Thomas Hischak, a professor of performing arts who specializes in theatre, will present “Lithuania Today: Life on a Stage Without an Iron Curtain,” at a Sandwich Seminar at noon on Thursday, March 1, in Brockway Hall Jacobus Lounge. The talk is free and open to the public.
Hischak taught and presented workshops at the University of Siauliai in Lithuania as a Fulbright Scholar last May. He will talk about life in the Baltic country since gaining its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1990. Siauliai is a city in Northern Lithuania and the university has about 12,000 students. Since Lithuania’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the use of English in schools and daily life has increased rapidly.
While in Lithuania, Hischak presented workshops and participated in the college’s international theatre festival. He also worked with Siauliai University’s Theatre Department in planning an American studies program in the arts. He received the Fulbright Foundation grant in the Senior Specialists Program in which American scholars are invited to teach and/or work with foreign universities for a limited period of time.
Hischak is a designated Fulbright Scholar who taught and directed theatre at the University of Patras in Greece in 2008.
As a member of the Performing Arts Department, Hischak has taught and directed theatre productions at SUNY Cortland since 1983. He is the author of 21 books on theatre, film and popular music and is a playwright with 25 published plays. In 2004, he was honored with a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity. Hischak holds degrees in theatre and English from St. Louis University and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
For more information, email Hischak.