Performing Arts Spotlight: NER Out Loud

Fun fact: Vermont is home to more writers per capita than any other state in the country. Must be all the Frost in the air. Now, as the sun’s warmth makes the campus shed its crystal shell, the wonderful works of those writers emerge to our very own stage, to be performed aloud by your friends and peers.

In the tradition of Public Radio International’s Selected Shorts, six student orators will read selections from the New England Review (NER) literary magazine in this second annual live performance of NER Out Loud, at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 4 at the Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCA). This event combines the masterful language of gripping stories with the animated delivery and performance of public speaking and spoken word.

The excerpts will be followed by a “S’more Readings” reception with the readers and NER staff, along with representatives of several student literary magazines and lots of snacks. Both events are free and open to the public.

This year’s assortment of prose and poetry, carefully chosen from all works published in 2015 by NER, offers a thoughtful medley of topics. For instance, “Forty-Two,” read by Kathleen Gudas ’16.5, intimately conveys the pains of loving a man who is married to someone else. Meanwhile, “High School in Suzhou,” read by Mariah Levin ’16.5, inspects women’s roles across different cultures.

Sally Seitz ’17 reports that the piece she will be reading, “The Red Painter,” depicts “any artist’s struggle to create work and be happy with the work created;” a sentiment that should echo through Middlebury students.

And according to Alexander Burnett ’16, his story, “To Bundle or to Tarry,” is essentially about “bed-sharing in early America … essentially colonial spooning.” It differs from the rest in that it was originally published in 1871 but banned in 1872 because it offended Victorian sensibilities at the time – even though the author, Henry Reed Stiles, was only proving what had been common practice for hundreds of years.

Melanie Rivera ’19 will read “At the Tribunals” by Patrick Rosal, and August Rosenthal ’17 will perform “Eleven Girls” by David Ebenbach.

As someone who is relatively inexperienced with public speaking and definitely frightened by it, I enjoyed the opportunity to ask a few questions to several of this year’s orators.

Middlebury Campus (MC): What do you like about public speaking?

Sally Seitz (SS): “Well, particularly with NER it’s less about public speaking for me, and more about storytelling. It’s rare to get a chance to just sit and hear a story out loud. As students, we are exposed to plenty of written stories, but being told a story orally is a completely different experience and art form.”

Alexander Burnett (AB): “This will be my first performance with Oratory Now, but I did Speech and Debate all throughout high school, so I’ve always enjoyed public speaking. It’s a powerful feeling to command a room.”

MC: Do you ever get anxious before speaking?

Mariah Levin (ML): “To this day, I get nervous before talking in front of people. I think it is just a normal part of being exposed. But, with more experience I know how to calm my nerves and channel the energy to be helpful instead of harmful.”

Kathleen Gudas (KG): “Although I’m a Theatre major, I still get stage fright. I usually deal with my pre-performance anxiety by listening to music and taking deep, low breaths.”

NER Out Loud is the result of a new partnership between the New England Review, the Mahaney Center for the Arts and Oratory Now, the student speech society.

Oratory Now is committed to helping people speak with conviction, sincerity and persuasive power. Members believe that by learning to speak and listen effectively, we can become a more connected and resilient community. In addition to public speaking contests and events like NER Out Loud, Oratory Now also offers workshops and classroom coaching to help hone students’ public speaking skills. Visit go/oratorynow to see upcoming opportunities.

Meanwhile, the New England Review seeks to provide a place outside of mass culture where meticulous craft and steady thought are the norm instead of speed and information overload. The publication accepts submissions year-round in nearly every form of the written word.

Editors and contributors to the student literary magazines Blackbird, Frame, MiddGeo and Translingual will also be on hand at the post-show reception to discuss their publications and give sample readings from their pages.