In Memory

It is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of our friend and colleague, Buzz Podewell.  He was a member of our department for almost four decades, and his influence has spread far beyond our doors.  He will be sorely missed.

You can read the Times-Picayune obituary here.

Original Score puts New Face on a Familiar Story

This February, Dmitry Troyanovsky directs Leah Napolin and Israel Bashevis Singer’s play Yentl. Yentl focuses on the story of an intelligent young Jewish girl who defies tradition, disguising herself as a man in order to continue her education. Napolin and Singer’s examination of relationships and identity make Yentl both an unorthodox love story and a parable for our time.

While audiences may be familiar with the Barbara Streisand film, this production will feature an original contemporary score featuring a blend of Klezmer and American folk music, written by Jill Sobule and Robin Eaton. Sobule and Eaton’s score relies on a nontraditional orchestra and allows for instrumental improvisation. Former Tulane student Ken Goode returns to Tulane as Musical Director. The play will feature live performances provided by musicians from the Tulane and New Orleans communities.

Choreographer Jeffrey Gunshol emphasizes both ritual and breaking from tradition, mirroring the play’s plot in movement.  “The movement in Yentl is the heart of the play's community.  The style and movement of the show are slightly askew from the norm” to reflect the central conflict in the show.

When asked what audiences should expect from Yentl, Troyanovksy says, "In my mind the story is an intricate combination of the Jewish Twelfth Night (with its slightly bitter comedy of gender masquerading and appearances) and the teenage angst of Spring Awakening. Jill Sobule's music adds powerful layers of heartbreak, humor, and irony. While directing the show, it's important for me to fashion a unique style that balances these elements; the show should feel both, expansive (in the way that musical theatre can be) and intimate like an eloquent short story."

Feb 26-Mar 2 at 8pm
Mar 3 at 2pm

Newcomb Dance Company Presents Gogol's Waltzes

Guest director Lev Shulman arrives from St. Petersburg to lead the student choreographers, Delia Constantino, Shea Donovan, Jessie Kardos, Natsumi Sugiyama, and Anna Tan, in the physical theatre piece, Gogol’s Waltzes.The Newcomb Dance Company will be working with Shulman and movement director Melissa Ellberger to create pieces based on five of Nikolai Gogol’s Petersburg Tales: Nevsky Prospekt, The Nose, The Portrait, The Overcoat, and Diary of a Madman.  

Nevsky Prospekt tells the story of two different men who each follow a woman who has caught their eye down the Nevsky Prospekt, the central avenue in St. Petersburg. Both men are foils to one another: one being sentimental and romantic, the other crude and realistic.

Set in three parts, The Nose is about a barber who wakes to find a nose in his breakfast. Elsewhere, a major wakes up to find his nose is missing; as he searches for his nose, the major finds his nose is pretending to be human.  In the third part, the major wakes to find his nose is reattached and the barber is shaving him.

The Portrait is about a struggling, young artist who finds a lifelike portrait in an art shop.  He purchases the art, only to find thousands of gold rubles in the frame.  The artist opts to live a fortunate life, abandoning artistic pursuit in favor of artistic fame. Late in life, he regrets his decision seeing the artistic genius of a contemporary.  The portrait is set to be auctioned off; the portrait’s provenance has been discovered and, as it is set to be destroyed, it disappears.

The Overcoat centers on the life and death of an impoverished government clerk and copyist who is mercilessly teased for the shameful condition of his overcoat. After he purchases a new coat, he is robbed and left in the snow— sans coat.  In an effort to retrieve his coat, he appeals to the “Very Important Person,” who berates him to the extent that the clerk later falls to his death.  The clerk’s ghost begins to haunt St. Petersburg, stealing the coats from people, including the VIP.

Diary of a Madman, considered Gogol’s greatest story, recounts the story of a low-level civil servant who falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a high-ranking official. Through his diaries, we discover that he is slowly going insane, and only in his insanity does he finally achieve greatness.

Gogol's Waltzes runs November 15-17 at 8 pm, and November 18 at 2 pm.

Tickets are available through the Lupin Theater Box Office, Monday through Friday, 10-4 pm, or online:

Newcomb Dance Company works with Guest Directors on Gogol's Waltzes

The Newcomb Dance Company has the privilege of working with the Jill Karp Guest Director, Lev Shulman, and Movement Director, Melissa Ellberger, on the original piece movement piece Gogol's Waltzes.  Gogol's Waltzes is based on The Petersburg Tales by Nikolai Gogol, a series of five short stories about St. Petersburg, Russia.

About Nikolai Gogol and The Petersburg Tales: Nikolai Gogol, a Ukrainian playwright whose works span 1840-51, is considered one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian Literary realism.  Marked as a writer with romantic sensibilities, his works contain strands of Surrealism and the grotesque. Though the collection was not titled by Gogol, The Petersburg Tales is a collection of short stories that he wrote between 1830-1840, including Nevsky Prospekt, The Nose, The Portrait, The Overcoat, and Diary of a Madman.

About Lev Shulman: Russian director and the Jill Karp guest artist, Lev Shulman joins the Newcomb Dance Company this fall in Gogol’s Waltzes. Founder of one of Russia’s first contemporary dance companies, “Provincial Dances,” he has continued to be an innovator and creator for dance.  He holds the title of Knight of Dance from Russia’s Ballet magazine.

By training and education, Shulman is a drama director, though he began to focus on directing and producing dance and movement pieces in 1990. Since then, he has founded “Provincial Dances,” acted as Director for the Yekaterinburg Contemporary Arts Center, head of the Contemporary Dance Department at Yekaterinburg Liberal Arts University, guest lecturer in the Choreography Department at St. Petersburg State Conservatory of Music and Opera (Russia), and guest artist at the Danish National School of Contemporary Dance (Cophenhagen).

About Melissa Ellberger: Melissa Ellberger is a choreographer who combines elements of breakdancing, post-modern dance, circus, physical theatre and visual arts. She graduated in 2003 from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, majoring in aerial acrobatics at The Circus Space. Consequently she performed internationally in the fields of dance and contemporary circus with companies such as Cirkor Events (Sweden), Accrorap/Kader Attou (France), ISH Dance-Theater  and The Dutch National Ballet (Netherlands).

Her choreographic activities began in 2008 while collaborating with choreographer Andrea Boll (Artistic Director Tanzhaus Zurich), resulting in the successful show Flying Tea, Floating Women, produced by the Frascati Theater in Amsterdam.  Since 2011, her choreographic work has been funded by national and international arts organizations and commissioned by a number of organizations and companies including Breakthrough Dance Festival, Roundhouse London/Collectif and Then, Dansgroep Amsterdam/Krisztina de Chatel, Fontys and Codarts Dance Academies, Tanzhaus Zurich and Cinedans/NTR TV Channel.

Gogol's Waltzes runs November 15-17 at 8 pm, and November 18 at 2 pm.

Eugene Ionesco's "The Lesson" SLAYS this Halloween

This Halloween, Antony Sandoval directs Eugene Ionesco’s one-act play, The Lesson.  The Lesson focuses on the interaction of a Professor who grows increasingly frustrated with his new Pupil and her perceived ignorance.  The Professor’s anger causes the Pupil’s health to deteriorate: what begins with a toothache leads to an explosive reaction from the Professor, and the show ultimately ends where it begins.

The Lesson is considered a critically important work in “Theatre of the Absurd.”  In Theatre of the Absurd, it is believed that human existence is meaningless and, as a result, human communication breaks down.  Ionesco is considered a pioneer of this movement, along playwrights like Tom Stoppard and Samuel Beckett.

When asked what audiences should expect from The Lesson, Sandoval says, "broad comedy, similar to Vaudeville, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the “well-made play.”

The Lesson features Khiry Armstead as The Professor, Emily Russell as The Pupil, and Erin Cessna as The Maid.

The Lesson runs October 30- November 3 at 8 PM, and November 4 at 2 PM in McWilliam's Lab Theater.

Tickets are available by calling the Lupin Theater Box Office at 865-5106 or online:

Chekhov's "Little Vaudevilles" Open the Tulane Season

Jessica Podewell makes her directorial debut at Tulane University with a Night of Chekhov: The Bear and The Proposal. Both shows are playful farces focusing on courtship and romance through disastrous means, and the most well-meaning plans and intentions easily go awry. Though comedic, these one-acts get at the heart of how men and women interact and communicate with one another.

 On directing Chekhov, Podewell says, "These one acts are different than his other more grand and gorgeous works. To use Chekhov’s own words, they are “stupid little vaudevilles.” Wonderfully stupid vaudevilles, if I may say so myself. They live in the ridiculous world of farce. Like Faulty Towers or Black Books, they house characters so wrapped up in their own passions, logical thinking and reasoning become sidetracked."

The Bear tells the story of widow in mourning, Elena Ivanovna Popova, on the seven month anniversary of her husband’s death. As her footwoman, Luka, encourages her to leave the house and end the mourning process, she is interrupted by Grigory Smirnov. He has come to collect the 1200 rubles owed to him by Popova’s late husband, which Popova cannot pay until her steward arrives the next day. Smirnov refuses to leave until he is paid, which results in an argument over the state of her mourning and true love. Outraged by her Popova’s insults, Smirnov demands a duel—to which Popova enthusiastically agrees. The surprising result of their duel and arguments shows the irrational and radical nature of love.

In The Proposal, Ivan Lomov comes to propose to the daughter, Natalia, of his long-time neighbor Stepan Chubukov. After receiving permission to ask for her hand, Lomov and Natalia begin to argue about a meadow that is a disputed piece of land between their houses. Lomov, a hypochondriac, develops heart palpitations and numbness in his leg as a result. Hearing the argument, Chubukov sends Lomov away, in disbelieve that Lomov would dare ask for Natalia’s hand in marriage. Surprised by the news, Natalia begs her father to bring back Lomov—which only results in another argument. Disgruntled and disheartened by the process, Chubukov forces the two to accept the proposal…only for their engagement to begin with an argument.

A Night of Chekhov runs October 16-20 at 8 pm, and October 21 at 2 pm.
Tickets may be purchased by calling 504-865-5106, Monday through Friday, 10-4 pm, or online:

Announcing the Stephanie Dawson Memorial Fund & Award

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Stephanie "Stevie" Dawson Memorial Fund and the Stephanie "Stevie" Dawson Memorial Award. This award is for Excellence in Technical Theatre as exemplified by continuous dedication and service to the performing arts while maintaining a positive and professional attitude in the face of challenging obstacles. It epitomizes Stevie's love and dedication to theatre. This award will be given at the department's annual spring picnic.

Just a reminder, we also have the Monroe Lippman Founders Award in Acting and the John I. Sutherland Jr. Memorial Fund that have accounts for which we make awards at our annual spring picnic. Donations are always welcome.

For further information, please contact Marty Sachs at msachs@tulane.edu. Read more about Steve Dawson here.