“Acting Out Art” is the topic for the next “Art Up Close!” at the Art Museum of West Virginia University presented by Lee Blair, associate professor of acting in WVU’s School of Theatre & Dance, on Tuesday, April 18.

The program begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum Education Center Grand Hall and is free and open to the public.

The discussion will focus on how theatre artists use other media to inspire new works or devised theatre. This type of work was the inspiration behind a collaboration between the museum and Blair’s Intermediate Acting class in fall 2016.  After viewing gallery works at the Art Museum, students developed their own monologues and scenes inspired by those works. Students Marissa Bailey, Caroline Dawson and Jared Munson will perform their monologues during “Art Up Close!,” which will serve as a jumping-off point for Blair’s discussion.

Blair is an actor, director and teacher who has been with WVU since 2006. Teaching undergraduate and graduate acting, his work in the classroom is Stanislavski-based training with emphases in comedy, musical theatre and audition techniques. Blair also serves as area coordinator, overseeing undergraduate acting and musical theatre students.

A 1995 graduate of the University of Florida with a Master of Fine Arts in acting, Blair’s career as an actor has included professional works off and off-off Broadway as well as regionally at theatres including Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre and West Virginia Public Theatre. He has been a member of Actors’ Equity Association since 1996,

Art Up Close! events are held at the museum during the fall and spring semesters each year and present WVU faculty and guest artists from various disciplines discussing a single work of art from the perspectives of their disciplines. The events are co-sponsored by the Friends of the Museum, a membership group for people who enjoy the arts and social, educational and cultural activities revolving around art.

For more information about the program on April 18, contact the Art Museum of WVU at (304) 293-7790.