Poetics & Christianity Ongoing Seminar

News from Manila

I've received a couple of emails from Manila. Paul Dumol, Ph.D. and Professor of Medieval Studies is also the Vice-Rector of the University of Asia & the Pacific. He was here in Rome during the past P&C Convegno: he talk ("Spirituality Onstage: Walking the Tightrope between the Sugary and the Preachy") and show us some videotapes of his recent writing's stage productions. We had a very interesting and enthusiastic conversation on screenwriting projects and now he is telling me that he has started a scriptwriting class at the UA&P. Some excerpts from his emails:

"...We just had the 4th meeting of my scripwriting class. I have 7 students, all from UA&P but one. This is a good number considering (a) the course is not credited for any program and (b) I can really attend to each one. I have a teaching assistant who is himself a beginning scriptwriter. Because the course is not credited in any program, I have only students who are really interested in writing.

The purpose of this first offering is really to help me fix the syllabus. I am gaining much experience. The students are starting from scratch--how to make beginnings, middles, and ends."

He does not forget the P&C past Convegno (the Rafael Jimenez Paper on "Narrative della Redenzione / Narratives of Redemption") and some of the recent topics :

"...I am happy to know that Poetica e Cristianesimo continues to be vibrant. We have to do something similar here. Please tell Rafa Jimenez I have finally seen "Amores Perros" and am sorely tempted to call it a masterpiece --above all the script, the stories. Yes, it was entirely appropriate to cite it in our conference last year. Its "hidden" theme is God, whom we feel all the more present because he is so absent, especially in the first 2 stories.

...Thank you for that beautiful review of "The Passion." (...) What a pleasure! I thought you would quote St. Josemaría and his ideal --that Christ's life should be in our minds "like a film." But the excerpt from "Santo Rosario" is even better."

[Some references on Paul Dumol's dramatic writings and their recent production onstage: "Aguinaldo 1899: Ang Pagpatay Kay Luna", and also on "Aguinaldo" on The Manila Times or in Asia Week.]

News from Italy - USA

Ho ricevuto anche un email da Giancarlo Polenghi, un membro fiorentino di P&C, lettore attivo di questo weblog. L'anno scorso è venuto al Convegno (ci parlò di "Comunicazione d'impresa e umanesimo cristiano"), rientrando in Italia dopo qualche mesi di lavoro a Manila. Adesso è in partenza per un periodo di lavoro negli States...

"Nei mesi passati ho fatto interessanti letture di linguistica generale al fine di capire come impostare alcuni problemi teorici sulle problematiche della comunicazione tra culture diverse. Negli States dovrei insegnare PR internazionali: una materia nuova che ha a che fare ovviamente con la globalizzazione e la comunicazione tra popoli e realtà diverse... Vedremo che cosa ne salterà fuori, per ora posso dire che sto facendo degli interessanti esperimenti "in vitro" sulla mia pelle e la cosa mi diverte non poco."

Aspettiamo notizie di queste sfide sul territorio delle PR internazionali, non tanto lontano di una poetica interculturale.

[Giancarlo Polenghi è Amministratore Delegato del Gruppo MCM e responsabile operativo di Creatività e Attività Editoriale.]

News from Austria - Germany

I've received a brief email from Nikolaus Schapfl saying that his Opera "Der Kleine Prinz", from the known work of A. St. Exupéry, will be presented next month in Munich:

Sonntag, 29. Februar 2004 - 15.30 Uhr München, Philharmonie im Gasteig

Nikolaus is a young composer and a not so much loquacious P&C Seminar member: he came to Rome last year in April, to the Convegno, with some of his wonderful musical compositions. I think that he is fortunately "in the mood", in a kind of nonstop working.

As some of you maybe have in mind, the "premiere" of the Nikolaus's Opera "Der Kleine Prinz" take place, very succesfully, last summer in Salzburg, on Sunday 24 july 2003, 8:00pm.

We'll keep in mind his new adventure.

[Find here a Nikolaus's bio and some critics on his works --in German.]