2020-2021 Season
Together Apart: the 25th Annual First Year Show
October 10 | Streaming
Join us for the 25th Annual First Year Show streaming live on October 10th at 8pm ET.
This year’s show is a 24-hour new play festival featuring plays written, directed, designed, and performed in a 24-hour period.
The event showcases the talent of 55 Middlebury students including performers all new to the Middlebury stage!
Directed by Julia Proctor
The Agitators by Mat Smart
October 17-18 | Streaming from the Clemmons Family Farm
A play reading about the relationship of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, two abolitionists who fought for the rights of others. Play by Mat Smart, directed by Michole Biancosino ‘98 as part of the 21st Century Theatre Festival, sponsored by the Middlebury Performing Arts Council. Presented by Middlebury College’s Theatre Program, Town Hall Theater, and the Clemmons Family Farm. Livestreamed from outdoors at the farm. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes including one intermission.
Directed by Michole Biancosino
State vs. Natasha Banina
Sponsored by the Committee on the Arts and the Engaged Listening Project
October 24 | Zoom
From Boston’s award-winning Arlekin Players Theatre, this interactive digital production is set inside a live “ZOOM courtroom,” where the virtual audience serves as the jury. Performer Darya Denisova gives a “mesmerizing portrayal” (The Boston Globe) of Natasha Banina, a teen orphan on trial for a crime of passion, whose alluring testimony reveals her dreams for love, family, and freedom.
This inventive digital production that began in May 2020 as a living room experiment and went on to earn critical acclaim from The New York Times is based on Natasha’s Dream by the Russian playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich. Says director Igor Golyak, “We are creating a new art form to overcome social distancing, the pandemic, and ultimately unite people in one virtual space by merging theater, cinematography, and video games.” A leading example of innovation in virtual theater, State vs. Natasha Banina is evidence that live performance can engage audiences even when experienced at home.
State vs. Natasha Banina is followed by a discussion with the artists and audience.
- Based on Natasha’s Dream by Yaroslava Pulinovich
- Performer: Darya Denisova
- Translator: John Freedman
- Director and Video Design: Igor Golyak
- Production Associate: Marianna Golyak
- Animator: Anton Iakhontov
- Music Composor: Vadim Khrapatchev
- Produced by Igor Golyak & Sara Stackhouse
finally
November 6-7 | Seeler Studio Theatre; Streaming
A call for further representation of artists of color, finally aims to explore the ideas of identity, acceptance, and belonging through a collection of short plays and monologues written by Asian American playwrights and performed by an all-Asian cast. Each piece in this socially distanced performance not only tells a story, but brings to life the struggles of feeling different, alone, and the pressure of leaving behind a legacy.
Independent 500 work of Emily Ballou
Chapters
November 13-14 | Seeler Studio Theatre
A collection of monologues and scenes about a woman hungry for something more. This collection is an active search, a specific moment in time infused with discomfort and the undefined. She is searching for something that isn’t defined by a partner, a material object, or any sort of status. These are the chapters that make up a novel. This novel is full of self-doubt, humor, sabotage, pain, relief, release, and happiness. This novel ends with the comfort and fulfillment of being alone.
This is a journey back to the self.
Senior 700 work in Acting of Katie Marshall
Directed by Zach Varricchione, Emily Ma, and Madison Middleton
Something About Mia by Zoe Samuels
November 18 | Zoom
Read by Katie Marshall ‘21, Cole Merrell ‘21 and Sara Massey ‘23
Senior 700 work in Playwriting of Zoe Samuels ‘21
Giants Have Us In Their Books by Jose Rivera
April 16-18 | Wright Memorial Theatre
The Middlebury College Department of Theatre is proud to announce the return of its in-person performances with the presentation of GIANTS HAVE US IN THEIR BOOKS by José Rivera, directed by Alex Draper.
In this evening of short plays, Rivera applies his “profuse and sometimes self-consciously fantastical stew of magical realism” to the creation of fables for grown-ups, resulting in “compelling, entertaining and provocative theatre” (San Francisco Examiner). The production will be presented live by a company of 14 actors before a limited in-person audience restricted to college students, faculty and staff, and streamed to the general public.
Directed by Alex Draper
Happy by Robert Caisley
April 29-May 1 | Seeler Studio Theatre; Streaming
Alfred is happy about his life. He’s happy with his job. He’s happy with his marriage and his family. However, when his best friend invites him to meet the latest woman in his life, things spin out of control.
Senior 700 work in Acting of Bair Lambert ‘21
Independent 500 work in Directing of Ryan Kirby ‘22
I and You by Lauren Gunderson
May 7-8 | Seeler Studio Theatre; Streaming
One afternoon, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at classmate Caroline’s door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass,’ urgent English class homework. Homebound due to illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months, but she is as quick and sardonic as Anthony is athletic, sensitive, and popular. What starts as a last-minute school assignment about a poem, transforms into an achingly beautiful journey by the light of a glowing turtle. “I AND YOU” is an ode to youth, life, love, and the funny business of human connection. It’s about the messy experience of adulthood and friendships, how to balance life and living under the shadows of death, and the memories you make while forced to work on group projects.
Senior 700 Work in Acting of Em Ballou ‘21
Directed by Gibson Grimm ‘22
Writer’s Block by Andrew Rosdail
May 7 | Streaming
Senior 700 work in Directing of Raffi Barsamian ‘21.5
Making Breakfast
May 9 | Zoom
A one act monologue written and performed by Tré Stephens (senior 700 work)
Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
May 13-16 | Wright Memorial Theatre
May 19-21 | Streaming
This modern riff on the 15th century morality play Everyman follows “Everybody” as they travel toward life’s greatest mystery. So many questions arise along the journey. Why leave now? What can Everybody bring? Who will come with them? When will they return? Middlebury College’s version, directed by new Theatre faculty Olga Sanchez Saltveit, is a site-specific trek in and around Wright Theatre, and a collaboration with the Department of Dance, featuring original choreography and performance by The Dance Company.
The production will be presented live by a company of 17 actors and 9 dancers before a limited in-person audience restricted to college students, faculty and staff. Its recording will be streamed to the general public.
Directed by Olga Sanchez Saltveit
