The Department of Theater proudly presents a public streaming performance via Zoom of UN-MUTE, a double bill of original devised radio plays created by students in the Advanced Directing Workshop (Directing II, taught by Prof. Allen Kuharski) and Sound Design (taught by Prof. Liz Atkinson). 

UN-MUTE will be shared with the public on Friday, May 22, at 8 pm EST, and will run just over an hour.  All members of the two casts and creative teams will be present to chat and answer any questions about the work after the streaming broadcast (moderated by Allen Kuharski and Liz Atkinson).  The Zoom meeting will be open for early arrivals starting at 7:30 pm EST.  THE STREAMING PERFORMANCE IS OPEN TO EVERYONE, ANYWHERE.  

Here is the Zoom meeting invitation number (this can be shared freely with anyone interested in attending):

Join Zoom Meeting
https://swarthmore.zoom.us/j/93243280320

UN-MUTE consists of two new works (in the order of the program): 

FLICKER, directed by Jack McManus '21, co-created with Shelby Billups '20, Alex Kingsley '20, and Josephine Ross '21, with sound design by Jonathan Guider '21

LARYNGOSPASM, directed by Zaina Dana '21, co-created with Grace Griego '22, Shail Modi '21, and Lauryn Smith '21, with sound design by Michael Nutt '23.  Additional performances contributed by Amaechi Abuah '21, Fouad Dakwar '22, and Clarissa Grunstein '20.

Begun in January as works planned for live performance in the Frear Ensemble Theater, the material in UN-MUTE was adapted as an experiment in radio theater following the start of the COVID-19 crisis.  While initially conceived and prepared for 7 weeks without the pandemic in mind, both works now inevitably reflect our experience over the last two months. UN-MUTE is the result of over 180 hours of rehearsal and technical time by the group over the semester, making it among our most richly-prepared department productions in spite of its seemingly modest format.  

UN-MUTE is exuberant in its exploration of the radio medium, poetic and musical in form and sensibility, in turn playful and dark.  We hope to be able repeat and expand upon this experiment in the future.