![\"Dr.](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/ferris-by-dan.jpg\" "\\"ferris-by-dan\\"")
<\/a>Dr. Jim Ferris rehearsed a scene for his solo performance piece, \u201cScars: A Love Story,\u201d which he will take on the road this spring and summer.<\/p><\/div>Dr. Jim Ferris, the Ability Center of Greater Toledo Endowed Chair in Disability Studies, has been named the Outstanding Scholar in Performance Studies and Theatre by the Central States Communication Association. <\/p>\n
According to the association, the award is given to a scholar \u201cwho has made significant contributions to performance studies and theatre scholarship and has been a significant contributor to the Central States region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a huge honor to be called outstanding by one\u2019s peers,\u201d said Ferris, who also is an associate professor of communication and director of the Disability Studies Program. \u201cIt\u2019s in some ways a surprise because often, doing this kind of work, you wonder what kind of impact you really have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferris was lauded for his work as a scholar and director as well as a creative artist. His production titled \u201cDo You Sleep in That Thing\u201d was specifically noted and a letter nominating him for the award described him as \u201ca prominent national voice at the intersection of poetry, performance and disability studies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the very inception of his work, which is arguably a contributing factor to the inception of disability studies in performance studies, Dr. Ferris\u2019 passionate, caring intelligence has played a pivotal, indeed foundational, role,\u201d wrote Dr. Craig Gingrich-Philbrook, a performance studies scholar and artist, who is an associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.<\/p>\n
After several performances at UT and elsewhere last fall, Ferris will present his solo performance piece, \u201cScars: A Love Story,\u201d several times this spring and summer in Chicago, Columbus and San Jose, Calif. The performance features photographs of scars that Ferris collected from people around campus and beyond. The piece uses poetry and music as well as visual arts to explore how scars mark humans, but also connect them.<\/p>\n
One goal for the performance is to nudge people to look beyond their preconceived notions, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we look at the world through stereotypes, so often we see what we expect to see rather than what is actually there,\u201d Ferris said. \u201cWith luck, this performance can help us think about how we perceive and evaluate the people we encounter every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also is working on another book of poems titled Slouching Towards Guantanamo,<\/em> which one reviewer described as \u201ca precise and eloquent unraveling of life’s knottier complexities.\u201d The book is due out in May.<\/p>\n \u201cPoets are used to traveling under the radar,\u201d Ferris said. \u201cThis award suggests that some people are watching \u2014 which is both encouraging and a little scary.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Central States Communication Association has named UT’s Dr. Jim Ferris Outstanding Scholar in Performance Studies and Theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}