Ithaca College

From August 13 to17, fourteen Ithaca College students, escorted by faculty members Jack Hrkach and Norm Johnson, visited perhaps the most famous theater festival in the world -- the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

This fifth anniversary trip was a great success, and included an open-top bus tour of the city, a tour of the castle, and a show at the main festival (Jean Racine's Andromache, performed by Berlin's Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz). The students also saw as many shows as they could fit in at the Fringe.

This year, as usual, these theater students were en route to a semester at the Ithaca College London Center, and opted to spend a few days before it at the festival. A very welcome addition on this trip were two students who were not theater majors. One joined us from Speech communication, another from art history, and both enjoyed the trip every bit as much as the theater students. Two of the theater students joined us for the festival only, and are now back at Ithaca College.

Finally, in addition to students attending the festival, four former students and one current student performed in it! The current student is Jade Rothman, a BFA acting major. The alums are Joe Tapper and Eddie Cooper (BFA in acting), Amanda Morton (BFA in musical theater) and Jessica Martenson (an international student from Finland studying for a BA in drama).

All in all it was an exciting trip, and a rousing fifth anniversary. We're already looking forward to next year.

Contributed by Jack Hrkach