{"id":207115,"date":"2017-06-15T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=207115"},"modified":"2019-02-18T09:35:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T14:35:54","slug":"u-s-department-of-state-grant-supports-international-theater-exchange-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2017\/06\/15\/u-s-department-of-state-grant-supports-international-theater-exchange-program\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Department of State Grant Supports International Theater Exchange Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Chile\u2019s capital city of Santiago is home to a vibrant cultural life \u2013 and to Montclair State partner university, the Universidad Mayor. A U.S. Department of State grant will increase and diversify study abroad between the two campuses by supporting an innovative collaborative theater exchange program.<\/p>\n<p>A $42,000 U.S. Department of State Partners of the Americas 2017 Capacity Building Grant for U.S. Undergraduate Study Abroad has recently been awarded to Montclair State Theatre and Dance Professor Heather Benton and Global Education Center Programs Coordinator Wendy Gilbert-Simon.<\/p>\n<p>Their project, Devised Theatre Project of the Americas, builds on a successful 2016 theater exchange program between the two universities. Led by Benton and Montclair State Theatre and Dance Professor Debbie Saivetz, Montclair State students visited Universidad Mayor where they worked with Mayor Professor Leonor Lopehandia to explore Sergei Belbel\u2019s play <em>Caresses <\/em>during their spring break. The new award will support an innovative, sustainable, three-semester program for students from both Montclair State and Universidad Mayor, who will work together to create and ultimately perform an original, bilingual theater piece.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Global Education Center seeks to expand international education opportunities for all Montclair State students by creating affordable and innovative programs,\u201d says Gilbert-Simon. \u201cThe excitement generated by the 2016 theater student exchange program with Chile clearly called out for further development. We are so very pleased to receive this award.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Students enrolling in the project courses will explore the intersections between their diverse cultures. According to Benton, around 20 students \u2013 10 from each university \u2013 from a variety of majors will be led by faculty through a unique, three-semester collaborative process.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2017 fall semester, students from the two universities will connect online. Two phases of live collaboration and international travel will follow, with Montclair State students traveling to Chile over spring break in 2018 and with the Chilean students visiting Montclair State in fall 2018. \u201cEach exchange will include a weeklong developmental rehearsal process, a \u2018work-in-progress\u2019 showing and an itinerary of cultural explorations in each country,\u201d notes Benton.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the project, faculty from both institutions will lead students through a bilingual creative process. \u201cThe content and themes of the piece will emerge from the students and from the collaborative process, which will guide the creation and dictate the form,\u201d explains Benton. \u201cThe devising process will invite curiosity, ignite deep personal reflection and provoke questioning. Through this intense process, the students will discover the theme or themes that demand exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Devised Theatre Project strengthens an ongoing partnership between Montclair State and Universidad Mayor. In 2014, a U.S. Department of State innovation grant supported a collaborative biotechnology course between the two institutions, while the spring 2016 pilot program in Santiago laid the groundwork for the newly funded project. \u201cIt was fascinating to observe students from both institutions explore and connect to one another with such bravery and freedom through the craft of acting and a shared theatrical text,\u201d recalls Benton. \u201cCreating an original piece of theater together seemed like the perfect next step and we are elated to have the opportunity to bring this project to fruition over the next three semesters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more about the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/studyabroad.state.gov\/\"><em>www.studyabroad.state.gov<\/em><\/a><em> or via Twitter @ECAatState and with #StudyAbroadBecause. Learn more about Partners of the Americas at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.partners.net\"><em>www.partners.net<\/em><\/a><em> or via Twitter @partnersamerica<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/\/ Output tags as a list for Google Analytics custom dimension\nwindow.MSU_TagList = [];\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chile\u2019s capital city of Santiago is home to a vibrant cultural life \u2013 and to Montclair State partner university, the Universidad Mayor. A U.S. Department of State grant will increase and diversify study abroad between the two campuses by supporting an innovative collaborative theater exchange program. A $42,000 U.S. Department of State Partners of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":207116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207115"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209518,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207115\/revisions\/209518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}