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(04/30/14 11:12pm)
From April 30-May 3, the Middlebury College Departments of Theatre and Dance are presenting Sarah Ruhl’s Tony Award-nominated play “In the Next Room” (or The Vibrator Play). Associate Professor of Theatre Claudio Medeiros ’90 will direct the work, which stars seven students and serves as the final campus production for theater majors Mari Vial-Golden ’14 and Matt Ball ’14.
True to its title, the play explores the use of electric vibrators in treating women for “hysteria” in 19th century Saratoga Springs, N. Y. It also sheds light on doctors’ long-standing, limited understanding of human sexuality and, in particular, the female orgasm. After all, the hysteria diagnosis — which is no longer recognized as medically sound — was regularly applied to women exhibiting symptoms ranging from nervousness to fatigue to irritability to general “troublemaking.”
It was these themes of female sexuality and desire that drove Vial-Golden to audition for the role of Catherine Billings, one of the leading characters in the play.
“It is a period piece that takes place in the late 1800s, but the themes are so timeless,” Vial-Golden said.
Indeed, the play points to just how far we have come but also how much we still don’t know about human sexuality.
“To me, it’s mind boggling that it’s so recent that we have actually come to understand the female orgasm,” Medeiros said.
Although “In the Next Room” presents serious topics, it does so with humor and lightheartedness. This rich balance appealed to Medeiros but has also challenged him and the cast.
“Tonally, it’s a tricky piece because it’s funny and serious often at the same time,” Medeiros said. “The challenge becomes how to navigate that. The director has to guide the actors to find a truthful connection with both the comedy and the drama. At the same time, one wants the audience to laugh at the situations but not the characters.”
Katie Weatherseed ’16, who plays Sabrina, a patient treated for hysteria, notes that the play draws some of its humor from characters’ genuine innocence, especially in contrast to that of a 21st century audience.
“The characters bring a charming naiveté that’s just really fun to play and also fun to watch,” she said. “I hope that the show can make the audience laugh while also giving them a little food for thought.”
In order to prepare for the show, the cast researched sex and intimacy in the Victorian Era, read the book that inspired the play, Rachel P. Maines’ 2001 text Technology of Orgasm, took a historical walking tour of Saratoga Springs and watched the 2011 movie Hysteria, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and explores similar topics to “In the Next Room.” In order to gain a better understanding of the “hysteria” diagnosis, Weatherseed also read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s popular short story, “The Yellow Wall Paper. “
“[It] was probably the piece I looked to most, as it guides the reader through the consciousness of a woman who is stifled by gender roles and encouraged to suppress her emotions,” she said.
Blocking scenes was particularly important to the rehearsal process because the play takes place in two adjacent rooms. Action moves between both and sometimes occurs in each simultaneously.
“It’s almost like in film — whoever is in the foreground is in focus, but then the focus can shift to the background,” Medeiros said. “Finding a way to do that in the theater has been a really interesting challenge.”
Because the play will be her last at Middlebury, Vial-Golden is particularly grateful that “In the Next Room” has presented challenges like this unconventional blocking.
“It’s nice to end on a challenge and to end with a friend — Matt Ball — who I’ve been working with since freshman year, as well as a phenomenal cast of mainly underclassmen,” Vial-Golden said.
Medeiros hopes that “In the Next Room” will push audience members just as it has the cast. Hopefully, viewers will leave the play with not only a deeper understanding of the evolution of medicine, sexuality and gender, but also a revised definition of intimacy.
“I think the play ultimately proposes a return to a kind of radical intimacy, one that is not just sexual but erotic in the larger sense of the word: a true physical, emotional and spiritual connection...I find that quite beautiful,” Medeiros said.
“In the Next Room” (or The Vibrator Play) opened at The Seeler Studio Theater on Wednesday, Apr. 30 and will run through Saturday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $6 for Middlebury College students and available at go/boxoffice.
(04/16/14 8:41pm)
On April 10-12, the Middlebury Theatre and Dance departments presented A Clockwork Orange in Wright Memorial Theater. The play was directed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Andrew Smith ’97.5 and starred over twenty Middlebury students. Adam Milano ’15 led the cast as anti-hero Alex, a ruthless teenager who torments innocents with a band of fellow troublemakers, or Droogs. The play is adapted from Anthony Burgess’ highly acclaimed 1962 novella of the same name and ultimately explores the question of whether it is better to choose to be bad or be forced to be good.
Although Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is perhaps the best known version of the work, it presents Alex as purely diabolical. In the play, Alex is slightly more nuanced, with a morality that is somewhat restored at the close of the curtain. He also pairs down some of the violence and sexual assault so prominently featured in Kubrick’s film.
“The original book had a 21st chapter … in which Alex gets this redemptive ending,” Smith explained. “The American editors thought that readers preferred darker characters so they just cut that 21st chapter out. The movie was made off of that American edition.” In many ways, then, the play is Burgess’ attempt to reclaim and rectify the original meaning of his story.
Smith and his actors approached the play with sensitivity because although it is less intense than the movie, it is still inherently violent and disturbing.
“A lot of the actions Alex does are awful and irreprehensible … I wanted to make sure that in all these violent scenes … that there was a trust and respect in the cast,” Milano said. He also noted, however, that the darkness of the play — and of his character in particular — offered a unique opportunity to explore his range as an actor.
“What didn’t draw me to this role?,” Milano said. “This role gives you utter freedom because [Alex] just does so many things without forgiveness so it really gives you the opportunity on stage to play and have fun.”
In preparing to play Alex, who is wild, detestable and, at times, charming, Milano drew inspiration from a variety of pop icons. He studied Queen front man Freddie Mercury and alternative heavy metal rocker Marilyn Manson in particular, but also looked to pop punk bands like Blink 182 and Green Day and to the 1988 movie Dangerous Liaisons for material. Shannon Fiedler ’14 similarly drew inspiration from a range of sources to play Alex’s corrupt doctor, Dr. Brodsky. Her performance was influenced in part by Kevin Spacey’s role as a serial killer in the movie Se7en, Heath Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker in The Dark Knight, and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.
In addition to the independent work required of lead actors like Milano and Fiedler, the entire cast rehearsed together for an average of four hours a day, six days a week for nine weeks. This regular schedule quickly brought students together.
“The rehearsal process was highly collaborative and the play really has an ensemble feeling,” Fielder explained.
Although unifying, rehearsals also proved demanding, especially for Milano, who was on stage for the entire play.
“I would say the most challenging part would be just the amount of emotion and mental capital that the show takes, even if it’s just four hours of rehearsal a night,” Milano said.
Milano’s dedication to and investment in his role paid off; he played Alex with a masterful depth, nuance, and intentionality, drawing both utter detest and surprising allegiance from the audience. In addition to impressive acting, A Clockwork Orange boasted stunning set design, lighting, and intricately coordinated fight scenes, all of which made for a full sensory experience that was both emotionally and visually engaging.
“This is a play that has it all,” Smith said. “It’s got movement sequences, it’s got fights, it’s got philosophical discussions, it’s got invented language, it’s got lights, music, dancing. It’s also got heart and passion and soul … it’s a very well rounded piece of art.”
Milano and Fiedler praised Smith’s ability to not only coordinate these many aspects of the show, but also empower the actors.
“Andrew [Smith] has been such a great director to work with,” Fielder said. “He was great at fostering a creative environment, making all of us feel like it was our show that we were all putting on together.”
Milano agreed.
“[Smith] did an incredible job with the actors and making sure their voice, their opinion, and their personality mattered,” he said.
Ultimately, Smith hoped the show would offer viewers the opportunity to indulge in the theatrical experience and also leave them with something to contemplate.
“I believe that in theatre our role is to instigate, to bring up discussions,” Smith said, “So people can talk about [A Clockwork Orange] in any which way they want, as long as it has a ripple effect and we don’t just exist for a weekend then are gone forever.” Milano similarly hoped that the play prodded viewers to think deeply about the issues raised.
“I hope that [viewers] are still talking about it a few days later,” he said. “I hope that they’re not sure whether or not they liked Alex … if he’s fully formed into an apathetic human being or if he’s just pretending in order to survive.”
The entire cast and crew has a lot to celebrate in this daring, moving rendition of a play with such controversial and weighty social significance. Fielder summed it up nicely.
“Doing a play that comes with the kind of legacy that A Clockwork Orange has was a daunting task, but also allowed us the opportunity to put our own stamp on something so universally and culturally known,” she said.
(02/26/14 4:39pm)
Middlebury’s only student-run restaurant, Dolci, turns 16 this year. Since its conception in 1998, Dolci has served as an on-campus haven for foodies of all stripes, offering students the unique opportunity to enjoy high-end cuisine or create and serve original menus. Dolci is housed in Atwater dining hall, where 80 students sit down to a free, multi-course meal most Friday evenings of the year. Midd kids doubling as head chefs, cooks and waiters arrange the meal for their peers over the course of the preceding week, working beside — and sometimes with — Atwater dining staff.
Anyone is welcome to cook for Dolci, regardless of background or experience, a detail that encourages students to explore culinary interests at all levels. Ben Bogin ’15, Co-President of Dolci, believes the opportunity to work in an industrial kitchen like Atwater is one of the greatest perks of Dolci.
“I hope that people who have never cooked before can come feel comfortable working in the kitchen, because working in our dining hall kitchen is so amazing,” Bogin said. “It’s a completely different world.”
Bry Kleber ’14, who will be the head chef of the last Dolci dinner of the spring semester, agrees that Dolci is a unique experience for students.
“It’s a really great feeling to be able to cook for somebody,” Kleber said. “There’s something very intimate about that, and you can get that intimacy and that connection with Dolci, which I think is great.”
Attending Dolci as a dinner is just as rich working behind the scenes. Bogin’s sister and Co-President Emily Bogin ’16 explained that Dolci offers a dining experience not usually available to college students.
“I think it’s important to have an opportunity to experience a five course meal if you don’t have the budget for it,” said Emily. “It’s cool to be able to eat in such a formal setting.”
Dolci’s attendance rates have always been high, thanks to its reputation for creative and scrumptious food. Past Dolci dinner themes have ranged from Modernist to Southern Comfort to Art History to Everything Bacon. Anna Flinchbaugh ’14’s Harry Potter Dolci dinner this past fall was so popular that 130 students signed up to fill the usual 80 seats.
Spring promises seven similarly original meals, including a dinner devoted to vegetables of the Allium family like onions, garlic, leeks, and chives; South American surf and turf featuring scallops drizzled in cilantro lime pesto; a dinner inspired by New York restaurants; and an all-chocolate dinner. The endless variety of dinner themes reflects the range of student cooks on campus.
“If you know a person really well and you’re eating their food it’s kind of fun to see what they put together and how their menu might be a reflection of themselves because it ends up being really personal,” said Ben.
Although Kleber has not yet finalized her theme, she and her co-chef Sara Arno ’14.5 have dreamed of leading a Dolci dinner since they were freshmen.
“We have gone to many Dolci’s and I’ve always been super impressed by how the students are able to execute everything,” Kleber said.
The daughter of a chef, Kleber enjoys cooking as a source of calm and connection.
“For me, cooking is something that I do as a way to relax and calm down…I think it’s very therapeutic,” she said. “And the social aspect of food and cooking is great. I find that important, to be able to make connections and friendships.”
Ben and Emily share a similar view of cooking. They grew up making pancake breakfasts together and eventually worked in a restaurants and bakeries in high school.
“Dolci is kind of what brought me to Middlebury,” Ben said. “I heard about it at the information session, and I was sold.”
Indeed, the infrastructure Dolci offers — a clean, professional cooking space and a variety of equipment and ingredients — is very unique to the College and a perfect opportunity for students who want to explore food beyond their limited dorm kitchens.
Dolci continues to expand and evolve thanks to increased funding in recent years. Over their run as co-presidents, Ben and Emily hope to increase the number of dinners offered and perfect the dining experience in Atwater.
“When you’re sitting with seven other people and you only know one of them and it’s family style, you feel kind of awkward. I’d like to see if there’s a way in the future to make the dining experience better,” Emily said.
First and foremost, however, the siblings are committed to promoting community and creativity around food, both on campus and beyond.
To learn more about Dolci or sign up for a spring dinner, check out go/dolci. On most Wednesdays at 9 p.m., you can enter your name into a lottery for a pair of tickets to dinner served on Friday at 6 p.m.
(05/02/13 4:01am)
Last Friday, a group of improv actors and comedians from across campus came together to perform a set of stand-up comedy for students.
The show featured Middlebrow improv actors Luke Smith-Stevens ’14.5, Bryan Shpall ’13 and Tom Califra ’14, along with Otter Nonsense comedians Adam Benay ‘14 and Greg Dorris ‘13. Theater major Jake Schwartzwald ’14 also performed. Although improv shows are common on campus, stand-up shows are a new — and quickly growing — comedy outlet at Middlebury.
Even with minimal advertising, the show drew a packed crowd; Hepburn Zoo was so full that many students resorted to sitting on the floor or standing behind the seated audience.
Each comedian performed a set ranging from five to 10 minutes. Although most comedians focused on campus life, some also touched on memories from childhood, life after graduation — even the wild west.
Unlike improv, which allows a group of performers to bounce jokes off of each other, stand-up highlights performers as individuals.
“In improv you have a team. In stand-up, its all you, and you’re making a personal connection with the audience, revealing something about yourself,” Benay said.
This comedy style can prove both freeing and frightening.
“Having to write things, having to perform jokes over and over again — you get more in your head, which can be terrifying,” he continued.
Schwartzwald, who discovered stand-up through his background in theater, shared similar sentiments about the liberties and difficulties of stand-up.
“When you are acting, things are usually so rehearsed that you know exactly what’s coming,” he said. “Stand-up is a little scarier, because the burden of coming up with material is on you. But it’s also really rewarding to be the writer, director and performer of your material.”
Each comedian prepared for Friday’s show differently. Benay came up with many of his jokes while driving to Burlington for dinner last week.
“There’s no formula to it. I never sit down in the library and say, ‘Okay, time to write some jokes,’” Benay said. “You come up with a premise — a lot of time its a topic you have thought about before. Then you just think about ways to make it funny.”
Dorris likes to work with an audience to develop his jokes.
“I tend to scribble down ideas throughout the day that I later type up and flesh out in a massive word doc on my computer,” Dorris said. “Then I go up on stage with some partially formed ideas and see if I can work some ideas out in front of an audience.”
Nick Libbey ’13 shared approving reviews of the show and excitement about the growth of stand-up on campus.
“It’s always amazing to hear the improv kids get up and deliver their own stuff,” Libbey said. “These guys offer a new view on college and refreshing commentary about daily life.”
Caroline DeCamp ’14, a seasoned improv-goer, enjoyed the show for its change of pace.
“It was cool to see some of the people in Middlebrow and the Otters perform individually,” DeCamp said. “Their humor tended to be more introspective and self-deprecating than improv — a new style that was different and fun.”
Melissa MacDonald ’15, one of the MC’s of the show and a member of Middlebrow herself, has high hopes for the future of stand-up at Middlebury.
“I think a lot of us are hoping that pretty soon stand-up shows will be a regular occurrence on campus,” MacDonald said. “There are a lot of funny people at Middlebury, and the student-body has a wide range of tastes when it comes to comedy.”
The next stand-up show — and last show of the year — is scheduled for Sunday, May 5th in Hepburn Zoo at 8 p.m. The show will feature Benay, Dorris, and visiting Los Angeles-based comedian Chris Thayer. Until then, you can keep up with the funny by following Dorris on Twitter @GregDorris!
(03/14/13 4:00am)
The Aliens, a play written by Massachusetts-based playwright Annie Baker, premiered in Hepburn Zoo last Thursday and drew packed crowds during its three-night run. The show starred improv actors from both Otter Nonsense and Middlebrow: Greg Dorris ’13, Adam Benay ’14 and Tom Califra ’14, with Adam Milano ’15 as director.
The play profiled Jasper and KJ, two best friends who loiter behind a small-town Vermont coffee shop most days, contemplating Bukowski poems, wind farms and lost loves. Califra played Jasper, an aspiring novelist who never went to college, and Benay played KJ, a UVM dropout. Dorris played Evan, a timid employee of the coffee shop and high school senior. Over the course of the show, Jasper and KJ befriend Evan, welcoming him into their broken but thoughtful world.
Despite their backgrounds in comedy, Dorris, Benay and Califra tackled the seriousness of The Aliens with impressive force, demonstrating not only a subtle mastery of the material, but an intimate understanding of the complexities of the human experience.
“I think a lot of people will come expecting it to be funny,” explained Dorris. “There are funny moments … but it’s a mix. My character Evan is this high school student who is very, very nervous and always humiliated. There are moments where that’s really funny, and there are moments where that’s totally heartbreaking.”
Indeed, the mix of humor and humanity is what makes The Aliens so powerfully moving. Beneath its simple plot line, the show explored topics — death, happiness and our innate yearning for meaningful connection — that touched audience members on a visceral level.
“I was blown away,” Alex Strott ’15 said after watching Saturday’s performance. “The acting was so convincing and moving that I cried on more than one occasion.” Her reaction certainly lives up to director Milano’s hopes.
“I hope that the audience becomes invested enough and opens themselves up enough that they can leave the theater still thinking about what [The Aliens] means to them,” Milano said before the opening night performance. “Everyone’s going to get different things out of this play.”
Because the show was not for credit, the cast was required to rehearse on their own time, in any space they could find on campus. Nevertheless, the actors took their roles very seriously, as was evident in intensity and honesty of their performances.
“It’s scary in the beginning because you like the play on the page and you want to serve that well,” Dorris noted. “I feel like we all asked a lot of each other.”
Perhaps it is because they invested so much of themselves in the show, but the cast found The Aliens just as rewarding as the audience found it moving.
“You blink and two hours have gone by and you actually feel like you spent that time doing something entirely constructive,” Benay said, describing their rehearsals. “I don’t often get to spend two or three or four hours doing something where every second of it helped who I am and what I want to do.”
“It’s just so nice to get invested in a piece that you thought you knew and find yourself surprised by new stuff,” Milano added. “It will grow every time we do it.”
The soulful, live music between scenes; the simple set; the small, cramped theater itself, which inspired a sense of closeness to the actors—each piece of the production came together to amplify the tension and tenderness the cast brought to the material. I have to agree with Phil Hughes ’14, who raved, “Hands down best piece of theater I’ve seen at this school.”
(03/07/13 5:00am)
This past Saturday the Hirschfield International Film Festival screened Tuesday, After Christmas, a Romanian movie that was not only selected for the Cannes and New York Film Festivals, but also received rave reviews from critics across the country. It has been touted as “deeply affecting, brilliantly performed” by Time Out, New York; “a further example of Romanian virtuosity” by the Village Voice; and “a remarkable, pitch- perfect work” by the Los Angeles Times. With this high praise and acclaim in mind, I sat down to watch the movie with high expectations. Unfortunately, they were never met. In fact, I found Tuesday, After Christmas disappointingly flat, with poor character development and a plot line too simple for the topics it explored.
Tuesday, After Christmas was released in 2010 and directed by the popular Romanian filmmaker Radu Muntean. It follows a married, middle-aged businessman named Paulo, who falls in love with his daughter’s young dentist, Raluca. Paulo hopes that his feelings for Raluca will eventually wane and that his family life will return to normal, but after five months of secret meetings and intimate phone calls, he finds himself so hopelessly in love with Raluca that he cannot bear to keep their relationship secret.
He comes clean to his wife, Adriana, on Christmas eve, shattering forever their small family. Adriana demands that Paulo move out of the house, and he obliges, transferring his things into Raluca’s apartment just hours before Christmas dinner at his parents’ house. He and Adriana plan to wait until after Christmas to tell their daughter and Paulo’s parents about the break-up, but it is clear, in the final dinner scene, that their holiday cheer is only an act, put on to save those they love from the repercussions of adultery — at least for a little while.
Although the actors’ performances are wonderfully nuanced and raw, the movie suffers from poor character development. As director, Muntean is so devoted to portraying Paulo’s inner turmoil that he loses other important details. We never learn much about the evolution of Paulo’s relationship with Adriana, for example, and we know little about Adriana herself or how she feels about her marriage (a marriage that seems lacking in passion but certainly affectionate and close). Similarly, Raluca’s backstory is unclear, as is the backstory of her and Paulo’s romance. These details are important, and would humanize an otherwise flat film, and because we are never given a full enough portrait of any one character, we never feel particularly connected to Paulo’s struggle.
Adultery seems to have become somewhat commonplace in the storyline of the modern romance — or at least the frequency with which it is presented in entertainment would have us believe so. Muntean paints adultery as an every day sort of sin by highlighting the unimpressiveness of his characters and their lives. Paulo himself is not particularly handsome or successful. He lives in a small house, holds a steady, boring job and spends his evenings picking up groceries. Although the simplicity of his story is not necessarily a problem in itself, coupled with poorly developed characters, it makes for a long and monotonous 99-minutes. For a movie exploring a topic as rich with complexity, humanity and morality as adultery, Tuesday, After Christmas failed to move me.
Tuesday, After Christmas was sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series and Russian and East European studies program. For more information about the Hirschfield International Film Series, check out go/Hirschfield. Next week’s documentary, Nostalgia for the Light, explores the Atacama Desert as the convergence point for celestial glory, archaeological investigations, and buried memories of political violence.