Apryl Mock, News editor
Stacy Hutto, Managing editor
BrainStorm, the two-week event that showcased the research efforts of the three schools of Southeastern had a variety of performances, lectures and poster presentations. This year was the first year that all three schools presented during BrainStorm, which had previously only included the school of Arts and Sciences.
A part of Brainstorm is Dramapalooza. Dramapalooza is annual event at SE that showcases members of the theatre department.
The activities during Dramapalooza this year included the final performance of “The Time is Out of Joint: A study of Hamlet” with its current company.
Kevin Anastasio, a sophomore musical theatre major said, “I was very intrigued by the differentiation between the three aspects of Hamlet. Allowing a character’s psyche to be portrayed by multiple actors allows for the examination of the character itself to be thrown into a sharper relief.”
Other Dramapalooza events this year included a “Twenty Four Hour Play Fest.” During this event creative writing students, directing students and acting students teamed up to write, cast, direct and perform a play in 24 hours. They were given prompts from T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” for the titles of their play. The three prompts were “Between the desire and the spasm,” “Between the potency and the existence” and “Between the essence and the descent.”
Brianne Cothran, a senior acting/directing and technical theatre and design double major and director of “Between the essence and the descent’’ said her favorite event of Dramapalooza was the 24 hour play.
“I think I liked it most because it was the most challenging thing,” Cothran said. The event would not have been possible without the skill of the actors who learned all of their lines and blocking (stage positions for actors) in 24 hours while still attending classes and work, according to Cothran.
There was also “Haiku Performance Art” where directing students selected a piece of poetry written by a student in Dr. Randy Prus’s creative writing class and then directed a short interpretation of the Haiku, using only words found in the Haiku.
The department of music had several performances including the “SE Composers Concert” that featured original works by Megan M. Johnson, Jeremiah Light, Logan Russell and Emalea Hudgens. The Southeastern Choral performed “Metamorphosis” on April 23. The Sherman Symphony and the Southeastern Symphonic Choir performed of excerpts from “Carmen” on April 26.
Deana Williams’ Native American Cultures Class performed the “Native Storytelling Slam” on April 17. In this performance students demonstrated the Native American storytelling tradition
The media studies/broadcasting program premiered its new student film, “Dead Men Walking” on April 25.
In addition to the performances, there were also poster presentations filling the gymnasium in the Glen D. Johnson Student Union during BrainStorm.
There were over 65 posters available for viewing that covered a wide range of topics. The students, staff and faculty of Southeastern presented posters based on thorough research that represented the three schools of Southeastern.
The posters were available for viewing on April 24 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and April 23 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. On the last day of the poster presentations, the presenters were available from 2 to 4 p.m. to discuss their projects.
. The posters from the art department covered logo development and brands.
The posters from the communication department covered different social theories such as media and campaigns among others. Posters from the theatre department covered Sweeney Todd, Shakespeare and “To Us, It Wasn’t Code”, among others.
English, humanities and languages had topics that included legalizing marijuana, whaling and the lean in movement made famous by the Facebook COO, among others.
Accounting had a poster on internal control, and another on internal control for Durant Main Street.
The posters from the music department had topics such as jazz, symphonies, and voice among others.
Occupational safety and health had a poster that delved into the effects of fatigue levels on exam scores and an ear bud noise assessment poster.
The education department had posters on writing prompts, the mental health professional identity and the Brigance family bringing the national standard home.
Biological sciences had posters on tissue culture cells, stem and root tissue and how smoke enhances germination of a specific species of seed.
Chemistry, computer and physical sciences had posters on bandwidth allocation in multimedia, chapter activities of the American Chemical Society and the potential for biofuels, among other topics.
The lectures that were presented during BrainStorm were as varied as the performances and posters. Students lectured on topics tolerance and the making of a film.
Other lectures includes lectures from faculty such as hidden treasures in the library from Sharon Morrison, a lecture on art from Gleny Beach, a lecture on whine weary theatre professors from Dell McLain and a lecture on the writing of Virginia Woolf’s feminism theory by Dr. Lisa Coleman.