corpus Christi-the season's most talked-about new theatrical production after it was nearly cancelled due to threats from religious activists-features two Columbia alumni. Terrence McNally, CC'60, wrote the play, and Anson Mount, MFA'98, stars in the role of Joshua.

Mount described his education at Columbia, which focused on performances of classical theater, as a good preparation for his current work with new material.

"My professional training in the graduate program is absolutely vital to what I'm doing today," Mount said. "Being able to be flexible enough to try anything the director gives me, to pick up a new scene and add it to a performance, is something I acquired at Columbia. And because so much of our training was about 'ensemble' and the give and take between actors, I'm able to perform with twelve other actors who are on stage during the entire production."

Of fellow Columbian McNally, Mount says, "he works harder than anyone I know." When the actors needed a "better sense of where he was going with the play," McNally met with the company and provided specifics.

Corpus Christi runs through Nov. 29, and Mount is still deciding what's next. "Theatre will always be my touchstone, it's where I communicate well," he says. "Especially if I'm given the opportunity to work with directors like Andrei Serban in a professional environment-it might be like going back to school."

Serban, professor of theatre arts and director of the Hammerstein Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia, directed Mount in the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline this summer.

But audiences anticipating Mount's next project may be just as likely to find him on the big screen instead of the small stage. "There's a lot of interesting material coming out in films right now," he says. "It's a real inspiration to see people my age doing quality work that's seen by millions." For information about tickets to Corpus Christi, call (212) 581-1212. Serban is busy this fall too-inspiring another generation of actors. Through Nov. 15, he directs the sixteen-member 1999 Graduate Acting Company in a production of The Taming of the Shrew at LaMaMa E.T.C. on East 4th Street. Assistant director Sheri Wilner and dramaturg E. Christian Parker are also Columbia graduate students. For ticket information, call (212) 475-7710.

The 1998-'99 Directing Thesis Season begins in December, closer to campus at the Horace Mann Theatre on Broadway and 120th Street. Graduate student/director Jeanette Staman's Margaret rose: Richard will be staged Dec. 2-5, and graduate student Timothy Holst directs Woyzeck, Dec. 16-19. For more information about the shows, call (212) 854-3408. Nineteen-seventies and 1980s multimedia audio work of Laurie Anderson, BC'69 and MFA'72, is showcased at Artists Space, now through Nov. 7. For hours, call (212) 226-3970.

Also, a number of current faculty from the Visual Arts Program are exhibiting works around town. Matthew Ritchie's paintings are included in The Gamblers, on view at Basilico Fine Arts (966-1831); Carroll Dunham's drawings are in Land and Houses at the Nolan/Eckman Gallery (925-6190) and Laurie Simmons' photographs are on view at Metro Pictures (206-7100). Closer to campus, prints by Kiki Smith are currently on view at the Neiman Gallery in Dodge Hall.