Mike Wiley introducing his students' work in progress, a play about the Freedom Riders, April 2010. Photograph by Bonnie Campbell.
Playwright and actor Mike Wiley, who has more than twelve years of credits in theater for young audiences and in film, television, and regional theater, is the Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies at Duke and UNC–Chapel Hill in spring and fall 2010. The Center for Documentary Studies coordinates the Lehman Brady Chair professorship, which brings distinguished writers, photographers, filmmakers, and other practitioners and scholars of the documentary arts to Duke and UNC to teach courses on both campuses and engage in lectures, screenings, and other events for students, faculty, and the general public. Mike Wiley’s work focuses on expanding cultural awareness through dynamic portrayals based on pivotal moments in African American history, which he hopes will unveil a richer picture of the total American experience. His expanding repertoire of original productions displays his acclaimed ability to bring to life multiple intertwined characters, with Wiley often portraying more than two dozen persons in a single “one-man” drama.
special opportunity for new duke students: august 28 performance of dar he: the story of emmett till
On August 28, Duke students will have an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes at one of Mike Wiley’s productions. In a trip to the legendary Manbites Dog Theater in downtown Durham, students will learn about how a regional theater produces new and challenging pieces, showcases and nurtures developing playwrights, directors, and actors, and facilitates cross-displinary and cross-community projects. Wiley will be performing Dar He: The Story of Emmett Till. Duke students can register for this opportunity on the Student Affairs website.
fall 2010 course
This fall Wiley is also teaching a course, “Staging History.” Utilizing the research and development garnered in his spring 2010 undergraduate course, this class will shape, rehearse, and stage the world premiere of Breach of Peace, a documentary play based on the 1961 Freedom Rides. Freedom Riders were integrated groups of black and white civil rights activists who rode Greyhound buses into the South to challenge segregation laws. This hands-on course is intended for undergraduates and community members. It will delve into race, gender, and class identity in 1961 America. This is an opportunity to step into the shoes of a powerful variety of Civil Rights icons. No experience with historical research or theatrical production is necessary. Many kinds of talent are necessary and anyone can make a valuable contribution on stage or off.
Registration information for “Staging History”: undergraduates | general public/continuing education
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Signs commemorating the work of the Kitchen Sisters at the "Reality Radio" performance and book signing at the American Tobacco Campus. Photograph by Maggie Smith. July 26, 2010.
photos from the reality radio performance and book signing with the kitchen sisters
July 26, 2010
Held in conjunction with the CDS summer Audio Institute, Hearing is Believing
More about the CDS publication Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound
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Photograph by Maggie Smith
information session: continuing education courses and certificate in documentary arts program
September 20th, 6–7 p.m.
Center For Documentary Studies
Prospective and current students welcome! Please join us for an evening of inquiry and introduction led by CDS Learning Outreach Director, April Walton. Now that course registration is officially open for fall 2010, this is the perfect opportunity for you come and ask questions about courses at CDS, meet instructors, and learn about the Certificate in Documentary Arts and our Continuing Education program. Click here to download our 2010 course catalogue. And register here for classes using our online registration system. » Continue Reading…
Student Jametta Davis filming on site during the 2010 Summer Video Institute. Photograph by Maggie Smith. June 21, 2010.
video institute summer 2010 photos
In this eight-day intensive, students are fully immersed in the process of documentary filmmaking. They collaborate with a partner to direct, shoot, edit and screen a documentary short. This year’s institute was produced in collaboration with The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, and each project focused on an environmental theme.
Final projects were screened on Saturday, June 26, and are now available for viewing on the CDS iTunesU site and the CDS Vimeo site.
Click here for more information about CDS workshops and institutes
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Continuing Education Certificate student Kim Best in front of the screening of her final project "Better Late Than Never." Photograph by Maggie Smith. May 21, 2010.
continuing education certificate graduation and reception photos
May 21, 2010
Throughout the year, CDS offers continuing education courses in the documentary arts for the general public. These courses, taught by working professionals, are designed to help students of all ages and backgrounds gain the skills they need to explore doing documentary work on their own terms. Over the past eleven years, students in the certificate program have produced photography, film and video, audio, multimedia, and writing projects on a diverse range of topics. These projects often move out into the world to larger audiences in the form of exhibits, installations, websites, and other creative artworks. This event showcases the latest of these final certificate projects, completed in the Final Seminar in Documentary Studies, taught this spring by Nancy Kalow.
Read more about the CDS Continuing Education program
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Davia Nelson (left) and Nikki Silva (right)
reality radio performance & book signing with the kitchen sisters
A public event in conjunction with CDS summer audio institute, Hearing Is Believing
Monday, July 26, 7 p.m.
Bay 7, American Tobacco Complex, Durham, North Carolina
Award winning National Public Radio producers, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva of The Kitchen Sisters, began their collaboration within documentary arts over twenty-five years ago. Their renowned partnership has been responsible for some of the most intimate, provocative, and sound-rich documentary work to date. Hidden Kitchens, their duPont Award winning radio series, reveals a world of legendary meals, curious eating habits and long forgotten tradition. Lost & Found Sound series, heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, reveals a tapestry of richly layered audio artifact. Seeking out seldom-heard voices of Americans all across the county, the Kitchen Sisters weave together a sound-score that concerns itself with how sound shapes history and how history has been shaped by sound. They are currently producing NPR series The Hidden World of Girls - Girls and the Women They Become, an in-depth exploration of coming of age rituals, hidden identities, and portraits of extraordinary ordinary women.
Read more about the CDS publication Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound.
Directions: http://www.americantobaccohistoricdistrict.com/directory.html
Paid parking is available in the North Parking Deck off Pettigrew Street.
Students ready their final projects for the 2010 CDS Documentary Video Institute. iPhone photograph by Christopher Sims.
Please join us Saturday, June 26, 2010 for the screening of a dozen short films on environmental themes created by students in the CDS Documentary Video Institute.
CDS Auditorium
Center for Documentary Studies
10:30 a.m.
A light lunch on the lawn will follow
This year’s institute is produced in collaboration with The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.
Installation photograph of the exhibition "The Ripple Effect: A Visual Response to the Contemporary Civil Rights Agenda" in the University Gallery
friday, may 21, 2010
cds continuing education reception & presentations
reception: 5-6:30 p.m.
center for documentary studies at duke university
In conjunction with the exhibition The Ripple Effect: A Visual Response to the Contemporary Civil Rights Agenda (through May 21, University Gallery), works in progress by students in the Spring 2010 Continuing Education course Asking Why: Approaches to Social Documentary Photography, taught by Sheila Turner
The reception will also honor the Spring 2010 graduates of the Certificate in Documentary Arts program at the Center for Documentary Studies.
certificate final project presentations: 7 p.m.
richard white auditorium, east campus, duke university
Throughout the year, CDS offers continuing education courses in the documentary arts for the general public. These courses, taught by working professionals, are designed to help students of all ages and backgrounds gain the skills they need to explore doing documentary work on their own terms. Over the past eleven years, students in the certificate program have produced photography, film and video, audio, multimedia, and writing projects on a diverse range of topics. These projects often move out into the world to larger audiences in the form of exhibits, installations, websites, and other creative artworks. This event showcases the latest of these final certificate projects, completed in the Final Seminar in Documentary Studies, taught this spring by Nancy Kalow.
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Photograph by Emily Drakage
exhibition opening
three hours. west main and broad streets. photographs by students in the visual storytelling workshop
Reception: Wednesday, March 10, 5–7 p.m.
Exhibition runs February 27–April 17, 2010
Still documentary photographs are worth a thousand negotiated meanings: They seek to explain how things are, while at the same time offer a photographer’s interpretation of the world. Documentary photography is not objective because photographers are human—subjectivity is inevitable. Photographers and viewers both may become politically engaged, educated, or emotionally involved by creating and/or experiencing these kinds of images.
On September 26, 2009, students enrolled in my Visual Storytelling workshop through the Continuing Education program at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) photographed the N.C. Pride Parade, a North Carolina–based LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) event held on West Main and Broad Streets, just beyond CDS’s doors. For some, the art of making documentary photographs was new; for others, it was not. But all of the students, regardless of their level of experience, applied the techniques we had reviewed in the two-day workshop when making their images of participants, bystanders, and (a few, but vocal) protesters. People in the parade were members of families, high school and college student groups, local business organizations, and church groups. And as expected, people exercised their First Amendment rights, and debates became heated at times. Law enforcement officials discreetly monitored the events. My students documented these multiple perspectives.
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