From the Lillebelt to the Reeperbahn - September 2009!

Conference ointly hosted by the Danish Academy of Musical Theater
Søren Møller, principal
and Stage School Hamburg
Kim Moke, Executive Director

The Musical Theater Educators Alliance
presented its second European Conference
"A TALE OF TWO CITIES"
8 - 12 September, 2009

Two of Europe's premier musical theater training institutions played host to leading musical theater educators from programs around the world in Fall of 2009. The Musical Theater Educators Alliance has been bringing together faculty and administrators from the world's top musical theater programs for the past ten years, but this is only MTEA's second European conference - the first was held in 2005 in conjunction with the International Festival of Musical Theater in Cardiff, Wales.

The conference began in Fredericia, Denmark, home of the Danish Academy of Musical Theater, where our conference headquarters was be the magnificent Hotel Kongebrogaarden, a four/-star resorts. The Danish Academy of Musical Theater, Denmark's only professional conservatory for musical theater training, is also home to Uterus, a unique initiative for the development of new musicals. The Danish segment of the MTEA Conference was sponsored in part with funding from the Danish Ministry of Culture.

After two days, we traveled by bus to Hamburg; though the trip takes just over two hours, these two cities are a study in contrasts. Hamburg is one of the liveliest and most cosmopolitan German cities, known not only for its harbor but for its extraordinary cultural history and first-rate musical theater entertainment since 1986. The Stage School Hamburg is the first private institution for performing arts in Germany with 25 years of experience. In Hamburg we stayed at four-star Hotel Baseler Hof, located in the city centre next to Hamburg’s picturesque lake, the Alster, various elegant shopping areas and a short walk from the Stage School.

CONFERENCE AGENDA

The conference agenda will be organized by Lynne Kurdziel Formato, MTEA's Vice-President for Conferences and Associate Professor at Elon University, in collaboration with the heads of our two host schools, Søren Møller and Kim Moke. MTEA seeks proposals for conference workshops, panels and papers focusing on training methods in all areas of Musical Theatre pedagogy. Proposals for Panels involving multi-national participants and perspectives are especially of interest.

Conference Agenda

Curriculum Design: The Conservatory Model and its Hybrids - Scott Susong, Illinois Wesleyan University
Building Exchange Programs - Søren Møller, Danish Musical Theater Academy
Lehman Engel and the American Musical Theater - Raphael Crystal, University of Alabama
"There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" - Tony Castro, Trinity College of Music, London
Uterus New Works Development program - presentation hosted by Søren Møller, Danish Musical Theater Academy
Chekhov Technique and Musical Theater - Paul Christman, University of Oklahoma
Translation and Adaptation of American works for European Cultures - Paul Brown, Charles Gilbert
Keynote Address: Michael Kunze, "Story-Architect"
Vocal Technique for Musical Theater - Dr. Patricia Raine, The University of the Arts
Stillness and Gesture: Blasting Open Gesture Vocabulary for Singers - Michael Ellison, Bowling Green State University
American Theater Dance masterclass - Lynne Kurdzeil-Formato, Elon University
Panel on Casting and Professional Opportunities in Germany
A Million Miles from Broadway - author Mel Atkey
Auditioning for Musical Theater - Jonathan Flom, Shenandoah University
plus open master classes at the Danish Academy and the Stage School

tion will be provided regarding ground transportation from Hamburg to Fredericia.