FALL 2011
BLACK BOX SEMINAR PRODUCTION
PILGRIMS OF THE NIGHT by Len Jenkin
Directed by Alma Becker
October 20 - 25, 2011
Thursday and Friday, October 20th & 21st at 8:00pm
Saturday, October 22nd at 2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sunday, October 23rd at 2:00pm
Monday and Tuesday, October 24th and 25th at 7:00pm
FALL 2011 THRUST STAGE SEMINAR PRODUCTION
PASSION PLAY by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Carolyn Anderson
Friday and Saturday, November 18th - 19th at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 20th at 2:00pm
Thursday through Saturday, December 1st - 3rd at 7:30pm
Sunday, December 4th at 2:00pm
SPRING 2012
PENELOPE
by Ellen McLaughlin
February 17th, 2012 at 8 PM
Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater
Award-winning actor and playwright Ellen McLaughlin and author of Ajax in Iraq, brings her one-woman theater piece Penelope to Skidmore. The play is based on the story of the patient wife of Odysseus who knitted while waiting for her husband to return from the Trojan War.
A woman's ex-husband appears at her door after an absence of 20 years, suffering from brain damage. A veteran of a modern war, he doesn't know who he is and she doesn't know who he's become. While they wait together for his return to himself, she reads him 'The Odyssey,' and in the journey of that book, she finds a way into her former husband's memory and the terror and trauma of war."
McLaughlin, known for originating the role of the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, has also appeared as The Homebody in Homebody/Kabul (Intiman Theater); Pirate Jenny in Threepenny Opera (Trinity Rep., Elliot Norton Award); Mrs. Alving in Ghosts (Berkeley Rep); and Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (McCarter and the Paper Mill Playhouse). Her plays include Ajax in Iraq, Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, Helen, The Trojan Women, The Persians and Oedipus.
She is the recipient of grants from the Fund for New American Plays and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the winner of The Great American Play Contest, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Writer's Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. She has taught playwriting in numerous venues, including Yale School of Drama and Princeton University. She has been teaching at Barnard since 1995. She is a member of New Dramatists and served on the board of T.C.G. for many years.
RUNNING INTO ME
by Vickie Tanner
February 18th, 2012 at 8 PM
Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater
Running Into Me tells the compelling story of Vickie Tanner’s beating the odds and succeeding, despite a misguided upbringing in the poor, urban neighborhood of Compton, CA. As she plays various family members and other characters in her troubled past, she also explores the lives of today’s urban youth through reenacted interviews she conducted during her 10 years of work with New York City teens. Vickie interweaves these interviews throughout her personal narrative, taking us on an odyssey into the minds of young people while painting an insightful portrait of her own roundabout journey: from Compton teenager to New York City actor, then back to the urban neighborhoods as a teaching artist.
Vickie Tanner, holds a BFA in Theatre from California State University at Long Beach and trained with Maggie Flannigan at the Maggie Flannigan and William Esper Studios in New York. Among her theatre credits are STOMP (Orpheum Theatre, National and European Tours); world premiere of TANTALUS, Denver Center Theatre and British tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Ed Hall and Sir Peter Hall, TWO DAYS, Long Wharf Theatre, by Donald Margulies, directed by Lisa Peterson, and THAT DAMN DYKSTRA at Access Theatre. She has performed her solo show RUNNING INTO ME regionally at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca, NY, Union college, at Queen’s Theatre in the Park, 78th Street Theatre Lab, and Dixon Place Theatre and Cherry Lane Theatre. Film credits include Drop Back Ten, Acts of Worship, No Way Out and The Apology. Television: NYPD Blue, STOMP Out Loud, Wonderland, directed by Peter Berg, Law and Order SVU, and Mercy.
SPRING 2012 BLACK BOX SEMINAR PRODUCTION
DOG SEES GOD by Bert Royal
Directed by Margaret Smith '12
March 2 - 7, 2012
Friday and Saturday, March 2nd & 3rd at 8:00pm
Sunday, March 4th at 2:00pm
Monday March 5th through Wednesday March 7th at 7:00pm
In this politically charged and provocative tragicomedy, Bert V. Royal, re-imagines the iconic Peanuts characters as teenagers, and transports them to high school. Dog Sees God is a biting, yet, extremely poignant unauthorized parody which explores salient social issues such as bullying and harassment, homophobia, and the desperate quest for identity and meaning.
DOG SEES GOD has not been authorized or approved in any manner by the Charles M. Schulz Estate or United Features Syndicate, which have no responsibility for its content.SPRING 2012 THRUST STAGE SEMINAR PRODUCTION
AJAX IN IRAQ by Ellen McLaughlin
Directed by Lary Opitz
April 13 - 22
Friday, April 13th and Saturday, April 14th at 8:00pm
Sunday, April 15th at 2:00pm
Thursday, April 19th through Saturday, April 21st at 8:00pm
Sunday, April 22nd at 2:00pm
Past and Present collide in Ellen McLaughlin's mash-up of Sophocles' classic tragedy Ajax with the recently ended war in Iraq. The play follows the parallel narratives of Ajax, an ancient Greek military hero, and A. J., a modern female American soldier, and explores the timeless struggle soldiers face in trying to make sense of war.
SPRING 2012 PLAYWRIGHTS' LAB PRODUCTION
THE BLACK BOX THEATRE
A New Play (title to be announced) by Nikkitha Bakshani '12
Directed by Marie Glotzbach
April 25 - 26
Wednesday, April 25th and Thursday, April 26th at 8:00pm
We often feature new plays written by our students through series of readings and workshops. In collaboration with our playwriting classes, we are pleased to be presenting a production of this new work. The play received a staged reading last semester and will be further developed during the spring.
FALL 2011 & SPRING 2012 WORKSHOPS AND PROJECTS
Our workshop program provides students with the opportunity to explore their interests in acting, directing and playwriting. Each semester, students develop theater projects in consultation with a faculty advisor, culminating with performances in the Rehearsal Studios. Workshops are generally in Studio A on the second floor of the JKB Theater at 8pm unless otherwise noted.
PRIDE and OTHER PROBLEMS
Directed by Rebecca McCourt, '14
September 30th, 3:45 pm and 6:30pm in Studio A
YOU, ME AND Wii
by Sue Townsend
Directed by Margaret Smith, '12
In this inherently British, dark comedy, Sue Townsend, explores class, gender, and political tensions that plague contemporary England as a female Member of Parliament and a disaffected and disengaged family collide in an unlikely scene, and ultimately achieve a mutual understanding.
October 12th - 14th at 8:00pm in Studio A
A PHOENIX TO FREQUENT
by Christopher Fry
Directed by Dana Dowman, '12
AND
THE INTRUDER
by Maurice Maeterlinck
Directed by Kathryn Rickman, '13
November 6th - 8th at 8:00pm in Studio A
COSMICOMICS
Directed by Ruth Morrison, '12
In this adaptation of Cosmicomics, a collection of short stories by Italo Calvino, an ageless man explains life in the ever-changing universe. He tells of his travels going to and from the moon, orbiting the Milky Way, and on Earth in pre-atmospheric times. His is a story of love, jealousy, and desire to make his mark on the universe.
November 20th, 8:00pm, November 21st, 7:00pm and 9:00pm, in Studio A
TIME TO PUT DOWN YOUR UMBRELLA - a Playwriting Lab
Written by Rochelle Katz, 2014
Staged Readings on February 10th at 3:30 and April 6th at 7:00 pm in Studio A
THE ALIENS
by Annie Baker
Directed by Daniel Shure, '15
February 19th - 21st at 8:00pm in Studio A
SKELETON DUST
by Anna Fox '12
Directed by Allie Krause, '12
March 25th - 27th at 7:00pm in Studio A
PIZZA MAN
by Darlene Craviotto
Directed by Lizzy Andretta, '12
Date and Venue To Be Announced
THESE WORDS SHOULD BE READ ALOUD
by Macrorie Dean
Directed by Anne Dufault, '12
March 30th - April 1st at 8:00pm in Jonson Tower Penthouse
LIMELIT - a devised project on celebrity
Created by Grady Gund '12
April 16th - 18th at 8:00pm in Studio A
FREE HOUR THEATER
Studio B is reserved every Friday afternoon after
Theater Company Meetings from 3:30-5:30 for the presentation of
any theater work by students. Reservations are on a first-come-first-served
basis. The space can be approved and scheduled by Lary Opitz.
September 30th |
PRIDE and OTHER PROBLEMS Directed by Rebecca McCourt, 2014 3:45pm and 6:30pm in Studio A |
October 14th |
A reading of a new play by Nikkitha Bakshani |
November 11th |
A PUPPETRY MASTERCLASS |
December 9th |
Scenes Developed in Playwriting Class |
| February 10th | TIME TO PUT DOWN YOUR UMBRELLAA reading of a new play by Rochelle Katz Directed by Marie Glotzbach 3:45pm in Studio B Stephanie Fleischmann will lead a discussion after the reading |
For Reservations for Thrust Stage and Black Box Productions
contact the Skidmore Theater Box Office at 518-580-5439 or email us at boxoffice@skidmore.edu
Group rates are available for 10 or more
For group sales contact Kathy Mendenhall, 518-580-5430
Tickets for the SEMINAR productions in either theater are (unless
otherwise noted):
$12 for General Admission
$8 for Students/Skidmore Community Members/Senior Citizens
There is no charge for Student Directed Studio Projects. Student phone numbers for making reservations for these events will be available in the Theater Office at 518-580-5430
Directions
Directions to Skidmore and the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater are available on the Skidmore College Maps & Directions Page.
Parking is available in the two parking lots which are accessible immediately after turning either left or right from the Broadway entrance to the campus. The JKB Theater is located behind the Zankel Music Building and to the south of Filene (walk through the Zankel Building lobby to the JKB Theater).
Drop-off and handicapped parking is available by turning left after entering the main entrance to the campus from North Broadway - drive past the last Zankel Building parking lot entrance and make the next right.
