Cab Calloway Orchestra coming to River Campus

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus touring series will kick off with the Cab Calloway Orchestra this Friday.

The orchestra is directed by Calloway Brooks, the grandson of legendary band leader Cab Calloway. He will bring the orchestra’s jazzy, upbeat sounds to the Bedell Performance Hall stage.

Ellen Farrow is the River Campus box office manager.

"We’re about 50% sold, a little over 400 tickets. Normally with this economy, everybody waits until the last minute, so we have plenty available for the public to purchase," Farrow said.

The Bedell Performance Hall’s capacity is 900. Tickets can be purchased at the River Campus box office.

Lauren Campbell and Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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River Campus holds open house

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - The Southeast Missouri State University River Campus hosted an open house previewing some upcoming season events.

A steady stream of people flowed into the River Campus on Saturday for the open house.

Kids could get there faces painted, make origami, and try their hand at various instruments.

The kids weren’t the only ones with entertainment. For the adults, performances ran all day.

Rhonda Weller-Stilson, the Director of the Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts, says all of the areas of the River Campus, from the museum to the art, music, theater, and dance departments, were represented during the day.

"In all of our performance venues we have something going on," Weller-Stilson said. "As well as locations that don’t normally have performances, so in the museum we have cello ensemble, we have jazz ensemble in the convocation center, we have steel drums on the patio. So there’s something happening all over."

Weller-Stilson says said the River Campus has several first-rate shows lined up for this year.

"We open with Into the Woods, and that will be at the end of September. And then we’re doing the Cab Calloway Orchestra, will be one of the touring events. And then we have the symphony opener that will be happening. And in addition to the big events we have small ensembles and recitals, informal dance concerts and things like that, and those are normally free," she said.

The River Campus’ season officially begins with a production of Into the Woods, which runs from September 28 through October 2.

Drew Yount, KRCU

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Red Desert, Green Prairie, Blue Sky

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - A new exhibit of western photography will open today at the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp the Second Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus.

“Red Desert, Green Prairie, Blue Sky: Photographing the West” features landscapes from the Red Desert of Wyoming, the prairie of Central Kansas, and the Llano Estacado of northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico.

Museum director Peter Nguyen says that he was attracted to the exhibit because he thought that it would resonate with people in this area.

“These are newer photographs. Texas Tech actually commissioned six photographers to document the impact of history, culture, and geography of those areas. Basically what they are doing is recording the impact of human settlement on these large, mainly untouched landscapes,” Nguyen said.

The exhibit will be on display through August 14.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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River Campus announces 2011-2012 season

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Tickets for the 2011-2012 season at the River Campus are now on sale.

The upcoming season will feature a wide variety of touring companies as well as local productions.

Touring productions will include the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Blast!, Sister’s Christmas Catechism, the Golden Dragon Acrobats, the Moscow Festival Ballet performing Don Quixote, and the musical Young Frankenstein.

The Department of Theatre & Dance will put on performances of Hamlet, Into the Woods, The Pajama Game, and Lend Me a Tenor. They will also perform Fall into Dance 2011 and Spring into Dance 2012.

Assistant Director Bob Cerchio says that the season will bring something for everybody.

"The variety is always out there. The Theatre & Dance Department does magnificent performances. The Department of Music has so many different artists and ensembles. And also the Visual Arts are out there too with both the Crisp Museum and the Department of Art," Cerchio said.

There will also be classical music performances by Mark O’Connor, Allen Vizzutti, and the St. Petersburg State Orchestra, as well as the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra.

Season tickets are now on sale. Individual tickets may be purchased after July 13.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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Aluminum comes to life on Bedell stage

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Theatrics and dazzling performance graced the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University when the Aluminum Show visited the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall last night.

The performance is a world renowned attraction featuring large scale aluminum puppets as well as dancers clad in the shiny metal complimented by a stimulating combination of music and light work.

The audience-interactive show was created in Israel and quickly gained popularity for its unique use of industrial metals mixed with performance to create a colorful and entertaining spectacle.

The Aluminum Show will continue its tour of the U.S. until June when it begins performances in Madrid’s Teatro Coliseum.

Daniel Rohr, KRCU

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Spring into Dance combines movement, sound, and sculpture

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Percussionist Taylor Stanton is accustomed to teamwork. As a member of the Southeast Missouri Orchestra’s rhythm section, he has to keep his ears open to sounds of his fellow musicians. But for the new Spring into Dance recital, that collaboration goes beyond music.


Listen to the story. 

“It was a joint collaboration between Dr. Reynolds, Dr. Strauss, some people in the Art department, and all of the heads of the Dance department too,” Stanton said. “It’s one big collaboration between all three departments.”

Spring into Dance is a dance production that features lives music from the Southeast Missouri Orchestra, choreography by Southeast dance instructors, and original sculpture pieces by the Department of Art.

The production will continue through Sunday.

This year’s production consists of two acts, the first featuring choreography by Southeast faculty and students, as well as renowned guest choreographer, Susan Quinn. The second act features 20th century works by Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Holst’s work was composed from 1914-1916 during the war-torn years of World War I. The sense of destruction and subsequent rebuilding is sensed through the music, and reinforces every move performed by the dancers.

Instructor of Dance and Choreography, Philip Edgecombe describes how the interdepartmental collaboration sheds a new light onto how important working with others can be to enhance artistic creation.

“I think overall with the collaboration we are accomplishing something that would have been impossible,” Edgecombe says. “The joy of having live music, I think the joy of having original art created for the pieces, and original choreography coming together somewhat harmoniously, but also sometimes not, I think that creates something kind of exciting.”

Four of the nine works of Holst’s opus will be performed, including Mars- Bringer of War, Venus-Bringer of Peace, Mercury- the Winger Messenger, and Jupiter- the Bringer of Jollity.

Mars begins with strong and powerful orchestral movements, followed by the harmonious melody of Venus and the swift, stream-lined sounds of Mercury and closes with the joyous music of Jupiter.

Each movement underscores the progression of war, from times of hardship and battle followed by peace, and the inevitable rebuilding and healing brought about through the passage of time.

Associate Professor of Art, Chris Wubbena, and his team of students have been toiling away for several months to complete several large-scale elements for the performers to utilize during the show.

The sculptures range from about five feet tall to twelve feet tall and are very interactive. Some will be suspended from the ceiling while others glide effortlessly across the floor, all providing a stunning visual element to the performance.

Not only does he believe that each own department has an important job to create something compelling, but the combined artwork of all three departments is vital to the show.

“I also think the end result and the creation of artwork is important,” Wubbena says. “Maybe that is the most important thing. Creating something that is powerful, impressive, and inspiring. All those things, but using the different means of student collaboration and faculty collaboration. Those things, I think, add to that experience in the end.”

The hopes of the students and faculty of the production are not only to create an impressive display of performance and music, but to inspire future performers and artists to put their heads together and work with others on projects down the line.

Wubbena feels that while collaboration between departments is challenging, a compelling result that makes an audience feel inspired is the end that justifies the means.

“If I would have to say something is the most important, I would have to say the overall artwork, in general, and what it leaves the viewer with at the end is probably the most important,” Wubbena says.

Spring into Dance shows at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus from Thursday April 14th through Saturday April 16th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday April 17th at 2 p.m.

Daniel Rohr, KRCU

Photo courtesy of Southeast Missouri State University

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Sculptor wins "Best of Show" at Southeast's Annual Juried Student Exhibition

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Ben Pierce, a sculpture student from Cape Girardeau, won Best of Show at the 2011 Annual Juried Student Exhibition on Friday.

The name of his piece is “One and One Makes Four.”

Pierce says that the title of the piece comes from the creation something new in the blank spaces in between visual items.

"You have two separate positive pieces and then the negative piece becomes a third element. But overall, those three elements comes to be a fourth element, you know, something totally different," Pierce said. "This is an idea I’ve been working on with larger outdoor sculpture pieces that I’ve been making and currently with the three pieces that I have in the selected show."

Southern Illinois University sculpture professor Alex Lopez served as juror for the student exhibit.

All of the works will remain in the Crisp Museum at the River Campus through May the first.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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