Finally, all of us suffering withdrawal can relax. Wes theater is up and running again.
Most here at Wesleyan know to expect great things from the theater department theses staged in the spring. But there is much to look forward to this semester as well, including several shows going up quite soon. Returning students, get ready for another season of what promises to be innovative and thought-provoking student theater. And for anyone new to Wes, come see what makes theater so unique on this campus. Here are just a few to look out for in the next few weeks and months:
The year’s first production is coming up fast, and will likely be a perfect introduction to the unconventional shows Wes does so well. Theater majors Lily Whitsitt ’06 and Jess Chayes ’07 will be directing and acting in Charles Mee’s “Chiang Kai-Shek,” scheduled for performance on Sept. 29. Mee’s work, a loosely historical piece, draws from a wide range of sources including poetry, Holocaust survival stories and sound clips. Originally written as a one-man show, Whitsitt and Chayes have turned Mee’s “eclectic collage” into a two-woman piece. As Whitsitt explains, a spirit of modification is appropriate to this playwrights’ style.
“[Mee’s] stage notes will specify music by a particular band, but leave the ultimate song choice up to the director,” Whitsitt said.
Next seen will be Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen’s “The Exonerated,” a Second Stage production slated for Oct. 29. Anthony Nikolchev ’08 directs this relatively new work. Premiering in New York in 2002, the play follows six men and women exonerated after wrongfully spending years on death row. “The Exonerated” is a powerful and deeply unsettling play, and I am excited to see what the show looks like in the hands of Wesleyan students.
In Nov., Jeffrey Goetz ’06 will direct “The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged),” a fantastic comedy by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield of London’s Reduced Shakespeare Company, in which “actors perform all of Shakespeare’s plays in various ways, in an hour and a half.” Originally written for three men, the Wesleyan production will be open to everyone. Goetz encourages anyone interested to come audition today, Friday Sept. 9 from 6-9 p.m. in Meeting Room 2 of the Campus Center. Performances are tentatively scheduled for November 3-5 in the MPR.
Also to be produced by Second Stage this fall is – surprise – a musical! Yes, high school musical-theater dorks of Wesleyan, it is finally time to come out of hiding. Michael Lavigne, Jr. ’07 will be directing Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s “Urinetown"—ou know, the one about a town with no water, where you have to pay to pee. Rachel Salowitz ’07 and Lavigne will choreograph. Intrigued yet? Methinks Wes has long had a musical theater drought (why?), so hopefully ”Urinetown“ will get those juices flowing again.
Another biggie will be this year’s faculty production paying homage to Cervantes and going up November 11-13 in the CFA Theater. Visiting Assistant Professor Robert Bresnick directs ”Master Peter’s Puppet Show,“ a 30-minute puppet operetta by Manuel da Falla based on Cervantes’ ”Don Quixote.“ Leslie Weinberg crafted the puppets for this production, which moves on to the Terrace Theater in Washington, D.C the following weekend. At Wesleyan, the performance will feature both student and professional singers, accompanied by the Wesleyan Orchestra under the direction of Angel Gil-Ordonez. The 20-minute ”Miraculous Puppet Show,“ a political satire by Cervantes, will follow ”Master Peter.“
Amazingly, this sampling is not even half of what’s going up in the next three months. There are tons of shows to see, and countless ways of getting involved. On this score, Goetz has some excellent advice.
”Audition for everything, but be conscious of overburdening yourself,“ he said. ”Two small roles is doable, [but] two big roles, especially in plays occurring near each other, is probably not.“
He also strongly suggests emailing the directors of plays you’re interested in helping with, and offering your services.
”I always am happy to use every pair of hands I can get,“ he said. ”Even something as small as helping to paint on load-in day is only a commitment of a few hours, but gets you to see how Wes theater works. This is especially helpful if you ultimately want to direct [a show at Wes], and doubly so if you’ve never done it before.“
Most importantly, don’t worry if you’re not a major or have no formal theater background. To my mind, the amount of high quality theater produced each semester by non-majors is one of the truly special things about Wesleyan.
Goetz agreed.
”Take the risk and audition,“ he said. ”It’s never too late, either.“
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