04 Broadcaster Press May 29, 2012 www.broadcasteronline.com Gordon-Bland: Festival prep at ‘full throttle’ Spotlight On By Travis Gulbrandson travis.gulbrandson@plaintalk.net Preparations for the first annual South Dakota Shakespeare Festival are at the “full-throttle stage.” That’s what the festival’s artistic director, Chaya Gordon-Bland, who added that rehearsals for the show – “As You Like It” – are taking place from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. so they’ll be ready for the festival on June 8-10. “We have a four-week contract that we have actors under, so about a three and a half week rehearsal period, and then tech and dress performances in the park,” she said. “So we are near the end of our second week of rehearsals. … We’re rolling right along.” The festival, which will take place in Prentis Park, has grown in scope and momentum at a rate its organizers had not anticipated. “It’s been a tremendous investment of time, energy and resources to make things go,” Gordon-Bland said. “It’s wonderful that we have that challenge, that there’s just been so much enthusiasm for it.” This won’t be the first time Gordon-Bland has helmed a Shakespearian play. In the past she has directed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night” among others. She said she has participated in the various aspects of theatre most of her life, but did not think it would be a career path. Then, during the summer after her junior year in college – where she had a double major in chemistry and dance – Gordon-Bland took an internship with a New York City theatre company. “When I got to the end of my undergraduate career, I had some difficult choices to make, because I did love science, and I do love science,” she said. But the internship was “a really great experience,” and led her to decide to move to New York and pursue being an artist. For the next nine years she was involved in lots of different projects, either as a dancer or actor, after which point she returned to the college setting and earned her master’s degree in theatre arts from the University of Pittsburgh. Following two years at Michigan State, GordonBland came to the University of South Dakota, where she serves as an assistant professor in the theatre department. Her teaching interests include movement and Shakespeare. “In terms of teaching, I teach the full movement curriculum for actors, which is basically a threesemester curriculum,” she said. “It begins with a course entitled ‘Fundamentals of Voice and Movement’ that all of our performance majors take as sort of a gateway course into their other technique classes.” She also instructs a twosemester movement curriculum that works with physical characterization, as well as Shakespeare and period style courses. “I’m very happy to say (USD) was an excellent fit for me,” Gordon-Bland said. “I have the opportunities here to work in areas that I’m passionate about and interested in, and to work with wonderful, gracious and hungry students.” Gordon-Bland said she enjoys many aspects of her job, but most important for her is the creative space it allows. “There’s a lot of creativity that goes into the teaching work, there’s a lot of creativity that goes into the designing curriculum. I do a lot of mask work with my students, I get to introduce them to ideas, approaches that they haven’t necessarily worked with before,” she said. “It’s very, very creative work, whether I am performing or directing or in the classroom. “There’s a lot of room for me to explore creatively, and I feel that I have tremendous support here to pursue those creative ideas, and have my own creative identity and make my own contribution here,” she said. The South Dakota Shakespeare Festival is organized by Coyoteopoly. For more information, visit http://orgs.usd.edu/coyote opoly/ShakespeareFestival/ Transient vendors: Get the facts before you buy Transient vendor season is underway in South Dakota, a time when out-of-state vendors roll into the state to sell their products and services. While many of the vendors are legitimate, the South Dakota Department of Revenue advises people to take common-sense steps to ensure vendors are reputable before doing business with them. 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