Production Archive: 2014-2015
Sigh / Omelas
Including Ursula K. Le Guin’s
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Written and Performed by Steve Kidd ’97
September 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Sigh / Omelas is a poignant, moving drama about children who are affected by and afflicted with HIV and AIDS. This powerful play is based upon Kidd’s experiences working with these children in a summer camp. He portrays four characters and the narrator. His original dramatic text is interwoven with Le Guin’s haunting and provocative story of the fictional utopian city of Omelas, where people live in perpetual happiness and joy…but at what cost?
Wellness Requirement credit available.
Colby On Stage
Artistic Direction by Annie Kloppenberg
October 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Colby’s finest student performers once again take the stage to celebrate Family Homecoming Weekend. 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 Sara Gibbons (class of 2015) and featuring the fresh talents of the class of 2018.
Orlando
By Sarah Ruhl
November 13-15 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
A man named Orlando lives life to the fullest through three centuries, and, after a long sleep, becomes a woman. A romp through the ages, a meditation on time, gender, and sexuality, Woolf’s Orlando was called the longest love letter in literary history. This adaptation by Sarah Ruhl uses narrative and a chorus to enact lyrical, instant, and whimsical transformations, throwing gender, temporality, and geography into a world where fluidity reigns over fixity.
Fall Dance Concert
Artistic Direction and Choreography by Annie Kloppenberg
November 22 at 7:30 p.m.
November 23 at 2:00 p.m.
Strider Theater
The Colby College fall dance concert, Serious Play, highlights improvisational performance by students in TD 258 Improvisational Practices in Dance and TD 491 Advanced Improvisation. The concert also includes Rooms in a Room, a new piece by guest artists Xan Burley and Alex Springer of The Median Movement and Doug Varone and Dancers, Placeholders, a video dance by Delaney McDonough ’12 and Cookie Harrist of Hio Ridge Dance Collective, and a duet performed by Teaching Artists Olivia Kunst and Meredith Lyons, choreographed by Assistant Professor Annie Kloppenberg.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
January 23-24 at 7:30 p.m.
January 24 at 2:00 p.m.
Strider Theater
Arguably Shakespeare’s most fun and funniest play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has all the ingredients for first-class comedy: a love quadrangle, a troop of well-intentioned but hopelessly amateur actors, and a forest full of fairies who wield magical mischief with hilarious results. Colby Theater and Dance Teaching Artist, Bess Welden, will adapt and direct a colorful and raucous 70-minute version of this stage classic.
Spring Dance Concert
Artistic Direction and Choreography by Annie Kloppenberg
March 6-7 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
This spring’s concert features Annie Kloppenberg and Company in Entrances and Echoes and an honors thesis project by Sara Gibbons ’15.
The Servant of Two Masters
By Carlo Goldoni
(Adapted by Paolo Landi and Jeffrey Hatcher)
April 16-18 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Carlo Goldoni’s play depicts the scheming Truffaldino as he tries to get as much money and food as possible by tricking both of his employers. The cast includes cranky old men, passionate young lovers, and a cross-dressed heroine. As the absurd plot complications pile up, Truffaldino must scramble to keep his employers happy and oblivious. This new adaptation of the play utilizes contemporary humor to animate the characters and scenarios of the commedia dell’arte.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Interactive Installation by Victoria Tisdale (Colby class of 2015)
April 30 – May 2 from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Strider Theater
Imagine walking into an entirely white room. After a moment, the door slowly closes and the room is bathed in warm golden afternoon sunlight. Looking around, it seems you have been transported to the English countryside as moments later, a familiar tale brings meaning and intrigue into your surroundings. Using Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol as inspiration and On the Art of Theatre as a philosophical jumping off point, senior Theater & Dance Interdisciplinary Computation major Victoria Tisdale envisions her senior capstone as a creative research opportunity to explore the common ground between scenography, narrative and software design.
OPEN EXHIBIT. NO TICKETS NECESSARY.
Performance Lab Series
Faculty Mentoring by Todd Coulter
April 30 – May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Cellar Theater
Theater & Dance’s innovative creative research laboratory is a highly selective production slot designed especially for our majors to create and produce their own work with guided feedback from a team of faculty mentors. Students work in a team to collaborate in the practice and creation of new work, to apply problem solving and critical thinking skills to embodied investigations, and to engage in creative exploration in the formation of new performance work. This year Alexis Atkinson ’15 and Brendan Leonard ’16 share the evening. Both students chose to work with migratory themes. Leonard will explore Chuck Mee’s play Big Love and Atkinson will unpack Ragtime.