Best Performance Awards 2007 go to:

Ilya Khodosh as Meyer Lansky in Madame Tussaud, Live

Jessica Lynn Johnson in Oblivious To Everyone

Herbert Kaluza in The Story of My Dovecote

Performance update:

Thursday Dec. 6th

7:30 PM Madame Tussaud, Live

Friday, Dec. 7th

7:30 PM Madame Tussaud, Live

Saturday, Dec. 8th

2:00 PM Vamping

3:30 PM Oblivious to Everyone

6:00 PM American Cake

7:30 PM Story of My Dovecote

8:30 PM Closing ceremony and Reception

A new international theatre festival of solo performances. The Festival is designed for professional artists as well as students. Solo performers will explore essential dramatic themes, such as intellectual and emotional complexity, the subject of solitude, and the uniqueness of human imperfection. It is an occasion to share diverse perspectives that span cultural, perceptional, and linguistic similarities between peoples, both professional and personal. Professor Sangare defines the goal of Dialogue One by the motto:
“There are no monologues. You are involved in dialogue at least with the Universe itself.”

Williamstheatre students perform solo performances that are combined into one event entitled, Madame Tussaud, LIVE; a compilation of 4 images. Ilya Khodosh ’08 plays Meyer Lansky, a character modeled on the gangster of the same name. Andres Lopez ‘09 plays Bud, a character modeled on Marlon Brando. Amanda O’Connor ’10 plays Maréchal Lannes, a character modeled on a friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, in a piece titled The Last Battle of Lannes; and Terence Tamm ’08 plays a character modeled on the writer Jack Kerouac, in a piece titled On the Rocks.

Ilya Khodosh - Meyer Lansky

Meyer Lansky, a notorious twentieth century Jewish crime boss at the end of his life, confronts the decisions he has made and ruminates on the nature of violence, justice, God, history, integrity, responsibility, and being alive.

Ilya Khodosh is a senior theatre major at Williams College. He studied in the Czech Republic last spring and will study in Georgia this winter. Favorite Williams productions include As You Like It, Slither, Assassins, The Exonerated, and Uncle Vanya.

Andres Lopez - Bud

It’s New York City, December 1953, and while filming “On the Waterfront,” director Elia Kazan and his star, Marlon “Bud” Brando, clash over whether Bud’s character, ex-prizefighter Terry Malloy, really believes his brother Charley will pull the trigger on him.

Andrés López majors in English and philosophy at the college. He adheres to the old adage that the written word can change lives, counting his titling as “Foyle Poet of the Year” by Queen Elizabeth II as a defining moment.

Amanda O’Connor - The Last Battle of Lannes

The Last Battle of Lannes tells the story of Jean Lannes, one of Napoleon's Marshals, in the days just before his death. The show is written and performed by Mandy O'Connor, a student of theatre and psychology at Williams College.

Amanda O’Connor, a sophomore at Williams College majoring in Theatre and Psychology, is a local resident of Southern Berkshire County. She has been actively involved in all aspects of theatre since before she can remember, including acting, directing, writing, and designing.

Terence Tamm - On the Rocks

On the Rocks by Terry Tamm ’08 features an evening in the life of Jack Kerouac. With his new book The Town and the City about to debut, Jack finds his world crashing down around him.

Terry Tamm ’08 is thrilled to be participating in the first Dialogue One Festival. Williams College: Assassins, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Slither, Black Comedy, Woody Allen’s God. Edinburgh Fringe: Out of the Blue, Oxford University’s All-Male A Capella ’07

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Professional offerings include The Story of My Dovecote, based on a short story from Stories from Odessa by the Jewish author Isaac Babel. This solo performance, performed in 4 languages (English, Russian, German, Polish), reproduces the unique atmosphere of Jewish life and culture in former East Europe. Directed by Johannes-Talmon-Gros, Herbert Kaluza plays Arye-Leib, a man who tells the story of how his father gave him a pigeonry as a gift when he was a child. Going to the marketplace in Odessa to buy some pigeons, he had his first experience with a pogrom. The Story of My Dovecote has won numerous international awards including Best Actor given by the International Network of One-Man-Show-Festivals.

Vampingis a dynamic, multi-media solo work created and performed by Kali Quinn and GUTWorks. Through a series of virtuoso transformations, master performer Kali Quinn introduces the audience to a group of five unforgettable characters, all connected to a 91-year old woman who is struggling with senile dementia. Through movement and the creative use of a wheelchair, along with her ability to voice young and old, male and female, angry and kind, Quinn creates a unique and riveting theatrical experience. The additional element of director Jonathan Maloney‘s unique video montage sequences allows the audience to go back in time and into the aging mind. “Quinn, Burmester, and Maloney have brought to life a powerful new piece that deserves a longer run and as much attention as it can grab," says Josh Sherman of nytheatre.com.

Oblivious To Everyone, conceived by Playwright/Performer Jessica Lynn Johnson, explores the media’s portrayal of and influence on the style and psyche of the modern woman. This 75 minute serio-comedycenters around the character of Carrie, a self-proclaimed smut-aholic and avid talk show watcher, who is seeking psychiatric evaluation after repeated complaints from friends and family about her alleged multiple ‘personalities’. Rapidly flipping identities like TV stations, the audience will discover just how oblivious this Paris Hilton wannabe really is. Ms. Johnson portrays ten characters of different age, sex, and race as a means to examine the influential stereotypes, prejudices, and pressures American Media inflicts on our society. “The show is hilarious! But the theme, it’s quite serious,” adds Fox 5 News/Toni Senecal.

What does it truly means to love one’s country? Jonathan Pereira weaves personal stories of love, loss, and youthful expectations of romance and juxtaposes them with similar romantic images of America. American Cake is solo work that encourages the exploration of controversial, socially sensitive, or otherwise difficult topics through humor and satire.

Press Release

The Berkshire Review for the Arts

Dialogue ONE 2007 images 1

Dialogue ONE 2007 images 2

Dialogue One 2008

Dialogue ONE 2009