Jessica Hughes of Brownsville in International Theatre Program in Bulgaria This Summer

GEORGETOWN, TX (07/05/2011)(readMedia)-- Jessica Hughes of Brownsville is going to Bulgaria this summer to participate in an international theatre-training program.

Hughes will be attending the Rhodopi International Theater Laboratory (RITL), which will be held July 9-Aug. 9 in Smolyan, a town in the Rhodopi Mountains near Bulgaria's border with Greece. The Rhodopi Mountains are the mythological origins of Western theater, music and performance.

"I'm really excited to see and work with some of the most amazing artists I've ever met," said Hughes, who is returning to the program for the third time.

The RITL was founded in 2005 to advance theater technique by bringing together theater practitioners, scholars and students from around the world. Students re-contextualize and recreate international legends and folk tales – which often serve as a central source for the themes and subjects of classical Eastern and Western drama – through a variety of workshops and performances. The program also includes excursions to archaeological and historical points of interest.

Each year, the program has a new theme based on a myth. This year's program will focus on the myth of Zoroaster, who was an Iranian religious reformer and prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, also known as Parsiism.

Hughes is a senior studying theatre at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. This is the sixth year that students from Southwestern have attended the RITL. Ten Southwestern students and two faculty members are attending this year, along with one recent graduate.

Southwestern University is a selective, nationally recognized undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,370 students. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Texas. For more information on Southwestern, visit www.southwestern.edu.