UCALL
REGISTRATION OPENS ON DECEMBER 2ND
Lights. Camera. Action. Broadway.
Mondays: Jan. 6, 13, 27 & Feb. 3, 10
1 to 3 p.m.
Location: College Park Hall, room M102a
We’ve heard the phrase. We’ve seen the shows. Have we ever thought about what happens to create this experience? Long before the first downbeat or the 11:00 tap number, the work that goes into creating a show is as interesting and varied as the shows themselves. Countless people with innumerable talents work for years (sometimes decades) to bring these works of art to the stage. In this course, spend time with local professionals who work in – or adjacent to – the Broadway industry. Hear the stories that have positioned Schenectady inside “the business,” and learn some of the particular peculiarities of this industry involved in bringing audiences into “the room where it happens.”
Week 1: Philip Morris, CEO of Proctors Collaborative, will discuss the view of Broadway from his desk as a Tony Voter, Broadway investor and building operator/partner. Week 2: Creative staff from the award-winning production of “Parade” will talk about the overwhelming acclaim for this revival, its relevance, and the work involved in preparing it for touring.* Week 3: Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, producing artistic director at Capital Repertory Theatre, will discuss the play development process. Obadiah Savage, director of Collaborative Scene Shop, will share insights into the process used to bring the set and prop design to life. Week 4: Freddie Ramirez, director of dance programming for the Collaborative School of the Arts (CSOA), and Dan Wells, musical director for CSOA, will discuss choreography, music and orchestration, and casting choices. Week 5: For our final class, Jean Leonard, president of Proctors Collaborative, will walk through the combination of skill and luck, math and psychology involved in creating a season “on the road.”
* Group tickets will be available for UCALL participants who wish to see “Parade” during its run at Proctors. The show runs Jan. 11 - 17, 2025.
Coordinator: Judith Rabig
Winter Lecture Series
Tuesdays: Jan. 7, 14, 21, 28
9:30 to 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 4
1 to 2:30 p.m.
Zoom Only
This course features a different presentation each week. Week 1: Hear the inspiring story of Barbara Crump, professor of nursing at Berkeley College, whose book, From GED to PhD, tells her remarkable story of overcoming obstacles to pursue her dream. Week 2: Explore Medieval Jerusalem, the most diverse and heterogeneous city in the settled world around the shores of the Mediterranean with Professor of Art History Louisa Matthew. Week 3: Pete Kakel, research historian and lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, challenges both mainstream popular and scholarly understandings of the Second World War’s origins and character. Week 4: Listen as Shou Ping Liu, assistant professor of music and the director of Orchestral Studies at Connecticut College, discusses the music of the Holocaust and the Jewish musical activities in the first wave of concentration camps (1933 – 1941). Week 5: In the aftermath of Election 2024, Political Science Professor Cliff Brown will address your questions and share his thoughts on what may lie ahead.
Coordinator: Angela Dominelli
Psychology and Film
Thursdays, Jan. 9, 16, 23, 30 & Feb. 6
1 to 3 p.m.
Location: College Park Hall, room M107
Enrollment is limited to 35
Film provides a powerful art medium for exploring topics in psychology. This course examines several films from a psychological perspective. Films have a tremendous impact on our society in countless ways, including entertaining, inspiring and teaching. Students will watch public domain films that are online prior to class, and that reflect multiple psychological themes including lifespan, trauma, psychological disorders, grief and resilience. The class will then meet to discuss the psychology of the viewer’s experience, filmmaker/production, depictions of psychology and psychologists/healthcare, and psychological issues/treatment.
Films we will discuss: Week 1: “Good Will Hunting” (1997 - Matt Damon, Ben Affleck). Week 2: “On Golden Pond” (1981 - Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn). Week 3: “Postcards From The Edge” (1990 - Shirley MacLaine, Meryl Streep). Week 4: “Ordinary People” (1980 - Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland). Week 5: “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012 - Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence).
Presenter: Dr. Denise Morett
Coordinator: Phyllis Budka