糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Student Completes National Theatre Institute Theatermakers Summer Intensive
Gage Pipkin, center, is one of five playwrights. Photo by Isaak Berliner, resident photographer for the O'Neill Center.
A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student completed a highly competitive four-week summer theater program where participants create new work while training with professionals and emerging artists.
Gage Pipkin, a senior theatre major and Donaghey Scholar from Jonesboro, finished the National Theater Institute鈥檚 Theatermakers Summer Intensive program during June and July at the Eugene O鈥橬eill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. He was one of five playwrights in the 26-student program.
Over the four-week program, Pipkin helped write four new shows, participated in daily master classes and workshops, and earned eight credit hours for college.
“There are no other words to describe my experience at the National Theatre Institute Theatermakers program other than one challenging, magical state of existence,鈥� Pipkin said. 鈥淭o be able to make art unapologetically with others during such times is something I will never forget. NTI has opened the door to a whole community that I now cannot imagine my life without and taught me that art can be made anywhere as long as you have brave, trustworthy people in your company.鈥�
The National Theatre Institute led Gage to create a network of artists that he said will be valuable in his future career in the arts.
鈥淭his program opened my world vastly to other artists,鈥� Pipkin said. 鈥淏ecause we shared our artwork, I feel close to those people. Now I have a whole community of artists that is mainly on the East coast. My playwriting mentor for the program, we stayed in contact and we had a meeting about my work when I was in New York. Some of the other students may want to direct my work at their school. That is a possibility because of this program.鈥�
Two of the four original works that Pipkin wrote and were produced during the summer program include 鈥淎LEXANDRITE鈥� and 鈥淥THERWORLD: A Queer Nightlife Musical.鈥� Set in a pseudo world reminiscent of the Salem witch trial period, 鈥淎lexandrite鈥� centers on Ruby, a young woman who is sexually assaulted by the town鈥檚 pastor and later put on trial for being a witch.
鈥淚t deals with taking power back and what happens when a person鈥檚 power has been stripped away,鈥� Pipkin said. 鈥溾�橭THERWORLD鈥� is the total opposite of 鈥楢LEXANDRITE.鈥� The play takes place in a fun, interactive nightclub environment. It鈥檚 like a children鈥檚 musical for adults, and it covers the journey of a fantasy club world.鈥�
Pipkin also earned an $8,000 scholarship to attend the Theatermakers Summer Intensive. He鈥檚 thankful to his mentors in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program for their support.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have been able to take part in this opportunity without the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Theatre Department which so passionately supports the creation of new student work,鈥� Pipkin said. 鈥淚t was here that I realized playwriting was not a job or career but a duty that we as artists should take on in order to make sure the stages in this world reflect our current human condition. This department gave me the tools I needed to pursue such opportunities to practice my craft. I just am continuing to learn to use these very tools.”
In the upper right photo, Gage Pipkin, center, is one of five playwrights who participated in the National Theater Institute鈥檚 Theatermakers Summer Intensive program this summer. Photo by Isaak Berliner, resident photographer for the O’Neill Center.
