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LET THE GAMES BEGIN
 LEFT: April Curtis at the Acropolis with the Temple of Zeus below and Athens. (). By Jeff Petersen Staff Writer A local theater professor has had a small hand in a very large project. And in building a bridge from America to Greece. Like many of the rest of us, April Curtis will watch the Summer Olympic opening ceremonies Friday on TV. The Eastern Oregon University faculty member was on sabbatical in Greece when she got recruited by a British company housed in Florida contracted to design the ceremonies. "I had a really smart part in helping with costumes for the games," she says. "I can't tell a lot about what's going to happen." Some 10,500 athletes from 200 countries will participate in the games. Most will take part in the colorful ceremonies, capped with the lighting of the flame. "I don't think I'll be able to pick out anything specific," Curtis said of the costumes on parade. "But it's a good feeling to have helped in some way in what's happening in the world." Curtis had been to exotic, enticing Greece in 1984. Then she was part of a trip with 10 students from Whitehall (Mont.) High School, where she taught before attending graduate school. She'd always wanted to return to Greece. The lure? Culture found in such landmarks as the white pillars of the Parthenon mirroring the whitewashed villages. What's more, Greece is the birthplace of western theater. "You get to look at places where plays were performed in 2500 B.C.," she says. Other lures were the aquamarine water, white sand and the artists' light, not to mention the frenetic street pace, and the massive reconstruction for the Olympics. So when opportunity knocked, she answered the door. Curtis taught maskmaking and comedy with a program called Northwest Council Studies Abroad at the Athens Centre. Two exhibits will result from the sabbatical. One, to be unveiled this fall at EOU, will feature masks designed by Curtis and student Danae Yurgel, who was part of the studies abroad program along with Rebecca Handschke. A second will be an exhibit of masks in Athens in November. Curtis's sabbatical also included a trip to the Czech Republic to check out black-light theater. The sabbatical year will conclude later this month and into early September with a trip to Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park to check out the rainforest area with the most biologically diverse species in the world, including scarlet macaws and howler monkeys. She also took a side trip to Turkey for 10 days. Living in Greece for 5 1/2 months was a life-changing experience, Curtis says. "It's a place where things are nothing like they are here," she says. "The people are incredibly difficult to get to know, but once you know them, you're family. Athens, too, is a polar opposite of La Grande. "It's fast paced, has lots of people who are passionate, very loud, very assertive. Parking is insane. There are cars all over the sidewalks." Curtis said she's confident that Greece, despite the chaos she witnessed, will do a great job hosting the Olympics. "There could be danger in any city hosting the games in this time in our lives. Greece is no less safe than any other country." She said, contrary to rumor, the Greeks will have the venues ready for the games. "Greeks are not like Americans, but they are efficient in their own way. They take time for family and the humor, fun and joy of life." The trip will make her a better teacher, she says. "I'm grateful to the university and the NCSA for giving me the opportunity to grow in this way as a person and as a theater person," Curtis says. What really came out of her sabbatical, she says, is building a bridge. New EOU President Khosrow Fahtemi is promoting more student and teacher exchanges with other countries, and Curtis forsees the possibility of taking students to Greece for a two- to three-week program, rather than a term, like NCSA's. "That would be more economical for the students," she says. If there is a bridge for students, she wants the toll to be affordable. |
