Arcadia: Love, Desire and Chaos
Jay Skelton , Alex Hahn, and Wendy Arons
Tuesday, April 12
12:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
evening performance
Wednesday, April 13
9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
The Notre Dame Department of Film, Television, and Theatre will be presenting Sir Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, directed by Holger Teschke, as part of the first-ever season in the new Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts.
Arcadia, first performed at the Royal National Theatre in London in 1993, is, to say the least, an ambitious drama. Set in a single room in a country house in England but simultaneously in two periods of time (1809 and the present day), its concerns include romantic poetry, the history of landscaping, 18th century architecture, the education of women, Fermat’s last theorem, chaos theory and fractals, academic research, the nature of time, intellectual curiosity, epistemology, genius, and those ever-present dramatic standbys, love and desire. It is also very funny.
In addition to being an extremely entertaining play, Arcadia serves as a remarkable tool for changing the way we look at life, literature, and learning. Scholars from a variety of disciplines will lead this TAS seminar, exploring what we can learn from and how we can teach with this smart work. The first day’s seminar discussion will meet from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. After a break with time for supper, all participants will attend the opening performance together. Post-performance discussions will take place the following day from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will include the director and members of the artistic team responsible for the production. Tickets to the play are included in the seminar
“It was a great way to bond with my partner teachers. I have not been exposed to the fine arts as much as I like and I feel very intimidated by it. I really learned a lot.”
“The mathematical background info was very enlightening. The 2nd day, the Snite tour was incredible. I liked unpacking the performance with the professors, director and my colleagues.”
“I do like when professors engage us as the students, recognize what we have done to prepare for the course, and respect what we bring here.”
| Wendy Arons (M.F.A., Ph.D., University of California-San Diego) is an assistant professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre. Her teaching and research interests include 18th and 19th century theatre history, 20th century German theatre, feminist theatre, and acting theory. She directs for the Notre Dame Mainstage Season and has also translated several plays from German into English. She is currently writing a book with the working title Staging the Fair Sex. | |
| Alex Hahn received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame. After a year as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Zürich and another as SFB Scholar at the University of Bonn, he returned to Notre Dame as a member of the faculty of the Department of Mathematics. He has chaired the Department and published several books on mathematical theory. Professor Hahn has won the University’s Thomas P. Madden Award for Outstanding Teaching of Freshman and is currently the director of Notre Dame’s Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning. |  |
Jay Skelton is Assistant Professor of Shakespeare at the University of Notre Dame, where he has directed Lee Blessing's “Fortinbras,” Tom Stoppard's “Arcadia” and Tim Robbins' “Dead Man Walking”. His past directing credits include Ravel's opera “The Bewitched Child” for the Chicago Cultural Center and “Camp Nimrod for Girls” for Live Bait Theatre. Jay’s awards include the 2001 Achievement Award Scholarship for Young Directors from the National Theatre Conference and two After Dark Awards: one for Outstanding New Play Adaptation and the other for his direction of “Porcelain” at Eclipse Theatre. A two-year veteran of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Skelton is also the former Producing Artistic Director of Center Theater. |
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