Theatre
The artist-scholar. That is the animating principle behind Middlebury Theatre, where students immerse themselves in all aspects of theatre making and in the rigorous study of theatre’s many histories, theories, practices, and literatures.
Through a process that is both creative and collaborative, students delve into the latest movements in theatre design, acting, stage management, playwriting, and directing.
At its core, the department aims to be an artistic home where students reimagine traditional distinctions and strive to become innovators and collaborators, capable of shaping our culture.
Get Involved
Auditions
Design and Technology
Master Classes and Workshops
Traditions
Professional Connections
Interdisciplinary Curriculum
The Theatre Department offers a diversity of courses designed to provide a balance between the study of history, literature, and theory, and the making of theatre.
Theatre itself is inherently interdisciplinary, and our students enjoy exploring connections between classes offered in dramatic literature, visual creativity, the creative process, playwriting, acting (improvisation, scene study, acting styles), directing, set design, lighting design, and costume design. As a program in a liberal arts setting, students also reference classes taken outside the discipline in order to provide depth and context.
April 21, 6 to 9 pm, Mahaney Arts Center, Room 232
The Theatre Department invites ALL STUDENTS to Audition for the Fall 2023 faculty directed productions of Greek Tragedy by Lia Romeo and Polaroid Stories by Naomi Lizuka
Find more details here
Our Productions
Each year we stage numerous full-scale productions that involve theatre majors and faculty as well as others from the community who audition. We also offer workshops and smaller-scale performances featuring our many artists in residence. More about productions.
Our Facilities
The performing arts are central to Middlebury’s life and culture. Students have a multitude of facilities available for their use, including a design lab with plotters, drafting, and rendering stations, two scene and costume shops, a lighting lab equipped with a grid and an ETC Ion console, and acting labs. Venues include Wright Memorial Theatre, Seeler Studio Theatre, and Hepburn Zoo Theatre.
Seeler Studio Theatre
The Seeler Studio Theatre is a modern black-box theatre with flexible seating for up to 165 audience members, a full catwalk system, and a fully-equipped shop adjacent to it.
Wright Memorial Theatre
Wright Memorial Theatre is a 350-seat proscenium theatre with a full fly system, lighting grid, and removable fore stage. It is adjacent to a fully equipped scene shop.
Learning Spaces
- Rehearsal Studios
- Design Studios
- Lighting Lab
- Scene Shops
- Costume Shops
- Hepburn Zoo Theatre
Featured Events
More Events-
Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series
“Climate Theatre: Stories of Kinship, Community, and Climate Justice” by Theresa May, Faculty of Theatre, Environment and Indigenous Studies at the University of Oregon, and Artistic Director of the EMOS Ecodrama Playwrights Festival.
Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103
Open to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere: Post-Play Discussion
Meet members of the “Somewhere” cast and crew, and special guests including playwright Marisela Treviño Orta and Dr. Theresa May, to talk about the show, its themes and questions.
Sponsored by the Theatre Department, the Climate Action Capacity Program, and the Middlebury Performing Arts Council.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere Reception
Enjoy light snacks and dessert following the evening’s performance of Somewhere and post-play discussion.
Also sponsored by the Climate Action Capacity Project.Mahaney Arts Center Upper Lobby
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse Movement Workshop "Embodying Stories"
This movement workshop led by Theresa May combines embodied practice with questions about how our bodies serve as sources for creativity. The body has knowledge; the body contains memory; the body is a source of stories. How is your body a gateway to creativity, imagination, memory, and freedom of expression? How are imagination, voice, emotion and physicality connected? How can you be present and empowered in and through your body? How is language embodied? What might it mean to have a physical “practice” that opens your heart and creative imagination?
Mahaney Arts Center 232
Closed to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Somewhere
A play by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit.
Almost all the insects are gone, but Cassandra and her brother Alexander are tracking the world’s last monarch butterflies heading to the west coast instead of south. Their path intersects with an Oregon truffle farm where a small group of people are hunkering down to wait out the apocalypse. Will their encounter provoke the collapse of humanity or a new beginning?
Performances: April 6th – 8th, 7:30 pm each evening and 2 pm on Saturday.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
A Woman Left Lonely
Find a glimmer of hope even in the loneliest of lives. Join three of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ iconic heroines as they grapple with isolation, embrace desire, and chase after dreams. This night of short plays and scenes includes the explosive classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen; and This Property Is Condemned. Senior thesis work of Victoria Keith ‘23. Directed by Bri Beach ‘23.5 and Sophie Butler-Rahman ‘25. Grab your tickets at go/lonely… and keep us company!
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
A Woman Left Lonely
Find a glimmer of hope even in the loneliest of lives. Join three of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ iconic heroines as they grapple with isolation, embrace desire, and chase after dreams. This night of short plays and scenes includes the explosive classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen; and This Property Is Condemned. Senior thesis work of Victoria Keith ‘23. Directed by Bri Beach ‘23.5 and Sophie Butler-Rahman ‘25. Grab your tickets at go/lonely… and keep us company!
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Student Faculty "Happening"
An interdisciplinary performance with music, dance, visual art, and theatre. Student participants from will be featured from these classes: Intro to Dance, First Year Seminar: Collaborating Across the Arts, Digital Studio, Acting 1, Collaborative Improvisation, and How To Improvise. Led by Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor (Music), Michelle Leftheris (Studio Art), Laurel Jenkins (Dance) and Michole Biancosino (Theatre).
Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre
Open to the Public -
A Woman Left Lonely
Find a glimmer of hope even in the loneliest of lives. Join three of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ iconic heroines as they grapple with isolation, embrace desire, and chase after dreams. This night of short plays and scenes includes the explosive classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen; and This Property Is Condemned. Senior thesis work of Victoria Keith ‘23. Directed by Bri Beach ‘23.5 and Sophie Butler-Rahman ‘25. Grab your tickets at go/lonely… and keep us company!
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Nowspace
A new project by Michelle Leftheris, Assistant Professor in Studio Art
Mahaney Arts Center 125
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: In the Moment
At this very moment,
You’ve breathed molecules
First produced by Cyanobacteria epochs ago
How does this make you feel?
Does it sound like this?
Shows at 2:00pm and 6:00pm.Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: 27 Breaths
27 Breaths is a live music and movement piece created and performed by composer and musician, Mathew Evan Taylor, and choreographer and dancer, Laurel Jenkins. In close proximity Taylor and Jenkins Inhale/Exhale, Push/Pull, never simply breathe…
Shows at 2:15pm and 6:15pm.Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Inner Landscapes
Inner Landscapes is a performance practice developed by Assistant Professor of Dance Laurel Jenkins and Nives Sertic, a projection artist based in Croatia. Middlebury College’s New Directions Spring Arts Festival will present the second iteration of this work which began when Sertic and Jenkins met as artists-in-residence last year at Cite des International Arts in Paris, France. This intimate work submerges the body in worlds of color. Original sound is played live by Matthew Evan Taylor and costumes are by Mac Melrose.
Shows at 2:30pm and 6:30pm.Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Momentary Exchange
Co-created and directed by Michole Biancosino, Assistant Professor of Theatre, with Visiting Artist, Todd Anderson, digital poet and technologist
Leave your cellphone on for this unique theatre event. In this app-driven performance piece, you are invited to take a 50 minute journey - through memory, relationships, songs, and weather – as we take a road trip together. Audiences co-write the story in real time by using your phone and responding to prompts in real-time. It’s going to be a wild ride.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
New Directions Arts Festival: Meet & Greet
Join us for cider and cookies and meet the faculty and students of the New Directions Arts Festival. The Festival is an interdisciplinary performance with music, dance, visual art, and theatre, led by Dr. Matthew Evan Taylor (Music), Michelle Leftheris (Studio Art), Laurel Jenkins (Dance) and Michole Biancosino (Theatre).
Mahaney Arts Center Lower Lobby
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: In the Moment
At this very moment,
You’ve breathed molecules
First produced by Cyanobacteria epochs ago
How does this make you feel?
Does it sound like this?
Shows at 2:00pm and 6:00pm.Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: 27 Breaths
27 Breaths is a live music and movement piece created and performed by composer and musician, Mathew Evan Taylor, and choreographer and dancer, Laurel Jenkins. In close proximity Taylor and Jenkins Inhale/Exhale, Push/Pull, never simply breathe…
Shows at 2:15pm and 6:15pm.Mahaney Arts Center, Olin C. Robison Concert Hall
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Inner Landscapes
Inner Landscapes is a performance practice developed by Assistant Professor of Dance Laurel Jenkins and Nives Sertic, a projection artist based in Croatia. Middlebury College’s New Directions Spring Arts Festival will present the second iteration of this work which began when Sertic and Jenkins met as artists-in-residence last year at Cite des International Arts in Paris, France. This intimate work submerges the body in worlds of color. Original sound is played live by Matthew Evan Taylor and costumes are by Mac Melrose.
Shows at 2:30pm and 6:30pm.Mahaney Arts Center Dance Theatre
Open to the Public -
New Directions Spring Arts Festival: Momentary Exchange
Co-created and directed by Michole Biancosino, Assistant Professor of Theatre, with Visiting Artist, Todd Anderson, digital poet and technologist
Leave your cellphone on for this unique theatre event. In this app-driven performance piece, you are invited to take a 50 minute journey - through memory, relationships, songs, and weather – as we take a road trip together. Audiences co-write the story in real time by using your phone and responding to prompts in real-time. It’s going to be a wild ride.Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
A Woman Left Lonely
Find a glimmer of hope even in the loneliest of lives. Join three of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ iconic heroines as they grapple with isolation, embrace desire, and chase after dreams. This night of short plays and scenes includes the explosive classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen; and This Property Is Condemned. Senior thesis work of Victoria Keith ‘23. Directed by Bri Beach ‘23.5 and Sophie Butler-Rahman ‘25. Grab your tickets at go/lonely… and keep us company!
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
Destroying Angels
After returning home for their father’s funeral, a trio of Mormon siblings; Hem, Zooey, and Ollie; embark on a desperate adventure to spread their father’s ashes and escape a bloodthirsty serial killer. Written by Middlebury playwright Cole Merrell (’21), Destroying Angels is a twisted road-trip dramedy that discusses the effects of religion on your family, your friends, and yourself. Senior 700 project in acting for Maggie Connolly. Senior 700 project in directing for Zachary Maluccio.
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse: Fishbowl Symposium
Join us for a dynamic conversation with guest speakers and community members about how art can reflect, engage, and resist apocalyptic ideas and futures.
Mahaney Arts Center Seeler Studio Theatre
Open to the Public -
Art vs the Apocalypse Fishbowl Symposium Lunch
Continue conversations from the Art vs the Apocalypse Fishbowl Symposium over lunch!
Also sponsored by the Climate Action Capacity Project.Mahaney Arts Center Lower Lobby
Open to the Public -
Theatre Department Auditions for Fall '23 Productions
The Theatre Department invites ALL STUDENTS to audition for the Fall 2023 faculty directed productions of:
Greek Tragedy by Lia Romeo directed by Michole Biancosino, and
Polaroid Stories by Naomi Iizuka directed by Alex Draper
Come to the upper MAC lobby at 5:45pm to sign up for a slot. We will hear people individually in the order they have signed up. All are requested to have a 45 - 60 second monologue. Memorization and preparation are strongly preferred.
Please visit go/auditions for more information. Open to Middlebury students.Mahaney Arts Center 232
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Art vs the Apocalypse Student and Community Film and Performance Night
A dynamic evening of short films, spoken word pieces, performances, and art displays. Includes presentations by Ibiyinka Alao, Nigeria’s Art Ambassador to the UN, Middlebury students, and community members.
Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)
Open to the Public -
Destroying Angels
After returning home for their father’s funeral, a trio of Mormon siblings; Hem, Zooey, and Ollie; embark on a desperate adventure to spread their father’s ashes and escape a bloodthirsty serial killer. Written by Middlebury playwright Cole Merrell (’21), Destroying Angels is a twisted road-trip dramedy that discusses the effects of religion on your family, your friends, and yourself. Senior 700 project in acting for Maggie Connolly. Senior 700 project in directing for Zachary Maluccio.
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse Arts Workshop
Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao, Nigeria’s art ambassador to the United Nations, visual artist, filmmaker, architect and author will lead a visual art (painting) workshop as part of the Art vs the Apocalypse event. Alao’s paintings center redemption, peace and love, and lately reflect a long-standing fascination with fireflies. Materials provided. Open to Middlebury College students.
Sponsored by the Department of Theater; co-sponsored by the Environmental Affairs, the Department of Biology, Council on the Arts, and the Climate Action Capacity Program.Mahaney Arts Center 221
Closed to the Public -
Destroying Angels
After returning home for their father’s funeral, a trio of Mormon siblings; Hem, Zooey, and Ollie; embark on a desperate adventure to spread their father’s ashes and escape a bloodthirsty serial killer. Written by Middlebury playwright Cole Merrell (’21), Destroying Angels is a twisted road-trip dramedy that discusses the effects of religion on your family, your friends, and yourself. Senior 700 project in acting for Maggie Connolly. Senior 700 project in directing for Zachary Maluccio.
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
Art vs. the Apocalypse presents "The N Word: Nature, Revisited"
Join Dr. Carolyn Finney, Artist-in-Residence, Environmental Affairs, for a unique presentation that brings her life in conversation with historic figures and contemporary issues. Central Park birder Christian Cooper. George Floyd. The removal of Confederate Statues. Renaming of institutions. Reparations. Systemic Racism. Finney asks, what’s environment got to do with it? How do we meet this moment? Drawing from her book, Black Faces, White Spaces, her relationships “in the field” and her lived experience, Dr.
Axinn Center 232
Open to the Public -
Destroying Angels
After returning home for their father’s funeral, a trio of Mormon siblings; Hem, Zooey, and Ollie; embark on a desperate adventure to spread their father’s ashes and escape a bloodthirsty serial killer. Written by Middlebury playwright Cole Merrell (’21), Destroying Angels is a twisted road-trip dramedy that discusses the effects of religion on your family, your friends, and yourself. Senior 700 project in acting for Maggie Connolly. Senior 700 project in directing for Zachary Maluccio.
Hepburn Zoo
Open to the Public -
Hamlet
The Middlebury Department of Theatre presents Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of revenge in a production where 10 actors all share the title role. Shakespeare’s masterpiece takes on new meaning when every person onstage embodies the idea that “there is something of Hamlet in us all.” Featuring Beck Barsanti, Brianna Beach, Annabelle Iredale, Naja Irvin-Conyers, Victoria Keith, Ben Knudsen, Peyton Mader, Charlie Porto, Charlotte Roberts, and Zeph Santiago as Hamlet.
Please join us for a talk back with the company directly after the Friday performance.Wright Theatre
Open to the Public -
Hamlet
The Middlebury Department of Theatre presents Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of revenge in a production where 10 actors all share the title role. Shakespeare’s masterpiece takes on new meaning when every person onstage embodies the idea that “there is something of Hamlet in us all.” Featuring Beck Barsanti, Brianna Beach, Annabelle Iredale, Naja Irvin-Conyers, Victoria Keith, Ben Knudsen, Peyton Mader, Charlie Porto, Charlotte Roberts, and Zeph Santiago as Hamlet.
Please join us for a talk back with the company directly after the Friday performance.Wright Theatre
Open to the Public -
Hamlet
The Middlebury Department of Theatre presents Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of revenge in a production where 10 actors all share the title role. Shakespeare’s masterpiece takes on new meaning when every person onstage embodies the idea that “there is something of Hamlet in us all.” Featuring Beck Barsanti, Brianna Beach, Annabelle Iredale, Naja Irvin-Conyers, Victoria Keith, Ben Knudsen, Peyton Mader, Charlie Porto, Charlotte Roberts, and Zeph Santiago as Hamlet.
Please join us for a talk back with the company directly after the Friday performance.Wright Theatre
Open to the Public