GC grad Bruce Hostetler to present Umble Master Class
Master Class Keynote: “Who is Art? (And why does he keep following me?)”
Date and time: Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Umble Center
Cost: Free and open to the public. A reception will follow at 8:30 in Umble Center Room 100.
Play reading: “FERAL” by Bruce A. Hostetler
Date and time: Friday, Jan. 23, at 8 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Umble Center
Cost: Free and open to the public. This play contains mature themes and strong language, restricted to audiences high school age and older.
Director and graduate of Goshen College (1988) and Bethany Christian High School (1984) Bruce A. Hostetler will present the 2015 Roy H. Umble Master Class on Jan. 20-24, featuring workshops, a keynote address and a reading of his newest play “Feral.” All events are free and open to the public.
Hostetler is currently resident stage director for the Portland Revels, artistic director of CompassWorks, and a freelance theatre/opera director, producer and playwright. His four operas have toured the west coast, and his play “Feral” was a hit of the 2013 Fertile Ground Festival in Portland. He is also past president of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance.
“Our goal is always to bring in successful theater artists with a national profile and, in the case of Bruce Hostetler, we’re thrilled that he is also an alumnus of our own GC theater program,” said Doug Caskey, professor and chair of the theater department. “Bruce is eager to share with GC students about his career journey since leaving his ‘Umble Center home.’”
In his 25 year directing career, Hostetler has directed more than 150 theatre, musical and opera productions from New York to Santa Cruz. He founded The Backporch Theatre Company in Goshen and directed Shakespeare plays for the Goshen parks system. He was producing director for the Carnegie Mellon Summer New Plays Project, where he worked with playwrights Craig Wright (Pavilion) and Aaron Posner (The Chosen), and from 1999-2003 he worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. He holds a master’s degree in directing from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Drawn from over 600 interviews with Portlanders experiencing homelessness, Hostetler’s play “Feral” highlights the stories of individuals and families who struggle to retain their self-identity and humanity in the face of homelessness.
The Roy H. Umble Master Class in Communication and Theater was established with gifts from Goshen College alumni who had benefitted from professor Umble’s teaching and inspiration. An initial gift from Janette Brunk in 1994 served as a tribute to both Umble and her parents, Perry and Fern Brunk, who developed an appreciation of theater because of her daughter’s involvement in it. In 1996, alumnus David E. Yoder, one of Umble’s many former students and admirers, initiated a fundraising effort to build an endowment to support a master class.
The Roy H. Umble Master Class brings nationally known practitioners and experts in speech and theater to the Goshen College campus annually for events and activities, which enrich and inspire students, faculty, the broader campus and local church communities.
Full schedule for the Roy H. Umble Master Class
All events are free and open to the public
Tuesday, Jan. 20
2-3:15 p.m. – Senior seminar class, Church-Chapel, Room 100
7:30-8:30 p.m. – Keynote presentation: “Who is Art? (And why does he keep following me?),” Umble Center. Reception following.
Wednesday, Jan. 21
12-12:50 p.m. – The power of story class, Umble Center, Room 132
3-3:50 p.m. – Contemporary drama class, Umble Center, Room 132
7-9 p.m. – Workshop: from stage manager to director, part 1 of 2, Umble Center, Room 132
Thursday, Jan. 22
9:30-10:45 a.m. – The expressive voice class, Umble Center, Room 100
Friday, Jan. 23
4-5 p.m. – Being a working artist in the USA, Umble Center, Room 132
8 p.m. –FERAL by Bruce A. Hostetler, play reading and discussion, Umble Center
Saturday, Jan. 24
10 a.m.- noon – Workshop: from stage manager to director, part 2 of 2, Umble Center, Room 132