THE N. C. ESSAY
VOLUME V, NO. VII
NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
DECEMBER 7, 1970
Accreditation
We Made It!
The college division of the
North Carolina School of the Arts
has been granted accreditation
as a special purpose school by the
assembly of the Southern
Association of Colleges & School
at a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
on December 1, 1970.
Robert Ward, President of the
school, received verification of
the accreditation by a phone call
from the committee.
The School of the Arts applied
for the accreditation last year.
An accreditation team from the
association visited the school last
spring and spoke with faculty and
students about the school. They
then handed in a report on the
school, which included a list of
recommendations and im
provements, pointing out what
were thought to be &e negative
points of the school. The school
received a copy of this statement
and then sent a rebuttal to the
committee, who evaluated the
total statement.
On October 26 of this year,
President Ward, Dean Robert
Lindgren and Dr. William Baskin
appeared before the committee
and presented a list of further
information and plans for im
provement.
The entire application was then
sent to the association’s general
assembly, who approved the
application and granted the
accreditation.
This will mean that students
transferring from NCSA will
have all their credits accepted by
other schools. It will also make a
NCSA diploma somewhat more
impressive and^ meaningful.
‘Nutcracker’ Opens
As much a part of Christmas as
the three Wise Men or Santa
Claus is the Nutcracker Ballet,
with the familiar Tschaikovsky
music, will once again be
presented for the delight of
Winston-Salem families by the
North Carolina School of the Arts
Ballet and the Winston-Salem
Symphony, John luele, con
ductor.
The fifth annual performance,
under the direction of Robert
Lindgren, Dean of the School of
Dance, will be held in the
Reynolds Auditorium, on
December 11 and 12 at 8:00 p.m.,
with matinees at 2:00 on
December 12 and 13. There will
be an all-school performance on
Thursday, December 10, in the
Drama Theater, at 8:15.
The Nutcracker, based on a
story by Felix Hoffman, was
choreographed by Robert Lin
dgren and Sonja Tyven (after
Ivanov). Special choreography
for the Merletons is by Duncan
Noble.
The story tells of a little girl
named Clara who has receivc^ a
nutcracker in the shape of a toy
soldier for Christmas. When the
happy holiday party with her
family is over, she falls asleep
and, in her dreams, the nut
cracker appears and escorts her
to the Kingdom of Sweets.
On the way, they do battle with
the Mouse King and, after Clara
defeats the King with her shoe,
the nutcracker turns into a
prince. They finally arrive at a
shining castle, where everything
is made of candy. All the toys and
sweethearts join the Sugar Plum
Fairy and the prince in a
celebration in Clara’s honor.
Kenneth Hughes, formerly a
student at the School of the Arts
and now a member of the
American Ballet Company, is
returning to perform the role of
the Prince, alternating with Jim
Philips. Double cast in other roles
are Betsey Cohen and Claudine
Buhler as Clara, and Susan
McKee and Lee Provancha as the
Sugar Plum Fairy.
Following the performances in
Winston-Salem, the Ballet troupe
will perform the Nutcracker at
the Memorial Coliseum in
Raleigh on December 16, spon
sored by the N.C. Symphony, and
in the Page Auditorium at Duke
University on December 18.
Dance Tours
The North Carolina Arts
Council has awarded a grant of
$10,000 to the School of Dance at
the North Carolina School of the
Arts to sponsor tours by the N.
C. "Dance Theatre, composed of
resident professional dancers
and accomplished students of the
School. With both modern and
ballet works on their programs,
they will present a total of 40
performances in state public
schools during the 1970-1971
school year.
Robert Lindgren, Dean of the
School of Dance, said that during
the second of these tours, the
company presented a modern
dance program to ten schools in
western North Carolina from
November 30, to December 4.
Earlier this year, the ballet
troupe gave seven performances
in the eastern part of the state.
Night of “Much Music
Epiphany, 1601, the Court of
Queen Elizabeth: working under
a royal commission, William
Shakespeare had written an
entertainment to follow the feast
which was to have “much music”
and be pleasing to her Majesty.
“Twelfth Night,” a jolly, mad
romp with a delightfully simple
plot, full of contemporary jokes,
was indeed pleasing to the ^een.
396 years later, this vivacious
entertainment was presented in a
workshop production at the North
Carolina School of the Arts,
December 2,3, and 5 at 8:15 p.m.,
with a matinee on December 5 at
2:00.
Workshops are primarily
learning laboratories for young
actors, but they receive the same
careful preparation as a full-
scale production. Under the
direction of Barry Boys, students
Convocation
The Convocation program this
week will feature the Creative
Writing Department of NCSA.
The program, which will be in
troduced by Peter Stambler, will
have the writing students reading
from their own works. Included
in the program will be poetry by
Robin Kaplan, Mary Woodell,
Celia Sparger, Mike Ferguson,
and Wanda Clouse. It will be held
in the Main Auditorium on
Wednesday, December 7, at 1:35.
Chorus Performs
The School of the Arts
presented the School of Music
Chorus, under the direction of
David Partington, in concert on
December 4.
Featured on the program'
was a song cycle, “Virtutes,” by
Alexander Goehr, which was
commissioned by the Countess of
Munster Musical Trust in 1963 for
the opening of a Music School in
Witley, Surrey, England.
Designed for younger voices, it
was accompained by a per
cussion ensemble which included
xylophone, glockenspiels, tim
pani, triangle, cymbals, tam
bourines, bell, a side drum, two
clarinets and piano.
The texts of the “Virtutes” are
drawn from many sources but all
center on the Biblical quotation,
“Whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are good
report; if there by any virtue, if
there be any praise, think on
these things.”
During the first half of the
program, the chorus sang the
Motet from “Cantiones Sacrae,”
a 16th century Renaissance work
of Heinrich &hutz, and the Mass
in G, composed by Franz
Schubert when he was 18 years
old. The Mass was accompained
by a string ensemble.
Soloists for the program were
Marilyn Griffith, James Hoback,
Donald Cranfill, Joanna Greene
and Charles Eanes, who was the
speaker for the “Virtutes.”
David Partington, music
director of the NCSA Chorus, is
the director of music at the First
Presbyterian Church in Winston-
Salem and is the conductor of the
Singers’ Guild.
He graduated cum laude from
Ithaca College School of Music.
He holds a Master of Sacred
Music degree from Union
Theological Seminary. In ad
dition to extensive experience in
church music, Partington taught
vocal music in Burnt Hills, N. Y.
Drama Document
of the School of Drama orepared
this Elizabethan comedy,
making use of available
resources.
Costumes were tights, dyed in
assorted colors to match mod
tops. The set was drawn from the
stockroom enhanced with the
projection of slides setting the
scene in Illyria on the Adriatic
Sea. Students from the School of
Music formed a consort to
recreate “much music.”
Boys, who was educated at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London and has made a
specialty of Shakespeare, said
that the Bard is a playwright who
makes no mistakes.
“Our task,” he said, “is to
attempt to perform all what is
there.” “Twelfth Night” was the
first exposure to Shakesphere in
performance for these actors.
DRAMA STUDENTS WALK SINGLE-FILE to President Ward’s
office in an effort to demonstrate the seriousness of their document.
Photo by Beck
Bill Jaeger was one of several
faculty members who have ap
peared in all school productions
this fall when he filled in for an
ailing performer in “Sidney
Brustein.” Lesley Hunt and Bill
Dreyer played non-singing roles
in “The Elixir of Love,” while
Robert Lindgren danced the role
of Joseph in “The Cherry Tree
Legend.” Coming up next is Bill
Dreyer again, this time as
Drosselmeyer in Nutcracker.
The Drama Department, after
a long period of questioning its
own function and mode of
operation, has written a
document of proposals which
pertain to its improvement. The
document, a culmination of
almost a year’s open
dissatisfaction, was written by
students who saw the proposed
changes as necessary to the
functioning of the department. A
meeting with top school ad
ministration figures - Dr.
Semansr, Roger Hall, and
President Ward has been set for
this Thursday, Dec. ten, at which
time the proposal will be
discussed.
The action began three weeks
ago, when students investigated
possible revisions in the structure
of their department. Unlike most
incidents of this nature which
usually end in inactivity, the
students formed together, elected
representatives from the various
levels of the department, and
wrote the document. They then
met with faculty members and
the dean of the department, who
unanimously supported the
proposal- and discussed the next
steps. At a meeting of the entire
department, it was voted
unanimously that the members of
the department meet with the
administration (and discuss the
possibilities of putting the
reconunendations into effect.)
Document Preface
The document itself deals with
all facets of the department,
including the Creative Writing
Dept, (which, to the surprise of
many, is a part of the Drama
Dept.). The document begins
wito the following preface:
“The letter of acceptance each
of us received from North
Carolina School of the Arts,
School of Drama, said that it was
pleased to inform us that we had
been chosen for something
special; that, yes, we had the
potential to become not only part
of the theatre but a gifted, vital
part of it. It said that what we
needed was training, an op
portunity to grow without having
to contend with the hard, criieF,
competitive forces of the “real
world.” It said that, yes, there is
a place where for a time, people
would care.
“The School of Drama has gone
through tumultuous and timorous
experiences, all of which have
destroyed communication bet
ween student and instructor, and
among faculty members. These
experiences have shaken our
trust in ourselves and each other
and, most important, they have
created a fear that cheats both
instructor and student of
potentially rich and vital work.
“Acting is difficult. Becoming
a good actor is a lifetime job, but
it can be accomplished. And we
who have applied and auditioned
and paid to come here want to
accomplish it. We need, and
came here seeking, your help and
encourgement. There is time
enough once we have left here to
become sadder and wiser. But
here and now there need only be
honesty between us along with a
true, deep concern for each other
as artists and as people.
“In submitting this agenda to
you we wish only to restore the
communication and trust that
has been lost and to ask whether
or not, with the realization of the
following suggestions, this School
of Drama can aid us in becoming
the actors that we as students and
you as faculty desire to see enter
the theater.”
Issues Enumerated
The six-page proposal (in
cluding the Writing Dept,
statemtent and a financial
estimate of the cost of the Drama
Dept’s. necessary revamping
submitted by the Drama Dept,
faculty) deals with the following
issues;
Classes, Curricluin and Season
of Production, Instructors,
Periodic Student-Instructor,
Student-faculty Conferences,
Facilities, and Student Rights.
Under each heading there
, peared a list of several
recommendations.
The Writing Dept., which has
undergone incredible hassles,
Cont. on page 4