| Interdisciplinary Block Courses Hit the Road for Double Immersion | |
| by John Riker photos by Ryan Mason ’05 |
Classics Professor Marcia Dobson and I created a course this year in Chicago to take advantage of the Lyric Opera’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the Newberry Library’s extensive collection on Wagner and the 19th century.
In Chicago, the 17 students immersed themselves in the music, philosophy, mythology, politics, and psychology of the Ring. They explored everything from Norse mythology to Wagner’s anti-Semitism, social revolutions, and even how 19th-century maps reveal what Europeans thought about the world.
This was most of the students’ first time at an opera, and over half went to all four operas although attendance was not required. They were stunned at the beauty of the art deco Lyric Opera House and became deeply involved in Wagner’s overwhelming musical drama. Wotan, Loge, Brunhilde, Alberich, giants, dragons, magic swords, Rhine gold, Rhine maidens, the twilight of the gods, and the saving power of redemptive love filled our minds, ears, and eyes for nearly a month.
Reflecting later on the trip, Heather Perlberg ’04 described Chicago as “the perfect place to be immersed in such a rich and complex subject.” In the course of a single block, many of the students learned for the first time what it was like to live in a vibrant urban center, engage the mysterious world of opera (a genuine stretch for most of them), and do advanced research at a great library — and of course, they also learned a good bit about one of the seminal figures of Western culture, Richard Wagner. The Block Plan allowed us to take advantage of a unique opportunity, given that the Lyric might not produce the Ring again for decades.
John Riker is a professor of philosophy.
Eminent Block Guests Enrich Dance/Drama Curriculum
by Tom Lindblade
Encho Avramov and Petr Pachov, noted Bulgarian designers and directors, staged Gozzi’s “King Stag” at CC this year using an Action Theatre aesthetic — an Eastern European approach that involves imaginative props, multiple metaphors, and script adaptation. Among our many other visiting professors have been filmmakers Sydney Pollack and Paul Mazursky; screenwriter J.J. Abrams; playwrights Gretchen Cryer and Ola Rotimi; experimental artists Peter Schumann, Cathy Weis, and Jairo Cuesta; and cultural arts critic Benjamin Barber.
| “ | Professor Emeritus James Malcolm reckoned that eminent guests who couldn’t commit to a semester-long residency could come for 3 1/2 weeks, and he was right.” |
Tom Lindblade, professor of drama and dance, is also chair of the department.