The Potomac Theater Project (also known as PTP/NYC) successfully concluded its 2012 summer season with its well-received productions of Caryl Churchill's Serious Money and Jim Petosa's Monster, which were both performed at Atlantic Stage 2 in Manhattan.
PTP/NYC is a professional theater company that has long enjoyed a history with the College's theater program. The leaders of the company are Professor of Theatre and Women's and Gender Studies Cheryl Faraone, Isabel Riexinger Mettler Professor of Theatre Richard Romagnoli and Jim Petosa, the director of the School of Theater in Boston University.
PTP/NYC is the only professional theater company in the country that has a continuous relationship as well as continuous affiliation with an undergraduate theater liberal arts program. Because of this relationship, about 10 to 14 College students are involved with the program every year.
"This company is an integral part of the Middlebury program," said Faraone. "This was its 26th season. At least 250 Middlebury students have been in [PTP/NYC] since it started. Of the 16 [current members], at least 14 were either current Middlebury students or Middlebury graduates."
This past summer marks the company's sixth season in New York. Before it found its home in the Big Apple, PTP/NYC called Washington, D.C. its home for twenty years. This summer proved to be a fruitful one, as critics raved about the shows.
"If there's a sharper-edged evening of entertainment in Manhattan at the moment, it involves juggling knives... In the Potomac Theater Project production, the over-the-top comedy remains raw and urgent, a scathing critique of capitalism that has no use for balance," wrote New York Times critic Daniel M. Gold about Serious Money.
One such performer in Serious Money was Adam Milano '15, who played the   charater Martin. Milano had a history with PTP/NYC that began even before he made his way into the freshman dorms two years ago.
"Seeing a show at PTP the summer before my senior year of high school is what ensured my application to Middlebury," Milano said. "One of my high school professors recommended Middlebury to me and suggested I go see something at PTP. A few months prior I had had a conversation during a visit to Middlebury with one of the theater professors.
The conversation was about both the program here at Middlebury as well as theater in general, and this was the most exhilarating of any college visit I had done. I was excited to see the work in New York."
Milano had much to say about his experience with PTP/NYC this summer.
"Performing in Manhattan is an incredible experience," said Milano. "I cannot communicate enough how amazing it is that PTP/NYC gives students the opportunity to perform in an off-Broadway show. Running a show for a month that is being reviewed and seen by a New York theater crowd is a incredibly valuable opportunity to not only gain performance experience, but also to learn a lot."
Besides the time in the limelight, Middlebury students often got their hands dirty setting up the shows, as Noah Berman '13 observed. Berman performed in Petosa's play Monster, an adaptation of "Frankenstein," where he played the dual role of Cat and William. However, his duties also included running the sound board and coordinating ticketing for Serious Money.
"The hardest part of the summer was the middle of the first week when we first arrived in New York," said Berman. "We loaded in the sets and lights, and then we had about three days to put it all together. We spent pretty much all daylight hours in the theater doing manual labor. And by the third day, we were all exhausted."
Milano also had experience helping out behind the scenes. As assistant to the director for Serious Money, he attended all of the rehearsals and helped backstage during the performances.
Berman looking to his upcoming graduation expressed interest in staying on with PTP/NYC after completing his studies at the College, and hoped to follow in the footsteps of past PTP/NYC performers.
"Many of the class of '12 who were in the shows just stayed in New York, found apartments and started auditioning," he said. "If I get in [to PTP/NYC] next summer, that's probably what I will do too."
Faraone, who directed PTP/NYC's performances, echoed the actors' sentiments about the success of their summer in New York.
"It was a terrific summer," she said. "In particular, the show Serious Money ... really caught fire."
Faraone looks forward to next season with great anticipation.
"Next summer we're bringing Serious Money back," she said, since "it was one of the most successful shows we've ever run."
According to Faraone, Serious Money will be paired with a play called The Castle written by Howard Barker. Barker, a British writer, is a favorite of the College theater program.
"We have done eight of [Barker's] plays here at Middlebury," said Faraone. "We are actually producing The Castle here in Middlebury next Spring."
PTP/NYC is a long-held tradition celebrating the theater and everything it encapsulates.
As Berman noted, "no other college has anything like it."
After a successful and productive summer, the company is now planning and working towars the production of its next season.
For now, audiences must wait until next summer's two productions make their debut on stage to catch another glimpse of the talent, effort, time and hard work that goes into the making of a PTP/NYC production.
College to Broadway: Potomac Theatre Project
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