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From
Russia to
Towson,
with love
LAUREN SLAVIN
Arts Editor
For the Towson University depart¬
ment of theatre arts, there would be
few performances this year without
the works of the Russian Season.
For the playwrights of the new
drama revolution taking place in
Russia, there would be few plays with¬
out the influence of Olga Mukhina.
"I violate all of the rules of good
structure in literary work, in a dra¬
matic work. In English what I do is
called ‘intuitive writing,”' Mukhina
said.
"Tanya-Tanya," one of Mukhina's
most famous plays, has been re-trans-
lated and adapted by Kate Moira
Ryan for a performance by graduate
and undergraduate Towson University
students.
“This is the play that in fact created
the boom of new Russian writing for
theater,” John Freedman, a theater
critic for the Moscow Times, said.
"Everybody said nobody's writing any
new plays, there's no new plays worth
staging. If a new play does get staged,
it’s no good and there’s no point to
go see it and it shouldn’t have been
written in the first place. I mean it
was very cynical. When 'Tanya-Tanya'
was staged... the entire Russian com¬
munity said, ‘This is a brilliant play,
this is great, we want more.’"
Freedman, who originally translat¬
ed the play from Russian to English,
and Mukhina will be in attendance
for the opening weekend of the play,
which begins Friday, Dec. 4.
The performance serves a the cul¬
minating event of the first semester
of the Russian Season, whose overall
purpose has been to share the recent
rise in Russian drama, according to
Yury Umov, Fulbright Scholar in
Residence and director of "Tanya-
Tanya."
"We came to the room of an
American dramaturg and we saw all
those books on the shelves.. .new dra¬
mas from all over the world," Umov
said. Then we saw the contemporary
Russian drama. The contemporary
See TANYA, page 15
What's in
a
name?
ALISSA KATZ
Associate News Editor
University building names roll off the tongues of students each day, but most
don’t give a second thought of which prominent people these buildings are
named after.
Most residence halls and academic buildings are named for past principals,
presidents or superintendents. M.A. Newell was the first principal, Elijah Barrett
Prettyman was the second principal, George Ward the third, Sarah Richmond
the forth and Henry West the fifth. Libertus van Bokkelen was a state super¬
intendent of public instruction from 1864 until 1867 and M. Bates Stephens
was the state superintendent of education from 1900 until 1920. Albert S. Cook
succeeded Stephens until 1942.
Some of the buildings have been named for selected former faculty members
that played an important role with moving the school forward, according to
Felicity Knox, Cook Library’s archives and digital collections associate.
Wiliam Burdick was a faculty member of Towson’s physical education depart¬
ment from 1919-1925. Anita Dowell was the dean of the college from 1950 to
1953.
But at a time when the Maryland State Normal School had 356 students and
boarding costs were approximately $4 per week, there was one professor who left
his mark but tragically left too soon.
George LaTour Smith, a MSNS faculty member from 1874 to 1892, was the
first head of the school’s science department. He was a professor of natural
See SMITH, page 09
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