When creating costume designs for the upcoming opera comedy “The Elixir of Love,” designer Mari Taylor (M.F.A. Stage Design ’17) drew her designs on actual images of each actor instead of using traditional sketches.
Costume shop staff Genie Stallings, Cayla Tally and Allie Elsey say the hybrid renderings help them capture the physicality of each actor as they cut and sew the costumes. “The Elixir of Love” will be presented by SMU Meadows Opera Theatre Feb. 9-12, 2017 in the Bob Hope Theatre.
As we continue on to the next academic year and reflect on the inspiring events of fall 2016—which includes Meadows Prize winner New Cities, Future Ruins’ hybrid conference on art and urbanism in America’s Western Sun Belt, the many, electric events of Ignite Arts Dallas, stunning dance premiers, Mayor Rawlings’ Sammons Media Ethics lecture, swing dance, a lighting battle, the election, and much, much more—we present a look at photos we love from the year at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.
The indefatigable photographer Kim Leeson was on hand for many Meadows events. Here are just some of our favorites:
Meadows Division of Dance presented To Have and To Hold, choreographed by Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith in 1989 in response to the devastation of the AIDS epidemic (Photo by Paul Phillips)Scene from the New Cities Future Ruins walk around Dallas’ Jubilee Park neighborhood, see installations by artists and designers throughout the neighborhood, and enjoy an evening of food, discussion, keynotes and presentations.
All photos below by Kim Leeson
Ben Voth, Ph.D., of SMU’s Corporate Communications and Public Affairs division, held a debate during the Presidential election in November.A night together at The MAC, punctuated by performances by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Autumn Knight, Postcommodity, and Lee Escobedo, during the New Cities Future Ruins fest in Dallas.Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings at the 17th annual Rosine Smith Sammons Lecture in Media EthicsThe Rosine Smith Sammons Lecture in Media Ethics at SMU presented “Making Sense of a Tragedy in Real Time: Media Coverage of the Dallas Ambush”–featuring Steve Pickett, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, and Mike Wilson (R), editor of the Dallas Morning News. (At center, Journalism professor C Jake Batsell)Kathleen Gallagher is an Arts Management and Arts Entrepreneurship professor at SMU. Gallagher took her International Comparative Cultural Policy class to the State Fair of Texas in Fair Park.Students, and faculty re-lived the classic era of the famous big bands and spend an evening dancing to the music of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and other legendary artists of the 1930s and ’40s.The SMU Meadows Jazz Orchestra presented its second annual swing dance concert onOctober 29.A performance from the Alternate ROOTS Weekend-Dallas, presented by SMU’s Ignite Arts Dallas (run by Clyde Valentin)For the second year in a row, judges selected a team of SMU Meadows M.F.A. Theatre Design students as a top-three finalist for High End Systems’ “Hog Factor 4” live show lighting competition. Kolby Clarke, left, and Andrew Garvis, with Russ Bockemuehl on laptop screen.SMU Provost Steve Currall named Associate Professor of Organizational Communication and Director of Corporate Communication and Public Affairs Maria Dixon Hall as Provost’s Senior Advisor for Campus Cultural Intelligence. Dixon is seen here teaching her course at Meadows.
When creating costume designs for the upcoming opera comedy “The Elixir of Love,” designer Mari Taylor (M.F.A. Stage Design ’17) drew her designs on actual images of each actor instead of using traditional sketches. 
