TWO NEW PLAYS BY FACULTY GIVEN STAGED READINGS THIS FALL

Professor Scott Winfield Sublett’s new play “The Repeating Arms of Sarah Winchester” will be the subject of a staged reading for one night only on Monday, December 4, in the Hammer Theatre Center’s new “black box” space: the Hammer 4.

The play explores Sarah Winchester’s exposure to the new and progressive religion of Spiritualism while she is still a young widow residing in New Haven, Connecticut. The reading will be produced by the Dept. of Film and Theatre in partnership with The San Jose Stage Company, directed by Kirsten Brandt, and produced by Barnaby Dallas, with set designs under the supervision of Prof. Andrea Bechert.

“At this point in her life, Mrs. Winchester is a rational, well-read, progressive suffragette, searching, like many Americans were in the late 1800s, for a new religion to replace the harsh Calvinism of her youth. This is not the fictional, kooky Sarah of the tourist attraction house,” Sublett said.\

Meanwhile, Prof. Sublett’s new musical, “Charleston Harbor,” will be given a staged reading by Manhattan’s legendary Amas Musical Theatre on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Amas is noted for having invented “non-tradition casting” before the term was coined.

The play is about Robert Smalls, a slave who became the greatest black hero of the Civil War.

The great 19th century intellectual Frederick Douglass accompanied Captain Smalls to a meeting with President Lincoln, who was so impressed with Smalls’s military exploits that he was persuaded to allow blacks to enlist in the Union Army.

“Smalls was forgotten by history, lost, which shocked and disheartened me,” Sublett said. “It’s my hope that the play revives interest in Smalls by other artists, by scholars, and particularly by historians. He deserves a higher place in history than he has been given.”

Subtitled “A True Civil War Adventure with Historical Music,” the new play integrates authentic spirituals of 1800s into the dramatic action.

Https://www.amasmusical.org/copy-of-dare-to-be-different

Christopher Scott will direct for Amas.

College of Humanities and the Arts 2017 Distinguished Service Award Goes to Film & Television’s Dr. Kathie Kratochvil

Dr. Kratochvil with her son and husband

Congratulations to Theatre Arts lecturer Dr. Kathie Kratochvil, who was selected by Dean Vollendorf as the winner of the 2107 Distinguished Service Award from the College of Humanities and the Arts for her many contributions to our department and the community beyond our institution’s walls. 

Kathie received a $1,000.00 professional development award as well as a certificate of achievement from the Dean at the College of Humanities and the Arts Awards Luncheon in May. 

Thank you, Kathie, for making our department look good in the college! The Department. of Film, and Theatres extraordinary lecturers are a big reason for the quality education students are getting in our department.

RTVF Grad Grabs Anchor Spot

SJSU grad Pierre Noujaim, who majored in Radio-Television-Film and worked at campus radio station KSJS, has been named the sports anchor for the Sacramento ABC affiliate station. Sacramento is the 20th largest TV market in the US.

You can follow Pierre on Twitter at https://twitter.com/thenouj