UCOL BLOG

Eight UCOL Performing Arts students have parts in this year’s Summer Shakespeare production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

The play is directed by Performing Arts Programme Leader, Jaime Dorner, as Palmerston North’s Visiting Artist for 2011. Film tutor for the Performing Arts Programme, Melissa Edmon, has also directed a short film which will be shown during the play.

The music for both the play and the film was composed by UCOL’s Contemporary Music Programme Leader Kane Parsons.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens this week and Jaime says all of his students have been working hard and doing very well. “Some of the parts are quite challenging and require a lot of energy and focus. The production is very physical and a little darker and more intense than traditional audiences might be used to. But it will be very beautiful.”

Read More: “Midsummer Night’s Dream roles for UCOL Performing Arts students”…

UCOL Performing Arts Lecturer Jaime Dorner has a hunger for all things theatre and freely admits he can’t stop himself.

Jaime not only teaches the Certificate in Performing Arts programme at UCOL, he has his own theatre company and has just been appointed as the next Resident Artist under Palmerston North’s Visiting Artist Scheme.

“I need to continually create and explore theatre,” he says. “I have to keep my career as an artist alive.”

The Visiting Artist Scheme is a collaborative venture between the School of English & Media Studies at Massey University, in conjunction with Palmerston North City Council and Community Arts Palmerston North.

Three residencies of three months each are offered each year in Creative Writing, Film or Digital Arts and Theatre. The position includes accommodation at a central city apartment in the Square Edge building.

Jaime’s Visiting Artist appointment begins in November and fits perfectly into the hiatus of the UCOL academic year.

“The scheme is great for me and my employer,” says Jaime. “UCOL encourages its staff to keep in touch with our industries. This is the best kind of professional development.”
Read More: “Creative appetite”…