AHCT Newsletter

December 2003

 

 

Dear Colleague:

 

Very cordial holiday greetings from AHCT.   This newsletter includes information on the Golden Age Theater Symposium in El Paso in March 2004, and other important AHCT news. Please remember to check the mailing label on this newsletter for your dues status.  Information on annual dues and membership renewal appears at the end of the letter.

 

Don Dietz announces he will retire as AHCT President.   AHCT founder and current President, Don Dietz, has announced his intention to step down from leadership of the Association.  Don, who conceived AHCT and became one of its charter members in 1984, has decided to turn over the helm to new leadership as soon as the Board of Directors can find a willing and suitable replacement.  On behalf of the entire membership, the officers, and the Board, we extend our very sincere thanks to Don for the vision, energy, and dedication he has provided AHCT over the past twenty years.  This year’s annual meeting in March will provide us all an opportunity to express our thanks in person.

 

AHCT, Spanish Golden Age Theater Symposium, El Paso, TX, March 4-6, 2004. 

Established in 1984 to promote the production of Spain’s Golden Age Theater worldwide, AHCT will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of its charter in March.  Special sessions at the Symposium will remember AHCT’s history and recognize the Association’s contributions to performance and study of Spanish Golden Age theater.

Conference highlights will also include a plenary session on staging Moreto’s El desdén con el desdén (Spite for Spite) by Michael Halberstam, Artistic Director of the Writers Theatre of Glencoe (Chicago), Illinois.  Mr. Halberstam was the first to produce Dakin Matthews' translation of Moreto's play on stage, and the result earned rave reviews in the Chicago Tribune and other local papers.  Among the topics he will address are how he came to choose the play, the problems he encountered in its production and staging, the difficulties an English translation presents to the contemporary American audience, and the comparison between the Spanish comedia, Shakespeare, and other classical plays.  

A second highlight of this year’s conference will be the performance of Spite for Spite by Dakin Matthews’ Antaeus Company.  After a triumphant season performing Shakespeare in New York, Dakin’s troupe returns to the Chamizal Siglo de Oro Drama Festival.  Their performance of Moreto’s play is scheduled for Saturday, March 6, at the Chamizal Theater. 

Hotel Reservations:  The 2004 conference will take place at the Camino Real Hotel (formerly Camino Real Hilton Hotel) in El Paso, Texas.  Sessions begin Thursday morning, March 4, 2004, and end Saturday afternoon, March 6, 2004.  Hotel reservations may be made by phone at 1-800-769-4300 or 1-915-534-3099, Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm (MST).  The deadline for the conference room rate is February 3, 2004. Participants must mention the AHCT Conference (Association for Hispanic Classical  Theater) and request the group rate of $89 for a single or double or $94 for a triple (plus tax).   There will be a $15 charge per night for the use of a roll away bed or for the extra party (plus tax).

 

Conference Registration:  You must be a member of AHCT to register for the conference.  If you are not currently a member, please send membership dues of $30, or $20 (Retired Members & Students), along with your conference registration fee.   To register for the conference, send your name, affiliation, address, telephone, and e-mail address, with a check for $90 (faculty) or $30 (students) to:  Professor Anita K. Stoll, First Vice-President, AHCT, 2081 Lamberton Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118.  (E-mail: <a.stoll@sims.csuohio.edu>).   Please send registration and membership dues by February 7, 2004; there will be a late fee of an additional $10 for registration after that date.   Checks should be payable to AHCT. Please send separate checks for dues and registration, and please indicate at the bottom left-hand corner of your check whether the payment is for dues or conference registration.  Registration includes conference attendance, the AHCT Annual Banquet in the Dome Room in the Camino Real, transportation to and from the Chamizal National Memorial each evening for the Siglo de Oro Spanish Drama Festival, coffee and refreshments during the conference, and refreshments in the Hospitality Room after the theater performances.

 

The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to January 10, 2003:  The conference planning committee has determined that space and time will allow some additional presentations.  AHCT encourages studies on all aspects of performance of Siglo de Oro dramatic texts, though proposals on other topics related to Spanish Golden Age theater are welcome.  Papers should be 20 minutes in length, in Spanish or in English. Send paper titles with 1-page abstracts and/or proposals for special sessions to:  Prof. Donald R. Larson, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Cunz Hall 266, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1229.   Tel.: (614) 292-2414.  FAX: (614) 292 7726.  E-mail: larson.3@osu.edu.   Submissions may be sent by regular mail, by FAX, or as an e-mail attachment in Word.  FAX transmissions should include a cover sheet addressed to Prof. Larson.   (Please note: the deadline for submission of graduate student papers was December 1, 2003.)

 

Call for Volunteers: AHCT provides transportation to Chamizal’s Siglo de Oro Festival for conference participants.  Volunteers are needed to drive vans from the hotel to the Chamizal National Memorial beginning Wednesday, March 3, 2004.  The conference registration fee will be waived for van drivers.   In addition, the El Paso Times publishes reviews of Chamizal Festival performances.  The Chamizal staff has asked for volunteers to write reviews.  Writers need to bring a laptop computer to submit reviews by publication deadlines.   Please contact Conference Director, Angel Sánchez (see below) to volunteer for either of these roles or for further information.

 

Officers & Board Meetings, Wednesday, March 3:  Officers will meet at 9:00 a.m., and the Board will meet at 1:30 p.m., in the Camino Real Hotel.

 

Conference Up-Dates:  Please check the AHCT symposium web page at <http://staging.denison.edu/~garcia/2004prog.html>  for conference updates and information (please note: this is a new URL).  For additional questions about the conference, please contact the AHCT Conference Director, Professor Angel Sánchez, Arizona State University, Department of Languages and Literatures, PO Box 870202, Tempe, AZ 85287-0202.  Tel. (480) 965-4576, Hm. (480) 786-4633.  E-mail: angel.sanchez@asu.edu.

***

 

The Chamizal National Memorial’s Siglo de Oro Drama Festival:  Artistic Director, Ms. Virginia Ness, reports a full slate of performances by theater companies from Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, and the US.   Dates and play titles will appear on the Comedia Bulletin Board and the AHCT conference web page (above) once the schedule is final. 

 

***

AHCT Grants & Awards:  Susan Paun de Garcia, Chairperson of the Translation Committee, announces that The Program for Cultural Cooperation at University of Minnesota has awarded $3,500 in support of AHCT’s Walker Reid Award for the best production in English translation and the Franklin G. Smith Award for the best playable translation of a Siglo de Oro drama.

 

The Dale Wasserman Foundation has generously contributed $1,000 of unrestricted funds to AHCT.  In 1999, Mr. Wasserman, as featured speaker, addressed AHCT at the annual convention in El Paso, "From Don Quijote to Man of la Mancha: On Dramatizing a Classic"  (VSS992).   His coming book, The Impossible Musical: The Man of La Mancha Story, describes in detail the inspiration and creation of his play and traces the play's theatrical history on the world stage.

 

Donations to AHCT:  To contribute to AHCT, simply send a check to:  AHCT, P.O. Box 28226 Tempe, AZ 85282.  Your support is deeply appreciated.

 

AHCT Dues Information:  The mailing label on the newsletter will verify your dues status.  The date by your name shows the end of the period for which membership has been paid (e.g., 3/04 = dues paid through March 2004).  To keep your membership current and to help us keep our records accurate, please send dues and report corrections or changes in your address and affiliation to Anita Stoll (address below). To simplify payment, please feel free to pay for more than one year ahead.

Dues Categories: A) Individual Membership @ $30 annually [$5 to be applied to the Everett W. Hesse Memorial Endowment]; B) Individual Membership (Retired Members/Students) @ $30 annually; C) Patron Membership @ $35 annually with the privilege of requesting the loan of one video from our archives without charge; D) Sponsor Membership  @ $60 annually with the privilege of requesting the loan of two videos from our archives without charge and the invitation to attend and participate in the annual meeting of the Board; E) Institutional Membership @ $60 annually with the privileges of D above; and F) Sustaining Membership @ 510.00, payable one time only, with the privileges of requesting the loan of two videos from our archives annually without charge and the invitation to attend and participate in the annual meeting of the board.

Please send dues to: Prof. Anita Stoll, Second Vice-President AHCT, 2081 Lamberton Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118 (<a.stoll@sims.csuohio.edu>).  (Checks to: Association for Hispanic Classical Theater).

 

 

Un cordial saludo,

 

 

 

Robert M. Johnston, Recording Secretary

<robert.johnston@nau.edu>

Modern Languages, Box 6004

Northern Arizona University

Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6004