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Eastern Art Gallery celebrates theatre program in 'Capturing the Ephemeral'

by Bobbi Brown

Willimantic, CT (02/08/2022) — Art Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University hosted an opening reception on Jan. 27 for the first exhibition of the spring semester. Titled "Capturing the Ephemeral: Theatre and Performance Media at Eastern," the exhibition featured seven professors in the Theatre Program who specialize in different aspects of theatre and performance. "Capturing the Ephemeral" will be on display until Feb. 18.

Professors featured include Alycia Bright Holland, J.J. Cobb, Brian Day, Kristen Morgan, David Pellegrini, Anya Sokolovskaya and DeRon Williams, who are specialists in movement and dance, scenography, theatre, costume design and more.

"The (exhibition) is our attempt to share our vision of where the Theatre Program might go by reflecting on where we have been," said curator and associate professor of theatre and costume design Anya Sokolovskaya. "Our department is a combination of dance, theatre and film, and we all work together.

"Theatre is art, but the uniqueness is that there's a collaborative part. This is when a few artists come together to create a performance. This exhibition is an invitation to see separate pieces of the production," she continued. "This combination of work magnifies the invisible. People attend productions they don't really see up close, it's at a distance. So, this exhibition allows the audience to look at things closely and to think 'what is behind it?'"

Williams, assistant professor of theatre and directing, provided insight on the connection between art and theatre. "Theatre and art are naturally a married pair. We pull a lot from the visual representation that we see from sculptures, paintings and photography, which influences our choices as directors, designers and actors."

"We draw upon those emotions that come through the visual arts. We are always looking at those elements to make sure that we are including those visual aspects within our production. With this exhibition, we really wanted to represent some of our earlier works to show where we started and where we're headed. It's very important to show that journey and spotlight ideas."

Day, assistant professor of theatre and filmmaking, described the connection between theatre and art. "They're one in the same. Theatre is a three-dimensional representation of art and it taps into a lot of the more formal art disciplines such as sculpture, painting and photography. So the foundational arts bring a lot of different creative arts together into one experience."

"Our faculty are artists, but they are also scholars," said Sokolovskaya. "They bring their scholarship with them to their work. This exhibition offers thought, recognition and the chance to learn what theatre is about."

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Eastern Connecticut State University is the state of Connecticut's public liberal arts university, serving more than 4,300 students annually on its Willimantic campus. In addition to attracting students from 163 of Connecticut's 169 towns, Eastern also draws students from 31 states and 10 countries. A residential campus offering 41 majors and 65 minors, Eastern offers students a strong liberal art foundation grounded in a variety of applied learning opportunities. Ranked as the #1 public regional university in New England by U.S. News & World Report in its 2020, 2021 and 2022 Best Colleges ratings, Eastern has also been awarded 'Green Campus' status by the Princeton Review 12 years in a row. For more information, visit www.easternct.edu.

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