Edinburgh Summer Program - Pepperdine Scotland
Program Overview
Scottish Hospitality
I saw a stranger yestreen;
I put the food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place;
And, in the sacred name of the Triune,
He blessed myself and my house,
My cattle and my dear ones.
And the lark said in her song,
Often, often, often,
Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise;
Often, often, often, Goes the Christ in the stranger's guise.
— Old Gaelic Rune recovered by Kenneth Macleod
One of the most challenging and life changing experiences that the Pepperdine Theatre Program offers is the Edinburgh Summer Program - Pepperdine Scotland. Pepperdine's Theatre department has participated in the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 1985. This popular, bi-annual, international program always runs at full capacity and is exclusively for theatre majors. The Edinburgh program draws on the strengths of both Scottish and American theatre traditions, with a commitment to international collaboration through co-creation by artists from both Pepperdine and Scotland.
In the summer of 2012 the Pepperdine Theatre Program was awarded a Scotsman's Fringe First Award for innovation and outstanding new writing for the world premiere of Why Do You Stand There in the Rain? by Scottish playwright Peter Arnott. In the summer of 2013 students toured this production throughout the lowlands and highlands of Scotland including performances at the Traverse Theatre, Eden Court in Inverness, and the Mull Theatre located on the magical Isle of Mull. This eight-week summer program, under the direction of Professor Cathy Thomas-Grant begins with a week in the Scottish Highland village of Glenelg, moves on to Glasgow, and finally culminates in performances at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh. For more than 25 years, generations of alumni have described this trip as the most transformative part of their Pepperdine experience.