Sarah Tam ’17
Sarah Tam spent much of her time at Butler “cocooned in the theatre world,” and when she wasn’t there, she was working on her minor in English writing. The results, she said, prepared her well for what she would like to eventually do—work in publishing as an Editor during the day and pursue acting on the side.
Tam’s work in Butler Theatre productions included a part in the world premiere of The Water Carriers, a play about a group of refugees attempting to flee Africa in a shipping container; the title role in Karlsson on the Roof, in which she learned to fly; and several roles in Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information.
She also had a part in a friend’s theatrical adaptation of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which gave the participants—all of them Butler students—a chance to have an ensemble experience where they did everything.
“It feels to me what Butler Theatre encourages—theatre artists who can do lots of things well and can create their own work because they have something they want to do,” she said. “It was really cool to be a part of that.”
Since graduating, Tam has been working as an actor/interpreter in the Indiana Historical Society’s living-history exhibits, which re-create a piece of history. The actors research and train to become characters, then play the parts by interacting with the historical society’s guests. Her next role is in an 1863 Gettysburg exhibit, where she will be dressed in full costume, including corset and petticoats.
“That’s been really cool because it’s a day job, but it’s acting,” she said. “So I get to do theater as my primary job right now.”
Tam, who had been looking at colleges in Massachusetts, said she made the right selection when she chose Butler.
“When I think back on what I’ve done here—I directed my own show as part of my thesis; I studied abroad twice—a semester in Dublin and six weeks in Russia during the summer; I took classes in so many different aspects of theatre and other subject areas—I don’t think I could have done that anywhere else,” she said.
Sarah Tam ’17
I don't think I could have done what I did here anywhere else.
Matthew Kraemer '99 Named Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's New Music Director
PUBLISHED ON Mar 26 2015
Matthew Kraemer ’99 has been named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO).
“The Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra is a dynamic organization comprised of superb musicians providing its audience an impressive variety of music and concert formats,” he said. “This position would undoubtedly be highly attractive to any conductor, but I am also drawn to the ICO because of my sincere affection for the rich and varied repertoire available to chamber orchestra.”
Appointed Music Director of the Butler County (Pennsylvania) Symphony and the Erie (Pennsylvania) Chamber Orchestra in 2012, Kraemer has reinvigorated both ensembles with innovative programming and elevated artistic standards. His active guest conducting schedule has included appearances with many of the nation’s finest orchestras, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, Saint Louis, and Virginia symphony orchestras, as well as Canada’s Mississauga Symphony and Hamilton Philharmonic and in Europe with the Vidin Philharmonic and the Orquesta de Cadaqués.
Kraemer also spent five years as associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic, which under his watch experienced exponential growth in its award-winning education concerts program. Prior to his appointment in Buffalo, he served for three seasons as associate conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
The Indiana native is noted for his “musical sensitivity” and “energized sense of interpretation.”
“I'm thrilled about our new Music Director,” Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Vice President of Audience Development and owner of Meridian Music Craig Gigax said. “He represents a new beginning to the ICO and Indianapolis, and will bring energy, ideas, relationships with soloists, and an innovative vision.”
The Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to advance and promote music composed for the small orchestra through professional concert performances and education programs. The ICO also provides accompaniment to many area arts and educational organizations.
Broadcasts of its concerts can be heard on WFYI-FM (90.1) on Monday evenings.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
Matthew Kraemer '99 Named Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's New Music Director
PUBLISHED ON Jun 01 2018
Stirling Matheson '09, who already has dancer and writer on his resume, is adding a new credit: film director.
Absolution, his short film of a dance Sarah Farnsley '10 choreographed, will premiere at the Dances With Films independent-film festival in Los Angeles on June 8 at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre.
"It's a very different kind of directing," said Matheson, who danced with Ballet Theatre of Maryland, founded Ballet Theatre of Indiana in 2014, and has written for Dance magazine, among other publications. "I'm used to directing my company, and that's about training it to be repeatable so that it goes right for the one shot you get on stage. But we had five hours to do this, which was a new experience, for sure."
The film, which runs almost seven minutes and features five Butler University graduates among the company, visits the House of the Rising Sun, which in folklore is an allegory for purgatory. There, in the pouring rain, all the dancers are grappling with their guilt and figuring out how to forgive themselves for whatever went wrong in their lives. As they come to terms with their issues, they can go off into the purple light and the rest of the afterlife. But for some people, that takes more time than others.
Absolution debuted as a dance piece about two years ago during a Ballet Theatre of Indiana performance at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. As he watched, Matheson was struck by the details and angles in the choreography. He began to envision it as a film.
""I had some ideas of exactly what I wanted in lighting, which was different from the stage version," he said. "The original version was stark white side light. I thought it would end up looking dead on film. There was a bit of symbolism in the colors that we used, that pale melancholy blue-gray on the right side of the frame and then as they traveled from right to left, they went into that more ethereal death and rebirth-looking purple.""
He describes his role in the production as "translator" between Director of Photography Bryan Boyd and Farnsley, who made sure the film was true to her choreography.
They shot the film from 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM on a night when "it was 60 degrees and I was literally spraying them with a sprinkler the whole time," Matheson said. "They're some pretty tough ladies."
The dancers include Michelle Quenon '15, Anne Mushrush '15, Lauren Nasci '14, Audrey Robson '14, Christina (Presti) Voreis '14, and Catherine Jue '15. They're all part of the Ballet Theatre of Indiana company, which concluded its fourth season this spring.
Matheson said the Indianapolis debut of the film version of Absolution will likely take place during Ballet Theatre of Indiana's fifth season, which will be announced this summer. He suggested that people who want to see the film check out Ballet Theatre of Indiana's website.
"I'm never mad when people go to btindiana.org and sign up for the newsletter if they want to see us flail our limbs in person, rather than on the screen," he said, laughing. "I mean, that's what dancing is—it's limb-flailing. But good limb-flailing."
Media contact:
Marc Allan MFA '18
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
Lights! Camera! Action! Dance!
Stirling Matheson '09, Sarah Farnsley '10 combine to turn a dance into a film.
Stirling Matheson '09, Sarah Farnsley '10 combine to turn a dance into a film.
PUBLISHED ON Jan 05 2018
Wherever you look during the Phoenix Theatre’s upcoming production of the play Halftime With Don, Butler Theatre will be well represented.
Onstage, Michael Hosp ’08 will be playing Ed, an aspiring sportswriter who meets his football hero, a man suffering from traumatic brain injury. The technical aspects of the show will be handled by Jeffery Martin, who studied at Butler from 2005-2009. And behind the scenes, Corbin Fritz ’18 is interning as he prepares for a career as a director.
“Education and the training of the next generation of theatre artists are an integral component of the mission of the Phoenix Theatre,” Producing Director Bryan Fonseca said. “We are fortunate to have an ongoing relationship with the Butler Department of Theatre.”
Over the past decade, Fonseca said, the Phoenix has hosted Butler interns, employed faculty members, collaborated with the department on projects, entertained and educated students through a formal program of attendance, advised incoming new students for the past five seasons, and employed former students as actors, technicians, and staff.
“I think our relationship is a successful model for professional training,” he said.
Let’s meet the Butler participants in Halftime With Don, which runs January 12-February 4.
The Actor
Michael Hosp grew up a couple of miles from Butler and went to school to be an actor. Ten years after graduation, he continues to rack up credits both day and night. In addition to performing in several other plays at the Phoenix, he’s appeared in and directed shows produced by several of Indianapolis’ most inventive theatre companies, including NoExit, EclecticPond, and Know No Stranger.
Hosp also has worked on adaptations of two Kurt Vonnegut books for the IndyFringe stage, and this past summer he was in the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company’s presentation of As You Like It.
Theatre is his full-time job too. During the day, Hosp works as an Actor-Interpreter at The Children’s Museum, where you might find him in the atrium dressed as a Transformer, or in one of the galleries doing a serious monologue while portraying historical figures such as Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank.
“It’s a good day job in the sense that it’s creative and it’s different every time,” he said. “My work here at the museum and my work outside, they both help. I’ve become a better actor by just having to perform every day. And kids, you never know what they’re going to do or say. So that definitely helps the improvisational skills.”
Halftime With Don playwright Ken Weitzman, who was in Indianapolis for the first three nights of rehearsal, said casting Hosp as Ed is an unusual move since Hosp is significantly taller than Bill Simmons, the actor who plays Don.
“But there’s something really to me compelling about this big guy with this hero worship for a football player who’s not as big as him,” Weitzman said. “And Mike has a real good instinct for the part.”
Hosp said Butler gave him a great education in how to approach not only acting, but a career in theatre.
“The education prepared me to be a theatre artist and not just an actor or any one thing,” he said. “It’s so valuable to understand how to communicate and collaborate with designers if you are the director. Or as an actor, really understand how you fit into the stage picture at any given moment– to make choices that support the visual story that’s being told. I learned those things there.”
The Technical Director
Jeff Martin knew he wanted to be in theatre, and at Butler he found a mix that allowed him to experience acting as well as behind-the-scenes work.
“It gave me a good head start,” the Griffith, Indiana, native said. “Butler gives everyone what they need. You just have to use it. People coming out of school who want to be actors—it’s hard. That’s a hard life. In the tech world, there’s a lot more stability.”
After graduation, Martin spent about a year in New York, where he did some acting and special-event tech work, including setting up the teleprompter and lighting for a speech by President Obama. He then moved to Atlanta and worked with theatre companies there for a couple of years, winning awards for his lighting work.
In 2013, he saw on a Butler listserv that the Phoenix Theatre was looking for a technical director. That’s been his full-time job ever since, and he’s earned some acclaim for his innovative work. Martin also has worked regularly with Young Actors Theatre and also collaborated with Hosp on the two Vonnegut shows.
Martin said the Phoenix keeps him busy, especially now that it’s getting ready to move into a new building just west of downtown Indianapolis. Having a fully rounded education has been important to his career, he said.
“If I only knew the tech side, for example, it wouldn’t be a good fit for the Phoenix or regional theatres around the country,” he said. “The people they want to hire—from my experience—are people who can wear a lot of hats. If you can’t, it’s hard to get your foot in the door. Have that cumulative experience is helpful.”
The Intern
Corbin Fritz ’18 spent much of his winter break at the Phoenix Theatre, where he’s interning with Bryan Fonseca, the director for Halftime With Don. Fritz wants to be a director—he plans to move to either Seattle or Denver after graduation—and he said getting this experience has been valuable.
“All those actors are incredibly talented, and getting to work with Ken, the playwright, is super, super-informative and educational and also productive to the creative process,” he said. “To hear Bryan’s thoughts and analysis of the play and to be able to share my thoughts has been a cool honor.”
Fritz came to Butler from Noblesville, Indiana, planning to be an Education major, but he switched before classes started. During his time at Butler, Fritz has gotten a wide variety of experiences in acting, directing, and light, sound, and costume design. He’s studied at the Moscow Art Theatre, in London for a semester, and interned with the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company as an assistant director and production intern.
“I’ve been able to get all the education and training through Butler’s diversified theatre approach,” he said. “In the Theatre Department, we’re all theater majors—not theatre-acting, theatre-design, theatre-directing or anything like that. Wider and greater understanding of the art has been the biggest thing I’ve been able to come away with at Butler.”
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822