Public Works Dallas is a groundbreaking, participatory theater project produced in collaboration with the Dallas Theater Center and modeled after the wildly successful Public Theater program in New York City Throughout the year, SMU Meadows students conduct acting workshops with community members, serve as production assistants, and assist with marketing and volunteer efforts in support of a marquee production at the Wyly Theatre in the Dallas Arts District.
Now you can support Meadows students working as Public Works Dallas fellows.
SMU is hosting a Mustangs Give Back Day on March 7. Make a gift to SMU on March 7 and be a part of #MustangsGiveBack, an entire day dedicated to supporting what we love about SMU. It’s easy:
Cancel your Valentine’s Day plans: We have an opera for you.
This February weekend at SMU, the Meadows Opera Theatre will present a vivid performance of Elixir of Love at the Bob Hope Theatre. There’s love-potion, a snake-oil salesman, irresistible melodies and sparkling wit. This is the Valentine’s Day date you’re looking for in Dallas. The Meadows Opera Orchestra will be along for the ride, as conducted by Paul Phillips.
Dallas Theater Center (DTC) and Ignite/Arts Dallas at Southern Methodist UniversityMeadows School of the Arts, in collaboration with AT&T Performing Arts Center and in affiliation with New York City-based The Public Theater’s Public Works, announced complete details for the inaugural production of Public Works Dallas’ The Tempest, a groundbreaking community engagement and participatory theater project designed to deliberately blur the line between professional artists and Dallas community members.
Directed by DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty, The Tempest will run for four performances from Friday, March 3 to Sunday, March 5 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets to The Tempest are FREE to the public and are available by phone at (214) 880-0202. Tickets will also be distributed at several community locations noted below, and will be available online Feb. 24.
McHenry Taylor works on a short film for one his finals, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 in Umphrey Lee Center. For his engaged learning project, McHenry wrote the script and directed the feature length film “Elsewhere, TX”.
McHenry Taylor graduated from SMU on Dec. 17 with experience few film graduates list on their resumes. He wrote the script and directed a feature-length film, “Elsewhere, TX,” which will debut in May 2017 at SMU.
A film and media arts major, Taylor had written and directed short films for class. But in the summer of 2015 he submitted his “Elsewhere” script to be considered for SMU’s Film and Media Arts department’s summer film production project, a two-year, student-run endeavor. All crew heads working on the film – director, producers, cinematographer, production designer, editor, sound mixer – are current SMU students or recent alumni.The post-apocalyptic western is a cross between Catcher in the Rye, a spaghetti western and a survival film, Taylor says. “I came to SMU knowing I wanted to study film,” Taylor says. “I was determined to take advantage of every opportunity that walked by.”
The summer film project requires that students create a budget, raise money, audition actors and find a location. Filming takes place for two weeks on-location during the summer, with pre-production work completed the year before, and post-production work the year after. “Elsewhere” is in the editing and marketing phase of production.
“The SMU film department is unique in giving students complete control of the 90-minute film,” says Mark Kerins, associate professor of film and media arts, and adviser to the summer film production project. “As mentors and advisers, the faculty tries to protect students from making big mistakes, without hand holding.”
After Taylor submitted his script, he assembled a director/producer team with fellow film majors Trevor Thrall and Natalie Khraish, then applied to direct the film. A committee of film faculty members and Dallas-area film-makers selected Taylor’s script and team, setting in motion script revision, actor auditions, crew head selection and money-raising. As Engaged Learning fellows, Taylor and Khraish also received mentoring and financial support from SMU’s Engaged Learning program.
In June of 2016, Taylor, 15 actors, a crew of 19 students and a high school friend or two descended on the small East Texas town of Nacogdoches for filming. The steamy rural locale set the tone for the story of a gun-slinging stranger and a young boy who navigate the dangers of a post-apocalyptic South, learning much from one another in the process. Co-producer Trevor Thrall, a Nacogdoches native, recruited friends and family to house and feed the crew and actors as well as provide locations for the film. A local television station covered their efforts.
“Making the movie was a thousand trials by fire,” Taylor says. “We worked for 15 straight days in 100-degree heat. The film features a 12-year-old boy who was acting for the first time. Most of our actors were theatre-trained and had never done film before. But in the end, we were a bunch of kids who knew what we wanted to do.”
After Commencement, Taylor will continue to direct “Elsewhere’s” film editing. Then he would like to write and direct sci-fi films.
For visual or performing arts future-majors, the college application process can be nerve-wracking for anyone. Here are five tips from SMU Meadows for applying to an arts school to help you along the way.
Public Works Dallas is a groundbreaking, participatory theater project produced in collaboration with the Dallas Theater Center and modeled after the wildly successful Public Theater program in New York City Throughout the year, SMU Meadows students conduct acting workshops with community members, serve as production assistants, and assist with marketing and volunteer efforts in support of a marquee production at the Wyly Theatre in the Dallas Arts District.
