Production Archive: 2013-2014
The 2013 – 2014 Season
Big Mouth Thunder Thighs
Written by Bess Welden and Directed by Jennie Hahn
September 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
A solo vaudeville about body and food created and performed by Portland-based actor-playwright Bess Welden, Big Mouth Thunder Thighs intertwines memoir storytelling with a highly-theatrical, unpredictable and outrageously entertaining variety show featuring: roller skating, stand-up comedy, singing, dancing, spoken word poetry, an ancient folktale and five “Death-Defying Acts.”
“It’s the best kind of play—because it’s a comedy—but it will totally surprise you with the emotional wallop it packs. It’s at once small and simple and personal…and it blows up to be big and complex and important and universal.”
~John Cariani, award-winning actor/playwright of the international hit play, Almost, Maine
Colby on Stage
Artistic Direction by Todd Coulter
October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Colby’s student performance clubs once again take over Strider Theater for a special Family Homecoming Weekend event. Now in its fourth year (it’s a tradition!), this high-energy variety show features performances from a variety of student clubs, a preview of coming attractions from the Theater and Dance Department’s mainstage season and the popular First Year Dance choreographed by Mika Mintz (class of 2014) and featuring the fresh talents of the class of 2017.
Runnals XXX
Conceived, Directed and Mashed-up by Lynne Conner
November 21-23 at 7:30 p.m.
November 23 at 2:00 p.m.
Runnals Building
Runnals XXX is an immersive theater experience exploring how censorship (as an action and as a theme) operates in and through the history of performance. Audiences travel between three different performance spaces in Runnals as they experience: Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (about the silencing of women’s voices in early 20th century America); a mashup of scenes from 2500 years of banned plays (Oedipus Rex to Angels in America); and a collage of movement, music, comedy and hip hop all responding to the promise—seen, unseen, erased—of the American Dream.
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Lyrics and Music by Michael Friedman
Book by Alex Timbers
Directed and Choreographed by Toddd Coulter
Music Direction by Peter de Klerk
February 6-8 at 7:30 p.m.
February 8 at 2:00 p.m.
Strider Theater
This Wild West rock musical tells the story of America’s first political maverick and was a big hit on Broadway a few years back. A.J. kicked British butt, shafted the Indians and smacked down the Spaniards all in the name of these United States–who cares if he didn’t have permission? Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson recreates and reinvents the life of “Old Hickory,” from his humble beginnings on the Tennessee frontier to his days as Commander-in-Chief. It also asks the question, is wanting to have a beer with someone reason enough to elect him? What if he’s really, really hot?
“There is no show in town that more astutely reflects the state of this nation than Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.”
~The New York Times
NEA 4 at Colby College: A Four Artist Residency
Workshops, Class Visits, Panel Discussions and Performances by Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller and John Fleck
Written in Sand
Karen Finley
Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Sex/Body/Self
Tim Miller
and
Mad Women
John Fleck
Tuesday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
NEA 4 Roundtable at Colby College
Wednesday, March 12, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Strider Theater (limited seating)
Sapphic Sampler Platter
Holly Hughes
Thursday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m.
Colby Museum of Art, Schupf Wing
There was a time when the United States government subsidized the work of individual artists. In the early 1990s all of that changed as Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, Tim Miller, and John Fleck, known as the NEA 4, had their funding revoked and were effectively censored by the U.S. government. This provocative quartet sued and successfully fought all the way to the Supreme Court. Colby College Theater and Dance Department is proud to be hosting a week of residencies by all four artists where they will perform, visit classes, lead workshops, and participate in a roundtable discussion on the relationship of censorship, society, and the arts.
Spring Dance Concert
Artistic Direction and Choreography by Amanda Hamp
April 11-12 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
The Spring Dance Concert is our favorite way to showcase the up and coming dance program at Colby. Don’t miss this opportunity to see original choreography by Faculty Fellow Amanda Hamp and to experience the performance power of our talented students dancers.
Performance Lab Series: Truah
Conceived and Directed by Maddie Kurtz (Colby class of 2014)
May 1-3 at 7:30 p.m.
Cellar Theater
Theater and Dance is pleased to present round three of this innovative creative research laboratory, a highly selective production slot designed especially for our Theater and Dance majors to create and produce their own work with guided feedback from a team of faculty mentors. This year’s performance, “Truah,” combines elements of dance, theater, music and visual arts in an exploration of the themes of violence, oppression and joyous liberation in the history of the Jewish people.