Production Ensemble 2010

This year’s play for Production Ensemble will be Divided Together by Girish Karnad, directed by Assistant Professor Erin B. Mee, with sets and costumes designed by Assistant Professor Laila Swanson, lights designed by James Murphy, and original music composed by Dan Perelstein ’09.

Divided Together is a play with songs that centers on a young woman in love with her brainy husband’s sexy best friend. When their heads are switched, the central question of the play becomes: which man is her husband, the one with his head, or the one with his body? Divided Together is a surreal love story about the head/body divide (in its many manifestations), about the quest for perfection, and about the need to accept people for who they really are.

All levels and kinds of experience are welcome. Freshmen are especially encouraged to audition. The only prerequisite is Acting I or FYS Solo Performance. The play includes songs, dances, and puppets, which means there will be opportunities for singing and dancing, although there are also non-singing and non-dancing roles. There are also roles for people who enjoy improv comedy, and for people who enjoy spoken word.

Auditions: Thursday October 29, 4-10pm in Kohlberg 115

Call-Backs and further auditions: Friday October 30, 6-10 pm in Frear Ensemble Theatre

Sign up for an audition slot on the sign-up sheet outside the Theatre Department office (LPAC 13).

For the audition, please come dressed to do some movement work and a few group exercises, and be ready to read one or two scenes from the play.

Practical Information about the production:
Divided Together will be performed in the Frear theatre on March 26, 27 and 28

Production Ensemble is a one-credit course (THEA 22), and fulfills one of the requirements for the major and minor.

Girish Karnad is one of India’s most important modern playwrights. His plays are produced at major theatres and colleges all over India, as well as in theatres abroad. His plays, in addition to Hayavadana (Divided Together), which he wrote in 1971, include Yayati (named for a character from the Mahabharata; 1961), Tughlaq (about Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq; 1964), Naga-Mandala (Play with a Cobra; 1988), Tale-Danda (Death by Beheading; 1989), Agni Mattu Male (The Fire and the Rain; 1993), The Dreams of Tipu Sultan (1997), Bali, The Sacrifice (2000), Flowers (2004), and Broken Images (2005). Karnad has also translated a number of plays, including his own, into English and directed his translation of Badal Sircar’s Ebong Indrojit in 1970 at the Museum Theatre in Chennai with the Madras Players. His numerous awards include a Homi Bhabha fellowship, the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya Award, the Padma Shri, the Padma Bushan, and the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary award.

Erin B. Mee has directed in some of this country’s leading theatres including New York Theatre Workshop (First Love), the Joseph Papp Public Theatre (The Imperialists), the Magic Theatre in San Francisco (First Love and Requiem for the Dead), and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (Troilus and Cressida). She has also directed in more experimental theatres such as HERE (Paul Schmidt’s ‘translation’ of Timon of Athens), The Ontological at St. Mark’s (Ottayan and Divided Together), SoHo Rep, and HOME for Contemporary Theatre and Art (plays by Charles Mee, Mac Wellman, and Donna DiNovelli). In addition, she has directed two productions in India with Sopanam, one of India’s leading theatre companies. Her book The Theatre of Roots: Redirecting the Modern Indian Stage was published in 2009 by Seagull Books and Palgrave-McMillan (part of the Enactments series edited by Richard Schechner). Her articles on Indian theatre have appeared in TDR, Theater Journal, Performing Arts Journal, Seagull Theatre Quarterly, and American Theatre Magazine; and in books on the playwrights Girish Karnad and Mahesh Dattani. She is the editor of DramaContemporary: India, a collection of modern Indian plays published in the United States by Johns Hopkins University Press and in India by Oxford University Press.

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.