Topic: College of Fine Arts
March 25, 2007
Harold_Mortimer
Legendary musical scholar Foster Hirsch once called the genre of musicals, "America's worldwide theatrical ambassadors, synonyms for the brashness and energy of distinctive American showmanship."
In that vein, Harold Mortimer, musical theatre coordinator and assistant professor of voice in the Department of Theatre and Dance, will serve as Ball State University's musical ambassador to South Africa beginning January 2008. Mortimer has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and will travel to Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria next year to study, research and teach musical theatre courses as well as voice and singing lessons.
"This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I cannot even begin to describe my feelings at the moment," Mortimer says. "However, there is definitely one emotion that I can express — my immense gratitude for the support, love and incredible recommendations for everyone who helped me earn this prestigious scholarship. I look forward to learning from and sharing with those of similar passion and interests at Tshwane University of Technology and in South Africa."
South Africa, with a rich history both in dramatic and musical presentations, is currently undergoing a renaissance of theatrical performances. And according to Mortimer, Tshwane University of Technology is regarded as a pre-eminent training ground for musical theatre artisans and an excellent place to begin study and research.
Serving as a musical ambassador doesn't mean Mortimer's sole purpose will be to export traditional American techniques. He fully expects to have his values challenged and his views changed.
"I have performed in large city venues within the continental United States and Alaska and have established in my mind a set of values pertinent to the foundation of a good singing technique, to teaching voice and musical theatre performance," Mortimer says. "I expect to have these fundamentals challenged, shaken and improved upon by those that I meet, teach and learn from during my tenure at Tshwane University."
The Fulbright opportunity was sparked when Mortimer served as an outside evaluator for a dissertation done in conjunction with two colleagues from Tshwane University. His collaboration made a strong enough impression to warrant an invitation to teach at the institution.
During his six-month stay, Mortimer hopes to visit many of the country's 100-plus performance venues and learn how music theatre is created in South Africa. "I plan on attending many workshops, auditing music theatre studies courses, attending productions of new works and viewing South African mounted productions of American musicals," he says. "New perspectives and approaches to the Broadway musical repertoire will only serve to broaden my current opinions on how these works should be presented."
Upon returning to Ball State, Mortimer hopes to have many new repertoire choices, vocal techniques and performance practices to teach to his students. He also hopes the trek represents the beginning of a more comprehensive project that will span a large portion of his academic career.
"Earning the Fulbright will allow for further grant awards and funding for additional studies to occur in Central Europe, England, Latin America and in three distinct areas of the United States: Los Angeles/Las Vegas, Chicago and New York," he says. "My passion is to teach enthusiastic students and learn from skilled artisans of the musical theatre. This vibrant emblem of the universal language of arts is still in its infancy. It's the perfect vehicle for extensive and intense performance, study, research and collaboration."
The Fulbright program, established in 1946 and administered by the U.S. Department of State, is the largest international exchange program in the United States. In 2006, the program awarded approximately 6,000 grants worth more than $235 million to American students, teachers, professionals and scholars to study, teach, lecture and conduct research in more than 150 countries, and to their foreign counterparts to engage in similar activities in the United States.