The department has made changes to its curriculum, welcomed local directors and new faculty, and undertaken projects as “a way to welcome more students with different kinds of cultural backgrounds to participate,” said Department Chair Darcey Engen.

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the Department’s commitment to excellence.

“We look to stage high-quality work that challenges our students and brings some of the best to campus for theatergoers,” Engen said. “Our location in Minneapolis—a city nationally known for its rich theater scene—means our faculty have connections and can invite guest directors who are known for their excellent and sometimes ground-breaking work.”

Sweet Maladies, an award-winning play based on Jean Genet’s The Maids, centers on three sisters who, having served on a plantation their entire lives, find themselves uncertain as to how to leave following the Emancipation Proclamation.

Bringing many voices to the theater

Faculty began the work of attracting new students by undertaking a major curriculum revision. The program now includes courses on Asian and Asian American theater and Black theater.

Work by diverse artists was incorporated into the program’s repertoire. The department recently staged the Pulitzer Prize-winning 365 Days/365 Ways by Suzan-Lori Parks. This 14-person play was the first work by an African American playwright to be presented on Augsburg’s main stage and was chosen because it calls for a multi-racial cast.

The department also has welcomed guest directors from many backgrounds, including Rick Shiomi, co-founder of Mu Performing Arts, a company that produces work inspired by the Asian American experience. Shiomi, a winner of the 2012 Ivey Award for Lifetime Achievement, worked in 2011 with Asian and Asian American students to stage an original production at Augsburg titled Inside Out.

Sweet Maladies guest director, Dominic Taylor, is associated with Penumbra Theatre, one of only three professional African American theaters in the nation to offer a full season of performances. Penumbra uses the stage to increase awareness of the contributions of African Americans to the theater world.

“With our goal to intentionally create welcoming opportunities for our students, it’s important that we invite to our program directors, designers, actors, and playwrights who represent some kind of diversity—whether it is diversity of culture, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, religion, or race,” Engen said.

Engen said the department is currently working with Emiliano Chagil, Augsburg’s director of Hispanic/Latino student services, and Micheal Kidd, associate professor of languages and cross cultural studies, to produce a translation of The House of Bernarda Alba, a work by the Spanish dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca.

The department’s work is central to Augsburg’s commitment to intentional diversity.

“We’ve had an incredible history of always attempting to produce outstanding work,” Engen said. “Now we are striving to engage our community on important issues of race and diversity and to intentionally include pieces that invite students into the process to facilitate conversations about these issues.”

New actors find their places on-stage

Sweet Maladies features a cast of four women: the mistress of the plantation house played by Mawrgyn Roper ’15, and the three sisters played by Naava Johnson ’15, Leah Tillman ’13, and Jasmine Gilbert ’13.

Johnson, who plays the middle sister, Cecile, said being involved in her first theater production at Augsburg, learning how to memorize lines and to move on the stage has been challenging. Taylor, though, has taught her how to relate her character’s experiences to her own so her acting is more realistic.

“When you start getting into the scene, that’s when you know you’re playing the character right,” she said.

Johnson chose to audition for the play because she felt that she and Cecile were related when she first read the script. “I feel like she’s me; the way she acts is how I may have acted.”

The play, set in 1865, tells the story of sisters who worked as slaves on a plantation. Recently freed, the girls remain in the house because they are unsure how to begin new lives in the Reconstruction Era South.

Tillman, who was involved in the 2012 Augsburg student-led production of Debt, plays the role of Polly, the eldest sister. Tillman said that playing a character from this time in history has been emotionally demanding.

“When it comes to playing a role that involves one’s ancestors, you have to put yourself in that mindset,” she said. “I have to think like that character: I am the help, I am supposed to do what I am told. As an actor, that is difficult.”

Tillman said that for her, Sweet Maladies is an important play because it addresses a significant point in the United States’ history and the message is relevant to today’s audiences.

“It’s about how hatred can corrupt the mind of a child. You see that if the people had been able to be unified, the child would not have lost her innocence.”

The Sweet Maladies

By Zakiyyah Alexander

Directed by Dominic Taylor

February 8, 9, 14, 15, 16 at 7 p.m.

February 10, 17 at 3 p.m.

Tjornhom-Nelson Theater, Foss Center

Click for ticket information

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Augsburg students during summer 2012 spent an average of 400 hours exploring their topics, developing theses, collecting and reviewing data, and preparing formal paper presentations.

Scholars were paired with a faculty mentor in their discipline to gain extensive skills and knowledge, learn research methods, and practice writing and public speaking.

At the 2012 Berkeley McNair Scholars Symposium, student researchers spoke before an audience of academics, administrators, peers, and friends. They also attended informational sessions that detailed how to apply for advanced degree programs and took part in a graduate school fair at which recruiters represented institutions from across the nation.

The U.S. Department of Education during fall 2012 for the Augsburg College McNair Scholars Program.

Summer research reflections

Jon Barrick ’13 – History and Economics | Cultivating Consciousness: Creating a Medicine Wheel Community Garden, The Peace Project, as a Study in Awareness and Activism

Roseanna “Rosie” Benser ’13 – Sociology and Religion | Tough Crowd: The Social Interactional Nature of Stand-up Comedy

Jazmine Darden ’13 – Physics and Math | Completed an intensive summer internship with GISE and GEMS.

Beau Elkington ’13 – Social Work | An Examination of the Impact of Zen Meditation and Psychotherapy on Perceptions of Self

Arianna Genis ’13 – Sociology and International Relations | The Reproductive Justice Movement: An Analysis of the Interaction between Redefined Body Politics and the Activist Identity

Shoua Moua ’13 – Music Education | An Analysis of Instrumental Hmong Folk Music Through a Western Classical Lens

Charlie Olson ’13 – Biopsychology | Studying Brain Activity During Perception: A Comparison of Correlations Across States of Perception

Dustin Ritchea ’13 – Theatre | Realistic Fantasy and Sub-creation: A Narratological Approach to Evaluating Storyworld Construction by Using J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth

Leah Tillman ’13 – Psychology | Female Adolescents’ Self-Esteem: Musical Lyric Influences

Nou Yang ’13 – Computer Science | Impeding Businesses and Hindering Productivity: Would SOPA and PIPA Negatively Affect Businesses on the Internet?

Alexandra “Alix” Young ’13 – Biopsychology and Religion | Childhood ADHD and its Association with Young Adulthood Psychosocial Functioning

Allison Zank ’14 – Biology | Human Airway Secretions Inhibit Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation: Implications for Cystic Fibrosis Disease

Jon Barrick ’13 – History and Economics

Mentor: , Ph.D., J.D.

Barrick’s summer research project had three intertwined components, with the intersection being the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862. The first hinged on cultivating a Medicine Wheel community garden based on Dakota practices and beliefs. The garden was strategically located in his home town of Litchfield, Minn., which has geographical significance in the conflict.

The second aspect of the project was to draw the attention of Meeker County residents to this historical moment to by offering information regarding the historical significance of the Litchfield region. The third was his own research on the history of the Dakota War.

Return to scholar list

Roseanna Rosie Benser ’13 – Sociology and Religion

Mentor: , Ph.D.

Benser researched issues surrounding stand-up comedy and social inequality, and she focused on the topics of race and sexual orientation. She used Erving Goffman’s theories on impression management and frame analysis to identify methods employed by comedians and to determine which techniques are successful in framing comedy that addresses controversial topics.

Benser found herself having conversations with individuals who were interested in similar topics after she presented her research at the McNair Symposium. “I was able to really see how my research could positively impact peoples’ lives,” she said. “This research could enhance the ways in which individuals bridge differences.”

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Jazmine Darden ’13 – Physics and Math

Mentor: , Ph.D.

As a 2012 Phillips Scholarship recipient, Darden completed an internship with the Girls in Engineering, Mathematics, and Science (GEMS) and Guys in Science and Engineering (GISE) programs at Augsburg College. She taught students about structural engineering through the use of bridges.

Darden’s summer project did not include preparing a presentation for the McNair Symposium. Darden in California was drawn to attend events that focused on her academic majors—physics and math—but she also learned about new subjects. “I expanded my horizon and started going to talks in other fields,” she said. “It was great to listen to sociology presentations and now I am taking a course because I was so drawn in.”

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Beau Elkington ’13 – Social Work

Mentor: , Ph.D.

Elkington conducted a phenomenological study that examined the impact of Zen meditation and psychotherapy on perceptions of self. Elkington interviewed four psychotherapists who each practice Zen meditation and psychotherapy. He sought to determine how psychotherapists and Zen practitioners  overcome dissonance between the conventional self and non-self in Zen.

“The McNair experience has helped me shape the groundwork for future research,” Elkington said. “I will continue researching the history of self-conception as perceived in Eastern and Western philosophical, psychological, and spiritual thought with the hope of future publication in a journal or a book.”

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Arianna Genis ’13 – Sociology and International Relations

Mentor: , Ph.D.

Genis used reproductive justice—a movement that initiated an alliance for reproductive rights—to explore the concept of intersectionality and its influence on grass-roots level coalition-building. Through interviews and participant observation, her study addressed questions on the movement that, among others, include: ‘What factors led activists to see their bodily experience of reproduction through a political lens?’ and ‘How do reproductive justice activists identify with the movement?’

“When I first came to Augsburg I had no intention of attending graduate school,” Genis said. “But, presenting my research at Berkley, along with hundreds of other McNair scholars from all over the country, was an energizing and inspiring experience. It opened my eyes to the many different approaches people can take with research, and it definitely encouraged me to apply to graduate school.”

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Shoua Moua ’13 – Music Education

Mentor: Michael Buck, Ph.D.

Moua asserts that instrumental Hmong folk music is largely unknown to most people; thus her personal goal was to document Hmong music and instruments to disseminate each to the wider academic community. Moua went out into Hmong communities and interviewed teachers and students of instrumental Hmong folk music. She explored the structure and form of the music. Ultimately, she hopes to contribute to a growing archive of Hmong history.

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Charlie Olson ’13 – Biopsychology

Mentor: David Crowe, Ph.D.

Olson examined how the brain differs between states of perception. By performing visual stimulus tests using dots in random motion, Olson was able to dissociate perception from stimuli. The dissociation was mediated by change between connectivity of the brain. It is hypothesized that during a perception state, more connected activity between areas of the brain will be seen. Based on a previous study, a stable state of communication during a perception state was suggested.

“I learned how to improve my methodological and writing skills through this project in an effort to prepare myself for further education,” Olson said.

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Dustin Ritchea ’13 – Theatre

Mentor: Colin Irvine, Ph.D.

Ritchea analyzed stories created by influential writer J.R.R. Tolkien in order to better understand the author’s classic high fantasy works. Ritchea used narrative theory and frame theory to map Tolkien’s writings and to learn the foundation for creating imaginary story worlds. “By looking at how to create realistic fantasy worlds, I hoped to better understand my own writing as well as how we, [as humans,] interact with our imagination,” Ritchea said.

“Berkeley opened up my eyes in a way that I did not think was possible,” he continued. “For years my dream was to be a theater professor, but after I visited Berkeley and saw the work of my peers, I realized that what I really want to do is to use my talents and love of multi-interdisciplinary learning to create work in an entirely new sector.”

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Leah Tillman ’13 – Psychology

Mentor: , Ph.D.

Tillman sought to explore how music can positively influence individuals. She gained a broad knowledge of music therapy and delved into psychological theory regarding the influences of popular culture. She focused on how certain musical forms affect African American adolescent girls’ self-esteem and attitude.

“I felt really accomplished to finally be able to share what I have been working on passionately for so long,” Tillman said. “I was nervous at first, but the great support from my fellow McNair scholars knocked those nerves right out. After presenting, I…couldn’t wait to do a longer presentation in the future.”

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Nou Yang ’13 – Computer Science

Mentor: Shana Watters, Ph.D.

Yang examined two recently-passed online copyright bills: the Preventing Real Online Threats of Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Both bills were created to protect and enforce the copyrights laws in America. Yang showed how one could amend the legislation to ensure that businesses on the internet can continue to thrive without fear of piracy or interference from government agencies. Yang looked at how PIPA and SOPA can potentially negatively affect businesses, even when they have not violated copyright laws.

“Presenting my research was a great experience,” Yang said. “I was able to meet others who are in the same field and who have the same interests.  I am proud having accomplished this mission, and I would like to continue my research in the future.”

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Alexandra Alix Young ’13 – Biopsychology and Religion

Mentor: Ken Winters, Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. ADHD is traditionally viewed as a childhood disorder, however ambiguity exists as to the impact of this disorder on various functioning outcomes during young adulthood. Young’s research project investigated the association between individuals diagnosed with ADHD during childhood and how ADHD impacted their educational attainment, delinquent behavior, and driving safety during young adulthood.

“Because my ethnicity is under-represented, I found it difficult to receive the right support and motivation to continue pursing my dreams,” Young said. “Because of this wonderful program, I not only have knowledge about getting into graduate school, but I also have the support and motivation to continue my education.”

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Allison Zank ’14 – Biology

Mentor: Jennifer Bankers-Fulbright, Ph.D.

P. aeruginosa is a common bacteria that can survive in a wide variety of environments and is commonly encountered in everyday life. This resilient bacteria does not infect healthy tissue but can heavily damage any compromised tissue. P. aeruginosa infection is responsible for 50 percent of case fatalities of patients who are hospitalized with cancer, Cystic Fibrosis (CF), and burns. Zank’s study explored strategies with which the healthy lung inhibits biofilm formation by P. aerugionosa in order to determine which of these strategies is not employed by the CF lung.

“My participation in the McNair Scholars Program has been like pulling a curtain open to the world of scientific inquiry, and it has enabled me to see myself as a valuable part of that world,” Zank said. “The McNair Scholars Program showed me that I can focus my talents and help vast numbers of people simply by studying the things that I am interested in and by sharing my discoveries with the rest of the community.”

Return to scholar list

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By Wendi Wheeler ’06

Imagine writing one play every day for a year. Also imagine the challenges presented to 14 actors each playing several roles in 54 plays presented in one evening. That is the task of the cast of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays, directed by Augsburg theater professor Martha Johnson.

In the fall of 2002, Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks decided to take on the challenge of writing one play a day for a full year. 365 Days/365 Plays is the successful result, featuring 365 short plays exploring such divergent topics as sex, war, fairy tales, Indian mythology, American historical figures, love, politics, race, contemporary celebrities—and numerous other issues from American life.

In the introduction to the play, a 374-page book that looks like a formidable novel, Parks writes, “The plan was that no matter what I did, how busy I was, what other commitments I had, I would write a play a day, every single day, for a year.  It would be about being present and being committed to the artistic process every single day, regardless of the ‘weather.’  It became a daily meditation, a daily prayer celebrating the rich and strange process of a writing life.”

This is the first work by an African American playwright to be presented on Augsburg’s main stage. Jasmine Gilbert ’13, a theater performance major from Minneapolis, said that is precisely why she was interested in the play. “I wanted to be a part of it in any way I could.”

Gilbert [shown here with Jackson Mboma] plays the role of Parks. She said performing 54 short plays—some less than one minute in length—has been challenging. “One of the main things is that doing these plays isn’t easy because you want the audience to get her point, and you only have a short amount of time to get that across.”

Selecting only a portion of the 365 plays presented something of a challenge for Johnson in finding a “frame” for the pieces. The setting for each play is Parks’ apartment, and her mind serves as the unifying theme to help the plays connect to one another and to move the audience along through the story arc.

This is the first time that Leah Tillman ’13, a psychology major with a theater minor, has been in the cast of an Augsburg play. “So far,” she said, “I have learned that what you represent on stage could be interpreted by the audience differently when it comes to performing gender roles, ethnicities, or stereotypes.” Tillman said the cast has been very mindful of how their performances might be received by the audience.

Johnson said the production has required a great deal of artistic and logistical discipline from the actors. Usually an actor will develop the details of one character throughout the six- to seven-week period of rehearsal and performance. “This time, they create many characters, have to let go of a character, and support everyone around them through the process.”

Both Gilbert and Tillman encourage the community to see the production because of the themes in the play and because it is written by an African American. “We all worked really hard on it, so we want everyone to come out and see it. It was challenging, and we hope our hard work pays off.”

About the production:

The plays are organized into two acts, and each act is under an hour. With the intermission, the production is about two hours in length. Some of the plays contain adult language and themes, with some controversial content. 365 Days/365 Plays may not be appropriate for children 12 years of age or younger.

Performances are February 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 at 7 p.m. February 5, 12 at 3 p.m. Tjornhom-Nelson Theater. Click for ticket information

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