Lake Michigan College instructor receives Fulbright Award to study musical theater in Spain

Lake Michigan College theater instructor Dr. Patrick King has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar fellowship, under which he will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain, to study Catalan musical theater and work with both the Autonomous University of Barcelona and theater company Dagoll Dagom.

According to an article on Lake Michigan College’s website, Dr. King described the origins of his musical theater research and what he will be studying in Barcelona. He is quoted as saying, "My research area is musical theater in a historical context. Catalonia is one of those regions with its own identity within, and they would say separate, from Spanish culture. There is a home-grown Catalan-language musical theater scene that is incredibly popular but, like popular musical theater in the United States, is often critically and academically ignored. As a historical researcher, it seems that the plays people want to see and may seem trivial in the moment can really tell you a lot about that culture."

The Catalan language is one of the official languages in the region of Catalonia, along with Spanish and Aranese Occitan. The city of Barcelona is the major city in the Catalonian region, which is an autonomous community within the country of Spain. Dr. King’s Fulbright research will be taking place within this autonomous region at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Dr. King explained what the Fulbright Award is, and what it does for academia and culture. He said, "The whole mission of Fulbright is this cross-border understanding and the ability to learn from other cultures and bring those ideas back here. I think it reflects well on Fulbright that they want community college scholars to be in the mix. They know our work is teaching, and we don't often have time for research and writing. It is a credit to them that they recognize the importance of community colleges in the ecosystem of academia; that we do matter. My hope is that this also shines a light on the possibilities that our students have to make leaps like this themselves. Being a student at a community college, it can be hard to imagine with broad horizons. I want them to see this and have that perspective that we are in conversation with the world."

The Fulbright Award is a cross-cultural exchange program that sends academics to different countries where they will study and learn with the other academics at their host institutions. Once they finish out their time at the host institution, they return to their home base and share the valuable insights they gained from their experiences abroad.

Dr. King will be immersed in Catalan theater culture and will learn from historians and professors about its history. He will also be working with Dagoll Dagom as they stage their musical "Mar i Cel,” which Dr. King describes as the Catalan version of “Les Mis.”

He said, "It is a big spectacle that has been on and off for decades. Dagoll Dagom, the theater that produces it, says that this is the last time they will stage the production, so being able to look at that production as it is being staged at a time when Catalonia is really in flux feels like an important cultural moment."

Dr. King is just coming off of his directing duties for Lake Michigan College’s production of "The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” which wrapped up in early April. His past work and education includes earning his theater degree from Northwestern and instructing at Tufts University. 

For more information about Lake Michigan College, visit the school’s website.