Fall/Winter 2024

Course Catalog: Stage Combat/Theatre 318

By Charles Buchanan

Students Josh Butler (left) and Daniel Warren fight in UAB's stage combat class, which accepts up to 14 students each semester.

The swords are real. That’s the first thing Daniel Warren learned in the Department of Theatre’s Stage Combat course. The tougher lesson was learning how to react when a classmate pointed a weapon in his direction.

Watch students demonstrate their moves in this video

“Control is definitely the hardest obstacle, because it goes against every instinct during a fight,” says Warren, a sophomore. “But the attacker is always in control on the stage, and the attacks are agreed upon beforehand. Force is never used.”

Creating the illusion of realistic fighting for plays, TV, and film—and staying safe while performing it—“must be learned slowly,” says Ron Hubbard, Ph.D., the associate professor of theatre who teaches the course. “Movement skills are the most important aspect.” In fact, he begins each class with tai chi, teaching students to make carefully controlled motions with their limbs.

Then comes choreography. Depending on the semester, students master unarmed fighting, Hollywood swordplay, or the use of weapons ranging from the rapier and dagger to the staff, firearms, and the broadsword. “All stage combat is choreographed, and it’s rehearsed more than any other part of the show,” explains Hubbard, who has been a fight choreographer, movement coach, or stuntman on hundreds of productions. “The professional standard is 10 hours of rehearsal for each minute of fight time.” Classwork is about 95 percent physical; for each weapon, students must pass a written test and demonstrate their skills.

"Taking time to develop the fight choreography, not unlike a dance, is the only way to remain within the bounds of technique,” says senior theatre major Josh Butler, who took the class last fall. “It’s also the safest way, and it produces the most believable fight. By the time we perform the fight, no­thing should run through our minds but the characters’ motivation or the understanding of the play’s situation.”

Butler and Warren especially enjoyed learning to wield the broadsword—“the sword of history,” as Warren calls it. “I have such respect for medieval broadswordsmen because it requires so much power to fight effectively with it,” says Butler, who used the course as preparation for the role of Macbeth in Theatre UAB’s production of Shakespeare’s epic tragedy.

Warren, a criminal justice major, foresees other applications for his stage combat skills. In addition to control and the safe use of weaponry, Stage Combat has taught him how to work with partners, he says. “The moves can be demanding, but we work together to figure out what each person is best able to do,” he says. “I plan to be in SWAT, where working with a group is essential.”

Getting Them Right for Graduation

By Shannon Thomason

In an auditorium full of doctors, Lee Shackleford often sounds like the smartest person in the room. The assistant professor in the Department of Theatre is responsible for announcing the names and dissertation titles for each graduate at each doctoral hooding ceremony at UAB. At each semester’s end, proud graduates stride across the stage at UAB’s Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center to receive their doctoral honors. After countless hours of hard work and study, and with families and friends from far and wide in attendance, they’ve reached the crowning moment of their educational journey. So the last thing they want to hear is their name mispronounced.

Lee Shackleford is responsible for making sure that never happens. An assistant professor in the UAB Department of Theatre, he is tasked with properly announcing each name and the often obscure words and symbols related to the dissertations at each doctoral hooding ceremony.

Shackleford always earns a hearty round of applause for his oratorical accomplishments, but he is quick to acknowledge that he doesn’t do the job alone. “Every semester, the folks at the UAB Graduate School, especially communications and events specialist Kellie Carter, work very hard to get phonetic pronunciations for the names of all candidates, who come from all over the world, and the terms in their dissertation titles,” Shackleford says. He then spends at least two weeks saying the names and titles aloud to practice for the big day.

“The greatest challenge is to remember what sound a Q or an X represents in different Far East languages,” Shackleford says. “For some, an X makes a ‘kh’ sound, and for others it’s ‘ch’ or ‘eks.’”

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Scientific terms are often tricky, especially ones that differ according to discipline, Shackleford says. “Recently I had a word I felt sure I was pronouncing correctly because it seemed obvious phonetically, but after the ceremony, I learned that I had the emphasis wrong. But the experts who pointed out the mistake were very kind in mentioning that nobody outside of the materials-sciences world would know that.”

Shackleford has learned some tricks during his years in the job. He now brings to the ceremony an alphabetical list of the words he’s had the most trouble with in practice sessions, spelled out phonetically. “Usually when the moment comes, I can find them quickly on my list, but sometimes I have to rely on memory,” he says. ‘That’s why the week before the event, you’ll usually find me pacing the halls, muttering the names of chemical compounds and Chinese doctoral students.”

Shackleford takes the job quite seriously, because he knows how much that moment means to the students and their families. Parents and graduates have thanked him profusely for getting it right.

“I feel very strongly that on this day of all days, when the student’s parents often come from the other side of the planet to witness this event, the candidate should expect to have his or her name pronounced properly,” he says.

Mapping the Future of Research at UAB

By Charles Buchanan and Matt Windsor

Biomedical research at UAB spans hundreds of disciplines and attracts more than $400 million in funding each year from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other sources. But with grant applications more competitive than ever, the UAB School of Medicine and UAB Health System are placing special emphasis on areas in which scientists can accelerate their discoveries from the laboratory to patient-ready therapies. 

The AMC 21 strategic plan, announced in November 2011, calls for investments in new research positions and equipment in six key areas. Here is a look at some of the major initiatives being pursued in the plan.

{slide=1. Cancer}

Big idea: Energetics. The red-hot field examines the relationship among physical activity, diet, and cancer development. Understanding the molecular basis of obesity will allow researchers at UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) to make significant contributions to treatment and care.

Other hot topics: Stem cell- and T cell-based therapeutics, expansion of facilities for phase 1 clinical trials

{/slide}

{slide=2. Cardiovascular Biology and Diseases}

Big idea: Synergy. By building a Comprehensive Cardiovascular Center based on the successful model of the CCC, UAB plans to unite clinicians and researchers around eight key areas of heart disease, including heart failure, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, and atherosclerosis.

Other hot topics: Cardiac regeneration using stem cell techniques, novel cardiac imaging, device therapies

{/slide}

{slide=3. Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism}

Big idea: Beta cells. A top priority for UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center is preventing the loss of these vital insulin-producing cells, which could one day lead to a cure for the disease.

Other hot topics: New therapeutic targets for metabolic signaling, which is implicated in the development of diabetes and obesity{/slide}

{slide=4. Immunology, Autoimmunity, and Transplantation}

Big idea: Specialized therapy. Discovering new insights on the genetic basis of immune response will allow physicians to tailor therapies to individual patients with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other autoimmune diseases. Someday, responses could be tweaked preemptively to prevent diseases from occurring at all.

Other hot topics: The new Comprehensive Transplant Institute will help surgeons specializing in different organs collaborate on complex cases and improve coordination for all transplant care at UAB.{/slide}

{slide=5. Infectious Diseases, Global Health, and Vaccines}

Big idea: Treating TB. Even though tuberculosis is a growing global health threat, it’s been 40 years since clinicians have had a new drug with a new mechanism of action for targeting the disease. Researchers will focus on new therapeutics to cure TB infection and fight drug-resistant strains.

Other hot topics: Clinical trials for hepatitis C treatments; new vaccines for viral, bacterial, and fungal infections, including HIV{/slide}

{slide=6. Neuroscience}

Big idea: Halting neurodegeneration. An aging population means a spike in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, along with other cognitive and memory disorders. UAB’s already internationally renowned research in these areas will be supplemented with 21 new faculty members.

Other hot topics: New treatments for brain cancers, chronic pain, and epilepsy {/slide}