Theatre Department adds choreographer, scenic designer

As the curtain rose for the fall 2017 semester, David Wynen and Laura Fine Hawkes were behind the scenes, breathing new life into the Theatre Department.

“I’ve observed what great work people are doing here,” said Wynen, the new assistant professor of musical theater and head of dance. “Now, I’m looking at ways to make it better and enhance it and bring it to a more definite industry level.”

Before coming to Harpur College, Wynen taught at Ballarat University, which is about 90 minutes from Melbourne, Australia, where he grew up. Wynen worked with the school since 2002 and spent the last five years as a full-time professor and program leader of music theater there.

Often teaching singers and actors to dance, Wynen has found new ways to engage students with his choreography.

“Most of my students were singers or musicians so I asked them to do tap as music,” Wynen said. “I tapped into using music notation — quarter notes and eighth notes and swing rhythms — and used their musical education as their comfort zone.”

Wynen has choreographed and directed many productions, including The Addams Family, Thoroughly Modern Millie and his favorite show, 42nd Street. He also trained extensively under the jazz dance legend Luigi and developed Tap Rhythm, an online program that has revolutionized the world of tap dancing.

As a dancer, singer and actor, Wynen aims to expand his students’ perspectives on theater.

“The more you can do in the performing arts field the better because dancing, in a way, is acting,” Wynen said. “Everything is acting; everything is storytelling. So if the students who dance can act and story-tell and sing, they’re telling stories from multiple angles, not just the movement angle.”

At Binghamton University, Wynen has worked to strengthen the dance program and help develop a BFA in musical theater. The BFA must first be approved by the University Faculty Senate, but could be offered as soon as fall 2018. In this endeavor, Wynen has worked closely with Tommy Iafrate, an assistant professor in musical theater.

Iafrate said he has noticed that the students quickly adjust to and grow from Wynen’s fast-paced teaching style.

“I think it was startling for the students at first because the other dance faculty that we have don’t have a background in musical theater — certainly not to the extent that David does.” Iafrate said. “David’s incorporation into this program is helping us go so much farther than I think a lot of the students are even dreaming of just yet.”

Holden Gunster, a junior majoring in technical theater and design, has also seen Wynen in action.

“[David] doesn’t seem to stress out over a lot of things,” Gunster said. “He makes a lot of jokes and pokes fun at things — even his own mistakes.”

As the assistant technical director on the fall 2017 Mainstage production The Wizard of Oz, Gunster worked with Fine Hawkes, the new assistant professor of scenic design and drafting.

“It’s been great working with her,” Gunster said. “She takes a personal interest in every student in the class and works with them in the way they need to be worked with to achieve the best that they can.”

In the early stages of her career, Fine Hawkes spent the bulk of her time working in Los Angeles, balancing interests in both art and theater. Painting sets for anything from television commercials to the Oscars red carpet, Fine Hawkes was simultaneously working as an assistant set designer for countless theater productions.

“At some point my paths merged and at that moment I was ready for them to combine,” she said. “It became an overwhelming drive to be involved in production.”

Moving into set design, Fine Hawkes found that the job incorporated many of her interests seamlessly.

“[As a set designer] you are responsible to create a concept for the show and spin that into scenery, background, foreground,” she explained. “It’s anything in the physical environment that isn’t costumes or lighting.”

Entering the world of higher education, Fine Hawkes worked as the chair of the Performing Arts Department for her alma mater, Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Moving to Binghamton University, she found joy in sharing her creative process with her students.

“If you open up your process so someone can see how you’re doing it, it doesn’t mean the student will do what you did, but they can backwards engineer it,” Fine Hawkes said. “They’ll use that as a springboard to figure out how that puzzle can work for them.”

When she designs shows, Fine Hawkes channels most of her energy into researching and planning.

“The research process is one of those moments where you can go completely free form and just go manic detective,” she said. “It’s visual research for me — that completely unbridled visual research can lead you alongside a text analysis.”

Her focus often pays off, and she finds satisfaction in capturing the essence of a show through her designs.

“It’s that poetic moment of joining these different moments where you find that resonance between the two,” Fine Hawkes said. “There might be something that comes up in an unexpected unconscious way, that comes forward and resonates with that text.”

Although the Theatre Department has faculty who work on scenic design, there has not been a designated, permanent scenic designer in about five years. Iafrate is thrilled to have Fine Hawkes fill this gap.

“Having her here full-time doing research, doing service, working with the students, advising — we have not had that and it’s been wonderful seeing how much the students are ready to suck up her knowledge and go to her,” Iafrate said. “We’re really lucky to have her.”

The feeling is mutual. Both Wynen and Fine Hawkes said working with Binghamton University students has been a pleasure.

“When I’ve worked on productions with the class they will all help each other and they all seem to be here for a common goal,” Wynen said. “(Harpur) is a liberal arts college, but at a lot of drama schools there’s a lot of competition and a lot of animosity and they don’t seem to have that here. And I think that’s a strength.”

Fine Hawkes said she’s especially grateful to be working with such motivated students.

“I think there’s a broader dialogue here and — I’m not just saying this — I’m really impressed with the students here,” she said. “I think the students are proud to be here and I really do think there’s something in the water around here.”