Chilean Partnership Expands to Include Theater Exchange

By supporting a collaborative theater exchange program, a U.S. Department of State grant will increase study abroad between Montclair State and Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile.

The Partners of the Americas 2017 Capacity Building Grant for U.S. Undergraduate Study Abroad allows recipients Heather Benton, a Theatre and Dance professor, and Wendy Gilbert-Simon, the international engagement and global programs coordinator, to build on a 2016 spring break theater visit by Montclair State students to Universidad Mayor.

The new grant will support Devised Theatre Project of the Americas, a three-semester program for students from the two universities, who will jointly create and ultimately perform an original, bilingual theater piece.

This fall, students are also connecting online. Two phases of live collaboration and international travel will follow, with Montclair State students traveling to Chile during spring break, and with Chilean students visiting Montclair State in fall 2018. “Each exchange will include a weeklong developmental rehearsal process, a ‘work-in-progress’ showing and an itinerary of cultural explorations in each country,” Benton explains.