Busy with Admin

The past two days have been heavy with administrative work. I had my first official meeting with my Phd supervisors, Duska Radosavljevic and Melissa Trimingham. It really is kind of a "dream team" as Duska is highly versed in ensemble practice around the world, and Melissa (also a theatre person) has a long history with "practice as research" for PhDs and I'll be utilizing that model in my work. 

I've been getting familiar with the Student Data System...it's like an online appointment/assessment tool where we have to log all of our meetings, add reflections, and show goals/targets, etc. Also, getting information about the online library system.  The UK has an overarching program for all research students and online tools to support them, so today I attended a workshop that gave an introduction into this program/system.

 http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/437091/What-is-the-Researcher-Development-Framework.html

Also, if you've seen "the Facebook" you saw this on campus:

Yes the NFL.UK truck was parked outside the Arts School. Boy, they know their audience!

And big news for the daughter:

In my free time, I've been transcribing notes from The Creation of an Ensemble and from Duska's book and started re-reading (with a keen eye on ensemble) The Fervent Years by Harold Clurman- a theatre staple. Next stop on the reading list is probably Grotowski, the Living Theatre, Mnouchkine, and Joe Chaiken...also I may need to go back into the Meiningham Ensemble, and Moliere's ensembles!

All this creates a platform and historical context for my contemporary interview piece of the plan where I interview a cross section of current theatre ensembles. 

While in Europe, on Friday, I go to visit our ole theatre vagabond Ray Cullom!  He's currently slumming it as the Executive Director of the Zorlu Performing Arts Center in Instanbul. 

(http://www.broadwayworld.com/turkey/article/Executive-Director-Ray-Cullom-Joins-Nederlander-Worldwide-Entertainment-at-New-Istanbul-Performing-Arts-Complex-20130516)

After that, I head to Paris where I will meet up with the staff at the University of Kent research center, and hopefully drop by the  Comédie-Française and the Théâtre du Soleil.