News

Theater Department Welcomes Isaiah M. Wooden!  This Fall 2022, Professor Wooden will join Swarthmore's Theater Department as the newest faculty member.  Professor Wooden will be teaching Theater & Performance.  For more on Professor Wooden, please visit his website.

 

Theater Department Reflects on a Year of Remote Performances
One year after the College community transitioned to online learning and the theater industry was upended, three professors from Swarthmore’s Theater Department gathered to discuss the challenges, discoveries, and strategies that have emerged as they navigate this new landscape. 

Citlali Pizarro '20 named inaugural Woolly Mammoth Connectivity Fellow
In this paid year-long position, Citlali will be working to link the company’s artistic mission with their social and political mission.

Department Chair K. Elizabeth Stevens in the Swarthmore Bulletin
What happens when a pandemic brings down the curtain on live theater? Associate Professor and Chair of the Theater Department K. Elizabeth Stevens explains how and why the ‘show must go on.’

Honors Theater alum Adrienne Mackey '04 joins the faculty at the University of Washington's Graduate School of Drama
As a full-time Assistant Professor in Acting, Directing & Devising, Mackey will help re-vision their training methodology to include more devised, artist-generative and interdisciplinary working models. 

Dr. Jessica Nakamura '03 publishes Transgenerational Remembrance: Performance and the Asia Pacific War in Contemporary Japan 
At a time when the generation with direct experiences of the Asia-Pacific war passes away, this book identifies performances that forge dialogue between younger generations and elided memories. 

The New York Times Reviews work by Nell Bang Jensen '11 and Professor Matt Saunders
Head theater critic Jesse Green describes the two shows as "devastating," "powerfully expressive" and "excellent," and posits that they "offer hope" for the future of pandemic theater.

WHYY Interview with Adrienne Mackey '04 
Adrienne Mackey '04 is interviewed in "Regional Roundup" about her company Swim Pony's upcoming Fringe show TrailOff.  Adrienne comes on the air around the 32:30 timestamp. 

Celebrating Black Excellence in the Many Forms It Takes: Thandiwe McMillan ’20
A Phoenix article highlighting the many talents and all around great person that is Theater major Thandiwe McMillan '20.

The Washington Post: No one will ever see this play, and no actors are coming either. But the show will go on.
Cornell Professor of Theater Michał Zadara's '99 work with the students on the Acting Capstone production of Sophocles’s THE WOMEN OF TRACHIS was covered in an article by theater critic Peter Marks in yesterday’s edition of THE WASHINGTON POST.  Read more about this production here. 

Tara Webb '94 Helps Mask Making Efforts to Combat Pandemic
As Costume Shop manager at Swarthmore’s Lang Performing Arts Center, Tara Webb ’94 is accustomed to outfitting students for their theater and dance productions. These days, though, Webb is outfitting a broader community, organizing mask-making efforts to aid against the spread of COVID-19. 

Ambitious Original Opera 'Cassandra' Offers Timely Message of Truth and Resistance
Dept. Chair K. Elizabeth Stevens directs this ambitious, student-driven, and interdisciplinary work, written by professors in the English and Music departments specifically for the Swarthmore student body. 

 

ARCHIVAL PRESS


All Her World's A Stage
Michaela Shuchman '16 is featured in the Alumni Magazine SPRING 2016 / ISSUE III / CXIII.

Having the Stuff [PDF]
NY Times Review (Eric Grode) of Chimera (Suli Holum '97 and Deb Stein '99) at Here Arts Center in New York. Other reviews of the show are available at lighingandsoundamerica.com, TDF.org, Backstage.com, NewYorkTheatreReview.blogpsot.com.

Inventing the Abacus [PDF]
Lars Jan '00 interviewed in Interview Magazine for Abacus at the Sundance Film Festival.

Abacus
Theater alum Lars Jan '00 presented his multimedia piece Abacus, an official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah in February. Jan has worked for three years on ABACUS, which he describes as "a visually immersive, genre-bending presentation exploring the future of national borders and how contemporary persuasion works." In style, the presentation assumes a TED-talk fused with the grand gestures of megachurch media design, all while utilizing emerging technologies and stunning visual effects. From the Swarthmore News, January 2012.

Freedom Club [PDF]
Adriano Shaplin (Visiting Instructor of Playwriting) was interviewed and featured in Theater Journal (41:2) for his recent play Freedom Club.

God Save Gertrude [PDF]
Alum Deborah Stein '99 won acclaim for her play God Save Gertrude, which was recently published in Theatre Forum in its entirety.

Baby It's You
Martín Carrillo '97 won the 2010 NAACP Theatre Award in Los Angeles for Best Sound Design for an Equity Production for his work on a production of the musical BABY IT'S YOU at the Pasadena Playhouse in their 2009-2010 season. Martín was a Theater major and worked as a production intern in the LPAC Staff Office for several years after graduating from the College. From Variety, November 2009.

Now That's Entertainment
Wilson Hall '95 and Krister Johnson '95 use parody as a religious comic singing duo. From the College Bulletin, October 2009.

Hurlyburly in the Crum
Jacquline Vitale '09 staged a production of Macbeth Crum Meadow that featured Dan Perlstein '09's musical direction and sound design. From the College Bulletin, July 2009.

Skyscrapers and Emptiness
Although he does not have any Jewish ancestry he is aware of, Zadara '99 sees Jewish-Polish culture-which once stood on the brink of annihilation-as part of his heritage. From the College Bulletin, April 2009.

Swarthmore at the Fringe [PDF]
A Guide to the September 2007 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe—and Their Connections to the College. From the College Bulletin, December 2007.

See Sanda Fly [PDF]
Sanda Balaban '94 helps empower New York Principals, teachers, and students. From the College Bulletin, September 2007.

Books + Arts [PDF]
Comic Chaos. Includes a review of Kill Me Like You Mean It, a play by the Swarthmore-spawned Stolen Chair Theatre Company. From the College Bulletin, March 2007.

It's rigorous, demanding, challenging, exhausting, exhilarating [PDF]
—and that's what students love about Swarthmore's Honors Program. From the College Bulletin, September 2006.

Swarthmore and Oscar [PDF]
From the College Bulletin, June 2006.

Theater of Diplomacy [PDF]
Lars Jan '00 Engages Western and Islamic Tensions through Direct Artistic Exchange. From the College Bulletin, March 2006.

Invitation to Play (Cover Story) [PDF]
The Innovative Pig Iron Theatre Co. leaps onto the national and international stage. From the College Bulletin, June 2002.

Comic Relief on Campus [PDF]
From the College Bulletin, December 2000.

Steps of Change [PDF]
Newly democratic Poland is home to Swarthmore's latest foregin study program—an unusual combination of environmental engineering and modern dance. From the College Bulletin, December 1999.