°µĶų±¬ĮĻapp

°µĶų±¬ĮĻapp Magazine Meet Our New Professors

Four new tenure-track professors joined °µĶų±¬ĮĻappā€™s faculty this fall: Ben Carlson (physics), Dan Jensen (engineering), Gewnhi ā€œGwenā€ Park (psychology) and Alastair Su (history). Johnny Jones serves as °µĶų±¬ĮĻappā€™s first artist/scholar-in-residence for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Other new instructors and lab coordinators include: Will Allison (physics/engineering), Evan Barnes (biology), Pauline Remy (serving a one-year position in Modern Languages; not pictured) and Terrance Yi (serving a one-year position in mathematics).

 


Johnny Jones, a writer and professor with more than a decade of experience teaching and working as a playwright and theater director, launched °µĶų±¬ĮĻapp Festival Theatreā€™s first of three staged readings that explore diversity, equity and inclusion in Porter Theatre. The series of readings, named NEXUS: Readings from Black and Indigenous Playwrights, includes discussions after the readings.

Before coming to °µĶų±¬ĮĻapp, Jones directed the African American Theater Program at the University of Louisville. He graduated from the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and earned a Master of Arts from New York University and a Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts.

ā€œMy first goal and hope is to stage plays that engage the students and community with stories that feel new and that engage the very real issues of our times,ā€ he says. ā€œThis is a privilege and a great responsibility. As we continue to live in this current moment of social change and a global pandemic, there is an effort to prioritize the achievements, needs and issues of Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.ā€

The first reading featured "Gloria," a dramatic comedy by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, on Sept. 25.

ā€œThe staged reading went very well, was well attended, and featured a meaningful talkback afterwards,ā€ Jones says.

The second installment featured ā€œThe Thanksgiving Play,ā€ a satirical comedy written by Larissa FastHorse, a Native American playwright. The Nov. 6 reading also featured excerpts from Suzan Lori-Parksā€™ ā€œ365 Days/365 Plays.ā€

FastHorseā€™s satirical play tells the story of four white thespians tasked with devising an elementary school pageant about the first Thanksgiving while avoiding any culturally appropriative missteps. ā€œI wanted to continue to read plays that focused on different dynamics of race, such as privilege and the problematic history of some of our holidays,ā€ Jones says. ā€œI enjoy Larissa FastHorseā€™s sense of humor and well-meaning in ā€˜The Thanksgiving Play.ā€™ I also like the newness and her unique commentary on white privilege that isnā€™t too preachy.ā€

The performance featured °µĶų±¬ĮĻapp students Faith German, Alaina Dean, Emiliana Brewer, Emily Derr, Claire Nemec, Ford Sachsenmaier, Joel Michelson and Simeon Michelson.

The series continued with a reading of ā€œThe White Cardā€ by Claudia Rankine on Dec. 6.