‘Literature and Performance’ theme of 35th Annual Casper College Literary Conference

The 35th Annual Casper College and ARTCORE Literary Conference titled “Literature and Performance” will be held Thursday and Friday, Nov. 4 and 5, 2021. The free conference will feature readings, craft talks, performances, and workshops during the two-day event.

Presenters at the conference are Patrick Amelotte, Richard Burk, Brandi George, Taylor Gordon, and Ashley Lumpkin.

Thursday afternoon, the conference will offer a reading and a craft talk. At 1 p.m., Gordon, winner of the Wyoming Arts Council Creating Writing Fellowship in fiction, will read selections from her novel “Small Moons,” a psychological thriller set in Wyoming in 1990.

At 2 p.m., Richard Burk, coordinator of the theatre performance degree at Casper College, will present a craft talk titled “From Page to Stage: Literature into Performance.” During his presentation, Burk will discuss the challenges a director and his production team face when translating and adapting the written word to the stage.

That evening at 7, selections from “Faun” will be performed by George under the direction of Burk. George is the author of “Gog,” which won the gold medal in the Florida Book Awards. She is also the author of the play in verse “Faun.” According to George, the play embodies various voices, forms, and media, as a young girl named Lily undergoes a series of transformations, guided by nymphs, flora, and fauna. The play will take place in the Thomas H. Empey Studio Theatre, and admittance is free with the donation of a nonperishable food item to the Casper College Food Pantry. No tickets are necessary.

On Friday, the conference will begin at 9 a.m. with George, who will read selected poems and selections from her play “Faun.”

At 10 a.m., Amelotte will present “All the World’s a Stage.” In this talk, participants will “… explore some general features of early modern performance — both in life and on the stage — before diving into some of the most famous performances of Shakespeare’s plays. … With any luck, our close examination may help us to understand better the stages we tread and the roles we play in our complex 21st-century lives,” said Amelotte.

At 11 a.m., poet and performer Lumpkin will perform “Love and Other Grammatical Errors.” Lumpkin, a Georgia-raised, Carolina-based writer, editor, actor, and educator, is the author of four poetry collections: “At First Sight, Second Glance,” “Terrorism and Other Topics for Tea,” “#AshleyLumpkin,” and “Genesis. “Her book “I Hate You All Equally” is a collection of conversations from her years as a classroom teacher.

Two workshops are scheduled for the afternoon, both at 1. George will present “Alternate Ways to Find Humanity in Your Writing,” and Lumpkin will present “Metaphor and Memory: A Generative Workshop.”

In George’s workshop, participants will look at “how to allow chance, chaos, and nonhuman voices into your creative process,” she said. While participants in Lumpkin’s workshop “… will explore the poetry of personal narrative and the techniques necessary to make an individual experience accessible to a universal audience,” said Lumpkin.

Except for the Thursday evening performance, all events will be held in the Goodstein Foundation Library, Rooms 215, 215A and 215B, and are free and open to the public. Preregistration is not required. The Thomas H. Empey Studio Theatre is located in the Gertrude Krampert Center for Theatre and Dance. Both the Goodstein Foundation Library and the Krampert Center are located on the Casper College campus.

The 2021 Casper College and ARTCORE Literary Conference “Literature and Performance” is sponsored by ARTCORE, the Casper College Foundation, and Casper College. For a complete listing of the conference, go to caspercollege.edu/events/literary-conference.