Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
publicinfo@selu.edu
SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
Date: 10/7/99
Contact: Christina Chapple 52M
Editors: Photos accompany release
FANFARE'S THIRD WEEK FEATURES DANCE, MUSIC, SHAKESPEARE
HAMMOND -- The Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Capitol Steps, North Carolina
Dance Theatre and the debut of a new Southeastern musical ensemble provide the sparkle for the
third week of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University's annual fall festival of the arts.
The acclaimed Alabama Shakespeare Festival, a standing-room only hit last year, will
return to the Fanfare schedule with a 7:30 p.m. performance of "As You Like It" on Tuesday,
Oct. 19, at Vonnie Borden Theatre. The first performance is sold-out, but a second performance
may be added and Shakespeare fans are encouraged to call the Fanfare box office to add names
to a ticket waiting list.
Critics have called Alabama Shakespeare's production of "As You Like It," one of
Shakespeare's happiest plays, "fine and fresh." Reserved seat tickets are $15 for adults; $12 for
senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni and $8 all students.
The Southeastern Wind Symphony, a new 50-member ensemble directed by a new music
faculty member Glen Hemberger, will present its inaugural concert at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday,
Oct. 20 in Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Comprised of Southeastern's finest wind and
percussion students who represent a cross section of the Southeastern student body, the
symphony will perform Percy A. Grainger's "Themes from 'Green Bushes,'" Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Nocturno for Eleven Winds," Frank Ticheli's "Shanandoah," Ralph
Vaughan Williams' "Flourish for Wind Band," Ron Nelson's "Courtly Airs and Dances," and
Julius Fucik's "Florentiner March." The concert is free.
North Carolina Dance Theatre, which is scheduled for 7:30pm, Thursday, Oct. 21, at
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Vonnie Borden Theatre, has established itself as one of America's premier dance companies. Led
by internationally acclaimed artistic director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux with Patricia McBride and
Jerri Kumery as associates, the company boasts strong dancers, high energy and a versatile
repertoire.
Called "unstinting in range and thunder" by the New York Times, the troupe offers a
dynamic and eclectic repertoire from classical ballet to bold contemporary works. For Fanfare,
North Carolina Dance Theatre will perform choreographer Alonzo King's "MAP," a dazzling
package in three sections which the troupe premiered in 1998, and "Esplanade," considered one
of the signature works of choreographer Paul Taylor. Reconstructed by Constance Dinapoli and
set to the music of J.S. Bach, "Esplanade" translates everyday movements such as walking,
running, jumping and skipping into an exhilarating dance vocabulary that has been called "one of
the truly great dance works of this or any other century." Reserved tickets are $10 for adults; $8
for senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni, and $5 for all students.
North Carolina Dance Theatre also will offer a master class at 4 p.m., Oct 21, in the
Kinesiology and Health Studies Building Dance Studio. For information, call Martie Fellom at
504-549-2133.
Fanfare's third weekend will get off to a spirited start with a brown bag concert in
Hammond's Cate Square featuring Renaissance Cadienne, a group dedicated to preserving Cajun
folk traditions. The concert is scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 22, and the event's sponsor, the
Southeast Spouse Abuse Program, is inviting the campus and community to congregate at the
park at 6 p.m. for a pre-concert picnic and special ceremony.
Formed in 1990, Renaissance Cadienne is a 20-member theatre troupe specializing in the
older music from France, Canada and Louisiana. With its own band, the group sings and dances
the music from 18th and 19th centuries and recreates a wedding from the year 1900. Their music
paints a vivid picture of the way the Louisiana Cajuns lived 200 years ago and encompasses the
various ethnic groups which have contributed to Louisiana culture. Dances include a German
schottische, Scots-Irish reels, Canadian Contre dances, and even a Polish mazurka.
The political satire troupe the Capitol Steps, which has twice delighted previous Fanfare
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audiences, will return on Saturday, Oct. 23 with a program that takes a laughter and music filled
look at Washington shenanigans. The zany troupe offers an astonishing array of brilliantly
satirical song parodies, provocatively titled "Unzippin' My Doo Dah and Other National
Priorities."
For those who have never heard them on National Radio or seen them on earlier Fanfare
programs, Capitol Steps are a bipartisan group of remarkably gifted former and current
Congressional staffers who have been skewering the Beltway scene and beyond since 1981.
Their act constantly evolves and changes in response to the political scandal of the day.
Said the Washington Post, "Washington scandal has become so reliable that the Capitol
Steps have become the most successful theatrical production ever exported from Washington."
Tickets for Capitol Steps are $15 for adults, $12 for senior citizens, Southeastern faculty,
staff and alumni and $8 for all students.
Also during Fanfare's third week
The Fanfare film festival will continue its FrancoFete theme with a viewing of the
French Canadian film "Mon Oncle Antoine" at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 19, in the Music Recital
Hall.
The highly acclaimed film about Louisiana's Angola Prison, "The Farm," will be shown
at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 20, in the Student Union Theatre. The film will be followed by a
panel discussion, featuring Ashante Witherspoon, one of the film's stars.
The Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church in Kentwood will join the Fanfare calendar
with its annual "Sweet Home Folklife Days" from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 23.
The event celebrates Kentwood's African-American community and includes gospel music and
demonstrations of the traditional crafts that form a diverse network of folkways and traditions
passed down from generation to generation. Traditional home cooked food will be for sale
including chicken 'n dumplings, fried sweet potato pies and desserts.
Also on Saturday, Oct. 23, "Miss Karen" Plauche, children's services coordinator for the
Tangipahoa Parish Library system, will host "Fall Fun with Poetry" for young children at 10:30
a.m. at the Hammond Library, 314 E. Thomas, Hammond, La.
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For a Fanfare brochure and ticket order form or for additional information about Fanfare
events, call the SLU Public Information Office, 504-549-2341, send e-mail to
publicinfo@selu.edu, or visit the Fanfare web site, www.selu.edu/fanfare. Fanfare tickets are
available at the Fanfare box office 504-549-2323, Gate 1, SLU University Center, 700 W.
University Ave., 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., weekdays. Alumni discount applies to dues-paying (active)
Alumni Association members.
-SLU-
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