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(02/15/18 2:05am)
During the last days of January, Middlebury actors partnered with the Town Hall Theatre to put on the annual J-term musical. From the 26th to the 29th, actors performed “Cabaret”, an alternately joyous and tragic look at life in Germany just before the Nazi rise to power. Prior to the three weeks of intensive preparation as part of the J-term course “Music 103: The American Musical in Production,” students began their rehearsals during the fall.
“Three weeks in January is really not enough time to learn vocal music, lines, blocking and choreography,” said Carol Christensen, the musical director. “I start working with the singers in the fall, rehearsing ensemble and leads usually twice per week... by the end of the term, the singers are well on their way to having all the vo- cal music memorized, which is necessary for the rst day of J-term.”
“Cabaret” brings its audience to Berlin circa 1930, just before the Nazis seized control of Germany and thrust the world into bloody conflict. The musical unfolds through three major storylines: the perspective of the ebullient Emcee (played by Michael Koutelos ’20), the doomed romance between Clifford Bradshaw and Sally Bowles (Zach Varricchione ’21 and Ashley Fink ’18.5 respectively), and the tragic relationship between the landlady Fräulein Schneider (Madeline Ciocci ’20) and her lover Herr Schultz (Jonah Edelman ’20.5). Each of these roles was wonderfully act- ed and shone at different moments throughout. The most memorable for myself was Frl.
Schneider’s introductory song, “So What?” which captured the pain of a life that has failed to live up to lofty expectations. Another highlight was introductory solo “Willkommen”, sung by the Emcee, the story’s supposed narrator and part owner of the Kit Kat Club, our eponymous cabaret. Multiple accents used throughout the song created a captivating performance that captured the audience’s attention from the start and made us eager to follow this unfolding story. More praise can be given to the acting in the forefront, but the supporting role of the pit band in the back also proved invaluable in bringing the sounds of “Cabaret” to life.
The major motif of “Cabaret” is the subtle elect that encroaching Nazism has on the seemingly oblivious people of Berlin, especially those who lose themselves in the decadence of the lifestyle that cabarets such as the Kit Kat Club offer. No one symbolized this better than the Emcee, whose transformation from the lavish and seductive club performer to a downcast and condemned victim of the Holocaust left the audience with a blunt image of the rapid brutality with which Nazism changed German life. Lives like the Emcee’s, who was once so free, were quickly reduced to despair. The rise of Nazism in Germany was not a time for idealists or free-spirits. In “Cabaret,” these are the people who are unable to foresee the terror on the horizon. This was represented by the character Sally Bowles, a character who fled from her native England in search of a freer life in Germany. When she becomes pregnant in the play, she is given the choice to return to a life of responsibility and reason, an option she conflates with imprisonment and lifelessness. She chooses to abort the child so that she can return to her life as a star performer at the Kit Kat Club, a life away from poverty, responsibility, and repugnant reality.
Perhaps the most poignant relationship in the play is the failed marriage between Herr Schultz and Frl. Scheider. Both of these characters were designed to be lovable and they were portrayed with great pathos onstage. Herr Schultz does not believe that the Nazis will do anything to harm him.
He is an idealist and thinks that he is just as German as his neighbors, despite his Jewish heritage. But Frl. Schneider is nothing if not a realist. In an effort to protect the both of them from the wrath of the Nazis, she refuses Herr Schultz’s marriage request, despite her overwhelming loneliness and love for him, one of the musical’s greatest tragedies. Frl. Schneider gives up love to survive, but her future holds only war and blood- shed that will destroy her home.
“The warning to be politically aware is a big theme in the show,” Christensen said. “Sally Bowles’ line ‘Politics? But what has that to do with us?’ is telling. When I do this show, I am struck by the loss that is central in the narrative-extremely special irreplaceable human relationships that were lost due to the rise of anti-Semitism and intolerance. It is saddening and sobering.”
In an era where right-wing nationalism has once again been in amed worldwide, this musical, though rst adapted and performed in 1966, re- mains sobering but deeply necessary.
(02/15/18 1:53am)
In the mid-1980s, the Washington D.C. area lacked theatre that engaged in social and political issues. For Cheryl Faraone, Richard Romagnoli and Jim Petosa, this was a problem. With connections from their college days they were able to establish their off-Broadway theatre company, aiming to bring political commentary to the nation’s most political city. With success it became their signature, and since then the Potomac Theatre Project (PTP) has combined veteran and emerging talent to create politically-conscious theatre.
Eventually, the company moved to New York City and now offers an annual five-week program during the summer in which the company produces and performs two or three productions. Faraone and Romagnoli, who are both theatre professors at the college, serve as the program’s co-directors.
The summer program is designed to immerse Middlebury students who are interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry within a professional environment.
“From the beginning the idea was to provide a bridge from the work that students do [at Middlebury] to the work they might want to do in the future,” Faraone said.
The eight to 12 students who participate in PTP each year are given a taste of what the industry is actually like. They live in New York City in lodgings provided by the program and work with professionals who make up around half the cast. These professionals are often veterans of 10 to 15 years in the industry and many are graduates of Middlebury who reconnect with the college to help mentor students.
PTP participants are encouraged not only to bond with their fellow Middlebury students but to reach out to the professionals.
“They need really to have their game upped by playing opposite people who are better than they are and more experienced than they are,” Faraone said.
This year’s PTP class features Ashley Fink ’18.5, Sebastian LaPointe ’18, Olivia Christie ’19, Miguel Castillo ’18, Eliza Renner ’18, Madeline Russell ’19, Madeline Ciocci ’20, Noah Liebmiller ’17.5, Roxy Adviento ’18, Stephanie Miller ’20 and Coralie Tyler ’20. They will showcase “Brecht on Brecht,” arranged by George Tabori, “The Possibilities” by Howard Barker and “The After Dinner Joke” by Carol Churchill. “Brecht on Brecht” is a compilation of poetry and prose by the German political writer Berthold Brecht and songs by Brecht and Kurt Weill, while “The Possibilities” is a one-act work containing a collection of ten-minute long parables and “The After Dinner Joke” is a satirical work about working for a charity.
Auditions for PTP are held every December, but not all student participants work on the productions as actors. Tyler, for example, has been recruited as an assistant stage manager for the summer. She is interested in the production side of theatre, including writing, stage management and costuming, even though she does not shy away from acting.
Tyler noted that the theatre department is unique concerning the relationship between professors and students, which helps reinforce the values of collaboration, professionalism and artistic creation that the theatre department instills in its pupils.
“You are an artist and creator first, before you are a student,” she said. “Let’s say you’re in the faculty show, you look at [your professor] as a director first, or a director helping fellow directors or a playwright helping fellow playwrights.”
“I loved creating the final product,” Renner said, who participated in PTP last summer in Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” and will return this summer. “Being a part of every element of the creation was really rewarding.”
Students who participate in PTP shows not only act, but they also become involved in all aspects of their productions. Renner said she learned about hanging lights, proper protocol for press in the box office position, what an equity contract looks like and the role of a professional stage manager.
Renner sees herself working in the entertainment industry after college and she feels that the PTP helped her predict how her future is going to be, which gave her confidence.
“It’s always going to be [a] hustle,” she said, “and you have to be willing to work really hard and say yes to the exciting and glamorous things and also to the weird and underwhelming things. You have to ask for what you want and make your own opportunities… The connections I’ve made through PTP have already opened doors for me.”
(12/07/17 12:34am)
The Blackbird Fall 2017 issue came out on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the organization’s launch party in the Gamut room. There were several pizzas from American Flatbread, an ample amount of refreshments and the music of 10” Personal Pizza to celebrate the occasion. Some attendees grouped around the couches and chatted while others sat by the band and read the new issue together. Editors-in-chief Maya London-Southern ’20 and Zoe Harris ’20 brought several of the contributing authors on stage, giving the audience the pleasure of hearing the pieces out loud. All readers performed beautifully. The poetry was thoughtful, stylistic and well-delivered and speaking them out loud gave them life.
The editors were pleased with the event, which managed to maintain a chill and friendly vibe throughout.
“I think this is one of the best turn-outs we’ve seen for a launch,” said Nick Kaye ’17.5, another of the editors-in-chief and a seasoned Blackbird veteran. “It’s great to see students take a break from finals-season hell to get jazzed about art and literature.”
“I am so proud of the students who put themselves out there and shared their work with us,” said Harris. “I hope Blackbird helps make people more aware of the vibrant arts community on campus.”
The new issue features 66 pages of the finest student drawings, poetry, prose, paintings and photography. The cover illustration depicts the inner rings of a lying log. The significance of the drawing is meant to be ambiguous, though Kaye, who designed the cover, suggests it could have something to do with the layers of depth that hide within the pages of Blackbird. The magazine received a larger amount of submissions than usual this semester which allowed the editors to choose a variety of different viewpoints and tones throughout the issue, ultimately achieving this sense of depth.
After the poetry readings, London-Southern and Harris honored Kaye for his contribution to Blackbird. Kaye has been involved with the magazine since his freshman year, but this semester’s issue is his last, as he will graduate in February. Once Kaye graduates, London-Southern and Harris will officially take over the next issue.
“Having a role in every step of the publication process made the experience so much more exciting and the finished product of the magazine and the launch party all the more gratifying,” said London-Southern. “I’m so happy I got to work with such a great team, especially Nick, who has been on Blackbird since his first semester and was a greater teacher to Zoe and me.”
The editors note that they are always looking for new submissions and there is no cap on the number of submissions a student can send in.
“We want the magazine to serve as a microcosm of the entire campus’ diverse creative output,” Kaye said. “I hope to see more and more students submitting work to help us accomplish this goal.”
(10/11/17 10:51pm)
For those who do not know, Dolci is a student run restaurant that hosts dinners at Atwater Dining Hall three Fridays a month. Each meal usually features several courses with a theme; from vegan, to meat lovers, to Italian or Chinese. The food is a refreshing break from the usual dining hall menus, and is almost always of the highest quality. and brought right to your table by student waiters.
Thanks to Middlebury Dining Services and the Student Activities Fund, Dolci is free of charge to students. However, only forty individuals are randomly chosen to receive a ticket for themselves and a guest. Sign up for the ticket lottery opens Wednesdays at 9pm, which you can do at the Dolci website. You can also email the organization at dolci@middlebury.edu and request to be added to the waitlist, or go to go/middlink to add yourself to the group. From there Dolci will email you a link each week.
You can also apply to run your own Dolci dinner, or work as a server or prep cook. More instructions can be found on their website.
Last week student chef Pippa Raffel ’18 hosted a vegetarian meal, fittingly titled Veggie Tales. Every seat for this dinner was filled and it proved to be good opportunity to meet new people. All the guests began bonding over each new course.
We began with Middle Eastern inspired pepper muhammara and zaatar pita slices. This was an entirely vegan dish, much to the delight of the vegan at our table. The pita was warm and soft, and heavily laden with spices. Biting into the center of that bread seemed to satisfy every yearning for spice that I’ve ever had in my life. It was not spicy like a chili pepper or hot sauce. Instead, the spice formed a rich and complex profile that instantly satisfied.
As a meat lover myself, I was originally apprehensive at the idea of an entirely vegetarian menu. As the night went on, I was continually surprised by how good the dishes were. The Brussel sprout poppers with sriracha dip, which were basically deep-fried Brussel sprouts, stand out as the one time in my life that I’ve enjoyed eating Brussel sprouts. I also enjoyed the chunky tomato vegetable soup, which was rich with olive oil but needed a little salt.
Time after time the menu proved surprisingly good; though personally I did struggle with the sweet potato patties, kale salad and cauliflower steak with tahini sauce. That’s not to say those dishes were bad; the vegan at the table loved them along with most of the other guests.
It was the last dish that truly blew me away. For dessert we were treated to an eggplant chocolate torte. This was a vegan, gluten free dish that looked and tasted like a slice of chocolate cake. The eggplant was supposedly within, but so well concealed by dark chocolate that some at the table doubted it was there. The food was satisfying, the service was good and the elegant silverware and plates made the whole experience feel fancier than I expected.
This iteration of Dolci proved to be the best vegetarian meal I’ve ever had. It certainly convinced me that vegetarian food can actually be quite good if done right. I dreaded the night ahead of me when I first sat down , but I think the experience of trying these new foods that I’d normally avoid was a rewarding experience that will help to expand my palate. This is one of the values of Dolci. You can come to experience some of your favorite cuisine or to try out a new one. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
(10/04/17 11:40pm)
The ceramics studio can be easily missed if you do not know what you’re looking for. Located along Adirondack View Road, it is the tan house with the green garage door, somewhat hidden by a bush. An old concrete staircase leads up to the front door, where the hours of the ceramics studio are written in neat penciled handwriting. Inside, rows of glazed pottery immediately greet you on shelves facing the door. To the right is a room for mashing clay with your hands, to the left are the wheels. Nine of them sit in a row by the window, well-used and well-loved, and opposite them on the table lies a great bag of dark, wet clay.
“We really don’t discourage people from making what they want to make,” says Omar Valencia ’19, president of the ceramics club, as he places a mug onto one of the tables with an inscription that reads “I hate you Dad.” He pulls another object off one of the many shelves in the studio and holds it up in the light – a beautifully crafted pipe. It is one of the studio’s more interesting pieces, and demonstrates there is room for all kinds of creativity in the space.
Coming to the studio is a user-defined experience. You can come in and play with clay for an hour, just to feel it in your hands, or you can commit to coming in every week and slowly create an advanced work of art. There is plenty of clay for everyone to use, courtesy of the college. However, Valencia says that he does not want the studio to be filled with objects no one ever picks up. Instead, he would like people to come in and create works of art they are proud of and then take home. Many pieces have been forgotten – along with the myriad bowls and mugs that adorn the walls of the studio, a rose made of clay petals waits for its owner silently in the corner.
Ceramics is a rewarding but challenging art. If you visit the studio, Valencia says, it is unlikely you will create anything on the first day. You will struggle to master the basic techniques on the wheel and you may mess up this or that – with clay, if one thing goes wrong the entire piece can fall apart. The second day you will begin to shape something, and even then, you may mess up and have to start the entire project over. This is why so many stick to creating bowls. Bowls are single blocks of clay, unlike pots or other pieces that require multiple parts, and can be made quickly with minimal risk.
Thankfully, there are monitors during the studio’s hours that help visitors out with whatever they are trying to make. Omar is one of these monitors, and he begins instructing instinctively as I watch him beat a ball of clay. He describes centering and keeping everything uniform as the clay spins on the wall, poking a hole to form a bowl, and then “lifting the clay,” which consists of actually throwing the piece on the wheel.
“So it’s spinning, right? And it’s just this, like, amorphous blob with a hole in the middle,” Valencia says. “First I’m going to have to pull back, and make the hole wider, and then from there I’m going to have to lift up so it’s just this cylinder.”
Valencia goes on, step after step. Each step, there is potential for a mistake to be made that would ruin the whole thing.
“Often times people will come into the studio once and not make anything and be discouraged,” he says. “What my ceramics teach used to say was that the first few times you’re throwing on the wheel are just the periods of suffering. Where it’s just … sometimes as hard as you try, it’s just not going to work out. But for whatever reason, it you stick with it, there’s just this one day where it clicks. And you actually make something.”
Coming to the ceramics studio is an experience that everyone at the college should try. Ceramics does not have to be a serious endeavor for every visitor – it can be a stressbuster, a place to hang out with friends or go on a date. The club is also always looking for new monitors to extend the hours that it is open.
When I ask him why he loves clay making, Valencia replies thoughtfully.
“What I do is I make a craft, and it’s just really fun make something with my own hands and just actually see that come into fruition,” he says. Here’s this random ball of clay, and with that there’s so much potential to what it can become.”
The studio’s hours are listed on the studio door and can also be accessed via the organization’s middlink page.