theater – Page 2

Assistant Professor of Theater Maria-Christina Oliveras was supposed to be a lawyer. While growing up in the Bronx, Oliveras became fascinated with musicals thanks to her father, an immigrant from Puerto Rico with a passion for “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Man of La Mancha.” She performed at her high school in New Rochelle, then majored in Theater at Yale University. As an undergraduate, she interned at the Manhattan Theatre Club and started acting professionally in "South Pacific.” After two years auditioning in New York, she pursued her M.F.A. at the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver before joining with a…

Actor Greig Sargeant was watching a debate on YouTube in the fall of 2019 and he started getting very angry. It wasn’t new footage, though – the clip was over 54 years old. In February 1965, writers James Baldwin, one of the most powerful figures of the Civil Rights Movement, and William F. Buckley, Jr., the father of 20th century patrician conservatism, had been invited to the Cambridge University Union in England to debate the proposition “The American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro.” “It was definitely relevant for me, being a Black man and seeing this…

On March 18, the Center for the Arts presented "A Conversation with Theater Artist Miranda Haymon ’16." Haymon, visiting instructor of theater, is Wesleyan's inaugural Breaking New Ground Theater Artist-in-Residence, a new residency that brings early-career Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) theater artists to campus. The discussion was led by Sam Morreale ’19. During the conversation, Haymon discussed artistic processes, Blackness, queerness, Brechtian analysis, the impacts of the pandemic on artmaking, and ideas for the future. Haymon compared a theater performance to a "living document" in which the performance, audience, and actors are constantly changing. "The work changes, and…

Edward Torres, assistant professor of the practice in theater, was named an Old Globe 2021 Classical Directing Fellow. Torres has directed multiple productions at the San Diego, Calif.-based Old Globe, including Familiar, Native Gardens, and Water by the Spoonful, as well as two readings for the Powers New Voices Festivals. He recently directed a podcast version of Macbeth for NEXT Podcast and Play On Shakespeare. Torres directed the premiere of Kristoffer Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Victory Gardens Theater and Teatro Vista, which won two Jeff Awards. He's also the artistic director emeritus at Teatro Vista. Led…

The Theater Department presented its fall show, SLABBER, Oct. 16–18 on the Center for the Arts green. The socially-distanced performances were open for groups of 48 audience members at a time. Directed by Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl, SLABBER introduced the audience to a group of enigmatic figures who have traveled to Wesleyan to diagnose their mysterious condition—one they have been suffering from for years. As they reveal their research, audience members are pulled deep into a fable of an outcast little girl, the history of Middletown, and a soap-cutting machine known only as the slabber. This performance asked…

Watch the full event recording online here. And RSVP for the Theater Deparment's next event, "A Conversation with Associate Professor Rashida Shaw McMahon" at 4 p.m. Oct. 19. "Thank you again for all your support and presence," Oliveras said. "The first of many conversations, as we collectively lean into the stickiness and beautiful potential change of this moment."

Watch a "Storied Places" video below:

Reserve your spot for a SLABBER performance here.

The shows must go on. Rather than allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to force a final curtain call on theatrical productions, Wesleyan's Theater Department pivoted to an online format. On May 1, and again on May 2, the department offered livestreamed performances of The Method Gun, featuring 10 student-actors. A replay of the Saturday performance is available for viewing on The Method Gun @ Wes website. After countless hours of line rehearsals, overcoming technical frustrations, and learning how to act and teach theater in a virtual world, show director and Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl breathed a sigh of relief…

Wesleyan in the News 1. The Open Mind: "Democratizing the Jury" Associate Professor of Government Sonali Chakravarti is interviewed in connection with her new book, Radical Enfranchisement in the Jury Room and Public Life, in which she offers a "full-throated defense of juries as a democratic institution." "I am very interested in how ordinary people engage with political institutions, and juries are the place where ordinary people have the most power," she says. Chakravarti calls for more robust civic education, continuing into adulthood, in order to have a "more effective, modern jury system." 2. Hartford Courant: "Sen. Murphy, Aiming to…

From Wisconsin to Massachusetts, Assistant Professor of Theater Katie Pearl has visited five small American towns named Milton and developed a series of performances, each focused on (and performed in) a particular Milton. Since 2012, Pearl and Lisa D'Amour—known collectively as PearlDamour—have led the performance and community engagement experiment. In November 2019, PearlDamour released MILTON, a book that includes the full text of PearlDamour's North Carolina performance, along with photos and excerpts from performances in Oregon and Massachusetts, and essay reflections on the process and practice of community-based art-making. For more than 20 years, Obie-Award winning PearlDamour has pushed the boundaries…

“Building Muscles of Empathy:” Oliveras on Teaching Acting, a Pre-Broadway Run at Hartford Stage, and Embodying Antiracism

New Play Reflects on the Ongoing Effect of Racism on the American Dream

Haymon ’16, Morreale ’19 Discuss Theatermaking

Torres Named 2021 Classical Directing Fellow for Old Globe

Theater Department Performs Socially-Distanced Fall Show, SLABBER

BIPOC Artists and Theatermakers Discuss the Challenges of Working in White Spaces

Stanton, Hoggard Discuss Collaborative “Storied Places” during Faculty Luncheon Series

Theater Department’s Interdisciplinary “Talk It Out” Focuses on Contagion and Pandemics

Wesleyan Illuminates 2 Campus Buildings in Support of Restart Day of Action

Theater Department Produces, Livestreams The Method Gun

Wesleyan in the News

Pearl Creates MILTON, a Performance, Community Engagement Experience