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The Emerald’s weekly arts and entertainment supplement
Thursday, October 28, 1976
Shows ready
By DIANA BARBER
Of the Emerald
The Centennial Naming Celebration of Dougherty Dance Theater
has two "really big shows ' scheduled this weekend in Room 353
Gerlinger.
Friday night at 8, the Oregon Mime Theater takes the stage. The
Mime Theater was founded by Francisco Reynders in 1972 to bring the
art of mime to all levels of the Oregon community. The company
performs mime as a universal language capable of communicating a
feeling or an idea to all people, regardless of age, or economic or social
background. They practice a pure form of the art, without the aid or
embellishment of any of the multi-media effects now being employed in
the name of mime.
Reynders, originally from Amsterdam, studied mime in Paris after
receiving a master's degree in art. Says Reynders, "During my student
years, I became interested to find out new ways of art One day, being a
typical nihilist at that age, I eliminated paint, I eliminated brushes, and I
eliminated canvas I came up with just the movements, so you see I was
painting in mid-air without canvas, paints . and I was very success
ful."
When someone told him he was doing mime, he hitchhiked to Paris
to study with Etienne Decroux, teacher of Marcel Marceau (probably the
world's most famous mime), and Jean Louis Barrault, whose experi
mental Theatre D'Orsay stands today at the head of French contem
porary theatre.
Consisting of Reynders himself, his wife Elizabeth Page, Burl
Ross, and manager Kitty Kladstrup, the company began at Lewis &
Clark College in Portland, where Reynders taught and the others were
students.
They have performed in Alaska and throughout Oregon, and will
travel this season to Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, and
California under the sponsorship of the Oregon Arts Commission and
the National Endowment for the Arts.
A dedication concert Saturday at 8 p.m. will close the week-long
festivities. The concert honors M. Frances Dougherty, founder and
former head of the dance department. The development of the dance
program at the University, the growth in both faculty and students, the
planning and implementation of the current facilities, and the high
esteem the department currently enjoys, are all due to Dougherty’s
leadership and personal, as well as professional efforts. The dedication
of the studio theater in her name has been officially endorsed as an
important element of the University's centennial celebration.
The dedication concert will feature previews of the Annual Concert
to be held in February by the three dance repertory companies A ballet
selection will be presented, choreographed by Susan Zadoff. Three
selections will be performed by the Dobre Folk Ensemble, with several
Modern pieces, one choreographed by Janet Descutner, and a piece
reconstructed by graduate assistant Jacquie Hand from a notation
score by Vera Blaine, resident choreographer at Ohio State University.
Graduate assistant in Mime, Ray Miller, will perform, and Suzanne
Kirchner will do a Modern solo.
Limited space and seating necessitates advance tickets to the
concerts. All tickets are available in Rooms 165 and 161 in Gerlinger
Annex for $2 each.