The organizers of the Eighth Annual English Drama Festival, held each year at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, have created the "Dick St. George Award" in recognition of SUNY Brockport Professor Richard St. George's contributions to both the drama festival and the teaching of theatre at the University of Debrecen. During the spring term, St. George taught as a visiting professor of theatre, where he also directed three productions. While in residence at Debrecen, he also performed the solo work "St. Nicholas" in Hungary and Romania. The Dick St. George Award for Best Festival Director was instituted on May 5 and the festival jury asked St. George to present the award to the festival's first prize-winning director. The award will be given each year to the director whose work is judged best in the festival. St. George is the first international faculty visitor to the University of Debrecen from SUNY Brockport in what will now become a yearly faculty exchange program between Brockport and Debrecen. The first international faculty visitor from the University of Debrecen, Professor Csilla Bertha, taught at Brockport last fall. While Bertha was in residence, St. George directed two plays for which she was co-translator from Hungarian. Peter Szaffko, founder of the festival and head of the institute where St. George taught, said, "Dick St. George made an enormous contribution to this year's festival as well as to the teaching of our University of Debrecen students. We wanted to recognize his efforts not just this month or year but in the years to come." May 20, 2007 |
