Standing on their chairs, the delighted Italian school children chanted, “Nani! Nani! Nani! [Dwarfs! Dwarfs! Dwarfs!]” until the seven Setnor School of Music students dressed as dwarfs returned to the stage for another curtain call. Standing in the same theater and equally moved by the experience, Barbara Deimling, director of the Division of International Programs Abroad’s Syracuse University in Florence (SUF) program, simply soaked in the success of the collaborative production of the modern opera, “Snow White,” at one of Italy’s premiere opera houses, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. “Witnessing that kind of enthusiasm pouring out of the school children made me realize the profound impact our students can have in this community,” Deimling says. “The hurdles and hard work of coordinating this cross-cultural collaboration resulted in an amazing experience for everyone involved.”
The performances of American composer Luigi Zaninelli’s “Snow White” in March brought together professional and student artists and musicians for a sold-out run that benefited the Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence, and anchored SUF’s broader reaching initiative, Uno Scambio da Favola (A Fairy Tale Exchange). Thirteen students from the Setnor School came to Florence for a few weeks this spring to play the roles of the seven dwarfs and six handmaidens in the production, directed by Vivien Hewitt, well-known for her production of “Madame Butterfly” at the Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago. Alex Koziara, assistant professor of design/technical theater in the Department of Drama, created set and lighting for the show and taught a related SUF scenography class, in which drama students made props, masks, and crowns for the more Brothers Grimm-than-Disney-like scenery.
Fashion design and drama students in the SUF Theatrical Costume Design course created the dress for the seven dwarfs based on the designs of famous Italian fashion artist, Regina Schrecker, who donated her time and talents to the production and working with the students. “In class we’ve really gotten the idea of what it’s like working with the director, costume designer, and each other to interpret and create outfits that are used in an actual production,” fashion design student Ciel Pia ’07 says. “This experience helps me see fashion as a necessity for performance.”
Leading up the performances of “Snow White” at the opera house, SU student volunteers went into elementary schools around Florence to teach the children English vocabulary from the fairy tale and to act out scenes. Using flashcards, props, and costume pieces, the college students entertained more than 3,000 youths, many of whom would be among the cheering audience members at the full performance. Additionally, the Florence center initiated “An Apple for a Book” campaign, in which community members of all ages donated their favorite book in exchange for a print of an apple, painted by SUF professor Marco Klee Fallani. The SUF center donated the more than 300 books collected to a public library in Florence. The center also hosted an international conference on the Importance of Fairy Tales in Early Childhood Development in conjunction with the Meyer Children’s Hospital.
The Fairy Tale initiative grew from the success of a similar collaboration between SUF and the Maggio Musicale last year on a production of Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.” SUF would like to continue such artistic and cross-cultural collaborations because of their educational significance to all involved. “This year we had much more student involvement than last year, and we’d certainly like to increase such collaborations,” Deimling says. “This is really what a university should be about—instilling in young people the desire to enact change and to have an impact. International education should have a component of giving back to the community in which you’re studying and sharing your culture as you learn about others.”
A happy postscript: the Teatro was so impressed with the Setnor students that it invited them to audition for its regular season production of Gianni Schicchi. Three students, Malcolm Merriweather ’07 and Joseph Rinaldi ’06, both music education majors, and Gregory Spock ’06, a music industry major, were selected.
Comments about this story? E-mail us at chimes@syr.edu.