Enter the ‘Nightingale’

Sunday, April 4, 1999 | 10:09 a.m.

For grade-school students in the Clark County School District, the classroom will be spacious Artemus Hamm Hall at UNLV. In place of desks will be comfy theater seats, and the experience will be akin to a reverse field trip in which the fun comes to them.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' "Imagination Celebration On Tour" is providing students with a top-flight educational experience when it brings Hans Christian Anderson's "The Nightingale" to Las Vegas.

Closed to the public, "The Nightingale" unveils to students, their families and teachers Andersen's portrayal of a Chinese emperor's quest for self-definition and personal freedom, discovered through a fascination with a nightingale's mystical singing and dancing.

Six performances at Hamm Hall are scheduled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The production is in the midst of a 28-city tour and includes an impressive list of Kennedy Center stage veterans.

"The Nightingale" performance was conceived and choreographed by Dana Tai Soon Burgess, founding director of the Moving Forward: Contemporary Asian American Dance Company in Washington, D.C. His choreography has been presented by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Out of Doors and the United Nations.

Burgess was also the 1994 recipient of the prestigious Washington, D.C. Mayor's Arts Award for Outstanding Excellence in the Arts, and is the arts commissioner for Washington.

Mary Hall Surface, author of 15 plays, is the director. Her most widely produced works include, "Most Valuable Player," about the life of baseball great Jackie Robinson; "A Perfect Balance," a fantasy about creativity inspired by the work of Alexander Calder; and an adaptation of Kenneth Graham's "The Reluctant Dragon."

Surface was nominated for the 1993 Helen Hayes Award for her direction of "Tintypes" for the Round House Theatre in Washington, D.C. and served as vice president of the International Theatre for Young Audiences/U.S. Center from 1983-'91. She is currently an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Music for "The Nightingale" is composed by David Maddox, who has produced scores and sound designs for more than 60 productions throughout the country. His recent work includes scores for "Melville Slept Here" and "La Maliniche" for the Arizona Theatre Company.

The lineup is further indication of the Kennedy Center's long commitment to providing education in the arts. "The Nightingale" is one of three "Imagination Celebration on Tour" productions criss-crossing the country in 69 cities. The others are Judy Blume's, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women."

Burgess said he's taken a special interest in introducing "The Nightingale" to young audiences.

"It's been a project in development for three years," he said during a recent phone interview from Washington, D.C. "It's a compelling fusion of dance, theater and music that fulfills the concept of bringing young audiences their first taste of dance and theater.

"It has a timeless quality that can get an entire family excited and involved. We're really proud of it."

The production's adaptation of the classic tales of a discontented Chinese emperor finding solace only from the singing of an unseen nightingale should captivate any audience member, regardless of age, he said.

'I really think 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds can appreciate this story," he said. "It has elements of modern dance, and with each character in the story I try to design a movement category."

The dictatorial emperor performs aggressive martial-arts movements. The Courtiers, the emperor's klutzy subservient deputies, move in a more slapstick, comic manner. The nightingale demonstrates classic graceful movements.

"We try to be subtle in the way we depict each character, but not so much that children lose the meaning," Burgess said. "It's a formula that has worked with every audience (that) has seen the production."

Burgess said he often fills dual roles for Kennedy Center productions.

"I'm part choreographer and educator," he said. "I'm interested in the nurturing of new audiences, while still maintaining a truly special performance."

The challenge, be it in Las Vegas or Omaha, Neb., is to spark and maintain the interest of often fidgety school kids.

"There is so much access to other interests for kids," Burgess said. "Because they can just turn on TV and be captivated, they are not exposed to live performances.

"We live in a cyber world, or an electronic world, where one-of-a-kind live performances are not always appreciated and recognized."

To enhance the experience for the children, families and teachers in attendance, educational packets detailing the production are distributed. Students can follow along with guide tools such as "cuesheets," which provide in-depth explanations about the play, designers, directors and authors.

"We want to relate every detail possible in the production," Burgess said. "We hope kids are curious and asking questions, and able to answer for themselves those questions."

Since its establishment in 1972, the Kennedy Center's education department has been recognized for its leadership role in promoting higher standards in national performing arts education programs and policy. The "Imagination Celebreation on Tour" is made possible by the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts, represented locally by Robin Greenspun.

The Center's efforts are needed now more than ever, Burgess said.

"It seems like the first programs cut in schools are arts programs," he said. "I hope that the timelessness of live theater itself will be captivating. We hope that once people see the production, they will carry away a new appreciation for the arts."

One that, ideally, lasts a lifetime.