Olivia DrakeThe Wesleyan Theater Department presented Caryl Churchill's The Skriker Nov. 19, 20, 21 and 22 in the Center for the Arts Theater. The play was directed by Bob Bresnick, visiting assistant professor in theater with costume designs and puppet designs by Leslie Weinberg, artist in residence in theater. Churchill describes the title character in The Skriker as a "polluted, not-believed-in nature spirit who comes up to the world to get love, attention and revenge." The Skriker tries to enlist the help of two friends: one pregnant and one who has killed her child. With tragic poetry and stunning linguistic pyrotechnics, the play…
Ron Jenkins, professor of theater, was featured in the June 23 issue of ODE Magazine in an article titled "Laughter can set people free." Jenkins argues that laughter is a survival tactic for people under siege. “For ages, comedy has been used as a liberating tool for people, especially in oppressive regimes, to confront, ridicule and criticize the powerful," Jenkins says in the article. Jenkins recalls how he began his study of laughter: "When I was in pre-medical school, I was trying to help a child with autism who never made eye contact and who never spoke, [except to] repeat…
The Chicago Tribune reviewed Look, What I Don't Understand, a solo-performance by Anthony Nikolchev ’08, co-directed by the Assistant Professor of Theater Yuriy Kordonskiy, lighting design by Anna Martin ’09. The production was originally developed as a student show at Wesleyan and moved to its four-week professional run at the Chicago Athenaeum Theatre in January 2009. This one-man drama draws upon historical narratives experienced by Nikolchev's family during their 1960s escape from the totalitarian hostility of communist Bulgaria to detainment in America, challenging himself and audiences to comprehend the experience of past generations through the perspective of present generations. Other…