The Utah Shakespearean Festival is hosting two major symposiums this week.
One is the third annual "Wooden O Symposium," Monday-Wednesday in the Sharwin Smith Center on the Southern Utah University campus. It is free and open to the general public.
The other is the 2003 United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Costume Symposium's "Introduction to Drafting Men's Wear Patterns," with entry fees of some $300, geared specifically toward beginning and intermediate costume technicians.
THE WOODEN O SYMPOSIUM, named after the popular nickname for Shakespeare's O-shaped Globe Theatre in London, explores medieval and renaissance studies through the text and performance of Shakespearean plays.
Three different types of sessions will be conducted at the symposium — one for academics and scholars, another for graduate students and the last for undergraduate students.
The symposium allows scholars from various disciplines to present papers that offer insights and new ideas that spring from the era of William Shakespeare. Papers presented each year at the symposium are then collected and published as the Journal of the Wooden O Symposium. The journals are available at festival gift shops or online at www.bard.org.
THE COSTUME SYMPOSIUM will have two three-day sessions, Monday-Wednesday and Thursday-Saturday, with workshops led by renowned theatrical costumers Susan I. Davis and Laurie L. Kurutz.
Participants will be introduced to the principles of drafting systems and their practical applications, and will later put this information to use with hands-on opportunities to draft a sack coat, frock coat, trousers, and vest. Workshop instructors will also discuss tailoring construction techniques as well as the principle of grading patterns.
Fees for this symposium are $295 for USITT members and $335 for nonmembers. The cost includes all instruction and materials, tickets for two evening performances at the festival, a backstage tour and a continental breakfast and lunch each day.
Registration information about the 2003 Costume Symposium can be found on the USITT web site at www.usitt.org or by calling 1-800-938-7488. For more information on the festival itself, visit www.bard.org or call 1-800-752-9849.
— Ivan M. Lincoln