Press Releases

APPLETON, WIS. — Senior Kristen Hammargren and junior Jem Herron were selected for the 2008 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition following exceptional performances in Lawrence University’s recent (Nov. 15-18) production of “Las Meninas; A Fantasia in Two Parts.” The Ryan scholarship competition is part of the annual American College Theatre Festival.

Hammargren, Bloomington, Minn., and Herron, Ann Arbor, Mich., join seniors Asher Perlman, Madison, Aram Monisoff, South Nyack, N.Y., and Ashley Korolewski, Manitowoc, who were previously selected for the Ryan competition from productions staged earlier this year. Perlman was recognized for his work last February in “Smash,” while Monisoff and Korolewski were cited following last May’s “The Whiteheaded Boy.”

More than 300 student actors are expected to compete for a $500 scholarship January 8-12 at the ACTF’s five-state regional competition in Milwaukee co-hosted by Marquette University and Cardinal Stritch College. Winners at the eight regional competitions advance to the national auditions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in April, 2008.

In “Las Meninas,” Hammargren portrayed Princess María Teresa, the 18-year-old heir apparent to the throne of Spain while Herron portrayed Spain’s King Philip IV. Set in Madrid during the Spanish Inquisition, the play is loosely based on the life of acclaimed 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velazquez and his famous painting “Las Meninas” (“The Maids of Honor”). Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts, directed the production.

Three other Lawrence students — senior Julia Robinson, Normal, Ill., sophomore Lauren Sholofsky, Reisertown, Md., and senior Kim Stabile, Wayland, Mass. — also will participate in January’s regional competition in the ACTF’s design competition.

Founded in 1969, the ACTF recognizes the finest and most exciting work produced in college theatre programs and provides opportunities for participants to develop their theatre skills. Conducted since 1972, the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship was established in the will of the late actress, best known for her role as the lovable and feisty Granny Clampett on the TV hit show “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

APPLETON, WIS. — A Marshall University historian and author discusses strategies employed by the Nazis toward ethnic non-Jewish Poles that were tantamount to a “dress rehearsal” for the Holocaust in a Lawrence University address.

Phillip Rutherford presents “‘Racial Reshuffling’ and the Nazi War Economy: An Ordering of Priorities” Monday, Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. in Main Hall 201.

A specialist on the Nazi era, Rutherford will examine the origin and implementation of Nazi resettlement schemes at the start of World War II in German-occupied western Poland by deporting what they considered “ethnically inferior” Poles. He also will discuss how these operations evolved into a highly efficient “science” as the Nazis honed their notorious talents for clearing away “undesirable” peoples, paving the way for the Holocaust.

An assistant professor of modern European history at Marshall, Rutherford is the author of the 2007 book “Prelude to the Final Solution: The Nazi Program for Deporting Ethnic Poles, 1939-41.”

Rutherford’s appearance is sponsored by the Marguerite Schumann Memorial Lectureship Fund, established in 1986 to bring speakers to campus that reflect Ms. Schumann’s interests in history, music and writing and the departments of history and German.

APPLETON, WIS. — William Scott Green, senior vice provost and dean of undergraduate education at the University of Miami, delivers the opening address of a year-long Lawrence University initiative focusing on the ways liberal education promotes and fosters entrepreneurial thinking and why entrepreneurial thinking is important for success in today’s global economy.

Green presents “Entrepreneurship and the Liberal Arts: The Role Values Play” Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in Science Hall 102. Following Green’s address, a three-member panel of Lawrence alumni will speak on entrepreneurship as it applies to such areas as financial institutions, the arts and social policy.

Participating in the panel will be Larry Domash ’81, a managing partner and fund manager with Ronin Capital in Chicago, Pete Shuster ’81, CEO and owner of Neuromics Antibodies, a Minnesota-based company that provides antibody products for central nervous system research and Rich Agness ’67, a self-employed pottery artist in Neenah. Merton Finkler, professor of economics and John R. Kimberly Distinguished Professor in the American Economic System, will moderate the panel.

While entrepreneurship is typically identified with the study of business, Green believes it can be a basic component of a liberal education, especially when defined as “transforming an idea into an enterprise that generates value.” He will discuss the importance of integrating entrepreneurship more broadly into undergraduate curriculum across disciplines. According to Green, in an educational setting entrepreneurship can become “a way of thinking, an approach to problems, a habit of mind, a framework for interpretation” and colleges and university should utilize entrepreneurship as “a fundamental category of understanding and analysis.”

Prior to joining the administration at Miami in 2006, Green served as dean of the college at the University of Rochester and led the development of Rochester’s undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. He earned a Ph.D. in religion from Brown University.

Green’s presentation and the panel discussion is the first of three events planned during the 2007-08 academic year designed to build awareness and interest in entrepreneurship among Lawrence students and faculty. A Winter Term program will examine ways entrepreneurial activity might play a role in improving our environment. A Spring Term presentation will focus on entrepreneurship as it relates to sustainable development.

APPLETON, WIS. — The question of what impact censorship and a restrictive environment has on the creative medium of art is explored in four performances of the Lawrence University Theatre Arts production of “Las Meninas; A Fantasia in Two Parts.”

Show times are Nov. 15-17 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Lawrence Music-Drama Center. Tickets for “Las Meninas” at $10 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.

“Las Meninas” is the first of three productions celebrating Spanish playwrights the theatre department will stage during the 2007-08 season.

Written in 1960 by Spanish playwright Antonio Buero Vallejo, the play is loosely based on the life of famed 17th-century Baroque artist Diego Velazquez and his painting “Las Meninas.” It is set in a period when the Spanish Inquisition strictly prohibited any art designated as “lewd” and even court painters like Velazquez required permission to paint what they wanted to. Lawrence’s production will be only the third time Marion Peter Holt’s translation of Buero Vallejo’s script has been performed in English.

“The play drew me in because it asks serious questions about when to stand by your ideals and when to work within the system because your long-term presence might effect more change,” said Associate Professor Kathy Privatt, the production’s director. “It seems to me that those questions transcend art and are worth our time and attention.”

APPLETON, WIS. — Lacey Jo Benter won her third straight state singing title and Emily Fink received outstanding female singer honors as six Lawrence University students earned first-place honors at the 2007 Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition held Nov. 2-3 on the Lawrence campus.

Benter, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earned first-place honors in the junior women’s division. She has previously won the lower college women’s musical theatre division and the freshman women division. Fink, Neenah, won the senior women’s division and was named the competition’s outstanding female singer, a new award presented for the first time this year. Both are voice students of Karen Leigh Post.

Four other Lawrence students, one high school student from the Lawrence Academy of Music and one Lawrence graduate also won their respective divisions. Lawrence students swept the top three places in two categories. A total of 66 Lawrence students participated, with 22 advancing to the finals.

Other Lawrence first-place finishers included Katy Harth, Naperville, Ill., in the freshman women’s division; Katherine Meckel, Baltimore, Md., women’s lower college musical theatre division; Nicholas Benson, Minneapolis, Minn., in the men’s lower college musical theatre division; and Ashley Koroleweski, Manitowoc, women’s upper college musical theatre division.

Danny Rakita, a student at the Lawrence Academy of Music, earned first-place honors in the high school music theatre division, while Kerry Hart, a 2001 Lawrence graduate, won the adult professional division.

Harth studies in the voice studio of Joanne Bozeman. Meckel is a student in the studio of Ken Bozeman. Benson studies with John Gates and Koroleweski studies with Steven Spears. Rakita is a student of Bryan Post at the LAM and Hart is a former student of Patrice Michaels.

All first-place finishers were awarded $150 for their winning efforts, while Fink received an additional $100 for her outstanding singer award. Second- and third-place finishers received $125 and $100, respectively.

A total of 425 singers from around the state competed in 20 separate divisions by gender and level in this year’s auditions. Depending upon the category, NATS competitors are required to sing two, three or four classical pieces from different time periods with at least one selection sung in a foreign language.

2007 NATS Auditions/Lawrence Results

November 2-3, 2007 — Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — The artistic mediums of sculpture, drawing and architecture highlight the new exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center galleries. The exhibition runs Nov. 9 – Dec. 16.

Sculptor Kurt Dyrhaug, associate professor of art at Lamar University, delivers the exhibition’s opening lecture Friday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the address, which is free and open to the public.

Dyrhaug utilizes cast metal, wood construction and steel fabrication in his work, which will be exhibited in the Kohler Gallery. The exhibition also will include several drawings by Dyrhaug. He holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in printmaking from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a master of fine arts in sculpture from the University of Minnesota.

The Hoffmaster Gallery will feature the drawings of Michael Hopkins. Distinguished by their detailed, abstract nature, his drawings are housed in the permanent collections of several museums.

“Fragments D’ Architecture Antique” will feature selected images of Greek and Roman architectural elements from a 19th-century portfolio by French artists at the Académie des Beaux Arts. Drawings of artifacts and famous sites such as the Acropolis and the Parthenon are part of this portfolio.

Wriston Art Center hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit http://www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston/.

APPLETON, WIS. — Jonathan Schanzer, director of policy at the Jewish Policy Center in Washington, D.C., discusses the war on terror and examines U.S. policies in response to terrorist threats in an address at Lawrence University. Schanzer presents “Radical Islam and the War on Terror” Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 121.

A former counterterrorism analyst for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Schanzer will review U.S. policies, beginning with the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and examine their effectiveness, especially those policies following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He also will discuss the differences between radical and moderate Islam. A question-and-answer session will follow his address.

Schanzer is the author of the 2004 book “Al-Qaeda’s Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror.” His appearance is sponsored by the Viking Conservatives student organization.