The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/65892
well as societal issues, such as poverty, gov- ernance, and corruption. "That was a wake-up call," says Mezak. "It doesn't matter how good your technology is. In order to actually change the world, you need to be able to understand the peo- ple who are going to use it. And studying the humanities is a great way to do that. How are you going to change the world if you don't understand where it's been?" /LQQHD 3DOPHU 3DWRQ Œ IXOƂOOHG KHU +8$ UHTXLUHPHQW LQ 0RURFFR ZKHUH VKH ƂOPHG VWXGHQWV DW $O $NKDZD\Q 8QLYHUVLW\ UHƃHFW- ing on cultural and interfaith tolerance. Palmer Paton graduated with a double ma- jor in civil engineering and environmental policy and development. She says her one regret is that she didn't take more classes in history and ethics. Learning lessons of the past and developing the capacity to think FULWLFDOO\ KHOS SHRSOH LQ KHU ƂHOG EH PRUH HIIHFWLYH DGYRFDWHV IRU VFLHQWLƂF DQG HQJL- neering solutions to social problems, she says. Ingram, who co-authored the robotics en- gineers' code of ethics, played French horn in the WPI Concert Band and trumpet and sousaphone in the Pep Band. He focused on jazz history for his arts and humanities re- quirement. And while he says he honed his writing and research skills in his humani- ties seminar, he doesn't expect his eventual career to require much in the way of jazz history. But to Ingram, that's not the point. "Does the fact that I know how to play WKH WUXPSHW PDWWHU LQ P\ MRE" 1R KH VD\V %XW EHLQJ PXVLFDOO\ RULHQWHG KHOSV with creativity, which is an important part of my job." Studying the humanities also pays off in more immediate ways. Professor Susan Vick, director of WPI's theatre program, says her students gain important self-con- ƂGHQFH DQG FRPPXQLFDWLRQV VNLOOV IURP the program, whether they're on stage or At Thirty, New Voices Still Strong TO SAY THE ORIGINAL PLAY FESTIVAL NEW VOICES had a shaky be- ginning is a dramatic understatement. That first year, one of the students cast his play but never got around to writing it. He and the actors salvaged the production by treating it as an improv. Original submissions were scant in the first few years, so festival founder Susan Vick, professor of drama and theatre, sprinkled the field with well-known works while encouraging her students to continue writing and submitting plays. By the sixth year, New Voices had firmly taken hold. This April, it celebrates its 30th anniversary and the distinction of being the nation's longest continuously running collegiate new and original play festival. Vick didn't set out to establish a drama festival when she came to WPI in 1981 to direct its theater program. New Voices evolved from a student's request to fulfill his Sufficiency (now called the HUA requirement) by writing a play. Vick was receptive, but told the student she expected him to stage a reading of it as well. "It was a cast of, like, three and we had an audience of three," she says with a smile. But word soon got out and Vick says she was "inundated" with students who wanted to write and act as part of their Humanities requirement. She was charged with staging two productions each year, so she decided to devote the fall performance to a well-known play, and save D-Term for the kind of serendipity and experimentation that student-penned and other original works exemplify. New Voices was born. Each year New Voices attracts between 50 and 100 submissions from the WPI community, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, family, and friends. In the past, judges would select 10–20 works to produce for the festival. In 2007 the decision was made to choose five to nine plays and repeat the performances throughout the festival week. The only restriction is that scripts be original, unpub- lished works, be producible on stage, and not require more than 20 percent of the festival time and resources. Entries include monologues, short plays, multi-act plays, and musicals. In February, New Voices kicked off with a look back at the last 29 years. Hind- sight, Three Decades in Two Acts: Voices and Visions from 29 New Voices featured eight representative selections from the more than 390 New Voices productions over the years. A lot of work went into the retrospective, but the past isn't a place where Vick lingers. "I don't look back," she says. "I don't dare. I don't want to jinx this amazing jour- ney. I actually roll up my sleeves for the work ahead and consider what on earth these people will create to go on stage next. And I can't wait." New Voices 30 ran four nights in April at the Little Theatre. —SKL Spring 2012 45