Virtual content for teachers and students
When you're in Edinburgh for the Fringe, you're going to learn a lot — about where theatre is going, about the city that hosts this extraordinary event, about busking, about cramming as many shows into a single day as possible, and about things you aren’t even aware of until you arrive. But until we can get you there safely, we want to “show” you what AHSTF, ICTF, and the Fringe have to offer.
Through interviews with teachers and students, Q&As, panel discussions, and more we are going to share the experience. Curious how to create an original show for the Fringe? Wondering how students have progressed in their theatrical endeavors? Just miss talking about Edinburgh? We’ve got you covered through AHSTF/ICTF Online.
It's a wrap!
Our online series has ended for the spring, but be sure to check out all of our episodes below.
AHSTF/ICTF Online Recap
Water (without water)
Led by: Olivia Chant Buss, Richard Hess, Heather Hutton, & Sydney Miles
Originally aired: April 13, 2021
In Water (without water), we talk with Richard Hess and some of his crew from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In 2018, Richard brought a new work to the Fringe called H2O: A Play About Water. They created many water effects without using any water.
Create Locally, Perform Internationally
Led by: Scott A. Mackenzie, Herb Mahelona, Darryl Smith, & Eric Stack
Originally aired: March 16, 2021
In Create Locally, Perform Internationally, our host will talk with three creators who get to the heart of their local stories and, from those stories, make art.
Keeping it Simple
Led by: Ariel Begley, Mary Inman Begley, David Glenn, & Jeremy Duncan Pape
Originally aired: February 23, 2021
In this online session, we talk about keeping a show simple, while still making a big impact on your audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We learn how to find solutions and see things as opportunities, not obstacles.
Puppets on the Fringe
Led by: Brodrick Jones, Kerry Moran, & Jax Vadney
Originally aired: February 4, 2021
In this online session, we talk about innovations with puppetry and performing puppetry at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Creating Art Beyond the Screen
Led by: Ray Nedzel & Kaila Schwartz
Originally aired: December 2, 2020
Watch the webinar with fellow educators in the performing arts as they discuss how to keep students creating during this time - even beyond the screen!
Theatre: Alive and Online
Led by: Octavia Biggs, Lisa L. Dyer, & Ken Ferguson
Originally aired: December 17, 2020
A reflection on 2020's transformations to performing, and preparation for presenting the arts in 2021. Watch the 50-minute discussion where fellow educators discuss the challenges and opportunities of theatre: alive & online.
Creating Your Own Fringe Show
Led by: Ray Nedzel & Matthew Reynolds
Originally aired: November 11, 2020
Enjoy a discussion with Fringe alumni directors, who discuss the first steps of creating an original show to perform in Edinburgh.
Series Speaker & Moderator Information
Olivia Chant Buss (she/her) is an actor, writer, director and graduating senior of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s BFA Acting Program. Recent stage credits include Mrs. Erlynne (Lady Windermere’s Fan), #7 (The Wolves), Annie (Misery), and Ensemble (Yeast Nation, CCM Musical Theatre). Last year Olivia made her directing debut with Revolt. She said. Revolt again. at the Falcon Theatre in Newport, KY; she continues to direct projects on stage and screen. Olivia loves devised theatre and has performed original works at Edinburgh Fringe and Cincinnati Fringe. She will soon be completing her certification in the Meisner Technique
Richard Hess served as Chair of the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music’s Acting Program for 25 years. Recent directing credits at CCM include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Clybourne Park, The Earth is Flat, Middletown, The Crucible, The Laramie Project, RENT, and, as they say, countless more. An original performance piece, H2O: A Play about Water, was performed in various venues including the Cincinnati Fringe and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
He studied with the internationally acclaimed director Anne Bogart and members of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute in New York and Los Angeles for the past two decades. He has taught Viewpoints master classes in Beijing, China, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Nairobi, Kenya, Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia, and across the US.
Richard was named Ernest Glover Outstanding Teacher at UC in 1999 and 2012 and was named the ACCLAIM Award Theatre Trailblazer in 2009. He is an associate member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers.
Heather Hutton has been a professional lighting designer for theater and dance for over 20 years. She has designed and rigged our main fringe venues. Her designs have been seen at Live Arts, Portland Stage Company, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and beyond. She has spent seven seasons as the lighting designer for the Charlottesville Ballet. Heather has also worked as a Master Electrician, Stage Manager, and teacher. She holds an MFA in lighting from Bennington College. In addition, Heather is a professional dancer, and spent five seasons with Contemporary Dance/Ft. Worth.
Sydney Miles is from Dallas, Texas and is a graduating senior Acting major at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She made her feature film debut playing Laura Dogget in Todd Haynes’, “Dark Waters” with Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway. Sydney has also participated and performed in many theatre and film festivals including the Lost River Film Festival (Sonnet 53) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (H2O: A Play About Water).
Scott A. Mackenzie, Professor of Theatre at Alma College, earned his MFA at Michigan State University and Ph.D. from Wayne State University. He is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, whose acting credits include film, television, and theatre. Before coming to Alma College, he spent 15 years on the faculty of Westminster College in Pennsylvania serving as Professor of Theatre and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Theatre and Art. Directing credits include All My Sons, The Subject Was Roses, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Laramie Project, and Kiss Me, Kate. As a devisor, he has helped to create multiple show that tackle topics from Genocide on Sudan to American Poverty as well as bringing to the stage an adaptation of James Perkins’s Snakes, Butterbeans and the Discovery of Electricity. While on active duty with the U.S. Army Reserve, Scott directed Bigfoot Stole My Wife, the first play produced by personnel working in Baghdad’s International Zone.
Herb Mahelona was born and raised in Honolulu, and has been an educator for nearly three decades. He resides on the island of Hawaii where he is the high school choir director at the Kamehameha Schools Hawaii Campus as well as the director of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Chorus. He recently completed his tenth opera. His operas are based on Hawaiian themes and two of them were written entirely in the Hawaiian language, and featured at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016 and 2019 with libretto by Eric Stack. He recently completed a symphonic suite based on the Hawaiian opera The Battle of Kuamoʻo, which premiered in 2019.
Darryl Smith (he/him/his) has been on the AHSTF-ICTF tech team several times and has built and worked in many venues in Edinburgh. He’s ready to go again! Darryl has performed in dance, performance art, new, and traditional shows. Darryl is also a hub of arts information for Central Virginia. The Live Arts’ Box Office Manager, with the longest tenure of any staff, Darryl is a five-star maitre d’ -- he’ll get you the best seats, welcome you to the Becker Bar and 3rd floor lounge, and let you know what's happening anywhere in C’ville.
Eric Stack is the Speech and Drama teacher at Kamehameha High School in Kea‘au, Hawai‘i. Besides the traditional American musical, KSH theatre focuses on creating original Hawaiian drama. Two such dramas, Hā‘upu and The Battle of Kuamo‘o, have represented the school at the AHSTF in Edinburgh. Presently, he and the team of creative artists at KSH are working on a new entry for a future return to Scotland.
A graduate of Virginia Tech, Lisa Dyer has been a theatre educator for 16 years. She has been honored to bring her students at J. R. Tucker High School to perform at the Fringe with AHSTF twice. In 2015, her production of “My Mania” was nominated by Amnesty International for the Freedom of Expression Award. In 2017, she presented a piece co-written by a fellow teacher and herself, “Deleted”, for its Fringe Debut.
Brodrick Jones is an artist, writer, and puppeteer living in BedStuy, Brooklyn. In addition to being a veteran of the AHSTF Tech Team and the founder of the ICTF Tech Team, he also performs once in a while. His one-man show UBU FAUST made the rounds of various Fringes, including the EdFringe in 2016.
Jax Vadney is the Assistant Professor of Drama - Scenic and Lighting Design at Athens State University. Jax stumbled into the world of puppetry at age 5, when her parents gave her a Miss Piggy puppet. She loves the art of telling stories through imaginative and creative creatures. Jax has been a part of 3 ICTF productions, including Whimsical Grimm with Gannon University, where she designed all of the puppets and taught her students the art of puppeteering.
Kerry Moran designed and built all the puppets for Live Arts' production of Hand to God. She is, by profession, an architect who spends a lot of time in theaters - designing sets, costumes, props, directing, acting, producing, and dramaturg. She has been a member of the Fringe team 5 times. Designing and making the puppets for Hand to God, she says, was one of her most challenging and rewarding projects.
Ken Ferguson is a teaher, writer, and ten-time AHSTF tech team veteran who loves accidental alliteration. It has been his honor to support high school and college teams through their Edinburgh Fringe experiences. There's not much he enjoys more than helping others achieve their artistic vision in the Festival environment. Ken has held a variety of on- and off-stage roles as a volunteer with Live Arts in Charlottesville, VA, and can currently be found assisting with lighting hangs and set builds with the Portland Playhouse in Portland, OR. When he's not working with educators or volunteering at the theatre, Ken can be found teaching wilderness survival classes and adventuring in the great outdoors.
Ray Nedzel is a Producer, Actor, and Director. He has had three full-length plays (and many one-acts and shorts) produced in NY, LA, Baltimore, MD, and Charlottesville, VA.
Ray serves as the director of the AHSTF/ICTF Fringe Tech Team.
He lives in Charlottesville and has produced or co-produced over 200 shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - the world's largest performing arts festival.
Kaila Schwartz, AHSTF alumna director, spent eleven years as a professional actor, stage manager, singer/songwriter before becoming a teacher. Her more memorable acting jobs include playing a Star Trek Bajoran at a Paramount theme park and touring the Midwest in various children’s shows. This is her 19th year as theatre director at Milpitas High School, where she has produced/directed over 30 shows ranging from contemporary dramas (The Laramie Project, Radium Girls) to classics (The Miser, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) to comedies (Is He Dead?, The Cripple of Inishmaan) to musicals (Pippin, Like You Like It) to student written works. She’s currently working on several writing projects of her own.
Octavia Biggs is a lecturer of theatre and Director of The Little Company at Morehead State University as well as serving as the Director of Lexington Children’s Theatre’s Shooting Stars Youtheatre, a performing arts program for eastern Kentucky. She prepares college students to perform and teach drama workshops. In 2018, Octavia brought the performance art piece, Einstein’s Dreams to the Fringe with ICTF. Ms. Biggs was recently recognized and received a substantial monetary award from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Very Special Arts to develop a Special Needs Drama Program fulfilling a desire to build a collaborative partnership with students with disabilities and their educators.
Mary Inman Begley (left) is a seasoned performer, director, poet, and playwright. She is one of the founding members of Discovery Mime and Movement Theatre and was its principal dramaturge, designer, and costumer for 35 yrs. She teaches theatre, creative writing, and speech at Vermillion High School (VHS) in South Dakota and has worked with students as a director and competitive speech coach for the last 20 years. In 2019, her VHS drama group was selected by AHSTF to participate in the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh Scotland where they performed an original play titled, "Antics."
Ariel Begley (right) is an actress, educator, circus performer and jack-of-all-trades movement professional living and working in Saint Paul, MN. She grew up performing with her family mime troupe, Discovery Movement Theatre, and developed a passion for physical theatre at a young age. She holds a BFA in acting from NIU where she studied abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre and caught the travel bug. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to collaborate with her amazing mom, Mary Begley, on Antics – VHS’s original, devised, non-verbal, physical comedy show for the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
David Glenn is the Technical Director and Scenic Designer at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He holds an MFA in Technical Direction from the University of Arizona, and worked for three seasons as the Technical Director at the Dallas Theater Center before moving to Samford. Mr. Glenn spent nine years as the Technical Director of the university’s 2,600 seat concert hall before beginning his teaching career at the university. He is currently in his 22 year at Samford. In 2017, he led a group of students to Edinburgh to perform The Curious Savage at the Fringe Festival.
Jeremy Duncan Pape holds a BFA in acting from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and an MFA in directing from the New School for Drama. From 2006-2017 he lived and worked in NYC. In that time he was the Associate Artistic Director and Technical Director of EndTimes Productions, the Production Manager for the Amoralists, the Production Manager for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the founding Artistic Director of No-Win Productions, in addition to his career as a freelance director and designer. In 2018 Jeremy came back to Charlottesville to serve as the Technical Director at Live Arts, and has served as Interim Artistic Director there since September, 2019.
