ABSTRACT

The creation of art is a singular expression, yet art resonates most intensely when it is not merely unique, but also universal. Adoration of Dora explores the singular world of Surrealist photographer Dora Maar as she tries to find her own voice as an artist while living with the threat of war and in the long shadow cast by her lover, Pablo Picasso. On a universal and contemporary level, Adoration of Dora explores the nature of art andcreativity and the way in which artists and lovers inspire and abuse one another in their quest for self-expression. MFA candidate and playwright Lojo Simon, Director Robert Caisley and Art Historian Marco Deyasi lead a panel discussion on how the universal and unique worlds of art, politics, sex and history all collide in this World Premiere production being produced this fall by the Department of Theatre

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Caisley is Associate Professor of Theatre & Film, and Head of the Dramatic Writing Program at the University of Idaho. He was named the 2011 Blaine Quarnstrom Visiting Playwright at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has worked in the entertainment industry as a Creative Consultant for The History Channel, Triage Entertainment, and for North by Northwest Productions, Netter Digital Entertainment and New Wave Entertainment. Robert has been a guest speaker at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the University of the Arts, San Diego State University, Marquette University, Washington State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Montana, Northern Illinois University, Bowling Green State University, Denison University, University of Nevada - Las Vegas, the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Howard University, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Bradley University, Cal State - San Bernardino, Rockford College, and American University in Washington, D.C. His plays include Kissing, The Lake, Good Clean Fun, The 22-Day Adagio, 'Front', Letters to an Alien, Kite's Book, Push, Winter, Santa Fe & Other Short Plays and new play Happy that has been nominated by New Theatre for the National New Play Network 2011 Showcase. He recently directed the Los Angeles Premiere of The Frybread Queen by Carolyn Dunn and directed readings of The Birdhouse by Diane Glancy at La Jolla Playhouse for the 2011 Native Voices Festival of New Works.

Marco Deyasi is the art historian at the University of Idaho. He is a graduate of Duke University and has a held a number of awards for his research: a Chateaubriand Fellowship, a SSHRC dissertation fellowship, and a Kress Travel fellowship, among others. His research focuses on the reception of Vietnamese and Cambodian art and culture in France, especially in relation to the interplay between politicized modernism and colonial ideology. He is working on a book, Modern Primitives and Primitive Moderns: French Visual Culture and "Indochina", 1863-1968.

Lojo Simon is a playwright, journalist, dramaturg and MFA candidate in dramatic writing at University of Idaho. Her play, Adoration of Dora, was part of Moxie Theatre's Fighting Words Festival in San Diego in 2010, and premieres at University of Idaho in September 2011. Other recent performances of her work include Moscow, which placed first among 10-minute plays at the ACTF Region VII Festival in February 2011, and Beyond Tucumcari, which was part of UI's One-Act Play Festival in May 2011. Mi Corazon, a play for young audiences, was read at Missoula Colony in 2010, and an excerpt will appear in the forthcoming anthology, Scenes from a Diverse World, published by the International Centre for Women Playwrights. Her writing also has been published in numerous magazines, journals, newspapers and books. More at www.lojosimon.com.

For more information: Rodney Frey