“Airswimming” left the audience with laughter, tears and a whole lot of Doris Day songs stuck in their heads. As I left the Hepburn Zoo last weekend, I wiped away the few tears I had shed (a very rare occurrence for me) and ran to tell my friends that it had been a long time since a piece of art had truly moved me the way this show had.
The play ran from April 18–20 and served as the senior thesis in acting for Kristen Morgenstern ʼ24 and Maggie Blake ʼ24, the 500 in directing for Elsa Marrian ʼ25 and the 500 in lighting design for August Siegel ’25.
Written by British playwright Charlotte Jones in 1997, “Airswimming” tells the story of an unlikely friendship that forms in the 1920s in St. Dymphna’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Dora Kitson (Morgenstern) and Persephone Baker (Blake) navigate how to share a space and cope with their complex pasts and unknown futures throughout the 50 years they spend in St. Dymphna’s.
“It’s about friendship. I think that this has been a really hard year for Middlebury and speaking for myself, I can say that I wouldn't have got through it as well as I have without my friends,” Marrian said. “I think that the show really speaks to the importance of standing by someone no matter what, and standing by someone no matter how crazy of an idea they’re having and just sticking to your friends.”
Using parallel timelines, the play alters between scenes set inside and outside of St. Dymphna’s. In the latter scenes, to cope with the effects of their incarceration, the aging Dora and Persephone take on the alter-egos of the adventurous Dorph, who likes to retell the history of victorious women, and the enthusiastic Porph, who strives to embody Doris Day.
When the women aren’t in their fantasy worlds, they are sentenced to polishing duty for an hour each day. This is where their friendship truly develops. Dora, who was institutionalized for acting and dressing like a man (and for smoking Spanish cigars), has been in St. Dymphna’s for two years by the time Persephone arrives. Dora frequently has to comfort Persephone as she grapples with her new home and the reason for her incarceration: bearing a child out of wedlock.
As the years wear on, the women grow closer and closer. We watch the withdrawn Dora start to open up and eventually ask for Persephone’s comfort. By the end, the women have aged, but their friendship is stronger than ever.
The technical aspects of the performance must be recognized. Despite it being Siegel’s first time designing a lighting-scape by themselves, the lighting was intricate, communicating the complex narrative of the two women and the obscured passage of time. The stage was colored a dreamy pink for Dorph and Porph’s fantastical adventures, and a watery blue for when they embarked on the titular airswimming — Morgenstern and Blake, adorned with floral swimming caps and goggles, had a beautiful sequence in which they freely swam through air. This lighting all contrasted powerfully with the sterile white light of St. Dymphna’s, reemphasizing Dora and Persephone’s confinement. The lighting triumphed towards the latter half of the play, with its vibrant reds that symbolized Dorph’s agony.
Blake initially read “Airswimming” in late September 2023 — three days before her thesis’ preliminary proposal was due – and she immediately knew she wanted to play the character of Persephone for her senior thesis. After consulting Morgenstern, who felt similarly about the character of Dora, the two asked Marrian to be their director. Because the play discusses the mental health system’s failure on women, having the close, all-women team of Blake, Marrian and Morgenstern helped to ensure the issue was treated with care.
“It’s been such a positive environment, we all pick up each other’s slack and help each other out,” Morgenstern said. “We’re all really helping each other out and rooting for each other.”
The rehearsal process began at the start of the spring semester, around four to five times a week for two hours in the Sunderland basement. The week before the show premiered, the crew permanently relocated to the Hepburn Zoo where everything — costumes, set and lighting — was finally able to come together.
One of the challenges the entire crew faced was having to quickly transition to the Hepburn Zoo right after “The Worst Mother In The World” wrapped on Saturday, April 13, a little less than a week before “Airswimming” was set to premiere. After helping the previous crew strike, the “Airswimming” crew was finally able to put together their set and rewire their lighting setup. However, the fast turnaround ultimately proved to be no obstacle, as the sets and costumes were simple yet captivating, and the lighting transitions ran smoothly.
Blake and Morgenstern both cited personal challenges in portraying such complex characters. In order to make sure the Persephone she portrayed honored the real-life Ms. Baker upon whom the character is based, Blake spent a lot of time exploring Persephone’s complexities in order to make her portrayal of Persephone unique.
Morgenstern had never played as big a role at Middlebury before, and becoming Dora demanded a lot of hard work.
“I’ve maybe had 10 lines ever, so to have to do a whole play where I’m on stage the entire time and tracking a character’s entire trajectory has been really difficult, but fun,” Morgenstern said.
Despite these challenges, Blake and Morgenstern personified these women perfectly. Blake sang and danced with energy when Porph embodied Doris Day, and she was raw when Persephone broke down in anxiety. Morgenstern was strong, witty and level-headed both in her line delivery and physicality, using her body as a tool to further highlight Dora’s character. At the end, the audience was awestruck watching Morgenstern deliver a devastating and vulnerable monologue.
“Airswimming” was special in that each team member’s attentiveness and care was evident, but what was perhaps even more compelling was the way they each commended the entire team’s ability to work together. It was clear that the production brought everyone involved closer together, really contributing to its intimate feel and overall success.
“This was such a talented, compassionate, and excited group of people. I couldn't imagine it any other way,” Blake wrote in an email to The Campus.
As the lights turned on and the audience’s applause echoed off the polishing room’s bathtub, one thing was clear: True friendship can withstand even our darkest moments.
