ASU Herberger College Department of Theatre Announces Fall “Performance in the Borderlands” Events

TEMPE, Ariz. - The "Performance in the Borderlands" initiative at ASU brings to the public a series of lectures, performances and discussions with artists, critics and scholars from around the country who are leaders in cross-cultural arts.

The project reflects the ASU Herberger College Department of Theatre's growing focus and expertise in the field of cultural performance along the US-Mexico border. The "Performance in the Borderlands" initiative is a vehicle to bring understanding and awareness to the community through scholars and practitioners interested in the political and cultural intricacies of the borderlands.

One of the highlights of the season is Beyond Trova: from Urban Folk to Experimental Sounds , which "Performance in the Borderlands" will bring to Teatro Caliente, a festival of new and experimental performing arts in the Southwest. The last show of the festivalfeatures Gabriela Vargas-Cetina, of Mérida, Yucatán, performing a selection of her original music, both acoustic and digital, which comes from her ethnographic research on urban folk music (trova) in Mexico, as well on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

An accomplished performer of both trova music, which she describes as "an urban folk form of expressing love through music," and experimental guitar, Vargas-Cetina will present a multi-media performance based on folk music of Mexico and Sardinia, and her own. The performance will be Sunday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. at Modified Arts, 407 E. Roosevelt Street in Phoenix. Tickets are $8 for each night of the three-night 
performances. The Teatro Caliente festival runs three nights (Oct. 28-30).

The complete series schedule for fall follows below. Please visit the Performance in the Borderlands Website athttp://theatre.asu.edu/community/borderlands.htm or contact ASU assistant professor of Theatre, Ramon H. Rivera-Servera at 480-965-0157 or via e-mail at ramon.rivera-servera@asu.edu.

Fall 2005 "Performance in the Borderlands" Events:

October 7, 2005
Colleague-Critic: Performance and Queer Collegiality
3pm, ASU Art Museum
In this team presentation, Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, Jaclyn Prior and Jill Dolan from the University of Texas at Austin explore the potential for collaboration between artists and scholars in contemporary performance practice.

October 28, 2005
Inside/Out in the Cultural Borderlands: The Challenges of Performance Ethnography
3pm, ASU Art Museum
From music to culinary cultures, this public colloquium addresses cultural practice in Mérida, Mexico and features "Musical Performance, Regional Identity and the Academic Lens: Studying Trova Music in Yucatan" and "Food, Cooking and the Performance of Identity in Yucatan, Mexico," presented by Gabriela Vargas-Cetina and Steffan Igor Ayora-Diaz, of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.

October 30, 2005 
Beyond Trova: From Urban Folk to Experimental Sounds
7pm Modified Arts
407 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix
Tickets: 602-870-8918
A performance at the third annual Teatro Caliente, a festival of new and experimental performing arts in the Southwest. Featuring: Gabriela Vargas-Cetina, Yucatán, Mexico

November 8, 2005
'Oh, Scary Monsters, Huh?' John Leguizamo's Queer Affair with Enfreakment and Abjection
3pm, Memorial Union, Mohave Room 222 
A public lecture by Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez, professor, Mt. Holyoke College

December 13, 2003
Borderlands Theatre's "La Pastorela"
7:00pm Galvin Playhouse, Nelson Fine Arts Center, ASU Tempe Campus
Tickets: 480-965-6447
A public performance of the Mexican Shepherd's play sponsored by the Mexican Consulate General in Phoenix.

The lecture series is sponsored by the ASU Office of Pan-American Initiatives, the ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts and its Department of Theatre and the Southwest Borderlands Initiative.

The Herberger College of Fine Arts Department of Theatre provides a comprehensive range of courses in performance and directing; design and production; new work development; theatre and performance studies; film; and theatre for youth. Its Theatre for Youth program is nationally ranked in the top three and the creative writing/playwriting program is ranked 15 th among public institutions by U.S. News and World Report. To learn more about the Department of Theatre, visit http://theatre.asu.edu. 

Media Contact:
Mica Matsoff
(480) 965-0478
Mica.Matsoff@asu.edu