Production Archive: 2017-2018
g e e l
By René Johnson
September 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
g e e l is a devised, original one-woman show, written and performed by René Johnson. The action unfolds through thoughtful storytelling as her “tribe,” the audience, experiences a new kind of interactive theater that includes powerful dance and song in multiple languages, including English and Afrikaans.
Amanda Huotari, Executive Artistic Director of Celebration Barn shared, “René is a creative powerhouse with an incredible story of overcoming childhood trauma. She takes the audience on a journey from South Africa to Maine in beautiful and inspiring ways.”
Ages 13+/parents use best judgement for adult themes, adult language, and severe violence depicted.
H.M.S. Pinafore
New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players
October 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Waterville Opera House
Ride a wave of music and laughter as romantic sailors, sisters, cousins, and aunts sing and dance their way across the deck of the fanciful British naval vessel with the improbable name. The very proper Captain Corcoran and ridiculously pompous Sir Joseph Porter preside, the villainous Dick Deadeye speaks the ugly truth, and Little Buttercup reveals the outrageous mistake that allows true love to overcome the problems of class distinction. Memorable signature tunes abound on board ship and the riotous “Bell Trio” sparks a celebration in Act II.
This touring production is made possible by a very special partnership between Bill and Joan Alfond, the Waterville Opera House, Waterville Creates, the Department of Theater and Dance, the Office of the Provost, the Department of Music, and the Center for the Arts and Humanities!
Break, Burn, Build: A Short Program of New Performances
October 26-27 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
In this mixed evening of performance, First-Year students and Theater and Dance Majors and Minors take the stage in both student- and faculty- directed new works. The evening will feature the full range of performance research created in the Department of Theater and Dance—including theater, dance, design, and hybrid Dance Theater. Developed in a short period, these projects highlight collaboration, experimentalism, and inquiry-based creative research. The evening celebrates the opportunity to share those processes on stage. Colby’s Family Homecoming Weekend is packed with ways of witnessing student work and student life. Add this to your docket, and then head off to see the next events!
The *Annotated* Taming: Or, Out of the Saddle, Into the Dirt
An Adaptation Created By Toby Bercovici Based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew
December 1-2 at 7:30 p.m.
December 2 at 2 p.m.
Strider Theater
The story of Katherina Minola, a fiercely independent young woman held in captivity by her father and then sold into marriage to the highest bidder. Her husband Petruchio recognizes her brilliance, and, in his words, the “two raging fires meet together [and] consume the thing that feeds their fury.” Shakespeare’s passionate love story and searing critique of gender roles is turned here into a fresh and politically relevant musical adaptation.
The Passion Project
January 26 at 7:30 p.m.
The Pugh Center, Colby College
January 31-February 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Portland Stage Studio Theater, Portland, Maine
An evening of original, story-based performance about the issues Colby students are most passionate about in their lives. Through the JanPlan Activist Storytelling Workshop, students will write and rehearse a series of short solo and small group pieces inspired by what change they would like to see in our world, and then present their new work to audiences on campus and at Portland Stage’s Studio Theater.
Scenes from an Execution
By Howard Barker
February 9-10 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
What would drive a woman to paint the truth – especially when she was commissioned by the church and state to create a massive, glorified homage to the most important naval contest in human history? Perhaps it was the thousands upon thousands of Turkish Muslims, brutally slaughtered by the Holy Christian armada in only five hours. Perhaps it was something sordid and unspeakable from her personal life. Or maybe she just didn’t like having a bunch of powerful men telling her what to do. Whatever the reason, the good citizens of 16th century Venice had better brace themselves for a woman’s take on the realities of war.
Portland Ballet Collaboration
February 9-10 & 16-17
Portland, Maine
For more information and to purchase tickets click here
February 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Free and open to the public
In partnership with the Portland Ballet, we are pleased to present ORIGINS, a new work by internationally recognized dancer and choreographer Yury Yanowsky. Mr. Yanowsky’s professional performance career spanned two decades with Boston Ballet. He has set choreography on Boston Ballet, Boston Ballet II, and Festival Ballet Providence, along with other established companies and for international galas. In 2015, he won the Choreography Award in the prestigious Erik Bruhn Ballet Competition. He is on the faculty at Harvard University and Centro Corepgraphico, in Las Palmas, Spain, Summer. The performance will feature Colby students on stage alongside the professional dancers of the Portland Ballet in a new work that was developed in Portland during Colby’s 2018 Jan Plan term.
Co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts and Humanities
The Wonderful World of Dissocia
By Anthony Neilson
March 15-17 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Take a trip to a curious land unlike any other. The innovative Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson has created The Wonderful World of Dissocia, where young everywoman Lisa Jones finds herself on a quest to recover a missing piece of herself. There she discovers that nothing is as it seems. A cunning mix of fantasy, comedy, music, and drama, the play entertains while it asks difficult questions. How do you make sense of a seemingly senseless world? What is the price of our illusions? How do you stay connected in a world where there is nothing to hold onto? As the playwright has said, “If you like Alice in Wonderland but there’s not enough sex and violence in it, then Dissocia is the show for you.”
The Wonderful World of Dissocia will be familiar to those who love Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but it also features dark, disturbing, and traumatic events. Audience discretion is advised.
Storytelling in Old Age
By Nick Pattison ’18
Capstone Major Project
April 6-7 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
First come, first served event. Free tickets available at the door.
Showcasing both the rich history and daily life of older people, an intergenerational audience will learn to understand ways that disease, age, and ability interact with the life of older people. Based on narratives from residents at Lakewood Nursing Home in Waterville, this show will provide some of the deepest ways of understanding our very existence, not only with regard to age, but also in relation to each of our destinies. While fostering care and comfort for older individuals on and off-stage, these tales give insight and reflection into all ages, reviewing the joys, tribulations, and most memorable moments of these individuals’ lives.
How to Start Over
By Katie Monteleone ’18
Capstone Major Project
April 20-22 at 7:30 p.m.
Cellar Theater
First come, first served event. Free tickets available at the door.
We’ve been waiting for you. Ephiria lies beyond the red door. Take the next step; make the Switch.
A culmination of a year’s worth of research and writing, this immersive production seeks to break the boundaries of conventional performance and explores what it means to blur the lines between performer and spectator. Join us with an open mind and the willingness to say yes.
Quicksand: A Dance Concert
April 27-28 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
Live performance is ephemeral. Sometimes we slip into it and sometimes it drips through our grasp; we experience its impact more palpably than we can recreate individual moments. This evening of new work highlights that ephemeral process of meaning-making as performers, audience members, and student choreographers together negotiate performances of passing realities. In addition to the new works the students of TD 258, Improvisational Practices in Dance, will create before your eyes each night, the performance features a a new piece by guest artist Jenna Riegel of the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company as well as senior capstone projects by Julia Borges ’18 and Lucy Soucek ’18 who turn to the choreographic process as a tool for collaborative re-invention of human experience.
Shift 19
By Kaylee Pomelow ’19
May 4-5 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater
First come, first served event. Free tickets available at the door.
The coffee is on and the pressure is brewing. A culmination of a yearlong independent study in full-length playwriting, Shift 19 by Kaylee Pomelow ’19 explores family dynamics, youth, class, and independence through the lenses of members of a barely functional family, as their tangled web of dependence starts to collapse on itself.