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Bourus wins grant to bring British actors to campus
June 13, 2005 | |||||
KOKOMO, Ind.—Members of the troupe Actors from the London Stage (AFTLS) will perform and offer workshops at Indiana University Kokomo in February 2006, under a $20,000 grant proposal developed by Assistant Professor of English Terri Bourus, Ph.D.
Bourus learned in mid-May that her proposal would be funded through the IU New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities: New Perspectives Grant, made possible by the Lilly Foundation. During a one-week residency, five actors of the AFTLS's traveling troupe will meet with IU Kokomo students and faculty. The troupe will also stage two performances of “The Merchant of Venice” open to the campus and community. In past seasons, Bourus said, AFTLS actors have come from The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, and Shakespeare's New Globe Theatre in London. AFTLS will announce its next traveling cast in October. The experienced acting and teaching company incorporates acting into classroom activities, presenting William Shakespeare's plays “as they were meant to be enjoyed—as performances,” Bourus said. “Their stay will provide students and faculty with a unique opportunity to discuss the literature and art of the theatre with actors who have studied at Great Britain's finest universities and who have acted with some of the most prestigious theatre companies in the world. Students interested in acting will have the opportunity to participate in intensive acting workshops with experienced thespians there to direct them.” AFTLS workshops will be offered primarily to IU Kokomo's English, theatre arts, communications, and history students. Bourus also hopes to involve classes from other interested departments, including the Master of Liberal Studies program. “Although AFTLS specializes in Shakespeare, the actors can handle any acting text with equal aplomb,” Bourus said. “Dr. Bourus is to be commended for bringing such a prestigious theatre company to Kokomo,” said Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Susan Sciame-Giesecke, Ph.D. “Without the support of the Indiana University New Frontiers Grant in the Arts and Humanities, our students, faculty, and community members would not be able to experience Shakespeare in performance by such high-caliber actors. This truly will be a unique event that will allow IU Kokomo to celebrate its 60th anniversary engaged in the arts and humanities. I hope everyone will mark their calendars and join us for their public performance next year.” In 2004, Bourus brought Ivan Fuller, Ph.D., to campus to present several drama workshops. An actor and professor of theatre at Augustana College in South Dakota, Fuller showed students how to draw more meaning from Shakespearean dialogue by considering how the plays were originally staged. “The kids loved Ivan, and the positive response convinced me that IU Kokomo could benefit from more of these kinds of experiences,” Bourus said. Bourus has gained international recognition among Shakespeare scholars and performers for her research on early printed versions of the playwright's scripts. She has presented her findings in journals and at several conferences in Great Britain and France. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Humanities invited her to join the faculty of the Summer Shakespeare Institute. Bourus acknowledged Peter Holland of the University of Notre Dame, and previously from the Stratford-Upon-Avon Institute in Stratford, England, for writing an enthusiastic letter of support for this grant proposal. She said, “Dr. Holland is a renowned scholar, well known and well respected in the Shakespearean acting and academic communities—[the letter] may well have pushed my application over the top.” For more information on theatre arts and other courses available through the IU Kokomo School of Arts and Sciences, visit www.iuk.edu/arts_sciences or call (765) 455-9381.
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