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KU alum, filmmaker LaBute to headline international conference

John C.Tibbets, associate professor of theatre and film and conference director, drew this sketch of KU alum and flimmaker Neil LaBute, who will be the keynote speaker at the 2007 Literature/Film Association Conference at KU.

International scholars and an acclaimed filmmaker trained at KU will be part of the 2007 Literature/Film Association Conference "Adaptation, from Stage and Page to Screen," sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Film and the Hall Center for the Humanities. The conference takes place Oct. 11-14 at KU.

Director and KU alumnus Neil LaBute will be the keynote speaker. Presenters from England, Canada, Turkey, Australia and the United States will discuss topics such as vaudeville on screen, American gangsters, drama and film, innovative directors, reinventing the biopic, European adaptations and minorities, and adaptation and cinema.

"This is the first time this prestigious academic organization has held its annual conference in the Midwest," said John C. Tibbets, associate professor of theatre and film and conference director. "Not only does it bring renowned figures in the theatre and film community to our campus, but it affords us an opportunity to showcase the activities and interactions of our own faculty and students of the Department of Theatre and Film. Our sponsors are the Department of Theatre and Film, the Hall Center for the Humanities and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, making this a truly campuswide event."

More information

Theatre and Film website
LaBute will give the keynote address at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union. Titled "Life Onstage and On Film," his speech will include clips of films adapted from his plays, including "The Shape of Things" and "In the Company of Men." The event is free for conference registrants and $5 for the public.

A native of Detroit, LaBute also spent part of his youth in Spokane, Wash., and studied theatre at Brigham Young University. He earned a master's in theatre and film history from KU and went on to write screenplays for several major motion pictures. "In the Company of Men" won the Filmmakers Trophy at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. He went on to direct other well-known films such as "Nurse Betty," "Possession" and "Wicker Man."

"Vaudeville on Screen" will be the focus at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, at Woodruff Auditorium. A 35mm screening of the 1953 biopic of Eva Tanguay, "The I Don't Care Girl," will be held. It will be introduced by Andrew Erdman, author of "Blue Vaudeville: Sex, Morals and the Mass-Marketing of Amusement, 1895-1915" and of the forthcoming "The Queen of Vaudeville: Eva Tanguay and the Rise of Modern Female Celebrity." The event is free and open to the public.

KU faculty members, including Tibbets, Catherine Preston, associate professor of theatre and film; Mechele Leon, assistant professor of theatre and film; and Iris Fischer, associate professor of English; as well as graduate teaching assistants Brian Faucete and William Harper, will take part in the presentations and discussions throughout the conference. Joseph Steinmetz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Paul D'Anieri, associate dean, will give a welcome address at the Literature/Film Association reception for conference registrants Oct. 12.

NOTABLE ALUMS

Two KU graduates, business leaders Cynthia Carroll and Linda Zarda Cook, are among the world's 100 most powerful women, according to Forbes magazine. Carroll, a 1982 grad, is seventh on the list and the first woman to become chief executive at Anglo American, one of the world's largest independent mining companies. At 44th on the list is Linda Zarda Cook, a 1980 grad. Now the executive director of gas and power for Royal Dutch Shell, Cook is in the running to become CEO of the company in 2009.