海角论坛

October 29, 2018 鈥� When Tucker Kapp (C鈥�10) arrived at Georgetown, he was certain he wanted to be a diplomat, but the Hilltop had other plans for him. This month, he returned to his alma mater for an artistic residency with seven years of theater and teaching experience in France under his belt.

Kapp is guest lecturing three meetings of a contemporary French theater class during his 10-day residency. Tuesday, he鈥檒l cap off his stay with the debut showing of , a one-man multimedia performance dealing with themes that Kapp has been working on since his undergraduate years.

A PASSION FOR LITERATURE

Kapp had originally enrolled in the , with eyes on a career working for the government abroad. His interest in literature, however, didn鈥檛 mesh with the extensive SFS core requirements.

鈥淚 had refused to take a required economics course, because I wanted to take this English class with , 鈥楾he Germanic and Christian Hero,鈥欌�� Kapp said. 鈥淚t was a superb introduction to literature in a way I had never seen literature before.鈥�

On the advice of , Kapp transferred to the 海角论坛 to further explore his interest in the humanities. He kept his international focus, majoring in French, but now had more space to try classes in literature and the arts.

鈥淪he saw who I was more than other teachers at the time, and she encouraged me to pursue what I really loved,鈥� Kapp said.

ACTING, TEACHING, AND PUBLISHING

After graduation, Kapp moved to France with no real plan beyond a one-year teaching assistant program run through the French embassy. As the program drew to a close, he joined a theater company and spent the next several years as a part-time actor and part-time teacher.

鈥淚 was really just supposed to go for one year 鈥� just a short exchange program before getting a master鈥檚 degree or something,鈥� Kapp said. 鈥淏ut I was hired by this company, stayed on, taught on the side to make a little extra money, and participated in some really cool shows.鈥�

Kapp developed an interest in letterpress printing, the technology that Johannes Gutenberg used on the original printing press. In 2013, Kapp founded , a publishing house that uses to print the work of relatively unknown authors and poets.

鈥淚t obviously takes a whole lot of time, but it鈥檚 actually cheaper if you鈥檙e willing to invest the time,鈥� Kapp said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now on our seventh book, and we鈥檝e been recognized by the French government as a real publishing house doing important work. We鈥檙e publishing contemporary poets who need to be published, even if they haven鈥檛 been published before.鈥�

CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES

Kapp returned to the Hilltop this fall to complete a 10-day artistic residency, during which he has lectured in three classes and will perform in an original one-man multimedia show, .

Performing has taken a backseat to publishing and teaching for Kapp in recent years 鈥� in addition to running Les 脡crits 9, he鈥檚 now a professor of English and general culture at an aerospace engineering school. But 厂鈥橝惫辞颈谤, which critically examines the creation of identity through language, represents the culmination of years of thought dating back to his undergraduate days.

鈥淲e鈥檝e constructed these statues, these identities of what humans can be, and that鈥檚 all based on language,鈥� Kapp said. 鈥淔or example, when we say 鈥榥ight,鈥� the word becomes this statue that connotes all these other things 鈥� danger, mystery, wolves 鈥� when we鈥檙e just trying to describe when the sun is down. I鈥檓 questioning the ability to define ourselves with words, as if we were fixed beings.鈥�

Kapp credits his professors at Georgetown 海角论坛 with helping him develop intellectually, engage with complex ideas, and take risks to pursue his interests.

鈥淭he idea of the show started here,鈥� Kapp said. 鈥淚 had the most wonderful experience with the professors here. 鈥� At the most crucial moments in my life, my teachers were there for me with good advice.鈥�