'Baltimore Voices': Students in Learning Community Become Performers in Second Annual Show, Nov. 17
November 14, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Spotlight UB, the University of Baltimore's live performance series, will continue its history of providing UB students with a space to perform before a campus audience and the surrounding community during its second annual "Baltimore Voices" event on Tuesday, Nov. 17. This gathering of memoir monologues, written and performed by students in a performance class in the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, will take place beginning at 2 p.m. in the UB Student Center's Wright Theater, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. "Baltimore Voices" is free and open to the public.
The members of this transformative class developed their monologues in a learning community under the instruction of Kimberley Lynne, arts and theater manager for UB and affiliate assistant professor, while they honed their writing skills with Kevin Kraus, adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. The joint curriculum combines composition writing, literary studies, local history, and theatrical training.
Students read social justice theater plays as examples of dramatic monologue, and engaged in vocal exercises that prepared them for live performance. While they wrote and practiced countless revisions of their monologues, the students experienced moments of self discovery as they became conscious of the way they breathe and speak, and engaged in discussions about socialization, trauma, self image, race, and class. Those who previously believed they had no story to tell found inspiration in the act of performing.
As the students studied monologue-based plays, including The Exonerated, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf, One Particular Saturday and The Laramie Project, they explored how theater acts as a conduit for both profound personal expression and social commentary. They soon found their lives and stories in new contexts, resulting in powerful and poignant monologues that reflect life in Baltimore.
For more information about Spotlight UB, visit www.ubalt.edu/spotlightub or http://www.facebook.com/SpotlightUB, or send an e-mail to spotlightub@ubalt.edu.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the College of Public Affairs, the Merrick School of Business, the UB School of Law and the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.