On Saturday, March 31 at 7pm – Swarthmore alumnus Jonathan Franzen will attend a performance of his translation of Wedekind’s Spring Awakening and will follow the performance with a talkback discussion.

The Department of Theater presents Frank Wedekind’s controversial modern classic Spring Awakening, on Friday, March 30 at 4:30pm, Saturday, March 31 at 2pm & 7pm, and Sunday, April 1 at 7pm in the Pearson-Hall Theater, LPAC.

Re-imagined in a ruined public bathroom, this darkly comic drama depicts matters as profane and sublime as sexual awakening, academic pressure, and the question of religion through the giddy and tempestuous kaleidoscope of adolescence.

This masterpiece of German Expressionism is translated by Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, winner of the National Book Award, Swarthmore class of ‘81. Franzen’s translation was originally commissioned by Professor Emeritus Lee Devin in 1986, when it was performed on campus in a production directed by Abigail Adams of The People’s Light and Theatre Company. This is only the second time the translation has been performed, and the text is now scheduled for publication by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux in Fall 2007.

K. Elizabeth Stevens, Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing, makes her directing debut at Swarthmore College, guiding a cast of 18 students. Costumes and sets designed by Marsha Ginsberg, Assistant Professor and Resident Set & Costume Designer. Lighting Design by James P. Murphy. Saturday evening performance will be followed by a talkback with translator Jonathan Franzen ‘81.

All performances and the talkback are free and open to the public without reservations. Early arrival is strongly recommended, as seating is limited.

Those who wish to attend the Saturday talkback with Jonathan Franzen but not the Saturday evening performance should arrive at 9:45pm.

Warning: this play is intended for adult audiences. Production contains nudity, graphic sexuality, strong language, and cigarette smoking. Jonathan Franzen’s presence is made possible with the generous support of the President’s Office, the Department of English Literature, the German Section of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures. For more information, call (610) 957-6164 or email fleicht1@swarthmore.edu.

Marsha Ginsberg is a scenic and costume designer teaching both disciplines in the Theater Department part time. She says, “My design work will be featured this autumn in an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City. The Design Triennial, which highlights the work of selected designers and architects from many diverse disciplines. Additionally, I am a photographer and have started showing my work at a gallery in Berlin.”

She says of her work at Swarthmore, “Given that there has not been someone in this position on a regular basis, part of my mission at Swarthmore is to raise the awareness of the visual/spatial within the theater curriculum. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I am the designer in residence, which entails designing both sets and costumes for the faculty-directed/student-acted production that is presented in the spring. I am also focused on mentoring students in the design are on both theoretical and realized projects. Lastly, I interact with both the scene shop and the costume shop, which implement the visual designs for all department productions as well as serve as an educational arena for students.”

Marsha’s previous teaching positions have been in the Architecture School at Parsons School of Design; Wesleyan; Dartmouth; and the University of California-Los Angeles, Department of Theater and Film. She also continues to maintain an active career as a freelance stage designer.

This fall, the Department of Theater is pleased to welcome Melinda Finberg to the department as visiting professor of Production Dramaturgy.

In other news, Swarthmore College theater professor Allen Kuharski has been named winner of the 2006 Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz Award by the Polish chapter of the International Theatre Institute-UNESCO in Warsaw. The award is given in recognition of his accomplishments in “raising awareness of Polish theatrical culture around the world.”

Kuharski, associate professor of theater, resident director, and theater department chair at Swarthmore, is a leading authority on contemporary Polish theater and dance. He has created and led a variety of programs and actions that have linked the college to leading theater institutions in Poland. Among them: a reciprocal residency program with the Silesian Dance Theater of Bytom, Poland, two campus symposiums at Swarthmore about Polish dance and theater, and the selection of acclaimed Polish choreographer Jacek Luminski to serve as Swarthmore’s Lang Visiting Professor of Social Change in 2001. In addition, Kuharski serves as co-director of Swarthmore’s Semester Abroad in Poland program, which has sent two dozen Swarthmore students to Poland since its establishment in 2000.

As winner of this year’s Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz Award, Kuharski will travel to Poland in October as a guest of the Polish Ministry of Culture and the National Theater. He will receive a diploma and a sculpture by a contemporary Polish artist at an event held in his honor.

The Department of Theater is happy to announce the changes in our faculty for the current year. We wish Professor Ulla Neuerburg-Denzer well as she departs for a new position at Ramapo College of New Jersey. We are pleased to welcome Marsha Ginsberg, our new assistant professor and resident set and costume designer.

Also joining us this fall semester to teach acting is Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey of the Pig Iron Theater Company. In spring of ’06, we will be joined by K. Elizabeth Stevens, assistant professor of acting and directing, and Adriano Shaplin of the Riot Group who will teach playwriting.

We are also happy to welcome three new staff members, Jean Tierno as Administrative Assistant for the Department of Theater, Laila Swanson as Costume Shop Supervisor, and Felicia Leicht as Arts Administration Intern.