The Oklahoma Festival Ballet will be performed in the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center on April 23, 29, and 30 at 8 p.m. and April 24 and May 1 at 3 p.m.
The first ballet showcases the faces and hands of the dancers as they are illuminated by a thin ray of light in the back of the stage, while a soloist expresses herself through dancing center-stage.
Falling Angels, the first piece of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet performed by the University of Oklahoma’s School of Dance, is a “masterpiece” by the world-renowned choreographer Jiří Kylián, Assistant Professor and choreographer Boyko Dossev said.
Dossev said the second piece, Strand, is a beautiful and emotional work by choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams. Strand is modern, contemporary, and smaller in scale than Dossev’s Sleeping Beauty.
Williams said her piece had an “abstract theme” and a creation process that allowed the dancers to inspire her with their connections and chemistry. She described Strand as “a stew of a lot of ingredients that bubble up, then you throw in experiential filters on it, and that’s what comes out.”
Junior ballet pedagogy major Alayna Wong said Williams was an “interactive” choreographer who personalized the choreography to match the dancers’ capabilities. Wong said Strand presents a good contrast to the other two pieces.
Sophomore modern dance performance major Hunter Sheehan said Williams encourages the dancers to be motivated for each movement to make it feel authentic, while Dossev’s choreography is more “placed.”
“With Sleeping Beauty, it’s very clean-cut, black and white,” Sheehan said about Dossev’s style. “While Robyn has the shades of gray.”
Act III of Sleeping Beauty, the third and final piece, features a different kind of storytelling by Dossev, he said. Sleeping Beauty is a classical work which involves most of the dance company.
“As I set, restaged, and choreographed Sleeping Beauty, I was reminded of classical ballet’s colossal demands and expectations,” Dossev said. “The dancers need to be in top technical condition; the set and scenery cannot be simple, and our costumes are over 30 beautiful handmade exquisite pieces.”
Dossev said Sleeping Beauty and Strand were different in their styles of choreography. The two pieces complement each other in that they are different in the number of performers, length, and story, he said.
Sheehan said Strand is about the freedom of movement while Sleeping Beauty is technical. “Falling Angels is the perfect combination of the two because the drums’ harsh rhythms allow the dancers to be free and lost in the movement.”
According to Sheehan, Kylián sent a message to the dancers saying Falling Angels is a symbol of strife between belonging and independence.
Dossev said the casting process is different every year. “We try to give equal opportunity to all dancers to experience a diverse repertory.”
Williams said they started the casting process with about 40 dancers. Needing to narrow her search down to ten dancers, she said she factored in who was already performing in one of the other two pieces, as well as the dancers’ openness to collaborate and try new things.
Wong said there were three rounds of callbacks and cuts before final decisions were made for casting Falling Angels. There were 24 students selected to perform between the three pieces, she said.
“I’ve been pushed in my technique and pushed in what I thought I could do,” Wong said. Having performed in the previous two years of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet, Wong said this year had a special impact on her.
Dossev said this year’s experience reminded him of how classical ballet can make dancers stronger and fully rounded artists.
“Classical ballet brings excitement and joy to audiences of all ages and backgrounds,” Dossev said.
Dossev said the Oklahoma Festival Ballet is an opportunity for the audience to experience the world’s best dance pieces performed by talented dancers.
Queen of Sheba is an Ethiopian restaurant located in Oklahoma City, owned by Mimi Younis since 2005.
A love for Oklahoma and its “beautiful people” inspired an Ethiopian woman to open the state’s first Ethiopian restaurant, featuring traditional dining and community eating.
Queen of Sheba’s owner Mimi Younis said she was born in Ethiopia, but lived in the U.S. for most of her life. Her family resided in Florida until a visit to Oklahoma surpassed Younis’ expectations and led to her opening the restaurant 16 years ago.
“(Oklahoma) just blew my mind,” Younis said. “It’s a great state. There’s beautiful people here.”
She said she moved her family from Florida in 2005 after visiting her uncle in Oklahoma, where she came up with the idea to bring something “new” and “different” to the state of Oklahoma.
While the outside of the restaurant blends in with the other stores in the shopping center, the inside displays unique Ethiopian culture showcased throughout the entirety of the lobby. The Ethiopian alphabet, accounts of the culture’s history, flags and artifacts are all displayed on the walls of the restaurant.
Queen of Sheba is open three days a week due to the restaurant’s limited number of staff members. Guests can enjoy an Ethiopian meal on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 4-9:30 p.m. Outside of their hours, the restaurant caters for events such as weddings.
The restaurant has a selection of three meat dishes and five vegetarian dishes, restaurant manager Ermias Wondimu said. The restaurant gives suggestions to first-time guests who have never experienced Ethiopian cuisine before.
“Our (dining style) is completely different than the rest of the world has, never ever seen before,” Younis said. “Except in Ethiopia, this is the way we eat.”
Guests at Queen of Sheba adopt the Ethiopian culture by dining as a community, eating with their hands and sharing food, plates and cultures with each other, Younis said.
“It’s a hidden treasure place. You sit together, you share your food together,” Younis said. “It’s a community and it’s a very good experience.”
Younis said the restaurant makes teff, the smallest grain in the world, and a sourdough flatbread called injera. No other restaurant in Oklahoma makes injera bread.
According to their menu, appetizers include sambusa and categna, a spicy injera. For entrées, the restaurant offers a selection of fish, chicken, lamb and beef.
Queen of Sheba continues to instill its cultural roots by holding coffee ceremonies where guests can opt to sit and enjoy three rounds of Ethiopian coffee, Younis said. The coffee is different from American coffee and is made from scratch. The use of older culture makes for a good experience in the restaurant’s dining, she said.
Next to the entrance of the restaurant is a roped-off area with a low table and two stools designed with cultural illustrations, used for the coffee ceremonies.
Younis said she runs her restaurant like a “Mom and Pop” with her husband Solomon Younis. She prefers to keep the staff at the restaurant “tight” and limited to family and friends.
Wondimu said he was a student at Oklahoma State University when he met Younis while searching for a venue to play reggae and Afro-Caribbean music.
“Even though the restaurant itself is trying to portray a traditional way of dining in Ethiopia, we want to touch on the modern side of the (United States) as well as the traditional,” Wondimu said.
Wondimu said the customers kept the business open after COVID-19 by going out of their way to support the business throughout the pandemic. Unlike other businesses during the pandemic, Queen of Sheba did not face a loss of business due to limited hours, small staff and high demand for their unique dishes.
“The greatest thing about this restaurant is that we have very loyal, good customers. They want us to stay here and keep on going, so we have a support group,” Younis said. “See, a lot of people, they want us to stay. They don’t want us to go away. With the good folks like that, we’re still here and kicking it.”
Regular customer Marcus Muse said he has been visiting Queen of Sheba for seven years. His favorite part about Queen of Sheba is the family aspect and being encouraged to learn Ethiopian phrases during the dining experience, he said.
“The platters are set up for multiple people and you are encouraged to eat with your hands,” Muse said. “That’s just the cultural way of doing things and they kind of bring that into the United States. That’s totally different from anywhere that you might go to in the city.”
Muse said he appreciated the restaurant’s respect for culture. The staff is welcoming to everyone, especially to African Americans who want to connect with their African heritage, he said.
“It breaks you out of the norm and gets you into a new experience,” Muse said.
Younis said Queen of Sheba relies on word of mouth rather than advertising, but still receives recognition from numerous magazines such as The Oklahoma Gazette.
“It’s not always about the food, it is always about the culture and what brought it together to the people,” Younis said.
“Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career,” published in January 2022, was co-edited by Rafael Jaen and Christopher Sadler.
Co-editor of “Off Headset: Essays on Stage Management Work, Life, and Career” Rafael Jaen, costume designer and University of Massachusetts Boston associate professor of theatre arts, said his curiosity of others’ experiences in stage management stemmed from collaborations with actors, stage managers, puppet makers and prop masters.
Jaen said the process of choosing the contributors’ experiences consisted of “sifting” through proposals and deciding which were “viable” to consider.
“By producing books where people can write essays and speak with their voice about their experience, that’s sort of immediate and it’s very relatable,” Jaen said. “It’s not one singular perception. It’s really a more complex world that makes theatre and performing arts happen.”
Co-editor Christopher Sadler, associate professor of stage and theatre management at the University of Oklahoma, said he wanted to share his experience with the world to help other stage managers and educators. He said a major aspect of stage management includes utilizing transferable skills such as leadership.
Sadler provided different perspectives of stage management through the experiences of several contributors in “Off Headset.”
Sadler said he met Jaen at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in 2013. He proposed the idea of the book to Jaen in 2018, he said.
Sadler said the contract for the book was signed by him and Jaen in 2019, and the book was published in January 2022 as the second installment of Jaen’s three-book Backstage Series about stage management. Jaen’s first book, “Theatre Artisans and Their Craft: The Allied Arts Fields,” is about scenic painting, missionary work and custom construction.
“Off Headset” features a collection of essays written by stage managers from across the country. Sadler said the essays vary from detailing opera stage management, motherhood in the industry, a day in the life on a cruise ship, and balancing personal lives and the profession.
“About 90 percent of the work of stage management is working with people, leading people, leading a team, being part of a team,” Sadler said.
Equity stage manager Kristi Ross-Clausen contributed to the book with a chapter about touring theatre. She said she encourages people to travel and tour shows for the special opportunity despite the physical commitment and long hours.
“Touring theatre is a very unique world,” Ross-Clausen said. “It takes a lot of stamina and personal fortitude to be able to handle the rigors of touring.”
Production manager and equity stage manager Jay Sheehan’s chapter focused on perseverance and resilience in the face of mistakes. Sheehan said he made a crucial error by turning the lights on too early at The Rolling Stones’ concert in 1994, but learned a significant lesson from the experience.
“It was about fighting back. It was about finding your courage, and not being afraid to make mistakes and learn from them,” Sheehan said. “That’s how we really learn, is by making some errors.
Jaen and Sadler’s “Off Headset” contains a plethora of experiences in stage management, ranging from Ross-Clausen’s tours to Sheehan’s lesson.
“Off Headset” is available to be purchased in paperback, hardback and ebook form from publisher Routledge Press or from Amazon.
OU University Theatre’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream will be performed at the Weitzenhoffer Theatre from Feb. 25 to March 6. Photo by Spencer Bias
Senior Sarah Santamaria arrived at rehearsal as the fairies and mechanicals practiced their scenes. She watched as the actors jumped on each other, ripped one another off, and utilized physical interactions to lighten the mood of the play. Santamaria listened as Shakespeare’s lines were embedded with obscure jokes and old-fashioned humor.
The play centers around several lovers and conflicts. One lover, Hermia, is played by senior Lanee Starr, who described the play as “lighthearted, fun, and entertaining.”
According to Starr, the play’s “over-the-top dramatics” creates a silly tone for viewers to enjoy.
“The process overall has been more open-minded,” Starr said. “The director, Judith Pender, she’s very open to any and all ideas.”
Judith Pender, Performance Area Coordinator of the Helmerich School of Drama, is directing Shakespeare’s playas part of the university’s educational mission to perform a Shakespeare play.
“We also take our audience into consideration,” Pender said. “What we think will make the audience happy right at this time, is a little humor in our lives. It’s a delightful crazy romp.”
Santamaria, who plays a traditionally male Lysander, said the comedy relied on physical interactions between characters.
“It’s really goofy and physical, and that’s the kind of comedy that I have a lot of fun with,” Santamaria said. “The physical elements that we’ve incorporated helped to aid the understanding of the play further than what the words are saying.”
Santamaria said the playwas one of her favorite comedies by Shakespeare.
“There are definitely a lot of lighthearted and comedic elements to the show,” Santamaria said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of still trying to create this other world where these goofy things happen.”
According to Starr, the stage allowed for the actors to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines.
“With the director’s style and how big the stage is, she always wants there to be space with us,” Starr said. “It just so happens that it also works with COVID.”
Sophomore PK Kaya, who plays Tom Snout, said the set was crucial to the storyline.
“The set has its own little character progression throughout the show,” Kaya said. “It starts out one way, and then it meshes a mold while the characters interact with it.”
While the set allowed the actors to socially distance during the performance, everybody in the cast still received the COVID-19 vaccine, Pender said.
“Being vaccinated is important to everybody in this profession,” Pender said. “It was something that everybody embraced completely.”
Kaya said the rehearsal process called for hard work and investment in order to create a production that contrasted the pandemic.
“Come see Midsummer not only because it’s a little escape, but because the lightheartedness speaks to something about what we’re all going through,” Kaya said. “We’re still working to put our vision out there and change our little corner of this world.”
Junior Hellen Ombachi blows a handful of rainbow color toward the camera. Ombachi is involved in the Gender + Equality Center at OU. Photo by Spencer Bias
The LGBTQ community in Norman receives more protections than other communities in Oklahoma; however, the state’s policies display an inability to protect LGBTQ individuals in comparison to nearby states’ policies.
Jerry Lessley, a graduate teaching assistant who came to OU in 2014 from a small town in rural Oklahoma, said the Gender + Equality Center, commonly referred to as the GEC, has contributed to the Campus Pride Index’s consistent ranking of OU as the most affirming LGBTQ-positive school in Oklahoma.
“A lot of the criteria that they [Campus Pride Index] have are unfortunately beyond our control because of bureaucracy and living in a red state,” Lessley said.
“President Harroz cannot change some of the housing policies, like a state-level policy such as Housing and Food. With that, obviously there is room for improvement.”
Lessley started a program called Crimson & Queens in 2017 in hopes of creating an intentional space to affirm OU’s students, faculty, staff and alumni as truly a part of OU’s family.
“It’s easily the biggest drag show in the state, biggest in the region, one of the biggest annual shows in the country, and that’s happening in Oklahoma,” Lessley said.
“To sit back and realize that we have events like that specifically in a public university in the middle of a red state, it’s so weird. To be able to put something on like that for our community, is something I treasure.”
The GEC’s goal, according to its website, is to combat social norms and messages by helping many students become more comfortable in their sexuality, such as junior Hellen Ombachi, who began their coming-out journey during their senior year of high school in Edmond.
“OU definitely strives to make their diversity and inclusion programs one of the top. With the programs that they’ve implemented…for minorities and underprivileged groups, I think they’re doing a pretty good job so far,” Ombachi said.
Even aside from the GEC’s role in establishing new norms, the city of Norman has made further strides than any other city in Oklahoma.
“I would consider Norman the most inclusive city in Oklahoma because in 2019, Norman City Council became the safest place for LGBTQ identifying people in Oklahoma,” Ombachi said.
On Aug. 27, 2019, Norman became the first city of Oklahoma to pass an ordinance protecting LGBTQ individuals against discrimination. Nonetheless, there are no counties in Oklahoma that have an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual identity, not even in major cities such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
By Spencer Bias
Each state has a number of various policies that protect LGBTQ individuals with housing, employment, and other outlets. Oklahoma has a negative policy tally, which means the government of Oklahoma has hardly recognized the needs of one of their communities. The city of Norman, Oklahoma has surpassed nearby cities by exemplifying effective efforts toward equality and community.
Senior Caroline Sparks, who went to high school in Tulsa and came out her sophomore year at OU, said there were minimal attempts made by the administration to recognize the spectrum of sexuality.
“I did go to high school in the Tulsa area. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ identities were not acknowledged. It’s one thing to acknowledge it in a negative way, but we weren’t acknowledged at all,” Sparks said.
“Something changes, I think, when people go to a public university if they have resources like the GEC.”
Sparks also said that the GEC highlighted resources in a way that made OU unique.
By Spencer Bias Caroline Sparks is a senior at the University of Oklahoma. Sparks is from California, but attended high school in Tulsa and began to see Oklahoma’s poor efforts to achieve LGBTQ equality. Sparks speaks about the Gender + Equality Center’s inclusiveness and successful actions towards equality in Oklahoma. Students greatly benefit from having resources, such as the GEC, that can draw individuals together to form a community.
“It’s unique for a university to even have an organization like the Gender Equality Center, given we’ve been oppressed for the past 20 years,” Sparks said.
The GEC also offers the space of a LGBTQ+ lounge to allow LGBTQ+ students to physically be in community with others, which Sparks described as “really special.”
“They have things like a lending library, educational resources. To have staff and faculty who take the time to get to know individuals and be in community with them, I think that’s really special too,” Sparks said.
While OU maintains a welcoming group of faculty and staff, many public high schools tend to have much less LGBTQ representation.
“Students in high school, I think in Oklahoma, still suffer a lot because most of the groups that are seen in high schools in Oklahoma are student-led out of necessity for the fact that they don’t have support from their administrators,” Sparks said.
Even administrators who work for the university, as well as people in positions of power, sometimes neglect to acknowledge the LGBTQ community.
“A lot of the time when it comes to people at OU–especially the president, the higher-ups–it’s more of a hush-hush situation that people don’t talk about things. They really try to save face for the university and themselves,” Ombachi said.
“With Kevin Stitt as the governor and being so conservative, he doesn’t really see LGBTQ people as people. Definitely having someone like that in a position of power is dangerous and that’s the reason I think we have a lot more work to do compared to certain states.”
Despite claims of President Joseph Harroz, Jr. failing to acknowledge the LGBTQ community, Harroz said he values diversity in a presidential statement.
“Students of all backgrounds and perspectives must feel they belong, or they will not flourish – and, as a result, the university will not flourish,” Harroz said.
“At OU, we cherish our diversity, in all its forms – intellectual, political, socio-economic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and more. Everyone has a voice, and each voice can and will be heard.”
Both the state of Oklahoma and OU have a lot of progress to make in terms of protecting LGBTQ individuals, leaving plenty of room for improvement in the future.
“I think what would help would be an open conversation and not being afraid to have those serious conversations that need to be had, and I think after that they will definitely make strides in that department,” Ombachi said.
“Gender-neutral restrooms, acknowledging that there are more than two genders, and having protections for LGBTQ, not only families, but individuals, are ways that Oklahoma can improve.”
While Oklahoma is shadowed by the successful protections of surrounding states’ LGBTQ communities, Norman acts as a starting point for beginning the change necessary to recognize the equality of LGBTQ individuals.
“The fight never ends. There’s never a stop to it. There’s not a cap that you can reach,” Ombachi said.