Hancher

continuing the tradition

I got to thinking about a couple of things this week: one was a collaboration that Jacob told me about and the other was how Hancher is continuing to do what we do including commissioning.

In February we are presenting a piece that is going to be incredible. Rinde Eckert (I have written about this before!) has written a new theater work called Eye Piece. I was thinking about how every time I go to see one of Rinde's pieces at Hancher I come away not only so impressed with the work, but also feeling it had really opened my eyes to something I hadn't thought about before. Eye Piece I know will be no different.

Now about the piece Jacob was telling me about. I have to say right up front  you probably won't see it at Hancher, at least not next year, because of scheduling. I had a little time this week so I went online and watched what was there about Slide, another Rinde piece. What intrigued me about Slide is that it is a collaboration with Rinde and eighth blackbird. eighth blackbird is a chamber music ensemble that has been at Hancher. They were here for the incredible performance of Ayre with Dawn Upshaw.  Because of Judy Hurtig I opened my mind and allowed contemporary chamber music in when this group first came to Hancher. 

What I am trying to say with all this rambling is about how important an event Eye Piece will be. Hancher is continuing in its long tradition of presenting new things, good things, and furthering the performing arts—a Hancher commission by a famous UI grad with a campus-wide collaboration. Be there!

Ron

birth, rebirth, renewal, and Sophia

 
Jessica came in to the office with Sophia yesterday. Sophia is 14 days old and Jessica is our Education Director. Sophia is adorable and gorgeous. I got to hold her while Jess chatted with the staff. So tiny, so precious.

It reminded me of something from our staff holiday gathering Monday night. This is the season for many faiths and cultures when the idea of birth and rebirth are primary. It is the time the University ends one session and after a break, they start fresh again. It is just a couple days past the winter solstice, a long time day of celebration of the start of a new phase of life. Then at our party Chuck was talking about the changes we have had here at Hancher. He spoke very eloquently about how this really is an opportunity for the future. That starting soon, Hancher will be headed to something new and how great it is to be a part of this rebirth and renewal of this place we all love. We are excited about the possibilities.

So we wish Sophia and Max (our other newest 2 month old Hancher family member) the best for the new year. And the same to you. And while I am at it, the same for us here.

Ron

such a good thing

There are so many reasons to find Eye Piece interesting. This is a theater piece by Rinde Eckert that Hancher is presenting February 5-14. It is a piece we commissioned and those who have been around Iowa City know, bound to be interesting just because it is by Rinde. He is an Iowa City native, UI grad from the School of Music, with a long history of rich theater pieces that are written by, and often performed by, him. Hancher has presented several of his pieces in the past.

We have watched the gestation of Eye Piece over the last several months. It is amazing to watch the creative process at work from ideas and sketches to casting and rehearsals to scene and costume creation. Perhaps one of the most satisfying things for us is the collaboration with many areas of the University to this one goal.

  1/ Hancher
  2/ UI alum Rinde Eckert
  3/ UI Center for Macular Degeneration (CMD) in the Department of Ophthalmology
  4/ UI Department of Theater Arts
  5/ UI Department of Dance
  6/ UI Department of Music
  7/ Writing Program of the UI College of Medicine
  8/ UI student actors
  9/ UI student musicians
10/ Dr. Ed Stone, students, staff, patients, and families of CMD
11/ UI Department of English professor Steven Kuusisto
12/ UI Center for Media Production
13/ UI School of Art and Art History
14/ Arts Presenters Creative Campus grant
15/ Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
16/ I am sure I missed some but you get the idea

This is exciting. Collaboration. Don't miss such a good thing.

Ron

ultimately human

Janis wrote back in September so perfectly about Avenue Q and why it was her pick for the new season. She said about the show: “Exceptionally clever, terrifically irreverent, cheekily thought-provoking, marvelously hilarious, and ultimately human.”

If you don't know the show take a look at this clip. It is a piece from the Chicago Tribune about Avenue Q behind the scenes.  You too might get hooked on the music...

Ron

 

you gotta love it

I have been watching with interest this view out our office windows.

It is an old building that had been somewhat sad looking for sometime. It has a long history as the Old Music Building. I know there had been painting studios there for a long time. But recently it seemed abandoned. Then last fall I noticed  some new activity. Since then they have redone the roof and begun replacing windows. It is so good to see an old building come back to life. A recent article in the UI College of LIberal Arts and Sciences magazine says that the building will be used for clinical psychology.

The redo is the University's first LEED certified renovation. LEED is a green building certification system. You gotta love a building given new life and one that is done taking into account critical environmental factors. Keep your eye open for an open house next summer. Hopefully there will be one so we can see it first hand.

interesting building #11

The discussion of the where Hancher should be built brought up also the discussion of the best site for a beautiful building. Staying out of that discussion for the moment, the point is always, I think, what is the best design solution for the project. When I was design student at the Kansas City Art Institute, the most important thing they taught was problem solving. Given the current parameters, how does one find the best solution. Best, course, had to be most functional and most interesting. Easy task, huh?

Jacob sent me the image shown here. It is the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies and is along Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago. I think this is gorgeous. In reading about this Chicago building it gets even more interesting. First, this building was a modest budget compared to what other stunning buildings are generally costing. Second, it met the values and the vision of the institution building it.

But the most interesting part for me was the aesthetic solution of putting this 21st century building in the line of the famous mile and half of buildings that clearly date from the previous century. The article linked above describes this building as subtly juxtaposing, complementarily contrasting the neighboring buildings. They compare it with the addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City which was done by Steven Holl who did the UI's very own Art Building West.

This building seems to really come up with the best solution to the problem. It has less to do with location and more about great design. So wherever we are, that is what we need: a gem.

Ron

The discussion of the where Hancher should be built brought up also the discussion of the best site for a beautiful building. Staying out of that discussion for the moment, the point is always, I think, what is the best design solution for the project. When I was design student at the Kansas City Art Institute, the most important thing they taught was problem solving. Given the current parameters, how does one find the best solution. Best, course, had to be most functional and most interesting. Easy task, huh?

Jacob sent me the image shown here. It is the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies and is along Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago. I think this is gorgeous. In reading about this Chicago building it gets even more interesting. First, this building was a modest budget compared to what other stunning buildings are generally costing. Second, it met the values and the vision of the institution building it.

But the most interesting part for me was the aesthetic solution of putting this 21st century building in the line of the famous mile and half of buildings that clearly date from the previous century. The article linked above describes this building as subtly juxtaposing, complementarily contrasting the neighboring buildings. They compare it with the addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City which was done by Steven Holl who did the UI's very own Art Building West.

This building seems to really come up with the best solution to the problem. It has less to do with location and more about great design. So wherever we are, that is what we need: a gem.

Ron

tap, tap, tap

Last time I wrote about Thank You, Gregory coming January 23 and had a photo of featured dancer Joseph Webb.

Equally great photos came in also of the other featured dancer Chloe Arnold. Her bio too is chocked full of interesting work including being a Columbia University film grad and directing some short films and music videos. Her dance credits include working with Debbie Allen and Savion Glover. And this is just two of the eight dancers. The program includes tributes to all the great dancers and the great music they danced to. 

thank you to Thank You, Gregory

 

We are working on the playbill for Thank You, Gregory. This show falls right after the break so we try to get as much done now as we can. My request for some images to the people handling this show brought several emails with some great photos. We didn't have much to work with before so Patrick and I were soooo happy to get these.

One of Joseph Webb is pictured here. He is one of the featured dancers. His bio is stuffed full of interesting work. He was in the Tony winning Broadway show Bring in 'Da Noise Bring in 'Da Funk. Good stuff. 

It is always interesting to see what kind of images come with the events we present. We generally are required to use only the images that are provided. Things like artists' credits, photographer's copyright, and so forth make it important that we use what is approved by the event. The good news is that we get some incredible things to use. The bad news is that it isn't always so incredible.

Ron

 

worse than it looks

view from my office window (in Seashore Hall) today

No classes today but my hardy student Patrick came in to work on the Thank You, Gregory playbill. You can't see the snow blow or feel the cold creep in or hear the wind whip in the photo. Kind of like days like this.

Ron

a cappella meets a cappella

 

Today Hancher got two groups together. Straight No Chaser is here for a concert tonight and we arranged for them to hold a workshop with Intersection, a UI student a cappella ensemble. I have mentioned here before about how gratifying it is for us to do the extra activities outside the performances with artists. This is especially so when it involves one-on-one with students. The SNC guys performed for them, listened to them perform, offered suggestions, identified their strengths. They were gracious and involved. It was a pleasure to sit back and see a seasoned group supporting a younger group. 

SNC talked a lot about more than just singing. They encouraged the UI students to do what they love and to work hard at it. They told the kids to share their joy of singing with the audience. Most importantly they told them that they had to take ownership of what they do and do it to the fullest.

Hmmm. I think I will use that tonight in my design class. Last class for the semester calls for something inspiring. Since I teach and can't make the concert tonight at least I can invoke words of inspiration from Straight No Chaser. That is if it stops snowing...

Ron

heading west to Corning

A couple of weeks ago we announced the community that received our grant to participate in this year's Spot event. The winner was Corning, Iowa. Adams County is one of Iowa's Great Places and Corning has been identfied a National Great American Main Street.They have a terrific website including this charming little video about living in Adams County. I am not sure from the video if it is Corning but I suspect so. I am curious about how this promo video came about and who did it.

is it too late?

Natalie MacMaster has limited tickets left for tomorrow night. But some are available. That brought up a question I had and thought maybe others wondered too: when is it too late to get tickets? I called Lisa in our box office and got the answer!

You can order tickets online up to two hours before show time. (If it is sold out, that will be online.) If you order them online, you can then pick up your tickets at the door. The Box Office opens up at the event venue one hour before a show for walkup ticket sales. With having all the different venues for our events now, it means a rigorous effort for the Box Office to make it all work. But it does. They are good!

Ron

good design

I have to confess that I didn't come up with the idea of graphics interns on my own. I stole Rob's idea when I saw how well it worked for his marketing/writing interns.

We have always had a student graphics assistant who primarily was responsible for the playbill. A few years ago I started having student graphics interns and how enriching it has been for me. When you are the only resident designer it is really nice to have someone else around to talk shop.

Patrick Futtner is the current graphics assistant doing the playbill. Patrick is a UI senior in design. He really hit the ground running doing the playbill when school started this fall.  The playbill is a lot of production work as well as creative work. Putting together 36-page books takes someone who understands editorial and page layout design. He has done a great job this year doing those and meeting deadlines which is always tough.

But what really stands out is the work he did as a summer intern. He worked all summer doing posters for our season events. You can see his posters at the Hancher Box Office in the Old Capitol Center all season long. Here is a sampling of his work so far this year.

Ron

good writers

I have written before about how good our students are.

We have an internship program here that Rob started for students interested in writing and marketing. And they are amazing. We have two pieces in the upcoming Straight No Chaser playbill written by two interns. Melea Andrys wrote a piece about a capella music as revolution and Erin Donohue has a tribute to Gregory Hines for the upcoming Thank You, Gregory show at Hancher.  They are personable, interesting, and really are worth a read!

I also want to remind you that our playbills are available online before the event. When we prepare the playbill for print we also put in online so you can read those a few days before the event. Sometimes it will include program notes on what is being played. When the program is being announced from the stage, like the two upcoming show, those obviously don't have program notes. But we always have the artists biographies and often other articles like the two this time. 

While I am talking about students at Hancher, I want to also mention the student blog. The link is on our homepage. We have students reviewing the events and giving us their take on a show. I find them particularly interesting because the students often have a different viewpoint. I have to say that I usually agree with them and sometimes vociferously disagree! Kery wrote an entry about Herb Alpert and today I received a good comment from a student reader.

We do want to hear from you about anything any time.

Ron

interesting building #10

PHOTO/OMA

The last two days, the entries here were "interesting buildings" that Derek, on our staff, sent to me. They were for the Taipai Performing Arts Center and both were building designs not chosen.

Here then is the last in this group and the one that they did choose. I am kind of surprised that this one was chosen, but once again, I think there is merit in just seeing what is out there. This design is from OMA which is also the designer of the new theater in Dallas that we listed here in Interesting Building #7. OMA includes Rem Koolhaas who designed the first building we profiled here.

Ron

interesting building #9

Taipei Performing Arts Center proposal by Francois Blanciak Architect
Image courtesy Francois Blanciak Architect

Derek from yesterday's post sent me a follow-up link to another architect's design for the same Taipai performing arts project. Neither this one nor yesterday's won the competition but as Derek points out, it is really interesting to see the two takes on this project. This building is from a Tokyo architect Francois Blanciak. This reminds me of Lake Superior rocks and is quite interesting.

A comment from Jake on yesterday's post mentions the functionality of the new building. This design moves in a totally different direction. It is important, I think, to think broadly at this point and just enjoy imagining. 

Keep commenting!

Ron

interesting building #8

 

Derek, our lighting and rigging supervisor, sent this interesting building design. It is from Architects.Collective for a performing arts builiding in Taipai. What I find so intriguing about the design (as oulined in their commentary) is how they linked the building to the community with an open-air, covered, public, open-all-the-time space. We have talked here at Hancher about wanting our building to have  accessibility. Things like coffee shop area, dining spaces, exhibit areas have been discussed. All this seems to make sense in drawing people into the art experience.

Here is what the A.C description says about the Taipai building:

At the heart of the complex is the Common Lobby which is an elevated platform from which the three theaters are accessed. People can visit the venues or the restaurant or just to walk through this urban passage. This multifunctional space can be used as a gathering space, for events or as an open air theater. The human experience is that of openness and connectivity to the outside and an attraction and drawing in toward the building when experienced from outside.

Let us know what you think.

Ron

Field House, DI, and Herb

Another audience comment came in today from Jean. She also had an interesting personal story. She was a student at Iowa when Herb Alpert first appeared here. She still had the DI article from his visit here. The concert was in the Field House. She later bumped into Alpert at the Carousel Restaurant in Coralville. Wow, that was a long ago memory for me. The Carousel was on the corner of Hwy 1 and First Avenue in Coralville. When I was a kid it was our special birthday dinner outing to a "fancy" restaurant.

With all our looking ahead and planning for the future, I love these glances back, especially when it is a story like this: UI student still enjoying what we have to offer.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Ron

sing your heart out

I LOVE the music in Avenue Q. I was explaining the story and the show's social issues to someone today when it struck me that it is the music that does both. I am not one to EVER do karaoke but I know people love it. It kind of reminds me of some romantic idea I have of British or Irish pubs where people sing and have a great time.

So Melea has organized a series of Avenue Q karaoke contests. The first is December 9 at The Piano Bar in Iowa City. The winner will get free Avenue Q tickets. I hear that Melea is prepared to sing but don't let her win the tickets! She already got to organize the event and so she shouldn't be the only one who gets to perform. Show up and sing your heart out. And get your tickets to the real thing right here!

Ron

longtime fan meets his hero

 

Wow, I had forgotten all about Ray Coniff from my childhood until Steve Asmann wrote to us about his experience at Herb Alpert and Lani Hall. It seems that Steve has been a fan of Herb and Lani ever since his mom got South of the Border lp for Christmas when he was 5 years old. His dad listened to Ray Coniff and the Tijuana Brass record brought a new and exciting sound into their house. 

When I got Steve's comment on Herb and Lani, I immediately took note because it was from Kansas. It turns out that Steve and his wife came to Hancher just to see Herb. Quite a trip but it sounds like it surpassed his expectations. You can read all of Steve's comments here.

After each event we ask our audience to let us know what they thought. I have to say that most people write something positive even if they have a complaint. Of course we want to hear good things but the point of the asking is to hear what people are thinking and experiencing so we can make it better if we can. Don't hesitate to let us know what you think. You can find all our contact information on our website at the top under "contact us" or email me and I will get it to the right person.

Ron