This March, the curtain goes up on the student-faculty collaboration "Sin City: The Vaudeville Years" in an unlikely place: South Australia.
It's fitting that the Las Vegan helping the College of Fine Arts students take their show from 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ to the University of Adelaide is Mary Healy Hayes. Her career spanned six decades in vaudeville, radio, television, and film. "She and her husband were performers, so she understood the need for travel funding," says Fine Arts Dean Jeffrey Koep.
Hayes recently earmarked a gift to the college to provide for student development opportunities such as participation in the Adelaide Fringe Festival -- the second largest fringe festival in the world.
"Last year, more than 800,000 people attended the festival and this year, they've added an extra week of performances," notes Tim Jones, a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ visiting lecturer and a graduate of the University of Adelaide.
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ students and faculty wrote and choreographed the one-hour show that chronicles how the vaudevillian variety show thrived through the 1950s in Vegas headliner performances. In addition to mounting the show in one of the city's central theaters, students will have performers' passes, allowing them access to more than 400 festival events.
"It's a chance to work with artists from all over the world and see how they approach their crafts," says Sarah Norris, the production's student director and a second-year MFA student. "This is such a reputable festival; it's really a big deal."
The trip is also academic coursework, as participating students are required to meet with faculty to review and assess their participation in the cross-cultural program. It's important for students in the fine arts to have international exposure and understand how other cultures create and react to different types of art, Koep says.
"For many of us, this is the first opportunity to travel outside the U.S. in a performance setting," graduate percussion student Ben Stiers says. "I'm really excited about the opportunity to collaborate with others in the college, but also to be part of a cutting-edge international festival."
