Alvina Krause | |
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Born | |
Died | December 31, 1981 | (aged 88)
Resting place | New Lisbon City Cemetery |
Monuments |
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Education |
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Occupation | acting teacher |
Title | Professor emeritus |
Partner | Lucy McCammon (?-1981) |
Awards | honorary doctorate, Doane College, 1969 |
Notes | |
Alvina Krause (January 28, 1893 – December 31, 1981) was an American drama teacher at Northwestern University, theatrical entrepreneur, "maker of stars", and director. Her students called her AK. Her first name is pronounced Al-vine-na[4]
During her early years at Northwestern, Krause's primary responsibility was giving students private instruction in voice and interpretation. In the early 1940s, the School of Speech was forced by budgetary constraints to drop its private instruction program and Krause was appointed to Assistant Professor, responsible for the one year basic acting course. Over the next few years, Krause revamped the basic acting program, transforming it into a three year program. The first year focused on developing student's artistic skills, including work in voice and movement, and cross-disciplinary work in other artistic fields. The second year, students worked on developing their dramatic skills, using classical dramas and characters to understand the art of playmaking. During the third year, students focused on principles of "style" — developing their own sensibilities and polishing their communications skills. Krause's approach to teaching acting through this three year program became a model for the field and continues at Northwestern to this day.