“Lempicka,” a contemporary musical inspired by the life of renowned Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, explores the intersections of art, identity, survival and ambition in a rapidly changing world. Known for its sweeping score and stylized theatricality, the production offers both performers and audiences a rich, layered storytelling experience.

For Shively, the project is an opportunity to engage with a complex historical figure whose life defies simple categorization.

“We often want to draw clean lines between talent and character,” Shively notes. “’Lempicka’ resists that impulse. It invites us to sit with contradiction—to consider what it means to survive, to create, and to be human in a world shaped by political upheaval and personal reinvention.”

The production brings together student artists, designers and musicians in a highly collaborative process that mirrors Shively’s teaching philosophy. Centered on curiosity, rigor and ensemble-driven storytelling, her rehearsal room emphasizes both artistic risk-taking and thoughtful inquiry. Students are encouraged not only to refine their craft but also to engage critically with the historical and cultural contexts of the work.

This opportunity also reflects ����app�ٷ���վ�� ongoing commitment to experiential learning and professional engagement beyond campus. By directing at a neighboring institution, Shively strengthens ties across the Triad’s arts community while modeling for students what it means to be an active, working artist in the field.

Elon College Fellow Helena Padial is serving as assistant director of the production as part of her undergraduate research project.

“Helena’s research directly connected to my decision to accept this offer,” said Shively. “Her research into queer representation in the entertainment industry centers the Broadway production of ‘Lempicka.’ When UNCG was open to Helena working on the production, I immediately said yes.”

Projects like ‘Lempicka’ demonstrate how Shively bridges her work as an educator and a professional director. Opening weekend is sold out, but tickets remain for closing weekend, April 23-26.

Dramaturgy is the creative art of combining script analysis, contextual research and audience engagement. Student dramaturgs worked with “An American in Paris” director Alexandra Joye Warren, assistant professor of performing arts, to deepen cast engagement with topics such as the French resistance, Jewish experiences during the war, and jazz age Paris.

Warren notes that she was particularly fascinated by student research into “the role of women and how they used society’s expectations of them to do powerful work in supporting the resistance movement.”

For example, jazz performer Josephine Baker passed hidden messages in her sheet music in support of the French resistance.  Dramaturg Grey Carr, who is a drama and theatre studies and creative writing double major, researched the deep involvement and impact of Black Americans like Baker on the culture of Paris. They discovered that their “influence both in person and abroad on French music and entertainment spreads far and wide over multiple decades,” which can “be seen, heard, and felt in the artistry of Elon’s production.”

The dramaturgs joined the cast for a discussion with Holocaust survivor Renée Fink, who shared her story of overcoming persecution. Dramaturg Lauren Catherine McHenry, a drama and theatre studies and theatrical design and technology double major, feels that this experience was most valuable during the creative process.

“It was a privilege to learn from her,” McHenry said, “and to connect her real-life experience with the characters in ‘An American in Paris’.”

Despite the serious subject matter, the musical portrays characters finding hope and meaning in their survival. They use visual art, music and dance to process their experiences and express their emotions. Dramaturg Addie Rankin, a drama and theatre studies and data analytics double major, hopes that audiences can take away “the value of art in hard times. Some of the most beautiful forms of artistry come from communities coming together in the wake of tragedies or people finding light in an otherwise grim society.”

The dramaturgy team also prepared a lobby display for audience members to learn more about these topics. Carr says that their dramaturgy work “provides a closer look at the context a viewer, performer, or creative artist may not have otherwise, such as the diversity in experiences of Parisians before, during and after WWII.” In addition to a poster display, audiences will have the opportunity to create art just like the characters portrayed on stage.

“An American in Paris” is inspired by the beloved 1951 film of the same name. It includes music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by contemporary playwright Craig Lucas. ����app�ٷ���վ�� production opens Oct. 31 in McCrary Theatre, with performances running for two weekends. Tickets are available at the Center for the Arts Box Office.

Eight students from the drama theatre studies, acting and music theatre programs in the Department of Performing Arts participated in the course, which offered high-impact experiences for the student artist-educators. Students engaged with anti-oppressive pedagogies, including the best practices of boundaries and consent for creative spaces when working with minors. They then put their theory into practice, working with elementary students, performing in a mini tour with local area libraries and creating curricula for a local non-profit community theatre.

Shively participated in the Community-Based Learning Scholar and Fellows program as she developed the course. Along with Nermin Vehabovich, assistant professor in the Jo Watts School of Education, Shively used the Community-based Fellows program to build a course that would impact young people in the community by building relationships with emerging arts educators.

Building Relationships

The inspiration for this course came from a desire to reach beyond the Center for the Arts walls and create relationships with the community.

“Theatre is an exceptional catalyst to bring out the best in our humanity; belonging, connection and critical thinking all happen when we get people together with a common purpose for the arts,” said Shively, whose background includes working as an arts educator.

Aware that many students and alumni were working as arts educators, Shively wanted to help these students gain a head start on learning the foundational practices and pedagogies that would benefit students most.

Students spent six weeks working with after school students at North Graham Elementary, as they learned to develop and implement lesson plans and make necessary adjustments in response to student feedback.

“The course taught me to channel my love for performing into another meaningful avenue by fostering the imagination of young students,” said Monique Fogg ’24, who graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in acting. “By working with elementary school students, I was able to develop skills such as time management, lesson planning and leadership.”

The Arts Education in Action cohort also enjoyed building meaningful relationships with students over the course of their visits.

Students on Tour

A highlight of the class was the library mini tour. The students devised a performance using the poems of Shel Silverstein that they shared as a part of programming for Poetry Month. They then took their show on the road to local libraries. This was one of Fogg’s favorite parts of the class.

“I really enjoyed devising the Shel Silverstein poems performance with the rest of the ensemble,” said Fogg. “We worked together and created something so fun for the kids and were able to go to their local libraries and possibly be their first introduction to theatre. It was an extremely rewarding and gratifying experience.”

Finally, the class connected with local community theatre Studio 1’s Artistic Director Tami Kress. Students interviewed Kress and then built class curricula in their specific area of interest based on the needs presented by Kress. For their final project, the students presented their proposals to Kress.

“Being able to give the students a culminating experience like building curriculum from scratch was an important exercise,” said Shively. “They could see how much they had learned and integrated into their practice over the semester. They left the course ready to engage with this work, and with an understanding of what kind of work they enjoy most, and what next steps they need for their ongoing training.”

The field of intimacy choreography and coordination continues to rise in attention as an emerging practice in the entertainment industry. Associate Professor of Performing Arts Kim Shively is recognized internationally as a leader in this field.

Recently, Shively and colleague Laura Rikard from the University of South Carolina, Upstate have been working with professionals in the film industry in Europe. Rikard is co-founder of Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), and Shively is an associate faculty with the organization, dedicated to educating theater makers in intimacy best practices.

In May, Shively and Rikard were selected to train a group of current and developing intimacy coordinators in Berlin, Germany. This workshop was sponsored by Culture Change Hub, an advocacy foundation that works with the German film industry and entertainment funding agencies.

The two also presented through Bundesverband Schauspiel, one of the major funding organizations for the Austrian film industry at Wien Film in Vienna. The success of this work resulted in Shively and Rikard being invited to present virtually this month to the European Film Agency Directors (EFAD), an organization that unites film agencies and funding bodies across the continent.

Shively joined TIE, which is the leading research and educational organization in the country, in 2018 as its first assistant faculty, joining Rikard and Chelsea Pace. Associate Professor of Performing Arts Susanne Shawyer also joined TIE as affiliate faculty the following year. Since joining TIE, Shively and Shawyer have collaborated and published their research on theatrical intimacy in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism.

Shively has developed trainings and methods for translating the best practices of Theatrical Intimacy Education in spaces with minors and has been an invited artist scholar at organizations and institutions across the country. Shively also has led workshops in group dynamics for creative spaces and community agreements. She continues to work as an Intimacy Choreographer for professional and educational theatre and mentors ����app�ٷ���վ�� students for the profession.

In 2020, Shively was promoted to associate faculty with TIE, a designation earned by her excellence in teaching, intimacy choreography, and publications. Shively has co-authored her research on bringing theatrical intimacy practices into undergraduate environments with Elon colleague, collaborator and affiliate faculty of TIE Susanne Shawyer, an associate professor of theatre. Their article “Education in Theatrical Intimacy as Ethical Practice for University Theatre” was published in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism in the Fall of 2019. That fall their research was also included in the journal Perspectives on Undergraduate Research & Mentoring in an article titled “Mentoring Undergraduate Research in the Performing Arts: Case Studies of the Ten Salient Practices in Action.” Shively included her research in best practices of boundaries and consent in the acting classroom in the book Applied Meisner for the 21st Century Actor (Routledge 2021), which she co-authored with Kevin Otos,  associate professor of theatre at Elon. Shively is also an experienced theatrical intimacy educator, having taught numerous workshops on the topic since 2018.

In addition to her scholarship on best practices of boundaries and consent, Shively researched how to translate these best practices when working with minors. She developed her research into a six-hour training for TIE. Since January 2021, when Shively first offered her six-hour workshop on working with minors, she has trained over 150 educators, actors, and professionals from across the globe in these techniques.

As an associate faculty member, Shively continues to work as an educator and consultant with TIE, where she hopes her research will shape the future of the entertainment industry for the better.

Theatrical Intimacy has been part of Shively’s research for over two years, as she explores integrating intimacy choreography and practices into her acting classes and theatrical productions at Elon. In fall 2018, along with her colleague and collaborator, Susanne Shawyer, assistant professor of Theatre History, she was awarded a Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning grant to bring TIE to campus for a 16-hour workshop. At this workshop ����app�ٷ���վ�� students, faculty and local theatre professionals learned basic techniques for establishing safety and consent in the rehearsal hall, and practiced creating choreography for scenes with romantic moments. Shawyer and Shively have also used these practices in theatrical productions at ����app�ٷ���վ�� such as Moment (2018) and Trojan Barbie (2019).

American playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton visited ����app�ٷ���վ�� March 3-4 for a weekend of workshops leading up to a public staged reading of her brand new script, “The Inferior Sex,” a funny and poignant look at 1970s feminism.

In a whirlwind 24-hour period, students in the Acting and Music Theatre BFA programs read and rehearsed “The Inferior Sex” in two short rehearsals before bringing the script to life in front of an audience of students, faculty, and community members. "The Inferior Sex" is the behind-the-scenes look at a woman's magazine that gets political and breaks new ground in an ever-changing world. Assistant Professor of Theatre History Susanne Shawyer acted as dramaturg and Assistant Professor of Acting Kim Shively served as director for the staged reading. Lawton re-worked the script during the rehearsal process, and noted audience responses to “The Inferior Sex.” As a playwright, Lawton often uses script readings to learn about the strengths of her writing, generate ideas, and make edits as she works on her second draft of the play.

At Elon, Lawton also gave a playwriting masterclass to students majoring in Elon’s Acting, Drama & Theatre Studies, English, and Music Theatre degree programs. In this workshop, students created verbal, textual, and movement-based monologues inspired by their favorite dessert. Student playwrights also had the opportunity to ask Lawton questions about her playwriting practice and career in the theatre.

Jacqueline E. Lawton is a playwright, dramaturg, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her visit to ����app�ٷ���վ�� was sponsored by the Fund for Excellence.

����app�ٷ���վ�� “The Inferior Sex:”
It’s the summer of 1972. As the war in Vietnam intensifies, the battle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment ramps up across the nation, and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm remains undeterred in her campaign for president. In midtown Manhattan, a small woman’s magazine is on the verge of collapsing and threatens to dash the hopes and dreams of a group of women tired of being treated as second class. “The Inferior Sex” is the behind-the-scenes look at a woman’s magazine that gets political and breaks new ground in an ever-changing world.

Lawton was named one of the top 30 national leading black playwrights by Arena Stage’s American Voices New Play Institute. She received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a James A. Michener Fellow. She participated in the Kennedy Center’s Playwrights’ Intensive (2002) and World Interplay (2003). Her plays include: “Anna K;” “Blood-bound and Tongue-tied;” “Deep Belly Beautiful;” “The Devil’s Sweet Water;” “The Hampton Years;” “Intelligence;” “Love Brothers Serenade;” “Mad Breed;” “Noms de Guerre;” and “Our Man Beverly Snow.”  She is assistant professor at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where she teaches playwriting, dramaturgy and theatre for social change.

The reading of “The Inferior Sex” will take place in the Isabella Cannon Room, Center for the Arts, on Sunday, March 4, at 6 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The 2017-18 New Works Playwriting Symposium is sponsored by the Fund for Excellence, Department of English, and Department of Performing Arts.  

The production marks the first public performances of Dietz’s newly published script, an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s play Reigen. At Elon, Dietz participated in a post-show discussion about his play, gave a public lecture about the life of a playwright in the American theatre, and offered a playwriting masterclass for ����app�ٷ���վ�� students.

Dietz discussed “American La Ronde” with director Kevin Otos, cast and crew members, and the audience immediately after the performance on Oct. 5. He explained that while Schnitzler’s play was transgressive for its depictions of sexual behavior on stage, the transgression in “American La Ronde” comes from characters being honest and truthful, which can be unusual and unnerving in today’s hyper-performative mediatized world. 

Dietz also gave a masterclass in playwriting to students majoring in drama & theatre studies, English, acting, and cinema & television on Oct. 6. He described the importance of “turns,” or moments of change, in a script, and guided the students through some playwriting exercises. Later that day he spoke publicly about his life in the theater and took questions from students, faculty and parents visiting for Family Weekend. 

Dietz is one of America’s most-produced playwrights and is the author of more than 30 plays and adaptations. He is professor of playwriting and directing at the University of Texas at Austin. His visit to ����app�ٷ���վ�� was sponsored by the Fund for Excellence, the Department of English, the Department of Performing Arts, and organized by the Drama & Theatre Studies program.

“American La Ronde” continues through Oct. 11 at the Roberts Studio Theatre.

Dietz is one of the most produced playwrights in the United States and the award-winning author of over thirty scripts including “Lonely Planet” and “God’s Country.” Elon’s Department of Performing Arts is producing Dietz’s play “American La Ronde” October 5-11 at the Roberts Studio Theatre, directed by Kevin Otos.

At Elon, Dietz will participate in a talkback after the Oct. 5 performance of “American La Ronde,” when audience members will have a chance to ask him about the script and his writing process. He will also give a talk about his career as a playwright and director in the professional theatre the afternoon of Oct. 6, open to the entire Elon community. Recognized as a “Traveling Master” by the Dramatists Guild for his expertise in teaching playwriting, Dietz will give a playwriting masterclass to ����app�ٷ���վ�� students on Oct. 6.

Dietz’s work has been produced internationally and translated into ten languages. He is currently professor of playwriting and directing at the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information, contact Assistant Professor Susanne Shawyer in the Department of Performing Arts.

Dietz’s visit to ����app�ٷ���վ�� is sponsored by the Fund for Excellence, as well as the Departments of English and Performing Arts.