Hedwignites 2020 was a truly festive benefit gala in virtual space to support the company’s accomplishments and endeavors. We weren’t sure how this new, online version of a gala would be received but we were resolved not to let our 35th Anniversary pass by unheralded. The turnout was marvelous! Guests joined us from their homes allover North America, including Mexico, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, Florida, California, our home base of Chicago, and the surrounding metropolitan area.
Guests attending the May 8 online gala enjoyed the opportunity to meet and mingle with Jan Bartoszek, Artistic Associate Maray Gutierrez, our fantastic board of directors, our dancers, Hedwig Dance Award recipients Richard Woodbury (Interdisciplinary Dance Excellence Award), Susan Manning (Dance Advocacy Award) and Ellen Chenoweth, accepting for the Dance Center of Columbia College (Dance Leadership Award), Keynote speaker Roche Edward Schulfer, and his fellow award presenters Janet Carl Smith and Rebecca Rossen. We enjoyed tribute videos, heard heart warming remarks, got a sneak peak into the company’s plans for 2020 in these challenging times of the C-19 pandemic. Videos, images and more mementos of the evening are included below.
Presented by Roche Edward Schulfer
Beginning with rock bands in grade school (including two years in Pakistan with an expat American band performing across Pakistan, India and Afghanistan) on through to jazz bands, electronic and experimental music in college; it was clear music was always going to be at the core of Richard’s life.
Dance was added to the mix in Richard’s senior year of high school through the Twins City’s Urban Arts program. Each morning he studied Ballet and Modern technique at the Minnesota Dance Theater and each afternoon he studied film making in St. Paul. Later at the University of Minnesota’s Experimental College he combined music coursework at the University with dance classes from professional dance studios self-designed double major in music and dance. All the while earning his living as an accompanist playing music for as many as 20 dance classes each week. In college he also composed his first score for dance.
Shortly after graduation in 1976 he serendipitously walked into an audition and was invited to join Shirley Mordine’s dance company in Chicago. Mordine & Company was in residence at Columbia College Chicago so Richard began his academic career simultaneously with his professional dance career. Richard danced professionally until 1984 performing and touring with Mordine & Company, Osgood Dances Inc., The Charlie Vernon Performance Groups and others often composing score for those same companies. Through those years he also taught dance at Columbia College. In 1986 he became Music Director in the Dance Department responsible for all accompanists and for creating and teaching music related courses required of all Dance majors. Over the next several decades Richard became increasing involved in administration and leadership within the Dance Department and Columbia College. Serving as Associate Chair for 20 years, he was centrally involved in the growth of the department from 80 to nearly 300 dance majors, to the development of Columbia’s first BFA degree program, founding of College’s Faculty Senate and other significant contributions to the College. In 2015 Richard left Columbia in order to focus on his creative work.
From the Columbia years to the present Richard has been active as a composer and sound designer creating scores for prominent modern dance companies in Chicago and beyond. In addition to multiple dance works by Hedwig Dances including Jan Bartoszek’s Bauhaus-inspired dance Futura and her dance film Arch of Repose, Richard has composed for The Seldoms, The Lar Lubovitch Dance, Mordine and Company, Osgood Dances, The Charlie Vernon Performance Group and others. Richard has also performed live scores with The Merce Cunningham Dance Company and The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
Richard is also a prolific composer and sound designer for theatre. At the center of that work is a decades long collaboration with Robert Falls and the Goodman Theatre where Richard is Resident Sound Designer. Works for the Goodman include The Winters Tale, Blind Date, Sweat, Uncle Vanya, 2666, and many, many others. Richard has also enjoyed a long collaborative relationship with the Steppenwolf Theatre (True West, HIR, Linda Vista, and many others). His Broadway credits include Linda Vista, Desire Under the Elms, August: Osage County, Talk Radio, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Death of a Salesman and others. Regional and international credits include productions at The Geffen Playhouse, The Guthrie Theatre, the Stratford Festival in Canada,
London’s Lyric and National Theatres and at the Theatre Marigny in Paris, France. In recognition of his work for theatre Richard has received Joseph Jefferson, Helen Hayes, Ovation, and IRNE awards.
With no plans to slow down Richard looks forward to continued collaborations with artists in dance and theatre.
Presented by Rebecca Rossen
Susan Manning is an internationally recognized scholar of modern and contemporary dance whose writings have been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, and Estonian. The author or co-editor of five books, she has published on the history of German and American modern dance and on Black dance. One of her current projects is co-editing an anthology with Lizzie Leopold titled Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories. At Northwestern she teaches the history of 20th and 21st century theatrical performance, and is the Herman and Beulah Pearce Miller Research Professor of English, Theatre, and Performance Studies.
Presented by Janet Carl Smith
Founded by choreographer and educator Shirley Mordine, the Dance Center was established in 1969 to house Columbia College Chicago’s Dance Department. In 1974, the Dance Center established its presenting series to provide students and Chicago audiences with opportunities to experience contemporary dance in a professional setting. The Dance Center moved from Uptown to the current location in the South Loop at 13th and Michigan in 2000. Today, the Dance Center offers a full range of programs designed to enhance and expand the quality and quantity of dance available in Chicago and the Midwest.
Ellen Chenoweth is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Dance and Director of the Dance Presenting Series at Columbia College Chicago. She previously worked as a freelance arts administrator with choreographers in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC and was the Marketing and Development Director for Pig Iron Theatre Company. During four years at the Dance Exchange, she was instrumental in its transition when founder Liz Lerman left the company, serving as managing director for two years following the transition. She began her career in arts administration at the Kennedy Center, where she worked with iconic artists such as Suzanne Farrell and Katherine Dunham through the Education Department’s Performance Plus program.
Chenoweth is a writer and editor for thINKingDANCE, an online dance journal based in Philadelphia. She has completed two augmented reality (AR) installations, one providing additional content for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and one exploring Philadelphia’s cultural history, featured in the Philadelphia Digital Fringe festival. Her most recent project was creating an app for a site-specific installation at Earthdance as part of the IMAGINE Festival: Film, Technology, & the Body in Action. Chenoweth has spoken at the national conferences of Americans for the Arts and Dance/USA, and is a contributor to Dance/USA’s e-journal, From the Green Room. She has served on grant panels at the local, state, and national level, including as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts’ dance program and is on the board of directors for Links Hall.
She holds a B.A. from Rice University, an M.A. from Texas Woman’s University, and a Graduate Certificate from Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance.
Roche Edward Schulfer started working in the Goodman Theatre box office and ultimately became executive director in 1980. Since that time he has overseen more than 350 productions including close to 150 premieres. He initiated the Goodman’s annual production of A Christmas Carol, which celebrated 40 years as Chicago’s leading holiday arts tradition in 2017. In partnership with Artistic Director Robert Falls, Mr. Schulfer led the establishment of quality, diversity and community engagement as the core values of Goodman Theatre. During their tenure, the Goodman has received numerous awards for excellence, including the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater, recognition by Time magazine as the “Best Regional Theatre” in the U.S., the Pulitzer Prize for Lynn Nottage’s Ruined and many Jeff Awards for outstanding achievement in Chicago area theater. Mr. Schulfer has negotiated the presentation of numerous Goodman Theatre productions to many national and international venues. He coordinated the 12-year process to relocate the Goodman to the Theatre District in 2000.
To mark his 40th anniversary with the Goodman, his name was added to the theater’s “Walk of Stars.” Mr. Schulfer was a founder and twice chair of the League of Chicago Theatres, the trade association of more than 200 Chicago area theaters and producers. He has been privileged to serve in leadership roles with Arts Alliance Illinois (the statewide advocacy coalition); Theatre Communications Group (the national service organization for more than 450 not-for-profit theaters); the Performing Arts Alliance (the national advocacy consortium of more than 18,000 organizations and individuals); the League of Resident Theatres (the management association of 65 leading US theater companies); Lifeline Theatre in Rogers Park and the Arts & Business Council. Mr. Schulfer is honored to have been recognized with the League of Chicago Theater’s Lifetime Achievement Award; Theatre Communication Group’s Visionary Leadership Award; Actors’ Equity Association for promoting diversity and equal opportunity in Chicago theater; the American Arts Alliance and Arts Alliance Illinois for arts advocacy; the Arts & Business Council for distinguished contributions to Chicago’s artistic vitality; Chicago magazine and the Chicago Tribune as a “Chicagoan of the Year”; the City of Chicago; Columbia College Chicago for entrepreneurial leadership; the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee for his partnership with Robert Falls; Lawyers for the Creative Arts; Lifeline Theatre’s Raymond R. Snyder Award for Commitment to the Arts; Season of Concern for support of direct care for those living with HIV/AIDS; and Vision 2020 for promoting gender equality and diversity in the workplace.
Mr. Schulfer received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from North Central College. He taught at DePaul University for 15 years and has lectured annually on strategic planning at Southern Methodist University, as well as being a guest speaker at many academic institutions. He has presented talks on the economics of the performing arts for several local and national theater companies as well as Theater Communications Group. Mr. Schulfer is a lifelong Chicago area resident and received a degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame where he managed the cultural arts commission.
Rebecca Rossen is a dance historian and Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance (Oxford University Press, 2014), winner of the Oscar Brockett Book Prize for excellence in dance research, and has also published in Feminist Studies, TDR: The Drama Review, Theatre Journal, Opera Quarterly, and numerous anthologies. Prior to joining the faculty at UT, she was a dancer and choreographer in Chicago and earned her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2006, where she studied with Dr. Susan Manning. As a teenager in the 1980s, Rebecca studied modern dance with Jan Bartoszek and Amy Osgood at MoMing Dance & Arts Center. She’s honored to have begun her professional dance career as a member of Hedwig Dances from 1990–95.
Janet Carl Smith is an arts advocate, advisor and connector who has worked in higher education and city government to bring accessible and high-quality cultural experiences to the public, strengthen the capacity of the arts sector, and promote the importance of arts and culture as an essential part of life in Chicago. She began her career as Director of Campus Programming at the University of Illinois at the Medical Center (now UIC), developing a commitment to engaging college students with the arts. As Deputy Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (now DCASE), Janet built support for the arts over 32 years by creating and managing free public performances and exhibitions, and developing a range of collaborative programs to promote the city’s cultural resources and provide assistance to local artists and arts organizations.
Since leaving her position with the city in 2011, Janet continues to mentor, advise and support arts organizations and arts managers. As Past Chair and current member of the Council on the University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, she is passionate about lifelong learning. She is a longtime past board member and officer of Arts Alliance Illinois, and serves on the UIC School of Theatre and Music Advisory Board, the Chicago Toronto Sister Cities Committee, the Metropolitan Capital Bank’s Women’s Advisory Board, and the Hedwig Dances Advisory Board.
From 2012 to the present, Janet has been an advisor to the Terra Foundation for American Arts’ Art Design Chicago initiative. She has also provided consulting services to Chicago Cultural Alliance and the MacArthur Foundation. She has assisted a range of Chicago arts organizations with strategic planning, audience development, capital campaign preparation and board development. Over the past eight years she has been a speaker or moderator for such groups as Art Chicago; Oak Park Area Arts Council; Visitor Studies Association; Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County (FL); Donor’s Forum Arts & Culture Funders Group; and Chicago Suburban Arts Conference. Topics have included creativity, arts advocacy and collaboration, cultural tourism, and building community through the arts.
Among her tributes, Janet was honored by the Arts and Business Council in 2009, presented with Metropolitan Capital Bank’s 2011 Distinguished Service in the Arts Award, and named 2014 Cultural Champion by the Chicago Cultural Alliance. In October, 2016 Janet and her husband Mel Smith were honored by Intuit: The Center for Outsider and Intuitive Art with the inaugural Advocate for the Arts Award, and in June, 2017, they received the Citizen Advocate Award from Arts Alliance Illinois