A “pan-Italian form” that flourished throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, commedia dell’arte is an important part of performance history.   Its rich legacy can be identified in the oeuvre of Moliere and Shakespeare, the films of Chaplin and Keaton, and in sitcoms such as The Honeymooners and Seinfeld.  Commedia is an actor’s medium requiring an approach to performance that is as technically precise as it is imaginative and playful.  A physically and vocally disciplined form that is based on improvisation and stock characters, many of whom are masked, commedia provides a valuable range of training techniques for today’s student actor.   

As the culminating activity of Dr. Peter Zazzali’s course “Commedia Dell’arte as an Approach to Actor Training,” the Department of Theater and Dance will be sponsoring a thirty-minute commedia scenario replete with physical comedy, stock characters, and comic hijinks!!  Please come and share in the experience at the Miller Library’s Robinson room on May 8 (12:00 and 4:30).  A reception will follow the 4:30 performance. 

2 to 4 p.m. in Smith Acting and Directing Studio

The workshop will address some fundamentals of “show business,” such as joining actor unions, showcasing one’s work, seeking representation from agents and managers, and learning how to network/market oneself.  Professional acting in the US is a business.  While it is true that talent, training, and yes, luck are important components of the success and longevity of an actress’s career, the fact remains that she must treat her profession as a privately owned business, in which she markets her work to access and execute auditions, and ultimately, to become gainfully employed.  The primary learning outcome of this workshop is to demystify the student actor’s understanding of what it takes to have a professional acting career while providing him/her with a few basic strategies for getting started. 

February 22nd
3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Location: Runnals Lobby

The Theater and Dance Department’s final main stage show of the year is the New Works Festival, an exciting opportunity designed to bring together student producers, playwrights, directors, actors, designers, stagecraft specialists and dramaturgs under the mentorship of Theater & Dance faculty. Five 10-minute plays were chosen from this fall’s New Play Competition and they will all be produced with the help of YOUR acting skills. Now all you need to do is AUDITION! No experience necessary. Novice actors welcome!

Sign-up before February 22 in Runnals on the sheet posted in the hallway outside of room 104A.

Auditions will held in groups of 3 for 20 minutes each.
No prep needed, just come with a friendly face.
CHOCOLATE may be provided and consumed :>)

New Works Festival Show dates in Strider Theater:  April 19th and 20th If you have questions about the audition process please contact: Mary Randall <mrandall@colby.edu>

Using movement and monologues, the Performance Lab Series is looking for actors and dancers to delve into the tangled world of obsession. Themes and Variations on Obsession, directed by Mary Randall ’13 is about exploring what makes us obsessed and how we cope (or don’t).

 Sign up for an audition time slot on the call board in Runnals (in the hallway across from room 104 C).

 Auditions are on February 11th and 12th from 4:00-6:30 in Runnals, Smith Studio (2nd floor).

 Cast members are eligible for one credit (TD 164: Performance Lab Series).

Theater and Dance Department Bicentennial Year Events

Colby Theater and Dance Department is celebrating the College’s 200^th birthday with a full season of exciting programming, including a specially commissioned world premiere by Colby professors Lynne Conner (Theater and Dance) and Jon Hallstrom (Music) and the T & D Professional Alumni Series, a year-long touring program featuring the work of accomplished alumni.

Light of the Mind is a highly theatrical multimedia performance work created by Colby faculty members Lynne Conner (Theater and Dance) and Jon Hallstrom (Music).  Featuring a live ensemble of musicians and actors, the piece celebrates two hundred years of liberal learning through music, text and a projection score made up of hundreds of images from Colby past and present.  A team of professional artists perform with a student ensemble under the direction of Conner and Hallstrom.  The performance will be stage on February 27, 2013 as a featured event of the bicentennial schedule.

 Light of the Mind
Text, Lyrics and Projection Score by Lynne Conner
Music and Interactive Multimedia by Jon Hallstrom
February 27 at 4:45 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. (all seats reserved for Colby students, faculty, staff and alumni)
Strider Theater

The T & D Professional Alumni Series showcases two highly accomplished theater and dance majors: Heidi Henderson (‘83) and Reid Farrington (‘99).   As a professional dancer Henderson has performed with leading choreographers Bebe Miller, Nina Wiener, Peter Schmitz, Sondra Loring, and Paula Josa-Jones.  Her contemporary dance company, elephant JANE dance, has appeared in London, New York, Boston, Jacob’s Pillow (Becket, MA), Bates Dance Festival and throughout the northeast. Farrington is a new media artist, theater director and stage designer whose innovative multi-media performance works have been presented at P.S. 122, the Abrons Art Center, the Walker Art Center and the PS/K2 Festival in Copenhagen. He is currently developing a performance installation for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City based on “The Cupid,” about an ostensible Michelangelo sculpture found at the French Embassy in NYC. His work has been praised in The New York Times, American Theater Magazine, Lighting and Sound America, The Village Voice, and Time Out New York.

The Making of The Passion Project: Open Lecture by Reid Farrington. 
October 10 at 4 p.m.
Strider Theater

The Passion Project by Reid Farrington
October 10 at 8 p.m., October 11 at 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., October 12 at 7 p.m.
Strider Theater

 Reid Farrington’s (Colby ’99) The Passion Project is a forty-minute performance installation that explodes Carl Dreyer’s immortal film classic, The Passion of Joan of Arc, into an immersive projection environment placing the audience inside the film, sitting next to Joan, and subjecting them to the relentless questioning of her judges. The images from Dreyer’s masterpiece float through the air on screens made of simple wood and parchment, wielded by a solo female performer who makes Joan’s emotional journey palpable.  This innovative blend of dramatic storytelling, archival film footage and cutting-edge technology creates a series of powerful and moving portraits. 

 “What Beauty there is in Mr. Farrington’s work. Like Dreyer’s film it is both luminous and cruel.” ~Claudia La Rocco, New York Times

 “The Passion Project is a breathtaking tour de force for both creator and director Reid Farrington and performer Laura K. Nicoll. ~Mark Rifkin, This Week in New York

 For more information on the show see: http://reidfarrington.com

 elephant JANE dance/Heidi Henderson
March 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Strider Theater

 “In my dances the neatness of minimalist art meets the messiness of life.  Simple structures, when filled with human bodies moving, create meaning. My dances are meant to be seen close, the performers touch and sweat and see into each other’s eyes. These dances are real: messy, emotional, highly structured, single minded, fluid, quiet, and virtuosic.” Don’t miss this opportunity to see elephant JANE dance in motion on Strider Stage.

Come take class with master teacher, Robin Sanders!
Sept. 21 at 12:30 in Runnals on Strider Theater Stage

Sanders’ love for freestyle and African dance and drum has lead her to a style that fuses hip hop dance & African inspired movement with a touch of Cali swag & Memphis ‘jookin’.  Her teaching philosophy is based on the idea that hip hop dance is a street born art form that stems from a mirage of movement and experiences. She is a seasoned instructor with the ability to connect with dancers of all genres, levels, and ages. Sanders is one of Mid-South’s paramount instructors and provides dancers with a street savvy  rhythmic experience.

Open to all levels of experience.