Last October, twenty- five UO freshmen piled into vans and headed south to Ashland for a weekend of events.
Their destination: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a performance of Carlyle Brown’s The African Company Presents Richard III. Based on a real-life incident, the play tells the story of a conflict between an African-American theater company and a mainstream white theater company in the 1800s.
Afterward, the students dined on the town and spent the night at the Ashland Hostel. On Sunday, they enhanced their Ashland experience with an acting workshop.
The trip was a highlight for students enrolled in the Freshman Interest Group (FIG) led by Leah Middlebrook, associate professor of comparative literature, and Jeffrey Hurwit, professor of art history.
Right: Actor Charles Robinson starred in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2011 production of The African Company Presents Richard III.
All incoming freshmen to the UO are offered the opportunity to join a FIG—a special program that links two courses (in this case Middlebrook’s Comparative Literature 101 and Hurwit’s Art History 204) and provides students a chance to connect with each other and UO faculty members in a small-group setting. Middlebrook and Hurwit’s course is designated as one of several “challenge” FIGs offered each year, meaning the material is more rigorous than the average FIG and students are afforded more personal time with faculty members.
“Taking this wonderful trip and having literature illuminated for you—it just shows that learning is not all hard work,” said Middlebrook. “I want students to leave their first quarter at the UO feeling like ‘this is what I was hoping I would get when I went to college.’” This was the third year Middlebrook has taken students to Ashland, a tradition she plans to continue next fall by taking students to a performance of either Shakespeare’s Henry V or Romeo and Juliet.
“A lot of students, even those from Oregon, don’t know about the Ashland festival. This is something they can enjoy their whole life,” Middlebrook said.
—Patricia Hickson
Photo: Jenny Graham
Concept and Illustration: Owen Jones and Partners, Ltd.
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