Spring Awakening is a difficult play: difficult in its dark subject matter and complex textual foundation, difficult in the inherent interplay between reality and expressionism and difficult to review in the context of multiple losses of community members and ensuing discussions of high levels of student ...
The final weekend of “Gaypril,” a month devoted to creating more visibility for LGBTQ groups on campus, was celebrated by the timely premiere of Millennium Approaches, Part I of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Written by Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores ...
Dance-making has deep roots, in the experiences of choreographer and dancer alike. For the four senior dance majors whose choreographic work composed “Threshold” this past weekend, their research in various fields deeply informed their pieces. For all of the works, the choreographers engaged in ...
WRMC’s annual spring concert, Sepomana, offered an exciting and eclectic lineup of acts spanning genres and continents. Hosted in the McCullough Student Center’s Wilson Hall, acts made creative use of space, light and sound to create a consistently surprising experience. Opener and student band ...
The sun is shining, trees are blooming and Paul Lewis is returning to Middlebury. This Friday, the Performing Arts Series offers a sell-out concert to bring the season and the school year to a triumphant finale. Lewis will be performing Beethoven’s last three sonatas with the characteristic mastery ...
It is a bit of a break from the norm for this column to talk about a car company, but on April 30 Tesla Motors unveiled a product that transforms the electric car manufacturer to an energy storage company that has the potential to transform the way energy is used fundamentally. Elon Musk, the CEO of ...
In a general way, I think that the saddest stories are the ones that depict injustice against decent people. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan does more than this, processing an archetypal Russian film protagonist named Kolya through an almost-comically horrible downfall at the hands of political evil. ...
Melissa MacDonald ’15’s directorial adaptation of Martin Crimp’s play Fewer Emergencies, Emergency 1A, was presented April 23-25 in the Hepburn Zoo. Above all, it is driven by stories. There is no true plot. The characters, in all of their variations, lack a history or true identity. Instead, ...
The second faculty show of the semester, Spring Awakening, will usher in a 19th-century tale of sexuality that proved to be far ahead of its times. Written by German dramatist Frank Wedekind in 1891, the play offers a harrowing perspective of suicide, rape, child abuse, abortion and other difficult ...
In an interview with Vans, Montreal DJ extraordinaire Lunice proclaimed about his own music, “what I’m trying to really build up this year is to really make it very involved, in a sense where it doesn’t need to be turned up, but it definitely needs to be cool,” a statement that could very well ...
On Saturday, April 25, the fifth annual Bach Festival Concert presented a thrilling combination of students, community members and professionals in an enthusiastic display of musical colors to a packed audience in the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Now celebrating its fifth ...
Few things give me more satisfaction than experiencing peers’ and professors’ work. Sometimes it’s too easy to get lost in the system of Middlebury and forget the passion and purpose driving this college experience. So many students are working on so many incredible things that we often take our ...
Despite the polarization of politics, Republicans and Democrats continue to unite on at least one issue: National Institute of Health, or NIH, funding. I was pleasantly surprised by Newt Gingrich’s Op-Ed, “Double the NIH Budget” in the New York Times last Wednesday, in which he argued in favor ...
In 1980, Billy Joel was established as a global superstar in the music world. He had released a string of remarkably successful albums, starting with 1976’s Turnstiles, which brought him well into the public eye with anthems such as “New York State of Mind.” This popularity exploded the next year ...
Live music is a strange thing on this campus. One can never be quite certain of what will hit or miss, whether people will show up, stick around or ditch a show for the weekend party rounds. There was an undercurrent of excitement, confidence and yes, palpable irony that surrounded the announcement ...
Mental illness is a difficult and messy ordeal. Addressing it can be heartbreaking, controversial and immensely uncomfortable. Next to Normal dared to tackle the complicated issue this past weekend, April 16-18, in a rock-musical that touched on everything from bipolar disorder to electroconvulsive ...
The Middlebury Bach Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary April 24-26 with an original and exciting presentation of musical ensembles and styles celebrating the life and work of legendary organist and composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Founded and organized by singer and Director of Music at The Congregational ...
This Friday, Miguel Castillo ’17.5 and Lorena Neira ’17 use simple, deliberate movements to enact a wordless drama that evokes some of the universal truth we see etched across the history of the world. Together, they will stage a performance that offers visceral interpretation of the timeless idea ...
Alright. Four guards patrolling the room to the right, one guard in an alcove to the left. Shoot forward and they’ll all come running. But I’m standing in a bottleneck, so I should be able to get all of them. Okay, let’s do th— Shoot. Dead again. Okay, restart. Maybe I have to shoot and back ...
I am exhausted. We are all exhausted. The unrelenting surge of assignments and job applications saps our reserves like a tap into a maple tree. Though some may contend the role of God, I think we can all agree our souls are in need of refreshment. What we need this weekend is a nice B&B. Not a bed ...