Category Archives: Theater

Theater

New offerings in Theater for Fall 2012!

Acting I with Richard Hamburger.  (THEA 02A, M 4:15-6:15pM and 7:15-9:15PM, Kohlberg 115) Open to all students without audition or prerequisite. Six hours per week. Fulfills a general requirement for all theater majors and minors. 1 Credit.

This course is designed as a practical introduction to some of the principles, techniques, and tools of acting. This class is a prerequisite for auditioning for Production Ensemble (THEA 022) in Spring 2013.  Production Ensemble is the Department of Theater’s annual faculty-staff show on the LPAC Main Stage, and will be directed by Richard Hamburger next year.  Production Ensemble also fulfills a general requirement for all Theater majors and minors, and may be repeated for credit.

Richard Hamburger was the Artistic Director of the Dallas Theater Center from 1992-2007, where he also directed dozens of productions of every sort, including Shakespeare, modern classics, and a wide of American plays, including the world premieres of several new plays.  He has directed extensively at theaters around the country, including Portland Stage Company, Great Lakes Theater Festival (Cleveland), the Wilma Theatre (Philadelphia), the Pasadena Playhouse, Center Stage (Baltimore), the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the California Shakespeare Festival, and the Williamstown Festival.  In New York City, he has directed at American Place Theatre, South Street Theater, and The Acting Company.  He has also served as a resident director at the Juilliard Theater Center in New York City, among other work in major drama schools around the country.  He also has extensive experience as a professional actor in New York and in regional theaters.

Acting II with Elizabeth Webster Duke ’96. (THEA 012, W 1-4P and 4:15-6:15PM, SciLab26) Prerequisite: Acting I (THEA 002A) or consent of instructor.  1 credit.

In this course students will explore and develop the skills necessary to perform Shakespeare with specificity and confidence. In addition to vocal and physical exercises intended to strengthen and free the actor’s body and voice, students will delve into Shakespearean scene study.  The course provides a strong foundation in basic acting technique that can be applied to multiple dramatic genres.  In addition students will explore Shakespearean scenes using rigorous textual analysis, learning to use the clues in Shakespeare’s text to make smart, useful acting choices.  While working on scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, students will learn how to rehearse, how to develop a character and how to increase their vocal, physical and emotional flexibility. 5 hours per week.

Elizabeth Webster Duke ‘96 is a member of the resident acting company at The Peoples Light and Theatre Company where she has performed in over forty productions. In the Philadelphia area she has also performed with The Wilma Theatre, The Walnut Street Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, The Eureka Theatre, Play Penn’s New Play Festival and The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival.  In Washington DC, she has performed with Ford’s Theatre, The Bay Theatre, Taffety Punk Theatre Company in their critically acclaimed all-female production of Romeo and Juliet, and The Kennedy Center.   She is a finalist for the F. Otto Haas Emerging Theatre Artist Award, and holds an MFA in Classical Acting from the Academy for Classical Acting at The Shakespeare Theatre.  In addition to leading Shakespearean Text workshops at The George Washington University and in schools throughout The Washington DC area, she has also partnered with The National Opera and The Philadelphia Museum of Art in their professional development initiatives towards arts integration in the classroom.  She has taught at Temple University, The George Washington University, and Swarthmore College.   She graduated from Swarthmore with distinction in Theater and English Literature.

 

Join us for the Honors Acting Thesis: David Mamet’s AMERICAN BUFFALO

The Department of Theater will present David Mamet’s AMERICAN BUFFALO, the Honors Acting Thesis of Jessica Cannizzaro (’12), Lori Barkin (’12) and Michelle Fennell (’12), Directed by Alex Torra.  Performance times will be Saturday and Sunday, April 21st and 22nd at 2 PM and 8 PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Frear Ensemble Theatre. Set design by Marta Roncada (’14), Costume design by Matthew Saunders, Sound design by Scott Burgess, Lighting design by Josh Schulman.

David Mamet is best known as a playwright, but has received Oscar nominations for his screenplays, directed films, taught acting and written several books. Mamet’s 1975 play premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and opened on Broadway in 1977.  Don, Teach, Bob, and the mysterious Fletcher, conspire to steal a priceless coin collection from a well-to-do man.  The plot takes place in Don’s junk shop and the conspiracy centers around a rare nickel. Told with Mamet’s typical vernacular of vulgarity, the characters attack their environment, both literally and with lexicon, until the final events leave the audience pondering over the nature of good and evil, two sides of the same coin.

Director Alex Torra is a Philadelphia-based director and performer whose work focuses on ensemble-generated, original performance and contemporary interpretations of classics.  He is an Associate Artist with Pig Iron Theatre Company, where he has worked as a Performer in Twelfth Night, Cankerblossom, Welcome to Yuba City, Pay Up, 365 Days/365 Plays, and Anodyne; as Assistant Director on Chekhov Lizardbrain and Sweet By-and-By; and as Director of Come to my Awesome Fiesta, it’s Going to be Awesome, Okay? He also serves as the Resident Director for the Philadelphia ensemble Team Sunshine Performance Corporation, for which he directed Punchkapow, and with whom he is developing a handful of new works, including JapanAmerica Wonderwave, Zombie Defense Consultation, and Cityscape. Alex has also worked closely with Shakespeare in Clark Park over the last few years, directing Much Ado About Nothing and Comedy of Errors. His work with classical text has included linguistic work on “Original Pronunciation”, the dialect in which Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed. Last year, Alex served as a Fellow at the Philadelphia Live Arts Brewery, where he began the development of a self-produced piece entitled The Sincerity Project. He has received the Grace LeVine Theatre Award from the Princess Grace Foundation as well as fellowships from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and NY’s Drama League. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. in Directing from Brown University.

For more information please contact Tara Webb at 610.328.8260 or email lpacevents@swarthmore.edu. Swarthmore College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you or anyone in your party anticipate needing any type of special accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please let us know or contact Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager at 610-690-2063 in advance of your participation or visit.

CHIMERA in the Frear for Arts Weekend!

A couple of years ago, Suli Holum ’97 called Deborah Stein ’99 and pitched an idea for a solo show: a play about chimerism, a medical phenomenon whereby two sets of DNA exist in one body. They created Chimera, a performance event about a woman who is her own twin, and enlisted Tara Webb ’94, who works with the intersection of costume design and technology. The result is a dynamic interchange between a live performer and her audience against a backdrop of inventive staging and creative digital technology.

Chimera made its debut to critical acclaim at the art space HERE in New York City. Developed with support from the Swarthmore Project in Theater, Chimera launches its road tour during Arts Weekend.

What critics say:

“Delivers on its ambitious promise…. Chimera has many different stories nestled in its austere, deceptively chilly-seeming frame. And they’re all good.”  —The New York Times

“Chimera only needs a minute to make you question your grasp on reality…. By refusing to stay literal, Holum and Stein invite us to consider large questions.” —TDF Stages: A Theater Magazine

“Outrageously good … Chimera simultaneously revels in and knowingly dissects the nature of theater without forgetting its primary mission: to entertain.” —Backstage

Swarthmore College performances

Chimera will be performed twice on Saturday, April 14, in the Lang Performing Arts Center Frear Ensemble Theatre. The matinee performance will run from 3-4:15 p.m., followed by a panel discussion with the artists, and an evening performance from 7-8:15 p.m. Alumni, parents, and friends must reserve tickets in advance when registering for Arts Weekend.

AW_Chimera_12.3b

The Department of Theater presents AMERICAN BUFFALO, an Honors Acting Thesis

American Buffalo by David Mamet, an Honors Acting Thesis
Join us on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22 at 2 PM and 8 PM
Appearances by Jessica Cannizzaro ’12, Lori Barkin ’12  and Michelle Fennel ’12.
Directed by Alex Torra, Set by Marta Roncada ’14, Costumes by Matthew Saunders, Sound by Scott Burgess, Lights by Josh Schulman.

4/3/12 Dr. Emine Fisek ’03 lectures on “Theater Without Borders?”

Theater without Borders? Humanitarianism and Representation from Aid Networks to the Théâtre du Soleil

A lecture by Dr. Emine Fisek ‘03

Tuesday, April 3rd, 4:30 pm

301 LPAC

Over the course of the last decade, French theater has witnessed a wide variety of commercial and non-commercial works that portray narratives of exile, displacement, and suffering from undocumented immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. In this talk my goal will be to place this emergence within the larger context of changing immigration laws, medical humanitarianisms and immigrant social movements. The representative practices of these domains increasingly influence both how artists think about the capacities they attribute to “humanitarian” art, and the explanatory principles they use to position themselves in relation to the suffering they wish to portray. What then does a humanitarian theater, “without borders”, look like?

Emine Fisek ’03 is currently a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in French Literature/Francophone Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  She has completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in the Department of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies at UC-Berkeley.  She will join the faculty of Western Languages and Literatures at Bogazici University in Istanbul in Fall 2012.  At Swarthmore, Dr. Fisek was a double major in Theater and English Literature.

Emine Fisek’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility, the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures (Arabic and French Sections), English Literature, and Film & Media Studies.

Michelle Fennell’s Honors Thesis: Paula Vogel’s THE BALTIMORE WALTZ

Sex!  Intrigue!  Stuffed bunnies! The Swarthmore College Department of Theater the Honors Directing Thesis of Paula Vogel’s THE BALTIMORE WALTZ on Friday, March 30th at 7PM, Saturday, March 31st at  7PM and Sunday, April 1st at 2PM and 7PM in the LPAC Frear Ensemble Theatre.  Directed by senior Honors student Michelle Fennell with Alexandra Izdebski, Ben Hattem, and Sam ‘Swift’ Shuker Haines and scenic design by Eric Verhasselt, costume design by Ryane Disken-Cahill, lighting by David Todaro and sound by Mark Valenzuela.

Written by Paula Vogel in 1988 just after her own brother’s death, the play is a farcical envisioning of Anna, a thirty-something spinster and grade school teacher, and her brother Carl’s trip to Europe after one of them gets diagnosed with an incurable illness.  They, along with Carl’s childhood toy named Bunny, try to make the most of their vacation, even when a sinister Third Man enters the picture.  Part homage to Vogel’s brother, part social commentary, part innuendos, the text is a series of connected and usually comedic vignettes as we tour the stereotyped European countryside.

Will the doctor in Vienna have answers for them?  Or is he just in it for the urine samples?  Will Anna ever satiate her lust?  And what are Carl and the mysterious Third Man doing with those bunnies?

For more information please contact Tara Webb at 610.328.8260 or email lpacevents@swarthmore.edu. Swarthmore College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you or anyone in your party anticipate needing any type of special accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please let us know or contact Susan Smythe, ADA Program Manager at 610-690-2063 in advance of your participation or visit.