Wednesday/Friday
Performances
With five Senior Independent Study productions performed over a four-day period, each show was carefully placed together in order to reflect the mood and mode of the unique performances. A dance piece by Lindsay Phillips, along with devised performances by Owen Reynolds and Jackie Komos were showcased on Wednesday and Friday, while acting recitals by Nina Takacs and George Myatt were performed on Thursday and Saturday. This gave each audience a chance to experience a wide variety of styles in performance.
Phillips’ original dance piece, “The Regular Season,” was an intricate and precise composition set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” played through an old record player. Surprisingly, you could hear the music in the Shoolroy Theatre with a volume that did not blast spectators’ ears out. Phillips choreographed this modern dance with careful timing and attention to detail, evident through colorful shadows of red, blue and purple on the backstage wall. It was nice to see an optical illusion of three different shadows projected through those colors.
Though each second of movement of the dancers seemed simple at first, it quickly became more difficult and challenging, with the dancers noticeably sweating by the end of the number. I was not only impressed with Phillips’ detailed choreography, but also with the endurance and intensity of the dancers. Each performer was focused on delivering during every second of the piece, which did not slow down for a full 20 minutes.
After Phillips’ presentation of her piece, Reynolds delivered a devised performance called “The Legend of Casey,” an epic adventure of heroes, villains and triumph. With Reynolds as the narrator, the audience was introduced to two different styles of story telling. In part one, Reynolds sat amongst the audience while the characters, wearing masks, Casey (Miles Batson ’12) and the old woman (Casey Biggs ’11) pantomimed the actions of the story. Interestingly, each moment mimed by the actors only occurred when a character made a decision or physical movement: the emotions of the characters were contained in the body of the performer, allowing the audience to imagine for themselves what their world looked like.
Part two of the performance began when Reynolds left the theatre and a recording of his voice boomed over the speakers. A beautiful projection of a forest and other scenes was displayed on a screen, providing a simple point of reference for the audience to note where the location was. This mode of storytelling also included a more elaborate use of lights and dark music. The actors switched roles in this environment, reinforcing the notion of Casey being a gender neutral name. I liked Reynolds’ presentation of the different modes of storytelling. I think he produced a fine piece of work that demonstrated how a performance sometimes only needs a basic set of lights and actors in order to the tell a story. The audience didn’t have to think about why a different mode of storytelling was coming into the picture; it was easy to interpret how storytelling can change all components of the environment it is performed in.
The final production that night was another devised performance by Komos titled “Kuvugurura.” Meaning “renewal” in Kinyarwanda, “Kuvugurura” depicted events from Komos’s fall 2010 visit to Rwanda where she met ImmachulÈe Ilibagiza, a woman who survived the 1994 Rwanda genocide by hiding in a 3×4′ bathroom for 91 days. Komos’s tale began by walking on stage barefoot with luggage, gazing around at the beauty of the country. The scene switched with a single light illuminating Ilibagiza (Jasmine Verreen ’13) on her knees, praying desperately for salvation with a gut-wrenching delivery that transported you right into Ilibagiza’s war-torn world.
There were moments where the dialogue felt fragmented and incomplete, a purposeful devise from Komos to grab the audience’s attention to focus on the power of the words she spoke. When Komos drew blue chalk circles on the floor, it was as if she was trying to protect herself with them. But with the aid of PowerPoint slides, we noticed that these circles were a representation of the spots of blue colored bricks, detailing where damage to the home was done during the genocide. Komos delivered a powerful performance as she recounted how she learned from Ilibagiza how to look to God for strength and find the courage to forgive those who have committed crimes.
Thursday/Saturday Performances
Schoolroy Theatre was again transformed into a location for theatricality and electricity on Saturday night by Nina Takacs ’11 and George Myatt ’11.
In Takacs’ production “Terminus,” the audience was instantly captivated by Takacs’ and Reynolds rendition of the grotesque yet fun song “A Little Priest” from Steven Sondheim’s musical “Sweeney Todd.”† Reynolds’ and Takacs’ voices easily mastered Sondheim’s very difficult music while maintaining a consistent character and a friendly rapport with the audience.† Takacs’ choices for “Our Town” by Thorton Wilder, helped the audience focus on the acting through the use of uniform costuming throughout the cast and minimal props.† The cast’s stoicism added to focus on the central actors in the scene and helped consistently maintain a separation between life and the afterlife.† The tour de force of the production had to be Takacs’ monologue from the title play “Terminus” by Mark O’Rowe.† Her matter of fact speaking style, and mastery of the surreal and poetic monologue drew in the audience to share with her character’s journey.† Overall, Takacs’ production was phenomenally performed but lacked a sense of flow through the entire production.
The second half of the evening was devoted to Myatt’s “The Electric Current.” This piece focused on defining gender roles in a patriarchal society.† He introduced his piece with a self-written monologue, which sent a wave of electricity through the theatre through his dynamic dialogue and use of props, with male and female mannequins set to illustrate the purpose of his piece.† The show’s first scene from Richard’s Greenberg’s “Take Me Out,” helped illustrate the thesis of Myatt’s entire piece in a different setting ó the world of baseball.† While the acting was a little forced, it was a good effort by both Myatt and his scene partner, Matthew Simpson ’14. Myatt’s choice of cross casting himself in his scene choice from “Cloud Nine” by Caryl Churchill, left audiences a bit confused.† The acting was over the top by all who performed in this scene, adding to the initial nonsensicality in the scene and helping support Myatt’s thesis.† The strongest selection in Myatt’s piece was from Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America.” The rapport between Myatt and his scene partner, Kevin Glass ’14, was honest and refreshing.† It was interesting to watch the two actors interact in such an authentic way.
Overall, Saturday’s performances were well put together by both Takacs and Myatt and kept the audience on their toes.
George Myatt ’11, an Arts and Entertainment Editor for the Voice, did not contribute to any reporting done by Alex Dereix ’14 for the Thursday/Saturday performances.
Performers from Phillips’ Senior Independent Study dance piece “The Regular Season” (Photo by Alyssa Wilmot).