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November 27, 2007
UW Launches Travel-Study Tours Program
Inspired by the popular and long running UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London
The biennial UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London, led by English professor John Webster, has been so popular that in 2006, more than 70 percent of the tour's participants are repeat clients. Regulars include a husband and wife who have joined Webster on every tour but one since Webster began leading in 1981. Another couple met on one tour and came back married the next.
These are just a few of the stories behind the tour that returns for its 16th season early next year. Building on this remarkable success, the UW launches a new series in February 2008: UW Travel-Study Tours.
Six tours offered in 2008 by UW Travel-Study Tours
UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London: A hit since 1981
Why the UW London tour attracts repeat participants
The travel-study tour experience
For more information on UW Travel-Study Tours
About University of Washington Educational Outreach
Six tours offered in 2008 by UW Travel-Study
UW Travel-Study Tours are led by UW faculty and designed to explore a specialized theme or intellectual pursuit. Groups are kept to a maximum of 25-30 in most cases to ensure personal interaction with the tour leader. Offerings for 2008, administered by UW Educational Outreach, include the following programs:
- Cuernavaca, Mexico: Spanish Language & Cultural Immersion, February 3-16, 2008. For adults over 50.
UW Professor Cynthia Duncan presents English language classes in Mexican history and culture, focusing on the 14th through 16th centuries. Discover the relationship between the political, economic, and spiritual conquest of the land and its people. Learn conversational Spanish in a beautiful colonial setting. Classes are small and include native speakers at an elementary, intermediate or advanced level (no Spanish language experience is required).
- London, England: London Theatre & Concert Hall Tour, March 14-29, 2008.
Enjoy twelve performances in the theater and music capital of the English-speaking world. Continuing their popular biennial program since 1981, UW English professor John Webster and Roderick Swanston of the Royal College of Music lead discussion of the preceding day's event and preview the event to come. Though focused on performance, the tour allows ample time to discover other aspects of London. - Washington State: Rivers, Islands and Wine Country, March 7-9/March 28-30/Apri 11-13, 2008
Three weekend excursions (three days/two nights each) led by UW faculty and local experts. Destinations range from Long Beach Peninsula to learn about the oyster industry and visit Lewis & Clark sites; to southeastern Washington to visit local wineries and Hanford Reach National Monument; to the San Juan Islands to visit a flower farm and explore the island town of Coupeville, and much more. - Washington State: Rainforest, Dry Falls and Mountains, April 25-27/May 16-18/June 6-8, 2008
Three weekend excursions (three days/two nights each) exploring southern Washington led by UW faculty and local experts. Destinations include the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas to learn about Native American culture and the logging industry; to Central Washington/Spokane for discoveries from rich apple orchards to thought-provoking geology; to small towns of the North Cascades and Okanogan Highlands and a scenic boat up Lake Chelan to the town of Stehekin. - Santa Fe, New Mexico: Discovering the Textiles of Santa Fe, April 8-13, 2008.
Former UW Fiber Arts Department Chair, professor Layne Goldsmith, leads this special tour of public and private textile collections in and around Santa Fe-expressions of its long, rich history based in Native American, Spanish, and Anglo cultures. Includes a visit to one of the best international folk textile collections in the world: the International Folk Art Museum. - Sedona, Arizona: Painting the Sedona Landscape, May 13-18, 2008.
Four days drawing and painting outdoors with oil pastels or the medium of your choice in striking "red rock" sites like Bell Rock and Oak Creek plus a day trip to Jerome-a former mining and ghost town, now an art center-to draw and paint, and visit artists in their studios.
Joella Jean Mahoney, M.F.A., famous for her Arizona landscapes, will give instruction in landscape painting and lead all on-site drawing and painting excursions. No previous art training required.
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UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London: A hit since 1981
The success of the UW London tour has inspired and helped shape the development of the new UW Travel-Study Tours program. Now gearing up to lead his 15th tour to London, John Webster reflects on the experience of welcoming back so many regulars since he took over in 1981 (the tour originated two years earlier under a different faculty leader).
"We've seen lives evolve, friendship circles form and change," says Webster. "And many of our regulars are just as enthusiastic as they were on their very first trip!" It can also be said that the experience is "all in the family." One oft-returning couple is second generation: The parents were longtime participants, but the tour outlived them and now the son and his wife are regulars.
This kind of devotion isn't surprising, given the results of tour follow-up surveys. In 2006, the year of the most recent tour, the group gave both the tour and its leader an over-all rating of 4.9 on a 5.0 scale.
Why the UW London tour attracts repeat participants
When asked what makes the tour so popular, Webster says, "People who like the tour, really like it. Either they have an affection for London or for music and drama that can't be surpassed. And because the tour takes place every two years, there's time between tours for excitement to build again." John's collaborator, Roderick Swanston, enhances the experience. Swanston, a London musician, opera critic, and historian and teacher, is now retired from the Royal College of Music and is highly sought after as a tour guide.
"Roderick is one of the big reasons people return," says Webster. But Webster and Swanston keep themselves attuned to the changing needs of the group. For example, Webster no longer schedules an evening performance on the first night - not after an experience years ago when he noticed his entire group fall asleep during an entertaining play by Michael Frayn. He now leaves one free day a week, as well, allowing people to schedule excursions outside of London (some have even taken the Chunnel to Paris for a weekend!).
The travel-study tour experience
The UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London provides tickets to twelve events over fourteen days. Webster selects five plays and five concerts, with two additional performances chosen according to the season's offerings. He chooses a mix of forms and styles, usually including on the drama side a few repertory plays presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, plus two or three new productions, including an experimental performance.
He spreads performances out through several venues as well. "Different theatres have different traditions," says Webster. Target venues include The Theatre Royal Haymarket (since 1766, one of the few theaters in England licensed to perform "serious" drama; Oscar Wilde premiered his first comedy, "A Woman of No Importance," there in 1893).
Most evenings are devoted to performances. Morning sessions feature Webster and Swanston leading a discussion of the preceding day's event and preview the event to come. "I'm not there as a cheerleader," says Webster. "My job is not to tell folks it's a good or bad performance, but to help them engage with the event themselves and make up their own minds about the experience."
Every performance thus becomes an opportunity for searching conversation. "We were all a little afraid that first year of the Royal National Theatre's production of Shaw's Man and Superman. It's long - so long that lots of companies leave the third act out," Webster remembers. "Yet it turned into one of the most unforgettable performances I have ever witnessed when the famous actor Daniel Massey actually dropped a line in that very difficult Act Three. At first we were all horrified - but then after the prompter had called out his line, when he picked up both line and pace as if nothing at all had happened, the audience simply exploded into applause!"
The question for the next morning wasn't about whether this was a good production, Webster recalls. "Instead it was all about the absolutely fascinating question of how forgetting a line for that single moment could have made for such incredibly good theatre!"
Webster will also never forget "After Aida," a play based on the life of Verdi that opened at the Old Vic south of the Thames. Although there were about 30 people in the production plus the Welsh National Orchestra, the audience was sparse - very sparse! "But the funny thing is that the play was actually pretty good," says John. So the next morning, he turned the conversation to the business of theater: Given the huge investment of money and time a new play demands, what did the backers see that inspired their decision to put this play on? What happened that so few people came?
For more information on UW Study-Tours
Please see www.extension.washington.edu/ext/travel/ or contact Alison Koop at (206) 685-6344 or akoop@extn.washington.edu. You can contact UW professor John Webster, leader of the UW Theatre and Concert Hall Tour to London (March 14-29, 2008), at Cicero@u.washington.edu or via his web site at http://faculty.washington.edu/cicero/London.htm.
About University of Washington Educational Outreach (UWEO)
UWEO is the continuing and professional education division of the University of Washington, the nationally recognized public research institution based in Seattle. Helping the schools, colleges, and departments to administer evening master's degrees, certificate programs, distance and online learning, international outreach and English language programs, and more, UWEO is one of the largest and most highly regarded continuing and professional education programs in the U.S.