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(01/24/19 10:57am)
Now in its 14th year, the J-Term musical, a collaboration between the college and the Town Hall Theater, will present Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” this weekend. The musical production began in 2004 when Applied Music Faculty member Carol Christensen teamed up with Doug Anderson of the Town Hall Theater, and initially had a cast of six. However, over a decade later, the production has grown into a company of 22, and is a significant cultural event for the Middlebury community, within both the college and the town.
The musical fictitiously recounts the life of Georges Seurat, the 19th century French painter, and, as Christensen puts it, “his struggle with the demands of his art and its impact on his relationships, as he created his legendary painting, ‘A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte.”’ The two lead roles in the musical have been double cast, and Seurat will be played on alternating nights by Zach Varricchione ’21 and Michael Koutelos ’20, while his love interest Dot will be played by Olivia Christie ’19 and Ashley Fink ’19.
This particular musical is not the most well-known or popular, but according to Christensen, who serves as the Musical Director, and the cast, it is an impactful and exciting production with a unique score. “I’d say of all the musical scores I have played in the past 15 years, this particular Sondheim score is perhaps the most stunningly beautiful,” she said.
The musical provides Middlebury students with a unique opportunity to interact with residents of the town, and in its 14 years of production, the show has become a staple of entertainment in the community — in fact, all of the tickets often sell out within one day. Anderson, who serves as stage director for the show, notes that the musical is “one of the places where the school and the town community come together.”
“My whole staff here are local, but for three weeks in January, this building is full of both students and local people,” he said. “And that coming together of town and gown is what makes this special, and what makes it so enormously popular.”
Fink, who plays Dot, believes there is a lot for audiences to be excited about. “There will be wonderful choral numbers of the entire cast singing, which have so much power and spirit,” she said. “[Audiences] will be learning something about the prominent painter Georges Seurat, hearing great music, and hearing a story they can relate to.”
Both Fink and Christie, who also plays Dot, have been in four J-term musicals over the years, and this will be their last. “I’m feeling like I’ve come full circle,” Christie said.
Varricchione, who plays George, and Christie’s on-stage chemistry dates back to his first year of high school, where they performed in show choir together. The two remain close friends and have appreciated working opposite each other.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun working with Zach, he’s one of my best friends and it’s been great working on something so intense with him,” Christie said. “We support each other in real life, not just on stage, so that’s been really fruitful.”
All of the cast members noted how much of a challenge the music of Sondheim is to learn and perform. This particular production is also challenging because of the limited time frame that the cast has to rehearse — students begin rehearsing the music in fall semester with Christensen, but cannot begin staging the show until J-term, giving them less than three weeks to pull everything together.
“On the Monday before the Friday opening you always think ‘we’ll never open.’ But I’ve learned that these performers are very sharp people,” Anderson said. “I’ve been immensely proud of every single one of them, and I’m sure this will be success.”
“Sunday in the Park with George” is not a musical many are familiar with, but Christensen believes that audiences will see themselves in the show and consider how their own “passion for creativity” influences their experience of life, as it did for Seurat.
“The core of the show is about finding beauty in the most ordinary things and being reminded why we create art. It shows characters that we all either know in our own lives or identify with personally and it evokes an emotional response,” Varricchione said. “It’s been so fun exploring the ordinary in an extraordinary way.”
All of the performances are sold out, but students can still see “Sunday in the Park with George” tonight, Thursday, Jan. 24. There is a suggested donation of five dollars per student, 10 for adults, and ticket sales will begin at 6:30 p.m. Those still interested in seeing the performances can call the Town Hall Theater to be added to the waitlist.
(01/17/19 10:58am)
Five Middlebury debaters celebrated the new year seven hours ahead and thousands of miles away in Cape Town, South Africa at the largest debate competition in the world, the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC). Charlotte Massey ’18, Nate Obbard ’21, Amanda Werner ’21, Quinn Boyle ’21 and Van Barth ’21 competed in two-person teams with Massey and Obbard placing 70th in the world, Werner and Boyle placing 224th and Barth serving as a judge. Massey and Obbard’s performance was the best in Middlebury history.
Overall, the college team’s performance was also a personal best. In order to make it to the highly competitive elimination rounds, teams needed to gather 17 points over the course of nine rounds; Middlebury finished with 16. One team reached what is known as a bubble round, where the four teams closest to breaking into the elimination round compete against each other for the last spot.
“Unfortunately they didn’t win that last round, but just reaching that in itself is an accomplishment because it means that you’re one of the most competitive teams, fighting for that last spot,” Barth said.
Middlebury’s debate team has been attending the WUDC for over half a decade. The competition hosts over 400 teams representing more than 90 countries. Teams of two follow a British Parliamentary format, and have 15 minutes to come up with an argument on topics ranging from economics to religion to sports to ethics.
[pullquote speaker="Van Barth '21" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Unfortunately they didn’t win that last round, but just reaching that in itself is an accomplishment because it means that you’re one of the most competitive teams, fighting for that last spot.[/pullquote]
Students are selected to attend WUDC based on a try-out at the start of the semester. Four of the five debaters chosen for the championship were sophomores.
“At the beginning of each semester we debate each other and then we have a third-party person, who is not affiliated with our school and who knows debate, watch the round and rank us,” Werner explained. “Whoever had been given the ranking of first gets to choose whether or not they want to go and so on.”
The team’s coaches, who were chosen to judge at the competition, expressed pride in the debaters that attended WUDC.
“I am very proud of how much growth there has been from all team members,” coach Patricia Johnson-Castle said.
“The team really supported each other the whole trip — in and out of rounds,” coach Alexandra Sundarsingh said. “It was nice to see everyone have as much fun as they had hard work,”.
[pullquote speaker="Amanda Werner '21" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]People came from so many different backgrounds; they had entirely new perspectives to offer to the debate that perhaps we had never trained with or thought about.[/pullquote]
Alongside their competitive successes, the five students were able to participate in an incredible global experience. One of the most striking aspects of the event for most of the team was how different debate styles from different parts of the world were, especially since the Middlebury team often encounters the same people at tournaments around the northeast.
“People came from so many different backgrounds; they had entirely new perspectives to offer to the debate that perhaps we had never trained with or thought about,” Werner said. “It was really interesting to interact with all those different perspectives.”
“It was the most international group I’d ever seen,” Barth echoed. “To be able to judge all these people, since they all brought their different perspectives to the debate, was amazing.”
Obbard noted that it was somewhat frustrating to adapt to different styles of judges and competitors, but that it was also a valuable experience.
“It’s good to get out of the bubble where you walk into a room and think ‘I know this judge,’” Obard said. “It’s better to have strangers from all over the place who aren’t going to have U.S.-specific knowledge of the same examples that you do.”
The team also had four days outside of the competition to explore Cape Town. Some of them chose to take a 4 a.m. sunrise hike through the mountains overlooking the city.
“It was very strenuous, but then we got to watch the sun rise from behind the mountains and over the city and it was so beautiful,” Werner said. “It was at that moment that I realized how lucky and grateful I was to be there and do the activity that I love but also have time to explore the city.”
(12/06/18 10:58am)
There will be no more all-nighters this exam season — at least not in Davis Family Library.
The library will close at 2 a.m. this week and next week instead of remaining open 24/7 as it has in the past. This decision was made for several reasons, including budget challenges, general low usage during late-night hours and difficulty finding staff to work through the night. The change was also partly informed by concerns about the message that 24/7 library hours sends to students about sleep habits and wellness.
“We have had to look at things and say, ‘Are all of the services that we’re offering really being used to the best extent possible?”’ said Mike Roy, dean of the library.
Roy ultimately made the decision to adjust the library hours after looking at several factors. According to Roy, it costs roughly $3,000 to keep the library open 24/7 during exam week each semester. The library also tracks how many people are in the building during finals, and the numbers past 2 a.m. in previous years dwindled so much that staff felt there was no reason to make the building available. It was also difficult to find people to staff the library through the night.
This data led the library to extend their hours to 2 a.m. this exam week, an hour later than they typically close, rather than remaining open 24/7. The library will still close at 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, its normal closing time on those days.
Once the library decided that a lack of funding was one reason to cancel 24/7 exam week hours, the Student Government Association (SGA) discussed providing funding to maintain those hours.
“Some students were pushing back on this change because exam period is a really stressful time and it’s important for students to know that they have a place to go to check out books and get help,” said SGA Senator Rae Aaron ’19.5.
The SGA ultimately decided that it was not worthwhile to keep it open because so few students made use of the library during the early hours of the morning and because there are other available spaces on campus that do not require funding to remain open.
One of Roy’s concerns, based on feedback by students, was access to computers. He pointed out that there are two locations on campus that will be open 24/7 during exam week that provide computer access — the Axinn computer lab in Axinn 105 and the Sunderland computer lab in Sunderland 122. There are seven other study space locations that will be available 24/7 during finals, including Wilson Café, the study carrels in Hepburn, the Stewart 2 lounge and Pit, LaForce Library, the Milliken 3 lounge, the Milliken 2 lounge and the Fireplace Lounge in Ross.
Roy believes the library and the college are sending a positive message to the student body about health and wellness by offering limited hours during finals week.
“It sends a better message to say ‘It’s 2 a.m., you should go get some sleep,”’ Roy said.
The college’s health and wellness staff agreed.
“I’m excited about the new hours,” said Barbara McCall, director of health and wellness education. “I’m looking forward to community boundaries and policies that support the notion that students can and should take time to sleep at night, especially during exams.”
The Davis Family Library will be open until 2 a.m. on Sunday-Thursday, and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday for the rest of the semester.
(11/29/18 11:00am)
Five students from the college will compete at the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) from Dec. 27 to Jan. 4 at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The college’s debaters will be attending the largest college debate tournament in the world after many months of successes at debate tournaments around the globe.
The Middleury Debate Society is run by President Amanda Werner ’21, Vice President Hadjara Gado ’21 and Captain Charlotte Massey ’19.
The team will send two teams and a judge to South Africa this winter for WUDC: Massey, Werner, Nathan Obbard ’21 and Quinn Boyle ’21 as debaters and Van Barth ’21 as a judge.
“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to represent Middlebury at Worlds this year, and I am excited to meet debaters from around the world who will challenge and broaden my current perspectives about different topics,” Werner said.
The organization has had many successes since last spring, when Warner and Gado won the novice championships for the North American Women’s Championships and Massey made the Grand Finals, becoming eighth speaker overall. Massey and Ceryn Schoel ’19.5 made semifinals at America’s Cup, while Nathan Obbard ’21 and Van Barth ’21 made novice finals at the George Washington University Championships.
This fall, the Debate Society sent first years to compete at the McGill Central Novice Championships in Montreal, where they performed well overall and Massey was selected to judge.
“I’m proud of the new debaters who performed well at the McGill tournament in Montreal back in September,” Barth said. “They really took a leap of faith and competed at a tournament only three weeks after arriving on campus.”
Two Middlebury teams came close to the quarterfinal rounds at the Hart House Inter-Varsity at the University of Toronto. And on Nov. 8 and 9, two teams competed at the Oxford IV, one of the most competitive and prestigious debate tournaments in the world, with both teams nearly making quarterfinals. Massey entered the Grand Finals at Oxford Women’s Championship, another challenging and prestigious tournament.
(11/29/18 10:56am)
College students and the community have the opportunity again this year to come together for racial justice and movies — the Middlebury Marquis will be organizing their Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) film series for the second time this winter with a new selection of films and fundraisers.
The Marquis partnered with the national organization SURJ, which encourages white people to fight for racial justice and organize against racism, and Black Lives Matter Vermont to show films to the Middlebury community that highlight themes of racial justice and discrimination. The Marquis first joined with SURJ to put on the film “I Am Not Your Negro,” a film about black writer and social critic James Baldwin, in 2017. After the success of that showing, Marquis owner Ben Wells decided it was time to expand their mission into a film series.
“It is an opportunity where people from the community can come together and talk about some of the events and issues in the world specifically around racial justice, or the lack thereof,” Wells said.
Last year’s film series covered a variety of topics, from the influence of Native Americans on rock ‘n’ roll music to the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage, to the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprisings and more.
The first selection this year, which was shown on Wednesday, Nov. 14, was “Sorry to Bother You,” a 2018 film that addresses race and poverty in the context of telemarketing. The film is based on a short story by rapper and writer Boots Riley, and portrays a young black man named Cassius Green in an alternate modern-day Oakland, California, who takes a job as a telemarketer. In the business, he learns about the power of the “white voice” and uses an affected speaking style to talk to customers on the phone, making more sales as a result of the voice. Success in telemarketing, however, has consequences, as Cassius is asked to sell things he isn’t comfortable selling.
“Sorry to Bother You” is a perfect film for the series, because it includes strong themes of racial justice and is also a captivating and interesting film with elements of magical realism and humor. The film will also be shown on campus as part of the Hirschfield Series on Saturday, Dec. 1 in the Dana Auditorium, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Next in the series, the Marquis will be showing “The Hate U Give,” a 2018 film about a teenage black girl who witnesses the shooting of a friend by a cop and her subsequent involvement in the world of advocacy and civil rights in response to his death. The film will be playing on Wednesday, Dec. 12.
Although there will be a break in the series for January, the theater is considering a couple of films for the following months, including “Green Book,” about the friendship between a black pianist and an Italian-American man from the Bronx; “Blindspotting,” about a pair of friends whose relationship is tested after they witness a police shooting; and “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” about teenagers in a gay conversion therapy camp.
All of the films are associated with a fundraiser organized through SURJ. The showing of “Sorry to Bother You” raised money for Monica Cannon, a Black Lives Matter activist in Boston, who is pregnant and unable to afford a doula. Past fundraisers have involved the Vermont chapter of the ACLU, the African American Policy Forum in NYC, Black Lives Matter VT, the Addison Allies Network, Migrant Justice, The Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe and the Rutland Area NAACP.
Wells sees the SURJ series as an opportunity to open new eyes to racial inequality and discrimination throughout the country. SURJ organizers Kathy Comstock and Joanna Colwell hope that the majority-white Middlebury community learns from the series, and that individuals who might not be exposed to or aware of certain aspects of racial justice have such an opportunity.
“What I hope is that our Middlebury community can get more comfortable with the fact that we are a very white town, and we need to acknowledge the privilege that this affords us,” Comstock said.
Colwell said, “I feel like our mostly white, progressive community is inching toward a better understanding of race, and I hope we white people are getting a bit closer to understanding our own whiteness, and understanding all the racist messages we have absorbed, and the harm that we cause when we don’t work to dismantle white supremacy in ourselves and the spaces we inhabit.”
SURJ is an organization that has faced opposition in the past because of lack of accountability to people of color-led organizations and the debate over the existence of white-led racial justice groups. However, the Middlebury chapter of SURJ makes extensive efforts to stay accountable by sharing financial resources with organizations led by people of color, and by showing up to events run by these groups in support and solidarity. They also work to encourage community members to become a part of Black Lives Matter VT and are hoping to form a relationship with the Black Student Union on campus.
Film as a medium has incredible value, and can be used in important and influential ways.
“I hope that these films give us the platform to stand on and become more verbal and physically active to change the inequities that exist in our neighborhoods and in our country,” Comstock said.
(11/15/18 10:57am)
The way that Coralie Tyler ’20, writer and director of “Imperator,” describes the Cleopatra of her play is surprisingly similar to how many students might describe themselves.
“She’s just trying to figure things out and look for an answer,” Tyler said. “Imperator” ran from Nov. 8 to 10 in the Hepburn Zoo, and is set after the Battle of Actium. Starring Charlotte Cahillane ’19.5 and Ryan McCrorey ’20 as Cleopatra and the spirit of Julius Caesar, respectively, “Imperator” is a play that, while depicting a conversation from over 2,000 years ago, has modern resonance.
Consisting of only one act, “Imperator” is intentionally about a single moment. A director’s note in the program reminds viewers of the significance of a moment, of everything that can change or be lost within one. This “single moment” structure allows Cleopatra to reflect on every second of her past and all the minutes of her future as she makes an incredibly pivotal decision.
At the same time, the “moment” is separate from the chaos of Cleopatra’s life post-Battle of Actium, and allows a rare period of contemplation in the hectic, high-stakes life of the ancient ruler. The set reflects this unusual stillness, dark and dotted with warm candles, centered around a casket that protrudes into the audience, blurring the line between stage and spectator. The casket represents the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great, which is frequently a point of contemplation for the characters. Cleopatra and Caesar are clothed in white robes, and the pristine brightness of the robes and black of the set are only marred by a red, bloody handprint on the cheek of Cleopatra.
The most striking thing about the moment depicted in “Imperator” is that the audience already knows that there is no happy ending, no beautiful reconciliation in store — Caesar is already dead and the tragic fate of Cleopatra is well-known. However, in the fifty minutes during which the audience experiences this reunion and reflection, it is easier to imagine that she is a woman with a lot of options, a woman who controls her own fate.
Unfortunately, as Cleopatra realizes, “We are merely mortals who act like gods.”
“I felt like Cleopatra expects a lot of herself and other people and refuses to accept anything less than she deserves,” Cahillane said of her character. “Having the chance to portray such a dynamic and historically monumental individual was something I never expected and I hope that my depiction did her justice.”
Tyler, a theater and film joint major, wrote “Imperator” in a Playwriting I class with Professor Dana Yeaton seven months ago. The events of the play were inspired by Tyler’s experience in a History of Rome class with Professor Jane Chaplin in her first year where she learned about the complex lives of Cleopatra and Caesar.
“If those two were to meet again after everything that’s happened, what would they talk about? What would they get into given the nature of their relationship?” Tyler said.
It’s not easy for a playwright to put their vision out into the world, or to translate it from paper to the stage. Tyler wasn’t exactly planning to direct “Imperator,” but after re-drafting the script a couple of times over the summer, she convinced herself that she had already written something that she liked and that she would have fun with.
“I remember looking at the script for ‘Imperator’ and thinking, ‘It would be really nice to put it up,’ but it just felt so special, like I was looking at a baby of sorts,” Tyler said. “I was hesitant to touch it at first.”
This hesitation didn’t stop the show from coming together. “It was clear from the start that [Tyler] wanted this to be a project that we could relate and connect to and have fun creating,” Cahillane said. “Coralie’s motivation and drive were palpable during each of our rehearsals.”
From start to finish, putting on “Imperator” took roughly seven months, from the writing of the script, to putting together a crew, to rehearsals and the opening night. Over the summer, Tyler began working with stage manager Hannah Abdelaal ’21 and the design team, made up of sound designer Caroline Harrison ’19.5, oratory consultant Khan Kim ’19, costume designer Merri McMahon ’18.5 and lighting designer Allyson Stevens ’19.
With all the energy of a student-produced performance, and the detail and power of a gifted playwright, Tyler’s “Imperator” exists in the space between ancient and modern times. The set, performances and script come together to transport audiences to the classical world, but also allow them to contextualize their own lives.
One of Cleopatra’s final sentiments may not reach audiences in its specific content, but it will in its message: “What is the point of ruling the world if you can’t share it with the ones you love?”
(10/28/18 5:37pm)
Blockchain technology is intersecting with liberal arts thinking strategies thanks to Pedro Miranda ’19.5 and the college’s new Blockchain Club. Miranda, the founder and president, was inspired to create the club after working at blockchain consulting firm ConsenSys this past summer and wanted to bring his experiences back to the college in an innovative way.
“Blockchain technology refers to a particular way in which data is stored, transferred and secured,” said Michael Borenstein ’19, a club member. “A blockchain is a decentralized database where everyone has a copy of the database itself and is responsible for keeping it up to date and verifying new entries to the database.
“I realized that I had an advantage being a liberal arts student. I had more problem-solving capabilities, more holistic methods,” Miranda said. “I wanted to bring my experience back to campus.”
Miranda’s goal is to prove that there is value in the interaction between liberal arts, blockchain and other technology. In this respect, the first two meetings of the club have been successful — roughly 40 percent of attendees came from a computer science background, another 40 percent from economics, and the remaining 20 percent from a variety of majors, including political science, philosophy and mathematics. One of the club’s goals is to reach people with technical and non-technical backgrounds.
At the meetings, students engage in blockchain news updates, lessons in the technology and facilitated discussions.
The club also engages with the Middlebury Investment Committee, who came to a meeting to speak about cryptocurrency. Connor O’Day ’17, who works at ConsenSys, will be speaking at the club on Nov. 7.
“I want to prove that it is worth talking about technology in a liberal arts environment,” Miranda said. “What makes us so unique is that we’re able to address a very technical concept in a holistic and broad manner.”
Other club executives include Vice President Chris Amata ’20 and board members Michael Borenstein ’19, Alex Baskin ’19, Youssef Halim ’20.5 and David Valentin ’19. The Middlebury Blockchain Club meets on Wednesdays on a bi-weekly basis, in Bicentennial Hall room 220.