Swine Palace’s spotlight will begin to shine across the world next year, spanning nations and oceans to bring a taste of LSU to China.
The Baton Rouge production company announced plans to tour China in late spring and perform Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles.”
Michael Tick, Swine Palace’s artistic director and Department of Theater chair, said the production company’s tour is part of the University’s China Initiative, a program introduced by Provost Risa Palm last year. The China Initiative prepares LSU students for the international job market by educating them about Chinese culture and business.
“In the back of my mind, I had always wanted to take students to China, even before the China Initiative,” Tick said. “I’m fascinated by the country that is the economic and cultural engine of the world. Also, many of our peer institutions have taken or are in the process of taking students to China and also India.”
Tick said he has been collaborating with the Swine Palace Board to create a strategy of raising money for the trip to China.
“When it gets closer, I think the members of the donor community will step up as they have in the past,” Tick said. “We’re seeking support from everywhere at this point.”
Aside from donations, Vastine Stabler, director of Marketing and Public Relations, said the group is also developing unique fund-raising activities.
“We have a relatively short time and a lot of money to raise,” Stabler said.
Swine Palace is set to perform at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, Tick’s top choice.
Stabler said he expects an average of 500 people at each performance.
“Their facilities are amazing over there,” Stabler said. “It has caught the attention of a lot of people, and we’re very excited about that.”
Stabler said Swine Palace also has pending dates in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei.
The play is a comedy about a woman who searches for personal identity after she grows apart from her childhood friends. Wasserstein, who died in January at age 55, wrote “The Heidi Chronicles” in 1988 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play.
“She’s one of America’s greatest contemporary female writers,” said Tick.
Tick has not held auditions for the play, but he expects to cast primarily students in the Master’s of Fine Arts acting program, several undergraduates and a couple of professional actors from New York. He hopes to complete the casting process by November, so the group has enough time to acquire passports and visas.
The group of 15 students and about six faculty will also perform multiple evenings in Shanghai during their stay in China. Between performances, Tick said the group of actors will sightsee and the faculty will conduct master classes at several Chinese colleges and universities.
Swine Palace will also perform “The Heidi Chronicles” locally at the Reilly Theater for several days in March.
“We’re really excited to give the students such a great opportunity,” Stabler said.
—–Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]