Press
May 1, 2012
Brown University News and Events:
"A global conversation through dance," by Courtney Coelho
Execrpt from the May 1, 2012 article in Brown University's News and Events: "When students in the New Works/World Traditions performance troupe take the stage for the Festival of Dance this week, their movements will bring to life a global collaboration that took place in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies (TAPS) this spring. Through the efforts of the Brown community on campus and beyond, internationally renowned choreographers from Mali, China, and New York have come together to create an original piece for the festival.
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, senior lecturer in theatre, speech and dance, came up with the idea for the collaboration. Having traveled to Mali for more than 20 years to foster relationships between Brown art students and Malian artists, Bach-Coulibaly knows first-hand the strength of the arts in Mali.
“Mali is probably one of the most important countries in the world for importing other artists,” Bach-Coulibaly said. “It’s a great melting pot for styles, but what’s really important is that the arts are the place where Malians are the most proud, are the most empowered, have the most agency in the world, because everyone wants to learn from them.”
Salimatou and Jinzi, with Bach-Coulibaly and Brian Reeder, choreographer for the American Ballet Theatre in New York, each devised a part of the final piece. Their styles are decidedly different, each informed by culture and experience, but there are underlying themes of cross-cultural understanding, global hunger, gender, and materialism woven throughout the piece. All of the choreographers worked with the student performers to derive those themes. Jinzi, for example, started by asking students, “If today was the end of the world, what would you do?” Similarly, Bach-Coulibaly and Reeder posed the question “What matters to you?”
“There are many, many links between these three countries, socioeconomically, sociopolitically, but through the creative arts we can let that go and break through those conversations and say something about our humanity, our treatment, our philosophies, and spirituality, and what our sameness is,” Bach-Coulibaly said.
April 17, 2012
Providence Journal: "5th Anniversary of Virginia Tech shootings
remembered at Brown in short plays"
At 7:25 on Monday morning, the stories began simultaneously at Brown University's Lincoln Field as men and women read short plays written for the victims of the massacre at Virginia Polytechnical Institute. Similar readings took place around the country, including one at Santa Clara University in California. Click here for photos from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The plays, written by Erki Ehn and directed by Ehn, Amy Lynn Budd, Constance Crawford and Sylvia Ann Soares, are part of a memorial on the fifth anniversary of the shootings that took the lives of 33 people, including environmental engineering graduate student Daniel Patrick O'Neil of Lincoln, and the shooter who killed himself.
Called "What a Stranger May Know" the performance offered fellowship with others, and a chance to contemplate and mourn.
Ehn, head of playwriting and professor of theater arts and performance studies at Brown, said the plays were made with information gleaned from news sources and social media.
April 13, 2012
BDH article by Tonya Riley: "Zany 'Wedding' probes 21st-century love"
While college students might know how to party, rarely do they get to be wedding guests. “A Perfect Wedding,” which runs until April 22 in Leeds Theatre, appeals to college-aged theater-goers in both theme and zaniness.
“Plays don’t come out of nowhere. They come out of tradition,” said John Emigh, professor of theater, speech and dance who came out of a three-year retirement to direct the play. “There are a lot of things in the play that comes from knowledge of other theater in other parts of the world and other times of history.” “A Perfect Wedding” draws most directly from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
But Emigh said what is different from simply directing an updated Shakespeare play is that Charles Mee is a living playwright. Mee formerly taught at Brown and encourages directors and casts to remake his work by incorporating their own ideas.
“There are as many kinds of love as human hearts,” says “faery” Isaac (Patrick Madden ’14), perfectly summing up the play’s embrace of all kinds of love.
“It’s about likeable people,” Emigh said. “That’s unusual. There’s normally some villains, some people being made fun of.” Emigh drew some of his influences from Asian theater, which is apparent in the play’s Bollywood dance number but also in choices such as keeping the stagehands onstage.
“It’s not saying Shakespeare is more important than Bollywood or that soap opera is less profound than experimental theater,” said Katrin Dettmer GS, the show’s dramaturg.
“I think the best part of it is that it shows that everybody can be equally ridiculous, and, even in diversity, there’s this underlying funny, human thing,” Rivera-Flavia said. “It’s a love story about love stories.”
March 5, 2012
BDH article by Marshall Katheder: "Festival spotlights malnutrition in Mali"
The guttural thump of drums was accompanied by bodies moving with graceful ferocity this past weekend at Brown's third annual Rhythm of Change initiative, which aims to address social change in Africa and the diaspora through the arts. The project is an important part of the University's 22-year study of the culture of the large West African ethnic group Mande, a largely understudied civilization that boasts rich artistic traditions.
The three-day festival was a collaborative effort involving the Department of Theater Arts and Performance Studies and the Creative Arts Council, among others. Each day's events began with yoga and meditation and progressed on to stirring guest speakers and numerous traditional Malian dance and musical performances, such as doun-doun drumming, which showcased astonishingly swift beats. On Saturday night there was a particularly lively event called the "Uhuru Afrika Afro-diasporic Dance Floor Explosion," a dance party held by members of Boston-based Uhuru Afrika.
"The festival focused on public health and sharing experience," said Emily Goldman '14, one of the festival's organizers. "One of the things I was most impressed by was the students' willingness to engage with such an eclectic group of people to address the problems in Mali and Africa."The festival's theme, "The Communal Bowl," continues a discussion between Brown students and Malian artists, nutritionists and social activists that began in 2011 concerning Mali's malnutrition crisis, according to the TAPS website.
"This year's theme explored the ways in which food and art bring people together," Goldman said. "Malnutrition is a serious issue in Mali, and Brown is a very food-conscious school. We make efforts for food justice and equality."
"We decided to partner with the Arts in One World because we have similar missions — utilizing the arts for social change," Goldman said.
Professor of Theatre Arts and Performance Erik Ehn said of the One World Festival, "It's always free, there's always food and conversation is at the heart of it," according to the TAPS website.
March 2, 2012
BDH article by Tonya Riley: "Campy sci-fi musical explores family drama"
"We can rebuild him. … We have the technology," says a supporting character of the bionic main character in the television series "The Six Million Dollar Man." But in the new Brownbrokers musical "We Can Rebuild Him," running in Stuart Theater through March 11, the character being pieced back together is not robotic but human, and the key to his rebirth is his still-beating heart. "It's a really human story disguised in this science fiction exterior and when you peel that away … it's really beautiful in a way," said Talya Klein GS, the show's director.
The new musical by Deepali Gupta '12 is this year's Brownbrokers biennial student-written musical. The selection process for the musical started in December 2010, and "We Can Rebuild Him" was one of two finalists chosen for staging in a workshop last May, according to Andy Hertz '04, adjunct lecturer in theater arts and performance studies and the Brownbrokers' musical director and faculty adviser.
"Everyone was captivated by how moving the story was even though it was so grotesque and so science-fictiony," he said. "Everyone bought the story." The musical introduces the audience to the Whitman family on the 71st of 75 days in the "Sam Whitman Family Reconstruction Project." Grace (Abby Colella '12), Sam's mother, reconstructs Sam with the hopes of bringing him back to life — and consequently getting her husband, who abandoned the family after Sam's death, to return.
Musicals can take years to perfect, but even with a relatively short development process, Gupta's debut exudes the essence of modern musical theatre. "We Can Rebuild Him" captures hearts, hands and whatever else can be found in a body bag and is a must-see in Brown theater this year. "This is only the first step in the life of the piece," said Klein, and audiences can only hope she's right.
February 10, 2012
BDH article by Tonya Riley: "Trigger Hand puts new spin on addiction"
"The best theater forces us not just to confront life's ugliness, but to empathize with it. "Trigger Hand," running at Production Workshop as part of the "Writing is Live" festival Feb. 10-13, does both. By using the politically charged setting of a supervised injection facility in Vancouver, the play examines questions of addiction in the context of the relationships it insidiously poisons and strangely manifests.
The direction of "Trigger Hand" immediately forces the audience members into this world by having them enter around the stage under scaffolding into the supervised injection facility. The set, never a static place or time, juxtaposes a junkie's grungy room with a sad, whitewashed hospital facility. In typical PW fashion, platforms add dimension to the space and movement.
Director Leandro Zaneti '12 said the mix of reality and dream in the play is meant to trigger a sense of remembrance in people.
Through the characters' trials, the audience comes to see the addicts as more than their aberrations. Nurse Katie, portrayed in a standout performance by Ava Langford '14, says her job is not to make the addicts feel "worthwhile" but to make them feel "beautiful" and humane.
"The play has got this theme of starting clean and cleaning up," Barasch said. "If there's any argument that the play makes it is that starting clean doesn't exist and that idea is just driving people crazy."
In an almost Dickensian fashion, Barasch's impressive debut takes a bevy of characters and brings them together into an overarching theme of not just the "wars" of addiction, but also how we treat the casualties. "Trigger Hand" questions the responsibility of a community in an age where we are quick to villainize those who most need our support.
February 3, 2012
BDH article by Kah Yangni: "Playwrighting Festival Celebrates Raw Theater"
"The themes of the plays are as varied as the backgrounds of the playwrights themselves. The playwrights come from Uganda and the Sundance Institute and from backgrounds in art history, radio and acting. They have collaborated on projects such as "‘Bothness and a Play': a google doc." Others include college sophomores and experienced filmmakers.
"Everyone is grappling with what it means to be alive today," Gilbert said. "I think the graduate students are writing into a world they would like to see." Past playwrights have had their work grow into new things, both expected and unexpected, after the festival ended. Playwright Jackie Sillies Drury will be opening the play she premiered at the Writing Is Live festival two years ago at the Victory Gardens Theatre in New York next month. She has also shown it at the Prelude Festival in New York City.
Two multimedia artists' play that debuted at Writing Is Live bloomed into a short film based on the play. It will be shown at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts' exhibition in a few days.
"Theater is a collaborative art form," Gilbert said. "The Writing Is Live Festival is one of the only places where graduate students and undergraduate students truly collaborate."Most importantly, in the joyous and productive environment of Writing Is Live, they can collaborate as peers, she pointed out, because they are equals as workers."
February 2, 2012
Providence Journal article by Channing Grey:
"Brown Launches New PLays Festival"
"Brown University opens its annual new plays festival, Writing is Live, this weekend, with readings of the first two of six student pieces that will be staged this weekend and next. On tap is Laura Colella's "Liquorland," which looks at the creative process and how alcohol affects that, and Casey Llewellyn's "Our Town."
Vanessa Gilbert of the Brown theater department described Llweellyn's play as similar to a James Dean movie in which a stranger comes to town and the town learns something about itself. The town has a prison that has just executed an innocent man, and there's a singing bear and dog, she said.
Gilbert added that audience members can expect actors, students in the Brown/Trinity MFA program, to be stationed a music stands reading scripts that might have been rewritten five minutes before.
"They are works in progress, in no uncertain terms," she said. Both Colella, an award-winning filmmaker from Providence, and Llewellyn are first year graduate students at Brown."
november 8, 2011
BDH calls "Lady Windermere's Fan" a silk-tongued comedy fit for this century
review by Marshall Katheder, BDH Arts & Culture Staff Writer
"As far as Brown students are concerned, the polished pomp on stage in "Lady Windermere's Fan" may provide a sophisticated escape — a tidy leap from East Side basements with their flat Narragansett Light and sticky floors.
The production, directed by Lowry Marshall, professor of theatre arts and performance studies, illuminates the dusty Victorian-era words of Oscar Wilde with surprising levity. "Lady Windermere" serves as the savory finish to a so-called "Wilde semester," which has included Sock & Buskin's production of "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde."
Wilde's story swirls together melodrama with wit and wry humor. Set in Victorian London, it's a society tale of betrayal and gossip — and terribly lavish parties.
"I think what we wanted to push in this play is that it's a comedy," said Madeleine Heil '13, who plays Mrs. Erlynne.
"Lady Windermere's" over-arching gesture, which points to the contrived nature of good and evil, runs the risk of sounding tired and trite to a 21st century audience — especially since Wilde makes a point to emphasize by repetition. This production avoids these pitfalls skillfully, repackaging the repeated rhetoric with loud physical performance. "Lady Windermere" is bolstered by the bodies: the hunched and hard-of-hearing Mrs. Cowper-Cowper (Amy LaCount '13), who can be spoken to only by shouting into her ear horn, and the drunken staggering of Lord Augustus (Christopher Thompson '15), a cigar dangling from his lip.
Not to be reduced to the baseness of a physical comedy, the cast delivers a silky-tongued performance — evidence of either much labor or some sort of time machine-based exchange program.
"Lady Windermere" sounds a high note to end the Wilde semester. Ably acted and backed with ornate scenery, it is sure to rile up a laugh — or at least a party to attend without plastic cups and forced themes."
October 6, 2011
Brown U Stages Wilde's Daring Gross Indecency
by Raymond Beltran
Motif Magazine
"Brown University's theatre's season opened with a daring take on Moises Kaufman's play Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, directed by Kym Moore.
"To speak of the true Oscar Wilde and not mention the superb performance of Brian Cross would be a crme of gross indecency in itself. Opening night saw Cross display a perfected cadence and posture as he wittily, yet emotionally, navigated his way through the ... run. Connor Kane [as] Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas also proves worthy of acclaim. Kane nails the jittery, vindictive, flamboyant sprite before shocking the audience with the transformation into Alfred Wood. Kane snaps into the masculine and self-assured character so quickly and seamlessly, the transition placed itself on par with the attention usually afforded Widle's flippant lines.
"The show is fast-paced....the cast displays incredible skill rapidly changing from one character to another."
October 6, 2011
"Who Is This Guy?": the Inexplicable, Inimitable Oscar Wilde
by Kate Doyle
post- Magazine
"[T]his semester, in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, ... not one but two Wildean plays are currently in production — each one of a wildly singular ilk. The biographically meditative, edging-on-obsessive Gross Indecency by [Moises] Kaufman, directed by Professor Kym Moore, plays through this weekend. It is set to be followed by Wilde’s bitingly satirical Lady Windermere’s Fan, directed by Professor Lowry Marshall, later this month. If one is a blithe romp, the other is more complicated — a piece of theater understated, tragic, and peculiar. While Windermere is a testament to Wilde’s brilliant and dramatic air with pen and paper, Gross Indecency stands for a certain brilliant and dramatic flair in living. 
"Yet the subtly spun majety of the thing, and the scary thread of inevitability running through it, is not so much in history played out (however masterfully), but more in the compulsive pulse at the heart of the play - an itching to get at the magnetism, the untouchability, the strange downfall of the literary giant that is Oscar Wilde.
"This is to say that beyond any piece of rfact-finding, historical narrat6ive, or journalism, and beyond any replay of Wilde's downfall, Gross Indecency is this: and expression off deep curiosity."
October 5, 2011
Brown Examines Oscar Wilde's Trials
by Bill Rodriguez
The Providence Phoenix
"Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, which Brown University Theatre and Sock & Buskin is staging through October 6, is ... simply (and complexly) pointing out that history shouldn't be so cocksure of itself.
"Directed by Kym Moore, nine of the vest-and-cravat-wearing actors leap into 35 characters while Brian Cross remains Oscar Wilde. Composed, self-satisfied, Wilde smiles smugly throughout most of his ordeal, until eventually brought to his knees by the furies of social opprobrium he himself unleashed.
"[Connor] Kane delivers a good performance, especially toward the end when he controls the young man's distraught frame of mind. ... Ellen Shadburn is excellent as prosecuting attorney Sir Edward Clarke.
"Gross Indecency proceeds more smoothly and clearly than it might, considering its piecemeal structure. Sometimes snatches of dialogue or exchanges are taken from journals or other firsthand accounts written years later, and identified as such. This is also effective for another message meant to be conveyed: that all historical reports are to be taken as tentative and subjective, as explorations rather than final discoveries. History is also on trial. Wilde, who eventually learned about uncertainty, would have approved."
October 3, 2011
Wilde Drama Puts Jury on the Stand
by Phoebe Nir
Brown Daily Herald
"Brian Cross '12 ... embodies Wilde with every flawless, deliberate gesture. ... His performance is genius and his possession by the spirit of the legendary writer complete, especially as his veneer of cocky charisma is worn down by the humiliations of the trials.
"Cross is supported by a uniformly excellent cast of nine actors, chameleons outfitted in dapper vests and ties shifting between characters and nuanced accents with flair. It is clear all involved in the production are having a terrific time and, even more, that they feel they have a story worth telling.
"With each production of this show, and the standing ovation that concluded it Friday night, [Wilde's] legacy receives a bit of the justic that was denied him in the courtroom."
October, 2011
Fall Theatre Preview
by Don Fowler
East Side Monthly
"We are pleased to see Brown University's Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies finally getting the local and national recognition they deserve. Given they are right here on the East Side and their performances are winning so much regional and national praise, they certainly are deserving of our support."
Fall, 2011
Captivating College Theatre Season
by Robert Barossi
Motif Magazine
"We are lucky to have a number of very strong university theatre departments in our area. Brown University begins with Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, which chronicles Wilde's real-life fall from grace and involvement in a sex scandal that led to some real courtroom drama. That's followed by something Wilde wrote, Lady Windermere's Fan, a comedy satirizing Vicorian society, as he did so well. From the Victorian, they go to today's New York City, with Dead City. Loosely based on James Joyce's Ulysses, it follows a woman's journey throught he streets of NYC as she deals with death and loss. As with many seasons at Brown, these are compelling offerings which will likely include the usual artistic and creative risks taken by the department, risks which usually pay off."
September, 2011
Tanner Hall, by Tatiana von Furstenberg '91 and Francesca Gregorini '90, is "interesting and timeless," "palpably authentic," and "beautifully shot."
Tanner Hall, the long-awaited first full-length film from Brown alums Tatiana von Furstenberg '91 and Francesca Gregorini '90, is now coming to theatres. The directors hope to have a screening of the film, which the New York Times called "palpably authentic," at Brown.
The film features TAPS dancers, as well as TAPS professor Lowry Marshall, who taught the directors as undergraduates, in the role of headmistress.
"She was very intimidating when Francesca and I were students," von Furstenberg said in a recent Brown Daily Herald article. In a second BDH article, the intimidating Marshall called the film "beautifully shot," and said of the two women: "They were both wonderful when they were in undergraduate school."
September 8, 2011
Female Directors Dominate Fall Theatre
by Emma Wohl
Brown Daily Herald
"Strong women take center stage and run the show at Production Workshop and on the main stage in the upcoming semester of student theatre.
"Gross Indecency is about "how the artist is pitted against society," said Kym Moore, the director and an assistant professor of theater arts and performance studies. It is a dramatization of Wilde's trials for the crime of "indecency" when he was suspected of practicing homosexuality. Moore said she hopes the play will be "part of a larger conversation about gay rights and human rights."
After viewing the history of Wilde's private life, theater-goers can see one of the playwright's earliest, more controversial plays, Lady Windermere's Fan, running in Leeds Theater November 3-6 and 10-13.
"We felt like Gross Indecency is going to contextualize this conversation on a larger level about the public and the private, about what commitment is," Moore said. This idea of commitment and relationships — both public and private — will be a theme for the whole season, she added.
Sheila Callaghan's Dead City, a retelling of James Joyce's Ulysses, continues the theme by looking at a woman's relationship to her husband and a female companion, Director Alex Keegan '12 said. The show will run in Leeds Theater Dec. 1-4.
Dead City is "about women who are really talking to each other … about things that spark importance to them," Keegan said.
August 21, 2011
Reimagining History on Stage
by Jan Gardner
boston.com
"Playwright Marcus Gardley brings history to life, infusing it with myth, folklore, and music, and inviting the audience to look at the past with fresh eyes. ... Gardley, a native of Oakland, Calif., now teaching playwriting at Brown University, has been honored by PEN American Center with its annual award to a midcareer playwright. He measures his own success by his ability to engage an audience. In an e-mail, he summed up his work: 'I write plays to inspire dialogue.'"
August 3, 2011
The Princeton Review names Brown for "Best College Theatre"
In the Princeton Review's 2012 survey of the best 327 colleges in America, Brown University was named as being among those with the Best College Theatre. Brown was listed 11th on this list, up three places from 2011.
The Princeton Review surveyed over 122,000 students to complete their lists, and found that Brown also ranked among for having the Happiest Students, Best Quality of Life, Best College Newspaper, and Best College Radio Station.
July 29, 2011
Operatic Class Acts
by Xu Wei
Shanghai Daily
"Around 300 foreign students attend the monthlong Shanghai Summer School program, learning about Chinese culture - from opera to calligraphy to ping pong. ... The aim is to promote traditional Chinese culture and to improve understanding of China and friendship between countries.
The students will deliver a graduation performance ... and receive diplomas and certificates from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the theater academy."
Among the attending students are TAPS concentrator Jarrett Key '12 and Phoebe Nir '14, who plans on concentrating in TAPS with a Writing for Performance track.
July 15, 2011
Class Actions: 2nd Story's Spirited Speech & Debate
by Bill Rodriguez
The Providence Phoenix
"Considering the dark core at the center of Speech & Debate - a sexual predator - it might seem 
incongruous that Steven Karam's celebrated play is hilarious.
First staged in Lowry Marshall's 2006 summer workshop production at the Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre, it went on to become one of the most frequently produced plays in regional theatres in 2009. The current incarnation, directed by Ed Shea, doesn't neglect the poignancy while encouraging the hilarity to tickle us out of our seats."
July 14, 2011
Brown & Lyman Hall make HuffPo's "Most Hipster Colleges" list
The Huffington Post
"Brown is paradise for hipsters. Not only is Rhode Island the seventh-most hipster state in America -- due in large part to Brown's student body -- but the school boasts some of the most famous hipster alumni in the world."
July 7, 2011
Brown Playwrights Produce Terrific New Works
by Louise Tetreault
Motif Magazine
The Playwrights Rep is "a chance to see something that no one's seen before."
June 2011
Brown/Trinity Playwrights Rep one of New England's Best Bargains
Yankee
"For little more than the price of a movie ticket ($12), see performances by actors and directors at this training camp for the Trinity Repertory Company."
June 2011
As You Like It Wins Motif Magazine Theatre Award
Motif Magazine
Congratulations to Sock & Buskin, director Nicholas Ridout, and the cast and crew of As You Like It, winner of Motif Magazine's 2011 Theatre Award for Best College Production!
april 25, 2011
Art 'Anti-Conference' Provides Food, Thought for Attendees
by Emma Wohl
The Brown Daily Herald
"Speaking to guests of the Arts in the One World conference Friday afternoon, organizer Erik Ehn, head of playwriting and professor of theater arts and performance studies, laid out the rules of the discussion: 'You do whatever you like.'"
April 14, 2011
Talk is a Call to Reflection
The Providence American
"Talk, written by Brown Visiting Professor of Playwriting Carl Hancock Rux and directed by Brown's Head of Playwriting Erik Ehn, is a moving meditation on art and a hilarious send-up of academia."
April 13, 2011
Studio Space Places No Limits on Creativity
by Alexandra Macfarlane
The Brown Daily Herald
"Posted discretely at the top of the stairs is the official goal of the studio: 'The John Street Studio is a home for artists and crafts people to engage one another in their common pursuit of creativity.'
'I have never worked in a space like this,' [lecturer and scenic designer Michael McGarty] said. 'It is the best design studio in the United States.'"
April 12, 2011
The Art of Conversation
by Bill Rodriguez
The Providence Phoenix
"The actors are directed with canny vitality by Erik Ehn, who orchestrates the ebb and flow like Neptune poking with his trident, sending the characters hither and yon or slowing them to a crawl, depending on their exasperation or thoughtful concern.
All the actors do well, but Johnson as the biographer [Ion] is a particular standout. That's not simply because her egotistical character calls gleeful attention to herself. Johnson lets us peek into this woman's thoughts, as we see Ion preen anew at fresh, erudite observations.
If Ion is smug, Meno is all but dislocating his shoulders from patting himself on the back for such things as introducing Little Richard to America on his talk show. Sayre plays him broadly, befitting the man's ludicrous sense of self-importance; the danger is our uncertainty over whether the performer or the character is overacting. Sayre eventually balances that nicely with a meditative soliloquy, as the man speaks quietly and earnestly about his admiration for the funny and sincere Steve Allen, the first host of the Tonight Show.
Talk is violent, mesmerizing to the point of slack-jawed stupor, and every now and then we watch its colliding ideas strike sparks. From that act, even a formless conflagration can provide illumination."
April 8, 2011
S&B’s ‘Talk’ speaks to the inner academic
By Emma Wohl
Brown Daily Herald
"Talk, Sock & Buskin's final production of the 2010-2011 performance season, is, as director Erik Ehn described it, 'somewhere between a thesis panel, a ghost story and a murder mystery.'
[T]he cast takes a script that consists mostly of long soliloquies and obscure references and turns it into a lively, humorous debate."
March 8, 2011
Brown's As You Like It Turns the Tables
by Bill Rodriquez
Providence Phoenix
"Rothman is an animated sprite of a Rosalind, adding more than her share of life to the play. Bellot's portrayal of the duchy-purloining Duke as gleefully self-absorbed works very well; after all, why should evil be lugubrious when villainy probably is fun? Madden's Adam stands out as a well-developed character. The incidental peasants Silvius (Gerrit Thurston) and Phebe (Mariagrazia LaFauci) feud well together."
March 7, 2011
Production Plays Up "Theatreness"
by Caroline Flanagan
Brown Daily Herald
With musical numbers and dancing pandas, Sock & Buskin's production of "As You Like It" is a fun and quirky adaptation of Shakespeare's classic that is modern, young and unique. The play, directed by Nicholas Ridout in collaboration with the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, is the group's fourth show this season.
The cast members obviously enjoy themselves, charging the play with an infectious playfulness that lets the audience in on the fun.
This play aimed to entertain its audience and make them laugh, and it succeeded. It was a creative and unique interpretation of Shakespeare.
march 4, 2011
Wills Sans Frills: Shakespeare Gets Weird
by Jacob Combs
post- magazine
"[As You Like It is] an exuberant romp through the forest. ... [Director Nicholas] Ridout seizes the opportunity to subvert audience expectations of how Shakespeare is performed, ... giving his cast myriad changes to surprise their audience. ... Ridout ... show[s] us that the Bard is still relevant today, his work full of hidden meaning for us to uncover."
March 3, 2011
In Love with Shakespeare
by Robert Barossi
Motif Magazine
Ridout says his modernized production of the play emphasizes the theatre and the ways in which theatre is a place to watch people as well as be watched by other people who are also watching the play.
"The play is full of people sneaking up on other people, watching them, often just for fun, but sometimes with devastating consequences."
February 28, 2011
Mande Rhythms Ring Through Campus
by Kristina Fazzalaro
Brown Daily Herald
The pounding rhythms of bare feet echo throughout the small studio, the thunderous beats heightened by the driving pulse of Malian drumming and the dancers' exuberant energy as they twist, jump and clap to the music's commands. "Ka Mali Don" — the 2011 Festival of Mande Performance and Social Engagement — celebrated Malian culture, dance and activism Friday and Saturday in Ashamu Dance Studio.
February 17, 2011
On Monsters, Masks, and Hemorrhoid Cream
by Emma Johnson
post- magazine
"I think people who write plays are brave mother*ckers. ... For [playwrights] at Brown, being bold and brave is intrinsic to their very Brunonian identity, and it is thanks to them that the recent Writing is Live festival was made possible.
First up was Zarina Shea’s delightful play And Joy. ...
As the play’s love-struck protagonists, Amanda Dolan and Daniel Duque-Estrada showed themselves to be extremely charismatic, versatile performers, who milked Shea’s script for all it’s worth. A huge shout-out has to go to the wonderful Talya Klein, who nailed it as the feisty rolling-pin-wielding mother. ...
In one of the most chilling scenes of Franny Choi’s Mask Dances, one of the characters screams, “This throat is the only pistol I have.” If Choi’s pen is her pistol, with this, her first play, she hits the bullseye. ... I could feel the whole audience hold its breath, shattered and bewildered by how life had just been slammed into perspective. ...
Though brilliant, The Boy Who Lived Forever (And the Woman Who Didn’t), written and directed by grad playwright Ian Macallister-Macdonald, verged on the bizarre. ...I loved it. ... Thinking back now on this play, I realize that my initial thoughts about boldness and bravery being the most essential qualities in a playwright were quite mistaken. Because really—being insane and inappropriate seems to work just as well!"
February 14, 2011
Theatre Festival Brings Words to Life
by Margaret Yi
Brown Daily Herald
"There was something for everyone at Writing is Live."
February 3, 2011
Brown Grad Students Ready for Writing Festival
by Jessica A. Botelho
Warwick Beacon
"We're like a bunch of overgrown kids; trying on costumes, making funny noises, telling each other stories, seeing what fascinates us."
February 3, 2011
"Writing is Alive" ... and Well at Brown U
by Robert Barossi
Motif Magazine
"For almost 30 years, Brown University has been organizing and presenting festivals featuring new and original works. This year is no different, as Brown presents the Writing is live festival, which includes five new play readings or workshops along with a Rites and reason production and the full production of three MFA Thesis plays."
February 4, 2011
Theater Festival Brings Student Writing to Life
by Margaret Yi
Brown Daily Herald
"The Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies' second annual "Writing is Live" festival — a 10-day event featuring nine fully staged productions, readings and workshops in locations all over campus and downtown Providence — begins tonight with "And Joy," written by Zarina Shea GS and directed by Kristopher Lencowski GS."
December 3, 2010
Kaspar: Thought-Provoking
by Shefali Luthra
Brown Daily Herald
"[Kaspar] is dark, thought-provoking and tragic. It features gripping performances, particularly by Jarrett Key '13, who plays Kaspar's primary incarnation, Kaspar 1. ... Key is energetic, and his struggle to grasp language is convincing. The progression of his speech, from joyful stuttering to fearful to tragic, is done perfectly."
November 22, 2010
Student Dancers Move Bodies and Audiences
by Kristina Fazzalaro
Brown Daily Herald
"Combining hard-hitting moves with more lyrical styles, [Fusion's Like a Friend Mikey] was high energy, pumping up audience members so that they bobbed their heads to the bounce and flow of 
the piece. ... Chance Encounter, a duet between choreographers Dan Lurie '11 and Joelle Murphy '11, was simply beautiful to watch. ...
An amazing performance by Doug McDonald '13 and Perri Katzman '14 showcased the pair's sheer athleticism and strength. ...
A particular standout was Adam D'Amico '11, who meshed with his female counterparts in Amira spectacularly and showed off some excellent moves amidst an entertaining number."
November 18, 2010
Pippin Leans on Brown U Talent
by John Rogers
Motif Magazine
"[T]he acting is full-bodied, the dancing and performing are occasionally sublime, and the singing ... is excellent."
November 12, 2010
Pippin a 'Neo-Vaudevillian Steampunk Extravaganza'
by Anita Badejo
Brown Daily Herald
"Pippin is visually arresting, an impressive display of high-tech scenery and elaborate costumes. While the show features a large ensemble cast, every one fo the actors contributes a unique element. 'It's a magical show. It's beautiful to watch,' [Alex] Keegan '12 says."
November 18, 2010
Not Only an Actress, but Also a Messenger
by Ana Rodriguez
Post- magazine
"[B]eing part of En Las Manos de La Muerte required a new kind of courage that extended from just standing onstage to standing in front of an audience representing something that could 'hit home' for many and not be well-received by others. I felt that I was not only an actress, but also a messenger."
October 29, 2010
Drug Cartels and Emotional Turmoil Take Center Stage
by Kristina Fazzalaro
Brown Daily Herald
"En Las Manos De La Muerte leaves audience members thinking about a situation not well known and touches them with its honest, emotional portrayal of a troubling situation."
October 1, 2010
The Beast Within: Brown Tackles Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind
by Bill Rodriguez
The Providence Phoenix
"Both [Beth (Olivia Harding '12) and Jake (Morgan Ritchie '10.5)] get nuanced performances here. ... the set design by Michael McGarty is properly stark and evocative. ... The set is dominated by an enormous white circle, a full moon. The lunacy and existential dream states on display couldn't be better represented."
September 30, 2010
Chekhov-Inspried Tea Explores Serbian Past in New Play
by Kristina Fazzalaro
Brown Daily Herald
"Dah's combination of chilling facts, haunting music and mesmerizing performances force audience members to think about their role in the greater scheme of things, bringing them into the production as well."
September 27, 2010
Fall Production Focuses on Family Fury
by Amy Chen
Brown Daily Herald
"Sock & Buskin's fall production A Lie of the Mind, written by Sam Shepard and directed by Lowry Marshall ... traverses the challenging and complex landscape of family relationships and explores how these relationships can shame character and experience. ... The play's bold portrayal of the infuriated passion that seizes almost all the characters can be uncomfortable to watch but can ultimately provoke interesting contemplation.
'I hope the audience leave thingking about the relationships in their lives, the balance between self and others, passion and fear and hatred,' [Mica] Fidler '12 said."
September/October 2010
The Gospel According to Erik Ehn
by Lawrence Goodman
Brown Alumni Magazine
"[Erik] Ehn ... became head of Brown's prestigious playwriting program in 2009. Ehn says, 'I want to live up to Paula [Vogel]'s legacy, but I need to live up to it in my own language and on my own terms.'
His students describe him as profoundly giving and generous. 'Erik is one of the most beautiful human beings I know,' says Mia Chung '10 MFA, a former student.
August 30, 2010
From Opera to Shakespeare: The Herald's Official Guide to Brown Theatre
by Anne Speyer
Brown Daily Herald
"Founded in 1901, Sock & Buskin has the closest ties to the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies — plays are chosen by a board of both students and faculty members, and most plays are directed by professors or visiting artists. S&B shows are often the largest and most elaborate performances on campus, and S&B offers a diverse selection of five productions each year."