The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Nikhil Ramburn Student actors perform in the politically-charged "Manifesto for Another World." [Click to enlarge]

"Courage begins with one voice." That was the line Jacquie Antonson '10 delivered to open "Manifesto for Another World," a play by Ariel Dorman and directed by Nerina Cocchi '10 that was performed in the Hepburn Zoo last weekend. As part of the fall symposium "Faces Behind Human Rights," "Manifesto" was essentially a series of monologues representing victims of gender violence and political injustice that strived to inform and challenge the audience. The individual statements were bound together by the repetition of particularly poignant lines reflecting sentiments of hope in the face of pain.

On a visual level, the theme of individuals emerging from the recesses of suppression was reiterated by the set. A series of sparsely lit wire cage walls and rusty fencing designed by Nick McClintock '08 and accented by the haunting lighting scheme of Anna Solovieva '10 hung throughout the space. Actors crouched behind, hung from and pushed aside these barriers while stepping in and out of the light as appropriate to their monologue.

Certain accounts of approaching squadrons or abused wives were supported by the physical participation of those actors not speaking, who rolled, jumped, marched or fought in the shadows of the individual's memory. Challenging the strength of these individuals was The Man, a smarmy personification of oppressive societal authority. Played by Ryan Kellett '09, this Machiavellian figure shot sarcastic and cynical remarks, rejecting the characters' messages as unfounded, exaggerated and impractical. From his raised seat in the audience, Kellett observed and dismissed the figures and their stories as they were performed within the maze of fencing on stage until, overwhelmed by the steady strength of victims who persevered, he cracked. As part of a daring conclusion, audience members found themselves pulled behind the fences to the back of the stage, where they were addressed under the Zoo's usual fluorescent lighting for the final minutes of the production.

Continued...

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