Theatre and Dance professor receives international award

Professors Patricia “Patch” Clark, School of Theatre and Dance, and Eleanor Kane from the University of Shimane, Japan were presented with an award at the International Global Partners in Education 9th Conference held in Ekaterinburg, Russia for their collaborative work, “Global Storybook Theater,” May 11th, 2016. They also made a presentation at the conference, “Telecollaboration versus Face-to- Face Interaction – A CLIL 4Cs Perspective on Collaboration in Drama EFL.

Professor Patch Clark

ECU Students have been working with the University of Shimane, Japan for the past three years through video linking and eventually were able to travel for face-to-face performances. Both ECU students and USJ students were able to perform a joint-performance and reflect on which interaction they preferred. USJ also invited traditional performing artists to put on a grand show for the ECU students.

Starting in November 2012, ECU and USJ have been sharing various stories and performances across the world. By October 2015 both ECU and USJ put on a joint-performance in a 3-day face-to-face workshop in Japan.

ECU is overjoyed for our own Patch Clark for her award and recognition in the collaborative work, “Global Storybook Theater”. ECU Storybook Theatre combines talents of students from across all theatre art disciplines and teaches younger audience members the enjoyment of the performing arts along with the excitement of books and reading. Some productions include Charlotte’s Web, The Snow Queen, and Reaching for the Stars.

For more information about Storybook Theater or to say a warm Congratulations to Patch Clark, you can contact her at clarkp@ecu.edu.

–Michael Crane