■
LIFESniE
Alumna examines comedy in motherhood in new hoot
Alexandra Schonfeld
Contributor
(5)a$chonfeld 096
DeeDee Filiatreault ’93 spent
most of her career writing words
for other people as a speech writ
er, but with the
publishing of
her first book
of essays, “Tales
from the Crib,”
the spotlight is
on her.
But before she
was a speech-
writer, Fili
atreault studied
to be a journalist — and that’s where
“Tales from the Crib” was born.
technical skill as much as just hard
work and what’s required of you to
get the job done.”
A fellow Elon alumna and
former president of the alumni
board, Shannon Moody ‘94 has
been a close friend of Filiatreault
since she was a freshman and Fil
iatreault was a sophomore.
“Because she was [Editor-in-Chief
of The Pendulum], we got to read her
writing weekly^ Moody said. “We
knew then that she was such a talent
ed, gifted writer.”
public relations and worked as the
communications director for a large
church in Greenville, South Carolina
as well as a public relations firm in
Columbia, South Carolina that was
politically active.
After years in South Carolina, Fil
iatreault moved to Connecticut with
her husband. The two started a fami
ly and now have two children.
Telling her tales
DeeDee
Filiatreault
Switching gears
Getting her start
While Studying at Elon, Fili
atreault was Editor-in-Chief of
The Pendulum.
“When I became [Editor-in-Chief],
everyone took a step back and I was the
one standing there,” Filiatreault said.
“It’s not like everyone was clamoring
for this job. We were kind of a bad-
news-bears operation.”
Filiatreault was Editor-in-Chief
at the time of the 1992 presiden
tial election between Presidents
George H. W. Bush and Bill Clin
ton. Bush, the Clintons and the
Gores all visited Burlington within
a single week.
That week led to a 24-page issue
of The Pendulum — the longest is
sue to date in 1992 — after many
sleepless nights.
“I remember falling asleep in the
shower,” she said. “But I think what
you learn from that is not necessarily
The hard work paid off when Fili
atreault was hired to work on the guber
natorial campaign of Gov. David Beas
ley of South Carolina after graduation.
“The person that hired me told me
that when he read an editorial that I
wrote in that issue, there was a descrip
tive phrase in it and he said, ‘I saw in
that phrase that you had what I was
looking for, and that’s the kind of writ
ing I want,”’ she said.
After Gov. Beasley was elected,
Filiatreault stayed on staff as a speech
writer, eventually becoming his chief
speech writer.
“At the time I thought it would
be a short term gig, and then he got
elected and everything changed. My
whole life pivoted at the moment,”
she said. “I’ve been writing for other
people from there on out.”
Filiatreault didn’t anticipate the
trajectory of her career while study
ing at Elon. She was a journalism and
broadcast communications double
major, but never thought she would
stray from the field of journalism.
After working for Gov. Beas
ley for many years, she moved onto
Filiatreault returned to the jour
nalism field from speechwriting a
few years ago when she pitched a
column to her local newspaper, the
Lyme Times, in which she would
chronicle her daily life as a mom.
“They went for it, and they start
ed publishing it every two weeks,”
she said. “Every two weeks, I would
come up with something about my
kids and family life in a sort of funny
way and trying to muddle through
parenthood and make sense of it and
make fun of it.”
The column was called, “Tales
from the Crib” and turned into a
blog. Her new book, of the same title,
is a compilation of essays from both
her columns and her blog.
“I’d always hoped to compile it in
some way for me to have — it’s sort
of a family record,” Filiatreault said.
Moody gave some input into the
cover design of, “Tales from the Crib”
and has been watching Filiatreault’s
process for the past few years leading
up to publication.
“This book is a labor of love
and has taken many years to get
it to this point,” Moody said. “It’s
exciting to see it and hold it in my
hands.”
Filiatreault’s publication pro-
TALES CRIB
PHOTO COURTESY OF OEEDEEFIJIW
Alumna DeeDee Filiatreault ’93 recently published her latest book, “Tales from the Crib,”sot
tion of her columns and blog posts on the humor of motherhood.
cess wasn’t typical as she didn’t go in preparation for publication,
knocking on doors and pitching her
idea to various publishing houses.
She was put in contact with an ed
itor at Skyhorse Publishing in New
York who began working with her
on the book and piecing it together
Tt was kind of a backwanfsiya) !
of going about it — not/knorm" i
Filiatreault said. “But thai^Mof,
how my life as been. I’veji
en backwards into things ani/
works out.”
Dancing in Denmark
Elon associate professor
choreographed ‘The
Hunchback of Notre Dame’
Deirdre Kronschnabel
Contributor
@kronschd
Lynne Kurdziel-Formato, associate profes
sor of dance, works professionally alongside
her position at Elon University and- has for
many years. This summer, Kurdziel-Formato
raised her skill set afid expeiience to yet an
other level wherxshe traveled across the Atlan
tic Ocean to the.Fredericia Teater [Theatre] in
Denmark. '•
For the past five years as well^as during her
recent sabbatical, Kurdziel-Formato worked
with the Fredericia Teater on projects such as
the European premiere of “Aladdin” and the
Scandinavian premiere of “The Little Mer
maid.” Last month she returned from her most
recent production abroad, the Scandinavian
premiere of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
The show was directed by Thomas Alger-
holm with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by
Stephen Schwartz, manuscript by Peter Parnell
and Soren Moller as executive artistic director.
Kurdziel-Formato served as director-choreog
rapher.
“Since the time that I was very, very
young. I’ve always wanted to be in theater,”
Kurdziel-Formato said. “My younger broth
er and I used to keep our babysitter captivat
ed while we did our own shows and I always
danced to music in my head.”
Kurdziel-Formato has come a long way
since living room dances and an audience of
one. “Hunchback of Notre Dame” enchanted
the Frederica Teater and often sold out shows.
“The. Hunchback of Notre Dame” used
dance genres such as folk, ballet, jazz and tap.
Her director experience allowed her to run re
hearsals when Algerholm was accomplishing
other jobs to maintain the production’s time
line. '
Her experience as a choreographer was also
critical.
“As the choreographer, [you] have to create
how, why and in what fashion do they dance,”
Kurdziel-Formato said: “You have to read the
script. That’s what informs you about many,
many things — time period, style. You have to
read the script to understand the context.”
Kurdziel-Formato arranged several ■ big
dance numbers, but also orchestratedThe stag
ing of large ensemble and choir movements.
“There’s a choir that sings, so I had to find a
way to move these people in robes and create
beautiful patterns on the stage that called into
play Catholicism and Christianity, but also
took it to a theatrical place,” said Kurdziel-For
mato.
In “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” the main
protagonist, Frollo, is torn between his secular
self and the passion that he has for Esmeralda.
Frollo, the gypsies and the townspeople each
have their own vocabulary that changed the
way Kurdziel-Formato was inspired to choreo
graph and stage the show.
Kurdziel-Formato also gained a new set of
skills in the professional “Hunchback of Notre
Dame” setting that she can apply to Elon stu
dent productions.
“This was an enormous technical produc
tion,” Kurdziel-Formato said. “Even though I
PHOTO COURTESY OF LYf^NE KURDZIl-flJ'*
Lynne Kurdziel-Formato, associate professor of dance, directed and choreographed “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,”
worked with Fredericia before and we’ve per
formed at the opera house in Copenhagen, I
learned even more about the integration of
LED with physical plant and sound design. I
mean, we had everything from hydraulics to
flying.”
Kurdziel-Formato also had the opportuni
ty to work with a larger timeline and budget.
The show prepared to go into rehearsal for al
most two years with a tech week of three weeks
compared to the three days Elon student pro
ductions are typically allotted.
Such technical work is not something that
is always possible in educational theater.
“It’s a different ballgame,” Kurdziel-Forma
to said.
All differences aside, Kurdziel-Formato had
no difficulty bringing her newfound knowl
edge to the Elon performing arts community
and working to strengthen her capabilities as
a professor.
“I brought back a refreshed desire to w
tinue my own education,” said Kurdzielh
mato. “To find those things where maybef
not as stfiong as somebody else. To ^
time to study, and put myself into other poi
tions where I can enhance my own educatiw
Kurdziel-Formato hasn’t so muchaspa^st
to take a breath since her return to Elon Is
month. Next on her agenda will be direc
ing and choreographing Elon’s Winter Ten
dance-heavy musical “Cats!” The showpr^
ents itself as a perfect foil to past student prf
Auctions such as “Parade” and “Little Women
because of to its allowance for freedom in
ativity in dance, within the natural paramete
of its lyrics and score.
Kurdziel-Formato then heads backtoB®
mark, where “Hunchback of Notre Dam* “
be remounted at King’s Theatre in ^
gen for the summer. Opening night is se
lune 23,2017.