2012-2013 Season
2012-2013 season information for the Theatre Department at Middlebury College.
17th Annual First Year Show: Best of New York
October 18-20 | Hepburn Zoo Theatre
Come enjoy scenes from ten of the hottest plas to have hit New York in the last five years.
Directed by Lisa Velten-Smith
U.S. Drag by Gina Gionfriddo
October 25-27 | Seeler Studio Theatre
Playwright Gina Gionfriddo serves up the story of two vapid but stylish young women who move to Manhattan seeking love and happiness (but they’ll settle for rent money). Sure, they’ll use their limited wiles to schmooze free drinks and cuddle their way toward monthly rent checks, but they’re determined to receive an unwarranted life of stardom.
Directed by Alex Draper
Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams
October 25-27 | Hepburn Zoo Theatre
What do a mother of three dealing with a dog addiction, a gun-slinging housewife, and a jumpy animal shelter manager have in common? They all listen to the same radio station. Two actors make the town of Tuna, Texas come to life in this hilarious, fast-paced play. You’ll see close-mindedness in a whole new light!
Senior 700 work in Acting of Nathaniel Rothrock ‘12.5
Independent 500 work in Directing of Teddy Anderson ‘13.5
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
November 15-17 | Wright Memorial Theatre
“Sweet are the uses of adversity…” This new production of William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy is a melancholy tale of love and exile, set in the early part of the 20th century, as the old world tips forever into the new, and all is forever changed.
Independent 500 work in Costume Design of Annie Ulrich ‘13
Senior 700 work in Acting of Sarah Lusche ‘13
Directed by Cheryl Faraone
The Vanek Trilogy by Václav Havel
November 29-December 1 | Hepburn Zoo Theatre
The Vanek Trilogy is a series of short plays (Audience, Unveiling, and Protest) by Václav Havel, the first president of democratic Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, a human rights activist and a great playwright. It follows the dissident Vanek (a stand-in for Havel) through a series of revealing encounters with former friends and colleagues co-opted into the Communist regime of the USSR in the 70s. The plays explore the tension created when two similar people find different, antithetical paths of survival in a harsh environment. When confronted with Vanek, who has maintained his ideological purity, the others’ disgrace turns that tension explosive.
Senior 700 work in Acting of Noah Berman ‘13 and Isabel Shill ‘13
Independent 500 work in Directing of Paula Bogutyn ‘13.5
17 1/2: A Patchwork of Plays
March 14-16 | Hepburn Zoo Theatre
“We’re all explicable. What we’re not is extricable.” This evening of scenes, drawn from contemporary plays, will explore varying perceptions of power, gender, and how to save an animated dust ball.
Senior 700 work in Acting of Sumi Doi ‘13 and Rachel Goodgal ‘13
Undressing Cinderella: A New Play Festival
April 10-13 | Wright Memorial Theatre
What happens wehn Cinderella steps into a Rabbit Hole? Undressing Cinderella is a festival of new plays that have been created specifically for this inaugural Middlebury New Play Festival. We challenged playwrights around the nation to turn the well known fairy tale inside out: write a play using any character other than Cinderella as the main focus. Get ready for an explosion of brand new plays and a company of artists ready to rewrite this fairy tale. Two evenings of short plays presented “in rep.”
Senior 700 work in Directing of Teddy Anderson ‘13
Co-directed by Andrew W. Smith ‘97.5
The Igloo Settlement by Daniel Sauermilch ‘13
April 18-20 | Hepburn Zoo Theatre
On Christmas in Buck County, Pennsylvania, a cataclysmic snowstorm leads to a series of most surprising events. The Igloo Settlement seeks to define what remains of American values in the wake of catastrophe. Along the way we see patriotism, individualism, and capitalism—supposed values of democracy—being torn apart by the very people who have created and celebrated them. And in turn, we witness a very un-merry Christmas.
Senior 700 work in Playwriting of Daniel Sauermilch ‘13, Costume Design of Jordan Ashleigh Jones ‘13, and Directing of Paula Bogutyn ‘13.5
Independent 500 work in Set Design of Jon Portman ‘13
The Castle by Howard Barker
May 2-4 | Seeler Studio Theatre
Howard Barker’s play The Castle is an epic work blasting humor, bawdiness, and violence with the limits of desire, pain, and sexuality. After an absence of seven years, a group of Crusaders returns “home” to find authority, religion, and gender relations all upended.
Directed by Richard Romagnoli
The Ugly Rich: A Romance by Stephen Mrowiec ‘13
May 13 | Seeler Studio Theatre
Public reading of Stephen Mrowiec’s new play. In the dark days of the Great Depression, a remote community in Northern Florida is rocked by a series of unspeakable crimes. Meanwhile, the remnants of the once-proud Larchmont family gather in their ancestral home for a settling of accounts. Equal parts baroque extravaganza, comic opera, and erotic nightmare, The Ugly Rich offers a bracing, uncompromising portrait of the ultimate in cruelty, corruption, and desire.
Senior 700 work in Playwriting of Stephen Mrowiec ‘13