The Berkeley Beacon
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Eric Twardzik
Deputy Arts & Entertainment Editor
Eric Twardzik is a junior writing, literature and publishing major pursuing his BFA in fiction. He has been covering theater, film and the arts since the fall 2010, the highlight of which was interviewing british novelist Neil Gaiman.
Twardzik has also written for The Black Swan, the literary magazine of Emerson College's European Center, and profiled Boston-area restaurants and shops for mysecretboston.com. He is currently the nonfiction editor of Gauge Magazine.
His dream job is writing for Esquire Magazine.
Twardzik can be reached at eric_twardzik@emerson.edu.
Follow @eric_twardzik
First-time director invigorates cast of Mercutio’s Fool for Love
Watching Neher, a performing arts major, direct a rehearsal of student theater troupe Mercutio’s upcoming Fool For Love, illustrates what it means to “coach” actors. The play driving Neher’s manic energy was originally written by American actor and playwright Sam Shepard, and first performed in 1983 at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco.
Students learn the art of curation with "profiles of the [dis]connected"
The art occupying two skinny white floors of the Huret and Spector Gallery is the final product of 400-level visual and media arts class, “What is Contemporary Art?”, taught by Joe Ketner. Ketner, who occupies the Foster Chair in Contemporary Art, sought to provide his 18 students with an answer to the provocative question by leading them through the curating process.
Show Times: Bright Lights, Visual Storytellers
Photojournalist Rick Macomber was at ground zero on 9/11, the beaches of Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day, and Cambodian refugee camps in the wake of the Khmer Rouge. Now he is bringing those images and their stories to the Bright Family Screening room at the Paramount Center.
Green Eyes checks in on a dysfunctional honeymoon
Emerson sophomore Sheldon Brown’s death stare isn’t easy to escape in the close quarters of Green Eyes, which premiered Jan. 18. Foregoing the stage, the characters expose their naked passion and fear in an actual hotel room in the Financial District’s Ames Hotel.
Away we go with the monologue showcase
At the monologue showcase Sunday, eight Emerson comedians gathered to tell their stories. And sometimes, storytelling means pretending to vomit a liter of Diet Sprite onstage.
EmStage’s spring dance show sews together separate stories
Five dancers stand perfectly aligned at the front of the stage, motionless and silent. Suddenly, they snap their heads to the right, in a rippling fashion. So begins this year’s production of X Dance.
Literary legends talk Good Prose
The audience filling the cinema seats didn’t come for a movie, but for the three tall men who sat in front of the screen, arranged in a mix of turtlenecks and tweed. The literary threads were fitting; Two of the men form the nonfiction world’s dream team, and the third was a former student who had waited 28 years to host their conversation on writing, editing, and what makes literary relationships tick.
Oscar reviews: Tree of Life subverts traditional storytelling
Most movie experiences end with the credit roll, or for remarkable cinema, the moment you push the hand dryer button in the theater bathroom.
Oscar reviews: Bridesmaids breaks the rules
Making great comedy often means breaking rules. Bridesmaids shattered one of mankind’s most sacred tenets in a scene that will go down in film history: girls don’t poop. That, and Jerry Lewis’ infamous thesis that women can’t be funny.
Emerson artist seeks value and meaning in Bakersfield Mist
What makes art? Last Thursday’s premiere of Bakersfield Mist, starring Emerson’s Artist-in-Residence Ken Cheeseman, adds another voice to that debate.
Mayor Menino, President Pelton celebrate groundbreaking play at Colonial
, Beacon Correspondent A favorite son has retu...
Show Times: Experimentalists with Tomonari Nishikawa and Chris Kennedy
, Beacon Correspondent/strong Two directors wi...
Mayor Menino, President Pelton celebrate groundbreaking play at Colonial
, Beacon Correspondent A favorite son has retu...
In Shinsai, short plays explore aftermath of disaster
On March 11, Shinsai participants worldwide staged short plays connected by Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami to commemorate the one year anniversary of the disaster that claimed almost 16,000 lives.
The Comedy Competitors: Tournament challenges schools' laughsmiths
Last week, eight Emerson comedians formed a stand-up squadron to represent the college at the 5th annual Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition.
Pelton packs Pacific paintings
President M. Lee Pelton narrowed his eyes as he studied a challenge unrelated to the business of running a college: making sense of abstract art.
Absence policy works for workshops
At a small, specialized school like Emerson, we rely on our peers as much as our professors to create a satisfying classroom experience and develop our education. Nowhere is this more evident than the workshop classes in the writing and film programs.
Paranormal production to possess Cab
Vaudeville may be dead, but this weekend it will rise from the grave to haunt the Little Building’s Cabaret.
Review: Cabin in the Woods gets mired in its own commentary
The Cabin in the Woods has quite a few tricks up its sleeve that deviate from what’s become a formula film genre. However, to give us those tricks the film has to wallow too long in the very formula it’s trying to break out of, and the resulting twists never rise above gimmickry.
Event celebrates Emerson's authors
Among cheese plates and chatter, just a stone’s throw from the set of Will & Grace, new books by Emerson faculty waited for their spot on the shelves. Last Thursday, the Iwaski Library hosted its annual Emerson Authors event to honor faculty and staff that had works published in the previous year.
