Alumni Shine Spotlight on Creative Collaboration

The MiddSummer Play Lab (MSPL), a week-long summer intensive program that fosters relationships between Middlebury College students and alumni in the theatre and film industries, returned to campus for its second season this past week, Sept. 2-6. The program was started by Tara Giordano ’02.5 in 2013 with the help of Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Dana Yeaton, the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI), and a number of alumni artists.

MSPL brought five alumni back to campus this summer to teach and learn from each other. The program offers a unique chance for students to learn applicable, career-building skills directly from professionals and cultivates the continuation of bonds between students that extend beyond the campus into multiple big-city job markets.

The networking benefits of MSPL are twofold: alumni have the chance to create and produce new work together while keeping their college collaborations alive, and current students have the opportunity to break into the tight-knit alumni community and strengthen the artistic relationships already present within their immediate generation. Bill Army ’07, an alumni participant and new Visiting Professor of Theatre, identified the importance of maintaining college connections as one of the biggest takeaways for students in the program.

“I hope that each student more fully realized that the relationships that they are cultivating now are some of the most important relationships that they will make,” Army said.

This year, eleven undergraduate students took advantage of MSPL’s offerings, which included three master classes in film acting as well as alumni-led discussions about the details and realities of the theatre and film industries. Cassidy Freeman ’04.5, Joe Varca ’02.5 and Giordano led the master classes, focusing on their personal experience auditioning for film in New York and Los Angeles. Greg Swartz ’17.5 viewed his experience at the play lab as a confirmation of his decision to join the Department of Theatre at the College.

“After the summer play lab, I’m so excited to become more involved with theatre at Middlebury,” Swartz said. “As a student considering an eventual career in theatre and film, it was invaluable to learn about the experiences the alumni had as they established themselves as actors and playwrights after graduation.”

Swartz also commented on the rare opportunity to learn about the specifics of acting for film.

“The alumni gave great feedback in the film class that has definitely made me a stronger actor, and I also found it helpful to view and critique recordings of my own work,” he said.

Varca, who co-led the master classes, echoed Swartz’s comments in his hopes for what he was able to contribute that he would have valued when he was a student.

“I remember what it was like as a student, contemplating a life working as an actor or director and the uncertainty surrounding that path,” Varca said. “So to return to Middlebury and offer not only hope, but practical skills and tools to help current students take the leap is something I feel very lucky and grateful to be able to do.”

The MSPL also served as a workshop environment for CLICKSHARE, a new play written by Lucas Kavner ’06.5, culminating in a play reading featuring Army, Giordano, Freeman, Varca, Nicholas Hemerling ’14.5, and Associate Professor of Theatre Alex Draper. Kavner described the editing and reworking as invaluable for his own process and saw the reading as an additional opportunity for students to learn as well.

“I hope the students got a taste of what the play reading process is like, since it’s so much of what takes place in New York,” he said.
MSPL sprung out of a conversation in the spring of 2013 between alumni in New York City and Los Angeles about collaborating on a new play. Since the College served as the common link between everyone involved, the alumni reached out to Yeaton, the College’s playwriting mentor, in hopes of exploring this process in the place where its creators met and grew together. Yeaton then worked with the CCI, which provided the funding for transportation costs that made it possible for MSPL to take off.

Associate Director of Professional and Career Development Susan Walker approved of MSPL initially because she saw it as an innovative way to lessen the gap between the academic arts world and professional careers in the arts.

“At CCI, we applaud and promote all opportunities to connect undergraduates with alumni who are working in their fields of interest,” Walker said. “Along with internships, this is the best way to really get a sense of what it takes to become a successful professional. MSPL is unique because students receive direct coaching from alumni and have a chance to see them demonstrate their craft in the final reading.”

Walker attended the final play reading of Kavner’s CLICKSHARE, as well as the initial question and answer session with the alumni artists, and expressed her hope that a wider Middlebury audience will be able to see this type of impressive performance and creative vision in the future.

“CCI looks forward to partnering to keep MSPL thriving and even growing in the future, and in other collaborations on behalf of students,” Walker said recently.

Giordano confirmed that she is planning to make MSPL an annual summer offering. While the program initially took place in the month of June, Giordano explained that the program will be shifting permanently to the week before classes begin in September. Looking forward, Giordano wants to expand MSPL just as the arts alumni community itself expands. She seeks to diversify skills and add new experiences while maintaining the core that was the reason for its inception: collaboration amongst peers who all share common memories of their time at the College.