{"id":18047,"date":"2023-11-03T14:46:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/?p=18047"},"modified":"2023-11-03T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T19:46:31","slug":"students-bring-stories-to-life-in-inaugural-lorefest-in-downtown-bryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/03\/students-bring-stories-to-life-in-inaugural-lorefest-in-downtown-bryan\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Bring Stories To Life In Inaugural LoreFest In Downtown Bryan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Downtown Bryan was filled with students in Performance Studies courses who presented folklore tales during the inaugural LoreFest on Oct. 26-28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of three nights, about 200 students in classes taught by Dr. Matthew Campbell, assistant program director, and Dr. Will Connor, lecturer, shared their creative works through storytelling in venues throughout the downtown area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLoreFest 2023 was an overwhelming success,\u201d Connor said. \u201cThere was a massive turnout for the events, beyond the required attendance from students participating. There was also an incredible display of creativity and ability by the students who generated the material for the various presentations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students in Performance in World Cultures classes were given a list of folklore tales to choose from, and then were tasked with finding a way to represent that story in some form at the festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor said students successfully engaged with the community by making \u201castoundingly impressive\u201d films, puppets and presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a lecturer, that’s golden \u2014 completing an assignment with zealous enthusiasm, furthering the lore that was the initial target of research and inspiration,\u201d he said. \u201cThe students were simply amazing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first night of LoreFest featured a \u201cCampfire Story Session,\u201d in which students shared folklore stories at The Frame Gallery. Night Two featured a film festival at the Queen Theatre, where students presented silent, black-and-white short films, with live soundtracks produced by students in Connor\u2019s Electronic Composition classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the final night on Oct. 28, students utilized several creative outlets to showcase their chosen stories at The Village Cafe, Vino Boheme and along the streets of Downtown Bryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tanya Trujillo, a computer engineering student in Campbell\u2019s class, chose the folklore tale \u201cEl Chupacabras.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe legend originated in Puerto Rico in the late 1990s,\u201d she said Saturday night at The Village Cafe. \u201cIt is fairly common, and it spread across a lot of Latin American countries, and the southern U.S. in Texas. The story is of this creature that tends to attack livestock, in particular goats or sheep, and it gets its name from sucking the blood out of sheep. The name translates to \u2018sheep-sucker\u2019 or \u2018goat-sucker.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several students baked pastries that represented their folklore tale. To represent \u201cEl Chupacabras,\u201d Trujillo and her group made a dessert of pretzels covered in red-colored chocolate to represent blood, and cupcakes to resemble goats that had been attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n