The New Play Project Presents: Spacecano, Episode One: Countdown to Immopact!

The WMU New Play Project presents the first half-hour episode of its live, weekly, fully-staged serial, as written, developed and performed by the company, Thursday, June 2nd at 9 PM in the York Arena Theatre.

In episode one (of six), a Spacecano (more than a meteoroid, it's also a volcano) is hurtling toward earth at a seemingly unstoppable rate.

Is this the real end of the world?

Or will Dr. Trixie Knifefight and her crack team of sexy super scientists save us all?

Spacecano, Episode One: Countdown to Immopact! is based on a story by Justin Gibson, developed by the New Play Project Company and written by Justin Gibson, Mikala Hansen, Kelsey Pretzer, Drew Ruby, Amanda Fora and Ben Ng Kim Long.

Now in its eighth summer, the Western Michigan University New Play Project, a collaboration between WMU's English and Theatre Departments, has developed new plays by WMU English Department playwrights, with a company of actors and directors from the Theatre Department. The course is team taught by professors Steve Feffer (English) and Mark Liermann (Theatre).

For more information, please contact Steve Feffer at steve.feffer@wmich.edu.

Starring:
Gianna Imbronone - Beryl Blevins
Arti Ishak - President Wanda Benton
Nathanial Jackson - Dex Drexler (Boy Genius)
Robby Johnson - Len Wiggins
Taylor Keenan - Sigourney Supergams
Emily Osborn - Dr. Trixie Knifefight
Susannah Parr - Capt. Melissa Von Nunchuks
Jessica Parsons - Speaker of the House, Jess Carlson
Joe Seibert - Col. Rick Daring
Ali Shea - Carol Blevins

Directed by Mac Arney

Playwrights:
Amanda Foran
Karen Frederick
Justin Gibson
Mikala Hansen
Carissa Hanson
Jason Lenz
Conor McShane
Micealaya Moses
Rachel Neubauer
Ben Ng Kim Loong
Kelsey Pretzer
Drew Ruby
Joseph Ruppert
Joseph Sanders
Erin Shelton

Utz reviews In Strange Countries

Richard Utz recently reviewed: David Matthews (ed.). In Strange Countries: Middle English Literature and its Afterlife: Essays in Memory of JJ Anderson, for The Review of English Studies.

"With this Festschrift, colleagues and friends honour the memory of John Julian Anderson (1938–2007), an internationally known medievalist and co-founder (with Gail Ashton) of the Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture book series...." READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE.

Utz co-edits Cahier Calin

Cahier Calin: Makers of the Middle Ages. Essays in Honour of William Calin, ed. Richard Utz and Elizabeth Emery, was presented to Bill Calin at the International Congress on Medieval Studies on Saturday. This bibliophile volume, which will also be published in a more affordable print version and with an electronic journal later this year, contains 20 essays about scholars, artists, writers, and thinkers who helped create various ideas of the medieval.

Brimhall wins Barnard Women Poets Prize

Barnard College recently announced  that Our Lady of the Ruins by Traci Brimhall has received the 2011 Barnard Women Poets Prize for the best second collection of poems by an American woman poet. The biennial Prize, awarded jointly by Women Poets at Barnard and the publisher W.W. Norton & Company, includes publication of the work and a free public reading at Barnard. Our Lady of the Ruins will be published by W. W. Norton in 2012. For more information, see the Barnard College WEBSITE.  Brimhall teaches creative writing Western Michigan University's English Department, where she is a doctoral candidate and a King/​Chávez/​Parks Fellow. She also serves as Poetry Editor for Third Coast, the English Department's nationally recognized creative writing magazine.

Madeline Baker and Staci Stutsman Thesis Reading

WMU Medallion Scholars and English Department Presidential Scholars Madeline Baker and Staci Layne Stutsman shared excerpts from their honors thesis projects on Tuesday, April 26th in the Lee Honors College lounge. Pictured in the photo from the left are Staci Layne Stutsman, Dr. Tarbox, Dr. Adams, Dr. Minnick, and Madeline Baker.

Madeline's essay, "Language, Race, and Culture in Porgy and Bess," was directed by Dr. Lisa Cohen Minnick, with Dr. Jon Adams as the second reader. Madeline will be joining the MA-to-PhD program in the English Department at Ohio State University this fall, where she plans to continue her research into the relationship between American music and literary culture.

Staci's essays, "Communal Authorship in a Contemporary Context" and "Queering the Blog: The Sex Blog Revolution," were directed by Dr. Gwen Athene Tarbox, with Dr. Jon Adams as the second reader. Staci will be joining the PhD program in English, with a Media Studies emphasis, at Syracuse University, where she will focus on authorship in the digital age.

The event, attended by family, friends, and a number of faculty members, provides another indication of the rigor of our programs and of the significant contribution that our undergraduates bring to the intellectual life of our department.