The William J. Cooper Foundation and the Department of Theater present a panel discussion of “The Theaters of Witold Gombrowicz and Michal Zadara” on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 4:30 pm in LPAC Cinema. For more information about this event, performances in the Live Arts Festival, and Acting Workshops click here. Hope to see you at one of these events or more!

Video excerpts from this spring’s production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” in Crumhenge are available here. Enjoy!

The ‘rain date’ performance of MACBETH on Monday, May 4 is canceled.

Due to rain, the performance of MACBETH tonight (Sunday) will be postponed until tomorrow, weather permitting. Please check the website on Monday for updates.

The production of ‘Macbeth’ will go on tonight in light rain. The show will be called off if there is thunder.

Macbeth will be canceled in the event of heavy rain all day. The show will go on in a light rain, if need be. If the forecast says that the rain will start in the evening, the show start time will be changed to 3 PM. This call will be made in the morning of the day in question. Please check this ‘News’ section for updates. The running time of the show is about 1.5 hours.

The Department of Theater at Swarthmore College presents William Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Friday through Sunday, May 1st to 3rd at 6pm in Crumhenge, in the Crum Woods off of Fieldhouse Lane. Join us for an invigorating exploration of Shakespeare’s staggering tragedy.

Uncontrollable passions and dangerous secrets are the life force behind this timeless story. Engage your sense of adventure and actively immerse yourself in the world of the play. Come prepared to feast, think, dance, delve, explore, and enjoy!? Featuring wildly re-imagined music by The Kinks played live by Swarthmore’s finest troubadours.

The production takes place in several locations around Crum Meadow. We highly recommend wearing long pants and sturdy shoes.

This production is the Honors directing thesis of Jacqueline Vitale ’09. Colin Aarons ’09 is featured in the title role. Designers include: Daniel Perelstein ’09 (sound), Carmella Ollero ’09 (choreography), Emma Ferguson ’10 (set), Allison McCarthy ’09 (costumes), and Logan Tiberi-Warner ’10 (body art). Guest artist Kate Watson-Wallace will provide space and movement dramaturgy.

The performances are free and open to the public without advance reservations. Each performance will be followed by a reception in Crumhenge with the cast and crew of the production. For further information, contact Liza Clark at lclark1@swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8260. Rain date May 4. Please check the Theater department website for info about whether a show will be postponed due to weather.

The Swarthmore College Department of Theater presents Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, on Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18 at 8 pm and Sunday, April 19 at 2 pm in the Frear Ensemble Theater, Lang Performing Arts Center (LPAC). This production is the Honors Directing Thesis of Jackie Avitabile ’09 and the Honors Lighting Design Thesis of Cara Arcuni ’09. Six versatile actors bring this classic play to life in an exploration of fate, human desire, and the forces beyond our control in our ecstatic journey from dust to dust.

Romeo & Juliet features performances by Judy Browngoehl ’09, Tayarisha Poe ’12, Natan Vega Potler ’11, Miriam Rich ’11, Isa St. Clair ’11 and Andrew VanBuren ’10. Jackie Avitabile ’09 will direct and Jessie Bear ’09 will serve as dramaturg. Designers include: Brian Grace-Duff (sets); Cara Arcuni ’09 (lights); Nick Kourtides (sound); Jane Tseng BMC ’09 (costume); Sara Jane Daley ’10 (props); and Logan Tiberi-Warner ’11 (make-up). Alison Flamm ’09 is stage manager.

The performances are free and open to the public without advance reservations. Each performance will be followed by a reception in LPAC lower lobby with the cast and crew of the production. For further information, contact Liza Clark at lclark1@swarthmore.edu or call 610-328-8260.

The Swarthmore College Department of Theater’s Production Ensemble presents William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre on Friday and Saturday, March 27 and 28 at 8 pm and Sunday, March 29 at 2 pm in the Frear Ensemble Theater, Lang Performing Arts Center (LPAC). A cast of fifteen offer a fresh telling of Shakespeare’s epic tale of one man’s journey through the exotic islands and ancient cities of a mythic Mediterranean.

As Pericles, and then his daughter, quest to find what’s been lost, they come across pirates and prostitutes, corrupt Kings and licentious Governors, victims of incest and priestesses of the moon, evil stepmothers and amorous lovers – all coming together to create an adventurous and fantastic tale of transformation and redemption.

Guest artist Eleanor Holdridge directs with Christopher Compton ’09 assistant directing. Pericles features original music by Christopher Colucci; set and costume design by Laila Swanson; sound design by Louis Jargow ’10; and lighting design by Kim Comer ’09.

The performances are free and open to the public without advance reservations. Each performance will be followed by a reception in LPAC lower lobby with the cast and crew of the production. For further information, contact Liza Clark at lclark1@swarthmore.edu or call (610) 328-8260.

Marking Whiteness in About Face

by DAISY YUHAS, ARTS EDITOR | February 12, 2009

Stephen Graf ’09’s Honors Solo Performance Thesis, About Face: Marking the Unmarked is a challenging piece for performer and viewer that treads the fine lines of race-relations from a specifically white “lens”. In this original work, Graf ’09 uses the lens of “whiteness” in order to explore its possible definitions. What it means to be white is explored against many of the stereotypes, histories, and responses to race-relations in contemporary America.

Influenced by the work of playwright Joseph Chaikin, Graf has designed the performance to be made up of a series of scenes that focus on how race-relations are understood from a white perspective. “For me the complication and the intricacy does not come from a particular scene,” explains Graf. “The way the scenes kind of mesh together, the interstices, is where the complexity of it comes in.”

Though not exclusively a one-man play–Graf is supported by the performances of Carmella Ollero ’09 and Jackie Vitale ’09–the performance is centered around Graf’s shifting portrayals that paint a range from sharp, stylized parody to intimate, sometimes brutal honesty.

The play’s form, in consequence, is a continually shifting combination of approaches. As in Chaikin’s work, various media and found material has been incorporated into the production a touch that Graf feels appropriately echoes his own process. Film, music, pop cultural references, poetry, and speeches are a few of the examples that thread their way into each scene.

The stage of the Frear has been simply but gracefully established with a few basic props, including a central white block. The space is shared with the audience and the performances are often carved out through specific lighting choices. The flexibility of these choices sets audience and actor on an equal plain, making the impact of each invitation and confrontation more immediate and intense.

The work has been created in collaboration with Jackie Vitale ’09, who has served as production dramaturge for the project as her own honors dramaturgy project. Her position, which she describes as “making sure that the core of the piece is met in all of the details of the performance,” has been particularly exciting as it has given her the opportunity to work with the playwright.

For Vitale, who has simultaneously begun work on her directing project, this spring’s production of Macbeth, part of the excitement of About Face has been in working on a play that is still in development rather than an established text. “We’re working on the play and we don’t know what it is yet. It’s much more of an adventure.”

The movements in About Face dance across both heavy and humorous territory with a thoughtful effort to explore and allow the audience to develop their own conclusions. The content is certainly intellectual but it is Graf’s emotionally protean performance, from his opening prayer, halfway between poetic invocation and plea for mercy, that holds the audience in thrall.

About Face is directed by Maria Moller; lighting by Maria Shaplin, assisted by Cara Arcuni ’09; Dan Perelstein ’09 is sound engineer; props mistress is Tanya Alvarez ’09. The performance will be held in Frear Ensemble Theater at 8pm on Friday and Saturday, 2pm on Sunday.