In September, 7 UDT members and one faculty–Anna Themanson, Tempestt Williams, Melissa Johnson, Katherine Hallmon, Kimmi Nott, Tori Breedlove, Kelly Jilek, Kimberly Volk and Professor Candace Winters-March–participated in the McDonough County Alzheimer’s Walk. University Dance Theatre raised nearly $1,300.00 for the cause.
In October, UDT sponsored it’s biannual Community Dance Clinic, for local/regional school aged [...]

Last month we reported that Kyle Motsinger, BFA 2009, had made his New York City debut.  The show is FANCY NANCY THE MUSICAL, produced by Vital Theatre Company, winner of the 2012 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Show.
This month we have some pics of Kyle in his role as Lionel.
From the New York Times [...]

There were lots of fans of Susan Czechowski’s “Homecoming Fans.” Art Department Professor, Susan Czechowski, screened over 200 fans as Homecoming gifts during the Right Place Tent event for Homecoming 2012. They were a very popular take home. It was a gorgeous day and the “Homecoming Fans” worked well as WIU fan [...]

From University Relations:

MACOMB, IL – When Western Illinois University Assistant Professor Duke Oursler was commissioned to create a sculpture for green space on Macomb’s West Jackson Street, he looked to the “character of the community” for inspiration.
The result of Oursler’s work is the new sculpture in the Rotary Clubs’ green space, a tribute to Macomb’s [...]

Sherry Lindquist, Assistant Professor Art History, presented Ineffable Flesh: Artistic Imagination and Ethereal Beings in Medieval Manuscripts at Manuscripta, the 39th Saint Louis Conference on Manuscript Studies.  The paper was presented in “The Art and Science of the Body” session organized by Ruth Evans.

WIU Art Department Assistant Professor Terry Rathje and Monica Correia’s installation The Poetry of Form from the Michigan exhibition at the Krasl Art Center has been transported to Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, IA.  Several other pieces have been added for the Iowa exhibition.
Monica Correia and Terry Rathje’s exhibition explores the kind of organic [...]

Emily Terrell, a graduate student in the MFA in Acting program at WIU, has been awarded a travel grant from the WIU Graduate Student Research and Professional Development Fund.
With support from the grant, Ms. Terrell will travel to California to conduct interviews with persons working on the Mary Zimmerman production of THE WHITE SNAKE. This [...]

Department of Art BFA 2002 Alum Melissa Wilkinson has just closed a show at the Bradbury Gallery in Jonesboro, AR.
Melissa Wilkinson: Gentlemen Wear Black is available as a great video on YouTube for everyone who was unable to see the show live.

Dr. Ilon Lauer, Department of Communication, presented the Western Illinois University Twentieth Annual Wayne N. Thompson Professor Lecture Rhetoric as Food for Thought in October 2012.
Congratulations to Dr. Lauer.

Matt Bean, Professor, WIU School of Music, just received a $10,000 commission to compose a new musical for the Cherokee Historical Association in western North Carolina.
The musical will have its trial in Summer 2013 and begin to play in repertory with their current long-running musical “Unto These Hills” in their 2,000 seat outdoor amphitheater starting [...]