Drama Enhancement

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The drama that takes place behind the scenes of a play unfolds in black and white images on the Spring 2007 Research Frontiers Web site.

In “Constructing Drama,” writer Barbara Jaquish and photographer Russell Cothren followed the paths of costume designer Andrea Williams and set designer Adam Miecielica as they developed the clothing and scenery used for the performance of Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. Cothren’s black-and-white photographs capture the work that no one sees, yet is essential to a play’s success — the hammering, drilling and painting that take plain wood and transform it into a set, and the drawing measuring, cutting and sewing that take plain cloth and make it into everyday garments. The designers explain in their own words the thought process that brought them to make the choices that they did.

Each slide show — one for costumes and one for sets — ends with a color photograph that shows the finished product — the actors on stage, under the bright lights, before an audience.

To view the show, please see http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu/ and click on Arts and Letters.

This is just one of many stories in the Spring 2007 issue, which tackles stories as diverse as domestic violence and the workplace, translating poetry and prose, combating pathogens in food and designing housing for aging Baby Boomers.

Management professors Carol Reeves and Anne O’Leary-Kelley in the Sam M. Walton College of Business investigate the hidden costs of domestic violence as it affects the workplace. Their findings suggest that businesses may want to take a close look at how domestic violence impacts the workplace and how they might support employees to lessen its effects. The Web version of the magazine includes links to presentations from a conference on the subject that was held at the University of Arkansas.

Readers who want to hear professors John DuVal and Goeffrey Brock, both in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, reading passages from original works in Italian and their translations can visit the Web site and go to the story called “Found in Translation.” DuVal and Brock both translated Italian works that offer perspectives on fascism — DuVal translated poetry by Carlo Alberto Salustri and Brock translated Umberto Eco’s novel The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.

In “Pathogen Protection,” food science professors at the Center for Food Safety and Microbiology in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences discuss how they are working toward protecting food from illness-causing bacteria in three ways: prevention, containment and reduction. Steven Ricke, holder of the Donald “Buddy” Wray Food Safety Endowed Chair; Michael Johnson, a food science professor; and Navam Hettiarachchy, University Professor of food science, try to find ways to eliminate the bugs that cause outbreaks of illness throughout the food chain — Listeria, Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli. Their original approaches have included creating edible organic antimicrobial films, predicting pathogen behavior and using organic extracts to kill bacteria.

In the School of Architecture, professor Korydon Smith examines another issue that’s difficult to see but quickly becoming urgent: As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, their housing needs will rapidly change. Smith, who leads the Universal Design Project, is looking at ways to provide low-cost, accessible housing to the Boomer population because the number of people over the age of 65 is expected to double in the next 25 years, and with it disability rates will rise. Smith has teamed up with architecture professor Darell Fields, interior design professors Jennifer Webb and Nann Miller of the Bumpers College, and rehabilitation professor Brent Williams of the College of Education and Health Professions to examine how to create housing that can accommodate a wide range of disabilities.

The magazine will be arriving in mailboxes the week of April 8. To see the magazine online, please go to http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu/.