skidmore theater living newsletter
Fall 2016 Black Box: “The Orphan Sea”
Caridad Svich’s poetic dance-theater piece The Orphan Sea asks us to stop for a moment and exist in solely the present.
Fall 2016 Studio Lab #2: “The Secret in the Wings”
Secret, Strange By Caity Cook “Samantha, will you marry me?” Mr. Merrick, played by Philip Merrick ‘19 (in this world, characters are named after the actors who play them), asks this question while slowly picking up a single red rose, plucked from his garden by Samantha’s father. He repeats this question, an allusion to the […]
Embracing and Structuring the Abstract: The Design Team Behind “The Orphan Sea”
Svich’s writing allows designers to find unorthodox and innovative ways to share the story. This freedom has been an exciting opportunity to discover new ways to be storytellers.
Fall 2016 New Works Lab #1: “A More Perfect Union”
Staff writer Kallan Dana ’19 on the semester’s first New Works Lab A More Perfect Union and the power of love to conquer all.
Senior Spotlight: Rigel Harris
BY: Nina Slowinski ’19 The opening psyches the audience out. When Bernadette (Rigel Harris ’16) enters, it seems like she’s just returning home from a long trip. Standing with her back to the audience, Bernadette takes in the set: an ornamental living room that feels only a tad outdated for 2016. The audience soon learns that […]
Behind the Scenes: Rehearsing “Who Will Carry the Word”
By Laura McCullagh ’17 For the final week of rehearsals before tech week, Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly, our wonderful director, requested that the cast wear all black. In previous rehearsals, I had enjoyed wearing leggings printed to look like space, a big blue corduroy shirt, or any of the colorful and very cozy scarves that anyone who […]
Life and Theater: A JKB Series with Lebo McKoena ’18
By A’ntonia Benson In Life and Theater: A JKB Series, blogger A’ntonia Benson ’18 randomly selects members of the Skidmore theater department to chat with about how and why they choose to be involved with theater at Skidmore. Today, A’ntonia sits down with Lebo McKoena ’18. AB: Can you please tell me your name, class […]
Life and Theater: A JKB Series with Bean Chiodo ’20
By A’ntonia Benson ’18 In Life and Theater: A JKB Series, blogger A’ntonia Benson ‘18 randomly selects members of the Skidmore theater department to chat with about how and why they choose to be involved with theater at Skidmore. Today, A’ntonia sits down with Bean Chiodo ’20. AB: What’s your name and class year? BC: […]
Fall 2016 Studio Lab #1: “Stop Kiss”
Identity, Love, and Un-tucked Sheets By Kellina Moore ’18 There is always a certain element of intrusion that comes with theater. At its best, theater makes us feel like we are watching something we are not supposed to be watching, like we are in on some sort of secret. This is the feeling I get […]
Life and Theater: A JKB Series with Olivia Irby ’18
By A’ntonia Benson ’18 In Life and Theater: A JKB Series, blogger A’ntonia Benson ’18 randomly selects members of the Skidmore theater department to chat with about how and why they choose to be involved with theater at Skidmore. Today, A’ntonia sits down with Olivia Irby ’18. AB: what’s your name, your grade, and your […]
Birth, Death, and a Cup of Tea
“Ritual will always mean throwing away something: destroying our corn or wine upon the altar of our gods.” -G. K. Chesterton If theater is a ritual, it is a ritual of death–of human sacrifice. I throw myself into the audience. I die as my character does. The audience members are my gods; I can only […]
What I Learned about Theater from Not Doing Theater This Summer
Or: Coping with Judgment in the Arts By Adina Kruskal ’18 Against the better advice of my Skidmore professors, I did not pursue any theater-related experiences this summer. I spent two months of the summer at a Jewish day camp in Westwood, MA, as I have for nearly all of my life. A big part […]
Bard Is Dead.
An Essay/Collage By Gabe Cohn I. A friend of mine once opened a conversation by saying that he had licked Shakespeare’s grave. He’d been licking notable graves for years: Samuel Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis, Emily Dickinson…he’d licked them all. Somehow he’d gotten past the velvet rope in front of […]
We Begin, We End
Week One at the Orchard Project and an Interview with Barbara Pitts McAdams By Rachel Karp A Moment: We Begin. Sia’s Chandelier plays, Queen Mary stands center in a green dress with long ribbons attached; two attendants dressed in black tug at the ribbons, controlling Mary’s every move. Mary locks eyes with Queen Elizabeth, enveloped in […]
How to Make a Memory
From Abby Outterson ’16 When your significant other tells you the writer of a well-loved Broadway musical is giving the keynote commencement speech at his college graduation, surprise him by showing up. Remember, you are excited about the graduation part. Try not to drool during the speech. When you find out said significant other could […]
Watching Kaspar: On Language and Socialization
SCHREUER ’16: On the surface Peter Handke’s Kaspar seems to be a play about teaching someone to speak. But it is far more than that, because language is not just a communicative technique. Language constructs how we view the world, how we perceive it, the relationship between things, and our relationship to things. Language determines […]
Siti Summer Lessons in Failure
Hi there, and welcome to my blog series! In these posts, I will try to navigate and share the teachings and insights I’ve encountered during my month-long intensive with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, in residency at Skidmore this June. These posts will contain some confused rambling, partly because I’m trying to fully absorb […]
Switching Hats in the 24-hour Play Festival
BY: ZIGGY SCHULTING ’18 With Skidmore College’s third annual Together We Can Do So Much More 24-hour play festival, producers Sonya G. Rosen ’17 and Brandon Bogle ’16 made the nearly impossible happen once again. The event featured a series of plays that were written, cast, rehearsed, and performed in the space of 24 hours. This year, […]
STLN STAFF 2022-2023
Editor-in-Chief: Kiersten Simpson ’27
Founding Editor: Gabe Cohn ’16