R E G I N A L D . M O N T G O M E R Y

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in January, 1997.

Reginald Montgomery

Creating art out of self

Reginald (Reggie) Montgomery says simply that he is an acting director. Step beyond that terse description and into the classroom of Trinity's new assistant professor of theater and dance and you will see an inspiring teacher coaxing his students to delve into themselves, connect with their muse, and create art. "My whole concept of working directorially or as an instructor is to allow people to explore themselves to find out where their juice or creativity is. It's my job to tap into that source," Montgomery claims.

Last semester, the professional actor and director, who has worked in television and film and on the stage, taught his first class at Trinity, "Creative and Interpretive Approaches to Acting." Working as an "instigator" in this "socio-psychological performance workshop," Montgomery first challenged students to explore themselves by writing about their self-perceptions and goals. He then engaged them in personal discussions of emotional issues like race relations, the death penalty, and date rape.

Students were quick to learn that when Montgomery emphatically asked "What's up?" he expected emotional responses. "I wanted my students to get out of their heads and into their hearts. I wanted them to have the experience of hearing themselves and exploring themselves and each other," he explained. Their resulting monologues, poems, sketches, and songs form the basis for the student production Up Front, Close, and Personal, scheduled to run February 27, 28, and March 1 in Austin Arts Center.

Students say Montgomery's classroom approach last semester was very successful. To produce an assigned character sketch about someone she had seen but did not know, Individualized Degree Program (IDP) student and theater/dance major Jacqueline Davis '98 drew upon her experience as an X-ray technician at Hartford Hospital. In her compelling sketch, a newborn baby takes center stage and speaks about the relationship between his mother and father. "Professor Montgomery draws out the creativity of students," she said. Shaakirrah Sanders '97, a psychology major and performing arts minor, agrees. For the class, she created a monologue about love in her generation. "He has this great ability to get you to do things that you didn't think you could do!" she declared.

Hartford Stage

Montgomery's association with Trinity began in 1995 when he directed the hit Spunk, George C. Wolfe's adaptation of three stories by Zora Neale Hurston, at Hartford Stage. It was there that he met Associate Professor of Theater Arthur Feinsod, the company's resident dramaturg. Feinsod invited Montgomery to Trinity last year to co-teach a class with him on directing, which earned rave reviews from students. Without severing his ties to Hartford Stage, Montgomery earned a position as a Trinity faculty member last fall. In October he directed Feinsod's play Fugitive Calls, staged at Hartford's Old State House as part of the College's play-reading series, "Trinity Playwrights: Past, Present, and Future."

Montgomery describes Feinsod as a "wonderful writer" and applauds his colleague's efforts to expose students to the inner workings of Hartford Stage. "As dramaturg, Arthur offers students a very, very rich opportunity to watch productions with him, from rehearsal to final performance," he said. Feinsod, in turn, praises Montgomery's pedagogical talents. "He's a natural teacher who works with a person's natural abilities."

Ringling Brothers and Alvin Ailey

Montgomery began his career by using his own natural abilities in an unusual way. The Florida native and former athlete was recruited to become the first African-American clown for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. After graduating from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1968, he toured the country for a year with the Circus, earned his master's degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and worked briefly at a regional theater in Los Angeles before moving to New York 20 years ago. Still based in New York, he is also a guest lecturer at the Alvin Ailey School of Dance and at the American Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

Teaching in an academic environment where students' backgrounds and majors are as diverse as Trinity's has a distinctly different focus and flavor from working with professional performers in New York, according to Montgomery. "It's exciting because the students bring different experiences to the classroom and respond to me in a way that is not predictable. It makes the experience more rewarding for me," he said.

Whether he is teaching professional performers or Trinity students, Montgomery believes that a candid exchange of ideas in the classroom is essential to stimulating self-expression, and ultimately to the creation of art. "Art happens out of self, out of the journey you've been through and the journey you see yourself going through," he observed. "It's a composite of yourself that eventually becomes your painting on a canvas, or a dance piece, or a play or poetry."

-- Suzanne Zack

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