UMHB Celebrates African

UMHB's Performance Studies Division
Celebrates Ethnic Histories/Literature
Addresses Minority Issues

Dr. Diane Howard and her performance studies students are especially involved with producing ethnic,
history and literature, performance projects. As active regional, national, and international performers,
they are providing some of this work through the Temple ***Cultural Activities Center's Artists-for-Hire
program and over **BellNet (Bell County Educational Videoconferencing Network). They are videostreaming
these projects via the * Apple Learning Interchange. They are performing for special events for the U.S. Army.
They are presenting research and performances related to these projects at national/international conferences. They are publishing this work in print and online. Finally, they are presenting this work at the
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

                Courtney Dennis
       UMHB Performance Studies Major
       performs the story of Harriet Tubman.
        See http://ali.apple.com/events/mhb/                             *, **, ***

                                                            Carlotta Russell Maneice
                               UMHB Performance Studies Alumna
                                                                 presents Sojourner Truth.                                                          **, ***

Dr. Diane Howard (Professor of Performance Studies at UMHB) performs stories related to ethnic issues. Recently she performed a voice-over for the film, Distance. This production by Jonathan Jakubowicz, Genius Productions, concerns a mysterious and touching reunion of Holocaust survivors. Dr. Howard performs stories of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Martha Washington in their conflicts over slavery. She performs Martha Washington and teaches about autobiographical writing and performing via the Apple Learning Interchange. She is to perform excerpts of her script Set Free! , related to Martha's Dilemma over slavery, at the Performance Studies International Conference, Theaters of Life, at NYU in New York City in April 2002.


                                                                 Dr. Diane Howard
                                                                                               as Martha Washington
                                                                                                            *, **, ***

Dr. Howard (Performance Studies Division, Dept. of Communication at UMHB) and Darien Moore,
performance studies alumna, presented their paper, Empowering Students of Color By Involvement in Distance, Ethnic, Communication Research, at the national Ethnic Studies Conference in Houston, Feb., 2001. UMHB ethnic, performance studies students, Christine Pointer and Natalia Trejo, attended the conference with
Dr. Howard and Ms. Moore.

Dr. Howard and Ms. Moore presented evidence, which supports the idea that long-distance, autobiographical
presentations may provide a role modeling effect, which may influence achievement motivation in audience
members. This role modeling effect may be particularly significant in marginalized individuals and groups.
Since 1998 Dr. Howard and her performance studies students and alumni have been involved in presenting a
series of African American performances over the BellNet videoconferencing system in a collaborative project
with Dr. Stan Dyer, who teaches African America history at Central Texas College. Dr. Howard designed this communication research project to study the relationship of African American role models presented over videoconferencing and locus of control in audience members in Dr. Dyer's African American history classes.
(This research is presented in detail in her book, Autobiographical Writing and Performing: An Introductory, Contemporary Guide to Process and Research in Speech Performance, McGraw-Hill, 1999. See http://www.dianehoward.com/publication.htm)

Evidence from this research study suggests that there is a relationship between locus of control in subjects
(in both minority presenters and observers) and their identification of role models. Further, evidence suggests
that role models empower those who observe and identify with them by encouraging the locus of control in the observer in a more internal direction, which strongly encourages motivation and predicts achievement in the observer.

Other UMHB African American on site and distance performers of history and literature have included the following: Sheraton McCarter Duffey performing the literature of Maya Angelou; Darien Moore as Billy Holliday in Lady Day; Sterling Stewart, Lisa Banks, and Shannon Robinson presenting the poetry of Langston Hughes; Jerrod Speights as Jesse Owens in Jesse; and Myrtle Captain and Rev. Robert Johnson presenting the story of Dr. Martin Luther King in Martin. Further, Melissa Gonzales presents the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks; Chris Johnson presents Arthur Ashe from his autobiography, Days of Glory; Josh Gwynn performs Martin Luther King in his I Have a Dream speech, and Lisa Banks performs the history of Rosa Parks and the Equal Rights Movement. Laura Van Vliet presents the Kate Chopin story, Desiree's Baby. Christine Pointer performs poetry by Maya Angelou, Dudley Randall, and Langston Hughes, and the stories of Dorothy Dandridge and Josephine Baker. Cynthia Brehm and Courtney Williams perform the script Driving Miss Daisy. Furthermore, Lisa Banks performs the story of Rosa Parks.

Christine Pointer
***

Christine Pointer, presented and published with Dr. Diane Howard at the NAAAS Conference in Houston, TX. (NAAAS is the National Association of African American Studies.) Their presentation was entitled Involving the Audience in Autobiographical Storytelling,The Story of Josephine Baker. The title of their paper, which has been included in the conference monograph, is entitled Using Performance Frames to Engage and Involve the Audience in Autobiographical Stories of Historic African American Role Models. Rickisha Lloyd and Robin Harris attended the conference with Ms. Pointer and Dr. Howard.

NAAAS ( National Association of African American Studies,
National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies,
National Association of Native American Studies,
International Association of Asian Studies), Houston, TX,
Feb. 19, 2003
Dr. Diane Howard spoke on
Effective Presentations via Distance Technologies

Christine Pointer & Angelique Myers,
performed samples of material from African American literature
Resha Ellis performed her autobiographical story of Coretta Scott King

Christine Pointer and Okechukwu Iwundu were Guest Artists in the
Austin Singers' Concert, Soulsongs to Celebrate Black History

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students, Christine Pointer and Okechukwu Iwundu were guest artists in the Austin Singers' Concert, Soulsongs to Celebrate Black History with UMHB professor, Dr. Howard, sang with the Austin Singers. For this concert in the First Baptist Church of Austin, the Austin Singers were accompanied by a percussion ensemble of African instruments. They performed some of the most exciting repertoire from the African and African American traditions and unusual choral works, the concert featured spirituals, jazz, swing, and Paul Basler's "Missa Kenya, " which was accompanied with brass and African percussion instruments. Fittingly for our times, the composition ended quietly with the Agnus Dei, a prayer for peace and understanding throughout the world. Other selections included the Robert Shaw arrangement of the spiritual "Set Down Servant," Moses Hogan's "I'm Gonna Sing 'Til The Spirit Moves In My Heart," and William Dawson's rousing "Ev'ry Time I Feel The Spirit."

At the beginning of the concert, Okechukwu Iwundu and Christine Pointer described the accomplishments of African American artists as fellow UMHB students Rickisha Lloyd, Lisa Banks, and Jacquelyn Hamilton, who were adorned with African garments, lit oil lamps in their memory. During the concert, Christine Pointer sang with the choral ensemble and performed in African garments the Langston Hughes' poem, Negro. Okechukwu Iwundu greeted the audience in African dialects and in African garments. Further, he displayed his paintings with African themes and described his work to the audience.

Ms. Pointer is a performance studies major with music and mass communication minors at the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. She has been active as a performer of music, poetry, and drama for stage, television, and educational video-conferencing. Okechukwu Iwundu is an art major and a performance studies student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. He was born in Texas, moved to New York City, and then to Nigeria, West Africa. His parents, who are both natives of the Nigeria from the Christian Igbo Tribe, instilled in him a sense of pride in his roots and culture. They influenced him to see beyond mechanized developments in life to appreciate and to capture through his art African people and the flavor of their rich, natural culture. He uses warm colors in his paintings, one of which was used on the stage for the Austin Singers' concert, to convey African moods and atmosphere. His desire is to engage the observer and to cause them to wonder what is real about African culture.

UMHB Hispanic performances have included performances of Spanish poetry by Brisa Ruiz, Sandra Rodriquez, and Natalia Trejo. Further, autobiographical performances have been presented by Jenna Artus **** as
Frida Kahlo, surrealist painter, in la Vida de Frida and Natalia Trejo as Eva Peron in Evita: Sinner/Saint?

                                   Natalia Trejo
                                                                                   **, ***

Dr. Howard and Natalia Trejo presented at the national Hispanic and Latino, NAAAS conference in Cancun, Mexico in August 2001. Their presentation was entitled, Writing and Performing Autobiography, Evita: Sinner/Saint? Dr. Howard's conference monograph is entitled Presenting Autobiographical Stories from Hispanic, Latino Culture and History. It includes Ms. Trejo's script, Evita: Sinner/Saint?

UMHB Asian presentations have included, Shuntaro Yanasaki as Mishima Yukio in Samurai, Carol Ellis performing The Joy Luck Club, Van Nguyen presenting the Story of Bruce Lee, Kazunori Yamaguchi presenting the poetry of Basho, and Stacia Yu performing Amy Tan.

UMHB Jewish performances have included Angel Weir, Jaci Vance Lambert, and Rhonda Roscoe
as Queen Esther; Brian West as King David; Ashley Klepac as Mary, the Mother of Jesus; Patrick Hill
as Peter; Teresa Huggins, Jenny Foster, and Lauren Ellis as Anne Frank; and Jeremy Johnson as Oscar Schindler.
Jessica Stockel

Jessica Stockel has been invited as a guest artist to perform at Ft. Hood for the III CORPS Days of Remembrance, "Memories of Courage," honoring Holocaust victims and survivors. This event is presented by the LTG BB Bell, Commander, III Corps, and HQ III Corps, Fort Hood’s Equal Opportunity and Equal Employment Offices. Jessica is to perform Nie Wieder (Never Again!), which she has written and produced. This is a solo production of Inga Rheinholt, a fictitious character, whose story is based on true, autobiographical stories of Holocaust survivors.

UMHB International, Bi-Lingual Performance Studies Students perform literature in dialects, especially for voice-overs: Peter McBride - Irish; Michael Peterson - Greek; Okechuwu Iwundu - African; Shuntaro Yanasaki - Japanese; Stacia Yu - Chinese; Angela Espada- Korean, Jessica Stockel - German; Robyn Renfroe- Scottish; Natalia Trejo, Michael Fox, Sandra Rodriquez, and Candi Kelly - Spanish...

Finally, American Indian performances have included Monica Rosales as Pocahontas and Sarah Thornton performing The Trail of Tears. (See the UMHB repertoire of solo performances of literature and history.)

Black Texas.com has published Dr. Howard's articles African American Role Models are Critically Needed and Presenting Role Models from African American History .

The Performance Studies Division at UMHB in collaboration
with the UMHB Music Department produced the following:

The Color of the Theatre
Multi-Cultural Performing Arts Festival
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

ACT ONE

Christine Pointer, Mezzo-Soprano
He's Got The Whole World in His Hand
arranged by Edward Boatner; James Reed, banjo
I Saw the Light, James Reed, banjo
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, arranged by H.T. Burleigh
Ain't-a That Good News!, arranged by Uzee Brown, Jr.
David Mace - Piano

Driving Miss Daisy
by Alfred Uhry
Produced by special arrangements with Dramatists Play Service, Inc
Cynthia Brehm - Daisy
Courtney Williams - Hoke
Candice Kelly - student director

Kaycee Isbell, Mezzo-Soprano
I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
by Edward Boatner
Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho
by Margaret Bonds
David Mace - Piano

Tevya and His Daughters
by Arnold Peril
Produced by special arrangements with Dramatists Play Service, Inc
Benjamin Tindall - Tevya
Vanessa Bulls - Golde
Jessica Stockel - Tzeitel
Chad Crawford - Motel
Heather Roberts - Hodel
Jenna Artus, Rhonda Roscoe - student directors

Deborah Ivey, Soprano
Czechoslovakian Art Songs
OPUSTENY MILY (The Lost Beloved)
SMUTNY MILY (The Sad Beloved) by Bohuslav Martinu
PISEN RUSALKY O MESICKU
(Rusalka's Song to the Moon from the opera RUSALKA)
by Antonin Dvorak
David Mace - Piano

ACT TWO

The Youngest Daughter, James Reed, Banjo

Riders to the Sea
by William Synge
In association with Baker's Plays
Rhonda Roscoe - Maurya
Jenna Artus - Nora
Christy Edwards - Cathleen
Patrick Hill - Bartley
Cody Fosdick & Chad Crawford - Townsmen
Annah Lamberson - student director

20^th Century Art Songs by African American Composers
Rebecca Azard, Soprano
A Death Song (lullaby)
by Howard Swanson
David Mace - Piano

Deborah Ivey, Soprano
Love by Mark Fax
David Mace - Piano

Christine Pointer
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Battle of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Negro by Langston Hughes

Natalia Trejo - Evita
Victor Trejo - Juan Peron
Eva Duarte Peron: Sinner or Saint
by Natalia Trejo
David Mace - Piano

Michael Fox - Artistic and Technical Director
Dr. Guy Wilson - Musical Director
Dr. Diane Howard - Producing Director

DIRECTORS' NOTES
This production has been designed to encourage multi-cultural
awareness, sensitivity, and unity. May we as Americans pull together
and appreciate the richly, diverse, ethnic colors of our American family.

Driving Miss Daisy
This beautiful play about an elderly Jewish woman and her African American
driver reminds us that friendships of all kinds are developed by mutual service.
The greatest among you will be the servant.- The Bible

Teyva and His Daughters
This delightful play about a poor Russian-Jewish family highlights the fact that love in a family enables individuals to survive challenges of every kind.

Riders to the Sea
This is a classic Irish drama about a poor family’s losses to the sea. It encourages compassion for those who have lost loved ones, especially for those in cultures in which mothers lose their husbands and children early in life due to harsh environments.

Eva Duarte Peron: Sinner or Saint
When Eva Peron died on July 26, 1952, her memory brought the aged dictator out of 18 years of exile. Ironically, his new wife became the first female president in history.

For more information contact Dr. Diane Howard at dhoward@vvm.com.