Emmy-award winning comedian John Oliver will perform in the Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28. The University of Iowa’s Hancher and SCOPE Productions are collaborating to present the show.

A purveyor of satirical comedy, Oliver has gained fame through his work as Senior British Correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” His stand-up has been described as “comedy for smart people” with a political edge. The 2012 election is a likely source of fodder for his Iowa City performance.

Oliver has found success and fame through his recurring role as the antagonistic Professor Ian Duncan on NBC’s comedy, “Community.” His Comedy Central series “John Oliver’s New York Stand-up Show” also showcases his work as a political humorist.

Tickets are $40 for nonstudent and senior citizen, and $22 college student and youth. Tickets are available from both the Hancher Box Office and the University Box Office as well as all Ticketmaster outlets.

The Hancher Box Office, located on the first floor of the south end of the Old Capitol Mall near the parking ramp, is open for phone (319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER) or walk-up business from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. Tickets may be ordered online at www.hancher.uiowa.edu.

The University Box Office is located in the IMU and can be reached by phone at 319-335-304.

Any remaining tickets will be available for sale one hour before show time at the IMU Main Lounge.

To receive UI arts news by e-mail, go to http://list.uiowa.edu/archives/acr-news.html and click the link “Subscribe or Unsubscribe,” then follow the instructions.

PHOTOS: http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu/media.

STORY SOURCE: University Communication and Marketing, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACTS: Rob Cline, Hancher, 319-335-3827, rob-cline@uiowa.edu; Zoey Miller, SCOPE Productions, 515-554-2119, zsm1992@gmail.com; Steve Parrott, University News Services, 319-384-0037, steven-parrott@uiowa.edu

University of Iowa News Release

Dec. 6, 2011

Well, theoretically, that is. Coralville native and aspiring comedian Dan Gill recently nabbed a small speaking role in an upcoming episode of the hit NBC television show, “The Office.” Gill will play a bar trivia announcer in Episode 11, “Trivia,” set to air later this winter.

Dan Gill / Special to the Press-Citizen

Gill, 27, said being a part of the show was a fun experience.

“I was obviously excited,” Gill said of shooting the episode over two days in October. “I met all the cast, and they were really nice.”

But it was a bittersweet experience, too, he said, “now that Steve Carell is gone. And (I didn’t get to meet) James Spader, either.” Carell’s role as Michael Scott, regional manager of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, ended last season; Ja

mes Spader joined the cast this season as Sabre CEO Robert California.

Still, Gill said, “I hadn’t worked in a while, other than doing standup. So it was nice to have some work for the holidays, something to put in my pocket and go home with.”

Gill, a West High graduate who moved from Coralville to California in 2006 after working at Coral Ridge Theater for a couple of years, regularly performs standup in Los Angeles at the Improv and the UCB Theatre. He recently finished a feature comedy for Paramount Pictures, “Destination Wedding,” due out next spring, and worked in the writer’s room for four seasons of “Penn & Teller: Bull****” on Showtime Networks. He also has worked as a reality television producer.

Gill’s mom, Kathy, who still lives in Coralville, said she is proud of how far her son has come in the hotly competitive field of comedy.

“It’s just great,” Kathy Gill said of her son’s role on “The Office.” “He’s been working hard, and I give him all the credit. He just went out there and has been working toward being something.”

For Dan Gill, it’s one role closer to achieving his goal of being a full-time comedian.

“I just want to be able to earn a living doing comedy,” he said. “I’m close to that, but not there yet.”

Written by: Stephanie Wise

Iowa City Press-Citizen

November 17, 2011

Nov. 15, 2011

The University of Iowa’s Hancher will present a Holiday Pops performance by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The performance will also feature contemporary a cappella group Rockapella and soprano Kathryn Skemp Moran.

Known as “America’s Orchestra,” the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra is well known for both its Holiday Pops performances and its Fourth of July concerts, which are aired nationally each year. The orchestra has made a host of popular recordings under the batons of Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Lockhart.

Rockapella is a five-man a cappella group perhaps best known as the house band on the PBS television program “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” The group has recorded multiple holiday albums and will be performing brand new arrangements of holiday favorites with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.

The 2011 edition of the Holiday Pops tour includes only three stops, with Hancher offering the most affordable ticket prices on the tour.

The event is supported by ACT, Inc.; Riverside Casino & Golf Resort; John and Sue Strauss; Herbert A. and Janice A. Wilson; and the Hancher Partners. Media support has been provided by The Gazette and KCRG.

Tickets are $90/70/45; college student, $25; youth, $45/35/22.50 — available from the Hancher Box Office.

The Hancher Box Office, located on the first floor of the south end of the Old Capitol Mall near the parking ramp, is open for phone (319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER) or walk-up business from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. On Wednesday, Nov. 23, the box office will close at 4 p.m. The Hancher Box Office will be closed on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) and Friday, Nov. 25. On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 26 and 27, the box office will be open from noon until 4 pm.

Tickets may be ordered online at any time at http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu. Any remaining tickets will be available for sale one hour before show time at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

PHOTOS: http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu/media

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACTS: Rob Cline, Hancher, 319-335-3827, rob-cline@uiowa.edu; Steve Parrott, University News Services, 319-384-0037, steven-parrott@uiowa.edu

Arising from the Juilliard School of Music in 1974, the American String Quartet won the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. Since then, the American String Quartet has become resident quartet for the Aspen Music Festival and the Manhattan School of Music in New York. The ensemble has premiered pieces by internationally acclaimed composers such as Richard Danielpour, Curt Cacioppo, Tobias Picker, and Glen Cortese. They have performed the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart in countries around the world. Hancher last presented the American String Quartet in 1981.

The Maia Quartet, founded in 1990 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, is a recipient of the Arnhold String Quartet Fellowship and has held fellowships at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, and Peabody Conservatory. Since 1998, the Maia Quartet has been the quartet-in-residence in the UI School of Music, a unit of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This Hancher performance will be the Maia Quartet’s final concert.

The Maia Quartet will be playing Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54, No. 2, and the American String Quartet will perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. The two quartets will come together to perform Shostakovich’s Two Pieces for String Octet, Op. 11 and Bruch’s String Octet in B flat Major, Op. 20.

While in Iowa City, the members of the American String Quartet will engage with UI music classes and perform a lecture/demonstration for students at the Preucil School.

There will also be a pre-performance discussion in Riverside Recital Hall on Friday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m. with the artists from the American String Quartet and the Maia Quartet.

The performance and residency are supported by the Hancher partners and gifts to Hancher Circle through the University of Iowa Foundation.

Tickets are $35; college student, $10; senior citizen, $31.50; youth, $17.50 — available from the Hancher Box Office.

The Hancher Box Office, located on the first floor of the south end of the Old Capitol Mall near the parking ramp, is open for phone (319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER) or walk-up business from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. Tickets may be ordered online athttp://www.hancher.uiowa.edu. Any remaining tickets will be available for sale one hour before show time at the Riverside Recital hall.

PHOTOS: http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu/media

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACTS: Rob Cline, Hancher, 319-335-3827, rob-cline@uiowa.edu; Steve Parrott, University Relations, 319-384-0037, steven-parrott@uiowa.edu; Writer: Andrew Deloucas

November 7, 2011

Click to Watch!

Public Access Television asked why you love Iowa City and now its time to watch all the answers!

November 6, 2011 at the Mill on Burlington street at 6 P.M.

Come enjoy some comedy, drama, romance and experimental films about your favorite place to live!

The conference will include several other free, public events:

–Wendy Heller of Princeton University will speak on “Orpheus and the Origins of Opera: Looking Back at Peri’s Euridice,” co-sponsored by the Opera Studies Forum, at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in Room 2520D, University Capitol Centre (UCC).
–The Center for New Music will perform vocal settings and responses to Sappho, Catullus, Plato, Anakreon, and other writers from classical antiquity by composers including Purcell, Wolf, Rorem, and Dallapiccola at 8 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol (http://www.uiowa.edu/~cnm/46.111027.html).
–Simon Goldhill of King’s College, Cambridge, will speak on “The Ideal Chorus: Opera, Philosophy and Tragedy,” co-sponsored by the Eighteenth/Nineteenth-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium, at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in the International Programs Commons, 1117 UCC.
–Jon Solomon of the University of Illinois will speak on “The Music of Ben Hur,” with the assistance of pianist Andrew Simpson and tenor James Thompson at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, in 1117 UCC.
–Silent films with live piano music by Andrew Simpson from Catholic University of America — “La caduta di Troia” (The Fall of Troy)(1911), “Cupid and Psyche” (1897), “Ben Hur” (1907), and the Mutt and Jeff cartoon “A Roman Scandal” — will be screened at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, in the Englert Theater.

Conference organizer Robert Ketterer, a classics faculty member, says, “This event is a combination of an academic conference that has attracted scholars from all over the world with a series of public lectures and performances that feature important but seldom heard music. It is possible in the course of three days to hear one of the first operas ever as well as settings of ancient poetry from the 20th century.” For a full conference schedule and registration information visit, http://www.uiowa.edu/~classics/events/music_classics_conf_registration.html.

“Jacopo Peri’s ‘Euridice’ is the first extant opera (Peri wrote one before it, but the music and the text do not survive) and it was written for the wedding of Henry IV of France and Maria Medici in October 1600,” Hand explains. “It concerns the Orpheus myth: Orpheus loses his wife, and travels to Hell to retrieve her. He uses the power of music to convince the god of the underworld to return his wife, and this is undoubtedly why Peri chose this topic, so he could show the power of music. Peri and his colleagues had recently invented a new type of music, the recitative, which is sort of a combination between speech and singing.”

The first production did not have we would recognize as an orchestral score, but rather a line for the singer and a bass line with continuo figures to guide the players in improvising the accompanying harmony. Hand points out, “This means that no two performances of the opera are alike, since so much is left up to the individual performers.”

In this production, the continuo group include two harpsichords, two violoncellos and a lute. “The harpsichords are copies of early baroque Italian instruments and are very similar to what were probably used in the first performance,” Hand says. “We will be performing at historic pitch (a half-step down from modern pitch), and using meantone temperament, the tuning system that was in place in Italy around 1600.

In modern times, opera is usually an elaborate spectacle performed in a large hall and featuring lavish sets and costumes, but Hand says this early example was chamber music, which has guided the UI production: “It was meant as entertainment for a wedding. There was no special lighting, no orchestra pit, no conductor, and probably not elaborate costumes or staging. So our performance will be taking place at Riverside Recital Hall rather than a theater. It will be minimally staged, with only simple costumes.”

Ketterer says, “I am very excited the way this conference has garnered support from so many different units on and off campus, including the Classics Department, the School of Music, International Programs, the Obermann Center, and the Iowa Arts Council.

“A grant from the Iowa Arts Council has made it possible for public to see free of charge at the Englert a group of silent films like the 1907 “Ben Hur” and a 1913 “Fall of Troy” the way they were meant to be seen, with live piano music, performed by composer and performer Andrew Earle Simpson, film accompanist at the Library of Congress. Come in ancient costume and stay for the midnight show of ‘Rocky Horror’!”

The Department of Classics and the School of Music are academic program in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

UI arts events are searchable on the UI Master Calendar: http://calendar.uiowa.edu. Exhibitions are searchable at http://calendar.uiowa.edu/exhibitions. To receive UI arts news by e-mail, go to http://list.uiowa.edu/archives/acr-news.html, click on the link “Subscribe or Unsubscribe” and follow the instructions.

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, IA 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACTS: Jan Weissmiller, Prairie Lights, jan@prairielights.com. Winston Barclay, University News Services, winston-barclay@uiowa.edu

  ]]> http://www.theiowacityblog.com/ui-re-creation-conference-will-include-free-performances-of-the-oldest-surviving-opera/feed 0 http://www.theiowacityblog.com/efforts-under-way-to-revitalize-iowa%e2%80%99s-film-industry?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=efforts-under-way-to-revitalize-iowa%25e2%2580%2599s-film-industry http://www.theiowacityblog.com/efforts-under-way-to-revitalize-iowa%e2%80%99s-film-industry#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 07:00:32 +0000 Bekah13 http://www.theiowacityblog.com/?p=1839 Iowa hasn’t exactly been heaven for filmmakers the past two years.

Jim Slosiarek / The Gazette

Iowans interested in revitalizing film, television and video production are picking up the pieces of shattered dreams, though, hoping to rekindle the entertainment industry in Iowa — a state that produced “Field of Dreams,” “Bridges of Madison County,” “The Final Season,” “Twister” and “Country,” among others.

“It’s a shame the industry crashed because there were problems with the program and the oversight,” said Kimberly Busbee, owner of AriesWorks Entertainment and director of the Wild Rose Independent Film Festival. “You don’t shut down banking or insurance when there’s a problem, you deal with the problem and move forward. And so hopefully, that is the way that things will go for the state of Iowa.

Of nearly $32 million worth of state tax credits granted to 22 film companies, State Auditor David Vaudt said $25.6 million was issued improperly.

Several filmmakers have pleaded guilty to criminal charges or face upcoming trials for alleged crimes, while the former head of the Iowa Film Office is slated to be sentenced this month on a felony conviction of misconduct in office.

Officials within the Iowa Attorney General’s Office are hopeful that financial exposure once estimated as high as $330 million will end up costing the state less than $20 million once all outstanding issues are settled.

“What we don’t want to do is just sit in limbo for years while things get cleaned up,” Busbee said. “We need to move forward with positive projects and get it built back up.”

To that end, Busbee has signed on as co-director of Project Cornlight, an initiative launched by Mason City native and Hollywood actress Tanna Frederick. Project Cornlight is aimed at developing Iowa-based films and other projects that showcase Iowa creative talent and producing at least one independent film in Iowa per year.

Frederick, a University of Iowa graduate, last week announced that she was ready to accelerate the development of Project Cornlight’s first feature film, “Just Beautiful.” It features a script by screenwriter Joanna Louise Johnson and will star Frederick — also the film’s executive producer — with native Iowans Joel West and Ellen Dolan.

Frederick, who also founded the Clear Lake-based Iowa Independent Film Festival, said it’s been her dream to create professional filmmaking and other projects in Iowa. Plans include films, stage productions, industry workshops and a screenplay competition.

“Project Cornlight intends to inspire and revive the film industry here in Iowa; to foster emerging Iowa filmmakers, actors and writers; to bring back talented Iowa natives now living in other markets; and to grow artistically strong and commercially viable feature films from the Heartland,’’ according to the news release that announced the initiative’s launch.

Dave Danielson of the Iowa Motion Picture Association said efforts like Project Cornlight are needed to jump-start the film industry. It continues to function in Iowa but has been decentralized by the prolonged absence of an Iowa Film Office, he said.

“There’s activity, but it’s fragmented,” Danielson said. “The people who were here had an amazing experience, and they would like to come back.”

Busbee said she knows more than 70 people who have moved to California because the lull in activity forced them to leave Iowa, looking for work. She hopes that can turn around. One of the first priorities in that effort will be the revival of the Iowa Film Office.

Tim Albrecht, Gov. Terry Branstad’s spokesman, said the governor is interested in opening a new Iowa Film Office and has had discussions with Wendol Jarvis — who created the office in 1984 and left in 2002 over staff cuts — about reprising his role.

“The governor believes that filmmaking is good for economic development in Iowa,” Albrecht said. “However, he does not believe that the tax credits that were put forward were particularly effective, and they were badly mismanaged. So the tax credits will not play a part in that.”

Busbee said developments like Project Cornlight give hope for a positive turnaround.

“I think it’s very possible we can get people back here over time and have the industry built back up, but it’s going to take hard work and it’s going to take people having a positive attitude and some good news for a change,” Busbee added.

Written by: Rod Boshart

The Gazzette

October 3, 2011

PATV (Public Access Television Channel 18 in Iowa City) is holding its first ever short film contest to share how much they appreciate being a part of the Iowa City community – and to give people who feel the same way a chance to creatively share their love for Iowa City.

They are currently seeking short film submissions about why people love life in Iowa City in the following five categories: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Documentary & Experimental.

Submitted films can be up to 5 minutes long, and there is a $5.00 submission fee per entry.

The submission deadline is Saturday, October 22nd, and winning entries will be screened and prizes awarded at the Mill on November 6th at 6 p.m.

If you’re interested in making a film, attending the screening, or having your business sponsor the event, please visit their webpage and Facebook page for full contest details and updates or email them at iloveiowacityfilm@gmail.com 

For over 20 years, PATV has been creating – and covering – much of the rich tapestry of culture, art and social activism that makes Iowa City such an amazing place to live, study and do business.

In this time, PATV has helped teach a broad and diverse group of people learn the filming, editing and broadcast skills involved in making community television.

Photo by Michael Pointer

has been named recipient of the 2011 Don Coldsmith Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. The Coldsmith Award pays tribute to a distinguished Kansas author whose lifetime contributions have utilized the written word to enhance the proud literary legacy of the Sunflower State.

This annual award is sponsored by the Lucas, Kansas-based company, Ad Astra Publishing, and will be presented during a luncheon of the annual conference of Kansas Association of School Librarians on Oct. 13, in Salina.

Previous award-winners were Dr. James Hoy, Emporia, 2009, and Nancy Pickard, Mission, 2010.

The Don Coldsmith Award is named after the prolific and internationally popular Emporia doctor-author who died on June 25, 2009. A primarily Western fiction author and past president of the Western Writers of America, Coldsmith wrote more than 40 books, 150 articles and 1,600 newspaper columns. He was named in a recent survey one of the Best 24 Western Authors of the Twentieth Century.

Coldsmith’s “Spanish Bit Saga,” a series of related novels, helped to redefine the Western novel by adopting the point of view of the Native Americans, rather than the European immigrants. There are more than six million copies of the “Saga” series in print, as well as editions in German, French and Swedish.

Albert Goldbarth was chosen as this year’s award-winner for his almost 40-year writing career with emphasis on humorous poetry, for which he has received worldwide acclaim.

“(He is) the American poet of his generation for the ages,” Judith Kitchen wrote in “Georgia Review.” “Often humorous but always serious, Goldbarth combines erudite research, pop-culture fanaticism, and personal anecdote in ways that make his writings among the most stylistically recognizable in the literary world.”

Other critics have called him a “contemporary genius with the language itself” and a man who “could outtalk and outwit Leno and Letterman, Stewart and Colbert; he’s much funnier than all of them.”

Goldbarth, 63, is known for his prolific production, his gregarious tone, his eclectic interests and his distinctive “talky” style. He has been a Guggenheim fellow and won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1991 and 2001, the only poet to ever receive the honor twice. He also won the Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry, awarded by the Poetry Foundation, in 2008.

Goldbarth received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle campus in 1969, his master of fine arts from the University of Iowa in 1971, and completed a year of classes toward a doctorate in creative writing from the University of Utah.

He has been a teacher since 1972 and has served as a coordinator for the Traveling Writers Workshop for public schools in the Chicago area.

Goldbarth has published more than 25 collections of poetry and has received numerous awards, including the Poetry Northwest Theodore Roethke Prize, the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry, the Ohio State University/The Journal Award, and was nominated for the National Book Award.

Since 1987, he has lived in Wichita, where he is the Adele Davis Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Wichita State University.

The Emporia Gazette

September 24, 2011