AHCT NEWSLETTER

E-mail Version

July 1999

Dear AHCT Colleague:

This summer's newsletter contains a report of the annual AHCT conference in March 1999, a summary of the meeting of the Board of Directors, information about next year's conference, and additional notes about AHCT projects and activities.

Dues Reminder: The AHCT budget depends almost entirely on members' dues,

that support the annual conference, the video library, the Comedia Bulletin Board, the AHCT web site, the biannual newsletter, the Everett Hesse Endowment, and other services. If you have been a member of AHCT during the past three years, by now you should have received a hard copy of the Newsletter via US mail. Please check the mailing label for your current dues status and use the enclosed form to renew your membership. If you have not been a member of AHCT please consider joining.

Dues Categories: A) Individual Membership @ $20 annually [$5 to be applied

to the Everett W. Hesse Memorial Endowment]; B) Individual Membership (Retired Members/Students) @ $10 annually; C) Patron Membership @ $25 annually with the privilege of requesting the loan of one video from our archives without charge; D) Sponsor Membership @ $50 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 @ $50 annually with the privileges of D above; and F) Sustaining Membership @ 500.00, 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:

The 1998 AHCT Spanish Golden Age Theater Symposium, El Paso, TX, March 4-6.

The March AHCT conference included three plenary lectures by AHCT guest speakers and over fifty scholarly papers on various aspects of Golden Age theater read by AHCT members. Among the plenary sessions, Dakin Matthews brought a sequel to last year's presentation on translation and performance of Golden Age plays. As before, professional actors from his Antaeus Company joined him for dramatic readings of selections from translated comedias. As a new dimension this year, they included comparative readings and critiques of translations submitted by AHCT members. Dale

Wasserman, author of Man of La Mancha and other contemporary stage productions, explained how he combined his interpretation of Cervantes's life and the figure of Don Quixote to generate a modern musical for the stage. His insights to the practical dimensions of show production for a contemporary popular audience were well received, even while they challenged some traditional academic perspecitves on art and literature. Professor Ricardo Saez of the Université Rennes spoke on religion and politics in the theater of Lope de Vega, a presentation made possible with support from University Press of the South. In a fourth plenary gathering, student players of David Pasto's company from Oklahoma City University participated in a round-table discussion of their production in translation of Alarcón's The Walls Have Ears. This year's symposium was dedicated to the memory of AHCT colleague and friend, Louise Fothergill-Payne, and the conference closed fittingly with a tribute to her contributions to teaching and omedia scholarship.

The conference coincided with the Siglo de Oro Theater Festival at the Chamizal National Memorial. This year's slate included: Calderón's Life is a Dream, produced by the Department of Theater and Dance from Texas Tech University; Sor Juana's Los enredos de una casa and Calderón's El astrólogo fingido, by the Teatro de Repertorio Latinoamericano from Caracas, Venezuela; and Alarcón's The Walls Have Ears by the Oklahoma City University Theater.

From the Board of Directors Meeting, March 3, and General Meeting, March 6:

Board Elections: Denise DiPuccio, Christopher Weimer, Ruth Hicks, and Robert Johnston were reelected for three-year terms.

Treasurer's Report: Sharon Voros noted that income and expenditures were nearly balanced during 1998-99, and that monies received from dues and video rentals have increased over last year.

A grant of $5,000 from the Program for Cultural Cooperation between the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture and US Universities enhanced AHCT resources to support productions in translation.

With the support of donations and the dedication of $5 from each member's dues (as agreed by the Board), the Everett Hesse Endowment has increased from $25,000 to $26,589.

Election of Officers: The Board re-elected the current officers for an additional one-year term: President, Don Dietz; Vice-President, Catherine Larson; Second Vice-President, Anita Stoll; Treasurer, Sharon Voros; Recording Secretary, Robert Johnston.

Production in Translation: The grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture, provided $2,000 to support the Oklahoma City University production at the Chamizal festival. The remainder will be used to support next year's production in translation. Production in Translation Brochure: Committee Chair, Susan Paun de García, also presented a new brochure designed to inform university and professional theater groups about Spanish Classical Theater and to promote their interest in productions. For copies of the brochure and for additional information for groups interested in performing at Chamizal, contact Susan Paun de García, Department of Modern Languages, Denison University, Granville, OH 43023, e-mail: <garcia@cc.denison.edu>.

Visual Studies: To date, the Visual Studies Committee has taped interviews with six comedia "pioneers": Everett Hesse, Francisco Ruiz Ramón, José Ruano de la Haza, John Varey, Shirley Whitaker, and Vern Williamsen. Of these, the interview with Everett Hesse has been edited and will be available to AHCT members in the video library. The committee expects to edit the remaining tapes in the near future and to conduct interviews with additional comedia "pioneers."

Student Scholarship and Grants: At the General Meeting, AHCT President, Don Dietz, introduced Ms. Gerelyn Johnson, from Brown University, as this year's recipient of the Everett Hesse Student Scholarship travel award. Ms. Johnson received $200 from AHCT and a matching amount from the University Press of the South.

Video Library: The collection has added new titles, and requests for loans have increased significantly in the past year. A new fee structure will apply for express mail--a flat cost of $20 domestic and $30 international. For regular orders by US mail, the cost will remain at $5. To place video orders, members should use the e-mail address of the new assistant, Mr. Manuel Gómez: <gomezm@u.arizona.edu>. Video Library Director, Amy Williamsen, also recommends sending a cc. of the order to her at: <amyw@u.arizona.edu>.

Preservation of AHCT Tape Collection: A committee chaired by Gwyn Campbell has begun exploring avenues to preserve the AHCT video tape collection of Chamizal performances. Options include different means of digitizing and storage for the recordings. Members at universities with the technological expertise and an interest in contributing to this project should contact Gwyn Campbell at the Department of Romance Languages, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450, e-mail: <campbell@wlu.edu>.

Web Page and Electronics: The AHCT web page continues to enjoy heavy use; persons in charge of the server at the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona consider it their most active site. Texts of Golden Age plays in Spanish and in English Translation now number nearly 200. These and other materials valuable for teaching and research are available for educational use free of charge at the AHCT web site: <http://www.coh.ariona.edu/spanish/comedia/>.

Beyond 2000: Plans have continued to take shape for an AHCT conference in Almagro, Spain in July 2000, to coincide with the Almagro theater festival. While still in discussion, guiding concepts include: a thematic focus on "New Directions in Comedia Studies," collaboration and participation of Spanish comedia scholars, a format to involve discussion sessions, and possible workshop meetings with actors from the Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico. Additional information is forthcoming via the Comedia Bulletin Board from Isaac Benabu of Hebrew University.

Comedia 2000: Another nascent AHCT project, envisioned by AHCT President Don Dietz in collaboration with Dakin Matthews, would take the form of a week-long institute, combining both a workshop and a conference, at the Globe Theater in San Diego. It would involve actors, directors, and other theater professionals with the aim of promoting comedia productions. Additional information on this project will appear in subsequent AHCT newsletters or via the bulletin board.

AHCT Conference, March 2000:

AHCT's annual SPANISH GOLDEN AGE THEATER SYMPOSIUM will be held March 9 to 11, 2000, in El Paso, Texas. As a highlight of the conference, and with generous support from the University Press of the South, AHCT anticipates hosting Dr. Fernando Checa Cremades, Director of the Prado Museum, as a plenary speaker. As in past years, the dates coincide with the Golden Age Spanish Theater Festival sponsored by the US Park Service at the Chamizal National Memorial. The Chamizal Memorial is planning a major celebration for the 25th anniversary of the festival, including distinguished guests and performances by the best troupes from past programs. The symposium will feature several special sessions on Calderón de la Barca in celebration of the fourth centenary of his birth, and members are encouraged to propose papers and topics for sessions. AHCT especially welcomes studies emphasizing the performance of Siglo de Oro dramatic texts, though presentations on all topics related to Spanish Golden Age theater are appropriate. Papers should be 20 minutes long, in Spanish or in English. College and university faculty should send paper titles with 1-page abstracts and/or proposals for special sessions to Prof. Denise DiPuccio, (New Address) Dept. of Foreign Languages & Literatures, Univ. North Carolina, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403-3297 (e-mail forthcoming via Comedia Bulletin Board) by November 1, 1999. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals, though we request that you send completed papers rather than abstracts; please send 10-page papers to Prof. Christopher Weimer, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater, OK 74078 (e-mail: <CBWeimer@aol.com>) by December 4, 1999. Graduate students whose papers are accepted will be considered for AHCT's Everett W. Hesse travel support grant. Registration & hotel information will appear in the December AHCT Newsletter. Conference participants are asked to join AHCT.

Additional Notes:

John E. Varey. We note the passing of distinguished Hispanist and AHCT friend John E. Varey this past March. Professor Varey was a plenary speaker at the AHCT conference in 1997, and a mentor, colleague, and valued friend to many of our members. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies will publish an issue in his memory this winter.

El texto puesto en escena, a volume in honor of Everett W. Hesse, edited by Barbara Mujica and Anita Stoll and published by Tamesis, will be ready for distribution soon. Ordering information will appear on the Comedia Bulletin Board.

The Fourth Annual Conference on Women Writers of Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain and Colonial Latin America is scheduled in Tucson, AZ September 16-18, 1999. Annette Kolodny will deliver a keynote address. Registration is $75, due by August 1, 1999. Contact Amy R. Williamsen, e-mail: <amyw@u.arizona.edu>, or ML 545/Dept of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona, 85721.

Everett W. Hesse Endowment: To make a tax-exempt donation to the Hesse Endowment, contact AHCT President Don Dietz, P.O. Box 28226, Tempe AZ 85285-8226, tel.(480) 731-4838. E-mail: <donald.dietz@asu.edu>.

Note of Thanks: AHCT thanks University Press of the South for generous donations in support of AHCT Graduate Student Scholarships and this year's plenary conference presentation by Professor Ricardo Saez of Université Rennes.

With best wishes for the summer & un cordial saludo,


Association for Hispanic Classical Theater, Inc.

Most recent update: 03 Aug 2005