Students direct five new plays hit campus

Author: Melissa Marshall and Liya Gao

Here are five creative young directors who have taken it upon themselves to realize their artistic conceptions in five upcoming all-student productions. The five plays range from the exploration of gender to the problems of philosophy to the palpable political climate, taking full advantage of student acting, production and technical talent. The Campus talked to these talented students about the drive and direction of their dedication to independent theatre.

Production: "Comings and Goings"
Dates: Nov. 13-15, Hepburn Zoo
Director: Dawn Loveland '09
Tickets will be available through the College box office

The setup: Megan Terry's "Comings and Goings" is a "theatre game" that explores various male/female relationships. The piece is a series of scenes between one man and one woman that transform directly from one to the next, where the characters and the circumstances constantly shift. The cast consists of three men and three women. During random points in the show, the actors will be called upon to enter the action and switch roles with another actor. The switches are determined on the spot, so there will never be the same performance twice.

The attraction: As a director, I was interested in working on a piece in a style that was completely foreign to me, yet allowed for so many dramatic opportunities. Also, this play lends itself to working with an ensemble of actors who all participate equally in the show. I love the sense of community that surrounds the process of creating this piece. We can do an improvisational exercise, and the actors will take it and turn it into an incredibly moving, funny or truthful scene. I love being able to work so collaboratively. And there are no restrictions in the text. The piece can be whatever we make of it.

The impact: This show brings a unique sense of playfulness, fun and experimentation to the stage. There is no plot, there is no main character, there is no saying exactly what is going to happen next. I have not seen another show during my time at Middlebury that allowed for the same freedom.

Production: "Dying City"
Dates: Nov. 20-22, Hepburn Zoo
Director: Maegan Mishico '08.5
Tickets will be available through the College box office

The setup: Justine Katzenbach '08.5 and I are working together for our 700 project (I am directing and she is acting). We are producing "Dying City" by Christopher Shinn. Trying to not give everything away, the basic synopsis is a year after her husband dies during military tour in Iraq, a young woman is visited by his identical twin brother and forces both of them to explore social class, sex, intimacy, violence, the impact of 9/11, the hidden consequences of war and thus raises questions about the nature of public conscious and private grief.

The attraction: While researching possible thesis projects, Justine and I found that we wanted to work with a relevant, contemporary play that would impact the way our generation views the society around us (this play was first produced in 2005). "Dying City" forces the audience to confront their own beliefs about our world today, while still being an engaging and vibrant theatre experience

The impact: The issues that these characters discuss are issues that you hear being talked about in dining halls or in classes. We hope that this play will contribute to a greater dialogue in the College community about the current state of American culture and beliefs.

Production: "Dusa, Fish, Stas & Vi"
Dates: Dec. 4 & 5, Hepburn Zoo
Director: Emily Feldman '09
Tickets will be available through the College box office

The setup: Four women sharing a flat in London struggle to find happiness in a world riddled with obstacles and expectations. See how their contrasting personalities help and hinder their relationships with each other and with the men in their lives. Each has her own personal battle to fight, but all have a desperate need to find a place in the world as women and as individuals.

The attraction: Stephanie Spencer '09 and Lucy Faust '09 read several plays in their search for a 700 project. Faust read "Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi" in a Contemporary Women Playwrights class with Cheryl Faraone and she had an "I've gotta do this play someday" moment with it. So then she gave it to Spencer to read. They love the language and the issues it deals with. It's set in the 1970s in London, and it's a very feminist play, but the issues are still pertinent to our culture today. It's been a very cool process to work with an all-female cast and a female director. We're also really enjoying all our research about feminism in the 1970s. It's so weird to see how far society has come in some respects, and how stagnant it's stayed in others.

The impact: It's a quirky play that explores the work-life balance that women of all generations grapple with. I think it will present issues that concern women on the College campus from a unique cultural lens!

Production: "Two Rooms"
Dates: Nov. 6 - 8, Hepburn Zoo
Director: Oscar Loyo '10
Tickets will be available through the College box office

The setup: The piece is about political terrorism, the government and the media. In the play, a professor, Michael, is kidnapped in Beirut three years prior and the play chronicles his wife, Lainie. She tries desperately to get her husband back and is torn between how to act. The state department is urging her to stay quiet and let them do their jobs, while the media is encouraging her to go public with her search. The play focuses on Lainie and her struggle to make a decision.

The attraction: It's a timely piece that questions the motives of the government and the media, and whose intentions they are really looking out for. It's a play that makes a political statement and pulls at your heartstrings at the same time.

The impact: This is definitely a piece to make you think and question the environment around you. While the play takes place on the other side of the world and is set in the 80s, it presents a situation that is very relevant the world today.

Production: "On Ego"
Dates: Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, Hepburn Zoo
Director: Sara Swartzwelder '09
Tickets will be available through the College box office

The setup: The piece, a thought experiment by Derek Parfit, takes up the question of personal identity. Does our idea of the self have the stability, the significance or even the existence that we experience it to have?

The attraction: The nature - the meaning and the existence of the self - is put into question through the medium of theatre, and the play does something that philosophy so often fails to do. It allows philosophical issues and questions to collide with real life.

The impact: It addresses the kinds of things we tend to abandon as soon as we leave the classroom (or even before) because they're too difficult to think about, to fathom, to apply or to try to reconcile with our reflexive, everyday sense of who and what we are. "On Ego" poses a question philosophers have pursued literally for millennia and, by planting it in the story of realistic, emotionally-charged characters, makes the answer easy to swallow.