Through this program, professional directors, playwrights, choreographers, designers, and technicians are invited to work with students on productions and present guest lectures in classes and workshops open to the Juniata community. 

KLAUNIADA

Playwright, John Mighton

Playwright, Russell Davis

Choreographer/dancer, K.J. Holmes

Scenic/lighting designer Craig Young

Costume designer, Cathy Norgren

Director, Whit MacLaughlin

Director, Jim Elliot

Composer, John Nuhn

The Independent Eye Theatre Company

2001-2002 FEATURED GUEST ARTISTS

KLAUNIADA

Don Reider & Valerie Dean

KLAUNIADA means clown play in Czech, reflecting the strong Central European influence that has shaped the company’s style of physical theatre. KLAUNIADA is noted for its clown theatre that walks the razor’s edge between the tragic and the ridiculous, playfully demolishing the clichés that burden the art of clowning.

Since its founding in 1980 by Valerie Dean and Don Rieder KLAUNIADA has acquired an international reputation, touring throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico. Its creations, productions and touring have been supported by grants from the Canada Council and the Quebec Council of Arts and Letters. 

In 1998 KLAUNIADA presented the Montreal premier of TOC EN STOCK in French to critical acclaim. The English-language version was produced in 1999 at the Centaur Theatre. TOC EN CHOC, the last installment of the TOC trilogy will be created for touring in 2001. Besides performing, Valerie Dean and Don Rieder’s skills as choreographers, directors of movement theatre and master teachers have made them much sought after artists-in-residence and instructors for professional and university training programs:  Cirque du Soleil, Ecole national de cirque, Universite de Montreal, McGill, Concordia and Universite de Quebec a Montreal. As master teachers they have worked as choreographers, directors and dramaturges for movement artists and movement theatre companies in Canada and France. They were invited to participate as panelists and journalists at MIMOS ’99, the 17th annual international mime festival in Perigueux, France.

KLAUNIADA will be in residence during portions of the 2001-2002 academic year to create an original piece of clown theatre entitled Hoopl. Having a professional theatre company in residence to develop a new work is not only an exciting cultural fare for the college, but also offers Juniata students first-rate educational experiences. While the artists benefit from a fertile, creative environment, Juniata College and the region benefit from productions for the public, workshops for professionals and students and training opportunities for Juniata students.

   Playwright, John Mighton

     Playwright John Mighton, winner of Canada's prestigious Governor's General Literary award, was a Guest Artist in Residence during Juniata Theatre's production of the American Premier of Mighton's The Little Years. Mr. Mighton is also a mathematician who has made groundbreaking discoveries in the relatively new fields of "knot" and "graph" theory. During his stay at Juniata, he guest lectured in various classes as well as presenting his research as a part of the Juniata Math Department's Colloquium series.

Playwright, Russell Davis

     Juniata Theatre produced the world premier of a new edition of Russell Davis' The Wild Goose Circus which was first developed at the Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. Mr. Davis is an established playwright with a long resume of professional theatre productions. He is currently in the negotiations to produce his work, Sally's Gone She Left Her Name to appear on Broadway. Mr. Davis is also currently working as a resident playwright at the People's Light and Theatre Company for the Theatre Residency Program of the National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group. He has received two earlier fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and grants from the McKnight Foundation, Tennessee Arts Commission, New York Foundation for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts. A longtime juggling instructor for New York City's Big Apple Circus, Mr. Davis also offered juggling workshops for the Juniata College community and the Huntingdon Middle School. Professor Belser recently directed Davis’s The Second Death of Priscilla at for the Post Theatre on Long Island.

Choreographer/dancer, K.J. Holmes

     Ms. Holmes has visited the Juniata campus twice a year for the past three yearsto teach Contact Improvisation workshops open to the public. Ms. Holmes has also been an artist in residence during the Spring of 2001 to teach movement workshops and to create an original movement piece with Juniata students for the Celebration of Juniata Women in April of 2001. She has also been a guest instructor for the Movement and Improvisation class during that time. Plans are underway for Ms. Holmes and Professor Belser to collaborate with composer John Nuhn in the creation of a musical.

Scenic/lighting designer Craig Young

     Mr. Young has designed sets and lighting for five Juniata Theatre productions. He also instructs students who are enrolled in the Theatre Arts Practicum. He has extensive experience as a designer in professional theatre venues in New York, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Philadelphia. 

Costume designer, Cathy Norgren

     Ms. Norgren serves as the National Chair of the American College Theatre Festival and Professor of Costume Design at SUNY Buffalo. Mr. Norgren has designed costumes for three Juniata Theatre productions and has also instructed students who are enrolled in the Theatre Arts Practicum. Prior to working with Ms. Norgren, Julia Jacobsen, a 2000 graduate of Juniata, had no costume design experience. Because of Ms. Norgren's help, Julia received a full, three year scholarship to study costume design at the University of New Orleans.

Director, Whit MacLaughlin

     Mr. MacLaughlin is the founder and Artistic Director of the highly acclaimed New Paradise Theatre Laboratories in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and founding member of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. Mr. MacLaughlin was in residence for the Fall of 1998 to work with Professor Belser and Juniata students in the creation the Juniata Theatre production of The Sympathetic Weight of Bones.

Director, Jim Elliot

     Mr. Elliot is a New York City based Shakespearean actor and director.  Mr. Elliot was in residence during the Fall of 1999 to direct the Juniata Theatre production of As You Like It.

Composer, John Nuhn

     Mr. Nuhn is a New York-based composer with a jazz and commercial music scoring background graduating in 1988 with a bachelors in Afro-American Music and Jazz from the University of Massachusetts. While in college, Mr. Nuhn was a bassist for a trio that received an Outstanding Performance Award in Down Beat magazine's 1988 Collegiate Music Awards. In 1990 he toured the U.S. and abroad with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra led by Buddy Morrow. Since 17 he has been writing for a variety of ensembles and styles. Mr. Nuhn has composed original music for three Juniata Theatre productions. His latest cd, Nocturnes, has been delighting all who listen. Nocturnes may be purchased at John Nuhn’s website.

The Independent Eye Theatre Company, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller

The Independent Eye Theatre Company is a twenty-five year old professional theatre company founded by Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller. It has an established record of national critical success and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and other prominent arts granting institutions. During January 2001, they created a full-length, large cast version of an original piece entitled Realists. Realists then went on to performed professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area with plans for production as other professional venues. The piece is scheduled for two later iterations as a novel and also a two-person play. Juniata, as the origination site of the full-length version has been given credit wherever this piece is produced or published.