Spring Break
Theater in the fall
by Stacy Horowitz
Arts | 9/5/06
Posted online at 3:54 AM EST on 9/5/06
Imagine people fighting wars for no reason, wars against themselves to gain beauty, love and recognition, and wars against others over religious, sexual and physical differences. These are among the themes to be explored during Brandeis' fall theater season, in the theater arts department and undergraduate productions alike.
Prof. Eric Hill, theater arts department chair and artistic director of the department's Brandeis Theatre Company, believes that this semester's plays will "address a range of ideas and issues relevant to our culture and our times, and therefore to our university." Their season begins with David Hare's one-man show, Via Dolorosa, which will arrive fresh from the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
The Waiting Room, directed by Prof. Janet Morrison (THA), explores women's constant struggles to obtain beauty throughout the centuries. The Physician of His Honor, co-directed by Hill, is a play from the Spanish Golden Age set during the 14th-century reign of King Pedro of Castile.
New this year, undergraduates have created the Free Play Theatre Co-op under the umbrella of the theater department. The group will perform at least three plays this season: Summer Evening in Des Moines, The Black Eyed and The Last Five Years.
Beyond the department, the Undergraduate Theater Collective season begins with Brandeis Ensemble Theatre's The Laramie Project, a docudrama about reactions to the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, WY. The Tectonic Theatre Group, who wrote the work, traveled to Laramie and interviewed its residents in hopes of understanding the murder.
Laramie has been widely produced in the last five years. Director Mike Carnow '07 (The Water Children) offered an explanation: "This is the type of play that asks important questions about who we are both individually and as a community and the types of plays that challenge us to be better are the types of plays that should be done over and over again," he said. "I think theater should be entertaining always, but there's nothing wrong with making the audience think and question, as well."
Prof. Eric Hill, theater arts department chair and artistic director of the department's Brandeis Theatre Company, believes that this semester's plays will "address a range of ideas and issues relevant to our culture and our times, and therefore to our university." Their season begins with David Hare's one-man show, Via Dolorosa, which will arrive fresh from the Berkshire Theatre Festival.
The Waiting Room, directed by Prof. Janet Morrison (THA), explores women's constant struggles to obtain beauty throughout the centuries. The Physician of His Honor, co-directed by Hill, is a play from the Spanish Golden Age set during the 14th-century reign of King Pedro of Castile.
New this year, undergraduates have created the Free Play Theatre Co-op under the umbrella of the theater department. The group will perform at least three plays this season: Summer Evening in Des Moines, The Black Eyed and The Last Five Years.
Beyond the department, the Undergraduate Theater Collective season begins with Brandeis Ensemble Theatre's The Laramie Project, a docudrama about reactions to the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, WY. The Tectonic Theatre Group, who wrote the work, traveled to Laramie and interviewed its residents in hopes of understanding the murder.
Laramie has been widely produced in the last five years. Director Mike Carnow '07 (The Water Children) offered an explanation: "This is the type of play that asks important questions about who we are both individually and as a community and the types of plays that challenge us to be better are the types of plays that should be done over and over again," he said. "I think theater should be entertaining always, but there's nothing wrong with making the audience think and question, as well."
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