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Randal Fippinger
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2nd Season Brings Even More Excitement to '62 Center for Theatre and Dance
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The inaugural year of events fired the imagination of the Williams community as WilliamsTheatre and Dance students, energized by their extraordinary new home of the ’62 Center, mounted works alongside groundbreaking performances by the professional companies of the guest artist series entitled CenterSeries. Integrated programming including lectures and symposia, master classes taught by artists-in-residence, open rehearsals and other special events, allowed faculty engagement to unite the cultural offerings with students’ academic pursuits.
The ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance’s mission of putting performance into context in the service of scholarly inquiry (and vice versa) proved an immediate success. This coming academic year promises to build upon the accomplishments of the inaugural year. A spirit of collaboration enlivens an outstanding series of presentations that will forge connections between the intellectual life of the campus and community and the student and professional productions.
The season kicks-off on September 15th and 16th with a special co-presentation by the Department of Theatre and the Multicultural Center bringing to campus the powerful South African play TSHEPANG, which itself embraces the new Williams in Africa (WiA) program led by Theatre Professor David Eppel. In 2001, South Africa was devastated by the news of a brutal rape of a nine-month-old child by the name of Baby Tshepang in the small town of Louisvaleweg in the Northern Cape. Once the sensational story hit the headlines, it was followed by hundreds of similar stories. Tshepang is a story of love, forgiveness and coming to terms with a tragedy of this magnitude. Writer and director Lara Foot Newton, winner of the prestigious Rolex Prize, draws on a South African style of storytelling, combining striking visual imagery with an African sense of magic realism. She intrigues the audience by luring them into a world where sadness and despair live next to love, humor and hope. Tshepang’s performances are made possible by the W. Ford Schumann ’50 Endowment for the Arts. Tickets for this event will be on sale for $3 per person (cash and check only) at the ’62 Center Box Office beginning September 5, 2006.
Williams students in Theatre and Dance will perform throughout the season on the various stages throughout the ’62 Center. The Theatre Department will present an innovative festival of new student work, Project 228, late in the fall semester. In early spring, Williams students will collaborate with counterparts from the Market Theatre Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa to present an original ensemble piece. And in May, new theatre professor Omar Sangare will direct Nikolai Gogol’s biting political satire The Inspector General with a student cast. The various shows during both the fall and spring semesters by the Dance Program’s ensembles: Dance Company, Kusika, The Zambezi Marimba Band, Sankofa and INISH will showcase Williams as a place where performance thrives. Their season will begin in late October with the help of visiting Artist-in-Residence, Marta Renzi. Ms. Renzi, a well known choreographer and Williamstown native will work with student and community members to create work that communicates intimate stories of family and community. Other student groups such as Cap and Bells will also perform within the walls of the ’62 Center, beginning in October with the annual Frosh Revue. Tickets will become available for all student productions at the ’62 Center Box Office beginning September 19, 2006. Keep a watch for updates, announcements, etc. on the allnew ’62 Center website (our new website will be unveiled on September 11, 2006) www.williams.edu/go/62center.
Again this year, the CenterSeries will present an array of performing arts by professional companies and artists to inspire, entertain and enlighten the Williams community. Highlights in the 2006 – 2007 season include Sankai Juku’s Butoh masterpiece KAGEMI: Beyond the Metaphor of the Mirrors, a spellbinding work of otherworldly grace from the great Ushio Amagatsu. Sankai Juku is a progressive Butoh dance company from Japan with a storied history of international touring. This program is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program. Another not-to-miss performance will be IF TRANE WUZ HERE, an exploration of John Coltrane by the tap dancer Savion Glover, the poet reg e. gaines, and saxophonist Matana Roberts. These performances complement the Stalwart Originality conference and spearhead the campus-wide “Coltrane Spring” program. The SEÁN CURRAN DANCE COMPANY will help heat up the wintry month of January with Companion Dances (a duet with Curran and Heather Weldon), St. Petersburg Waltz (Curran solo) and the hauntingly beautiful Aria. In April, two weeks of lectures, panels, and debates will accompany the L.A. Theatre Work’s production of THE GREAT TENNESSEE MONKEY TRIAL. L.A. Theatre Works’ docudrama is adapted from the original trial transcripts of the Scopes Monkey Trial, which famously challenged the ban on teaching the theory of evolution in public schools in 1925. This radio-play-style production of the trial, starring Ed Asner will definitely be a not-to-miss event! Integrated programming for these and other performances will reach out to students, community and faculty across the academic spectrum. L.A. Theatre Work’s production of The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial is funded in part by the Thomas B. Healy ’50 Fund for Technology and Ethics as well as the Expeditions program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, which receives major support from the National Endowment for the Arts and additional support from the state arts agencies of New England. All of the CenterSeries performances are made possible by the W. Ford Schumann ’50 Endowment for the Arts. Tickets will become available for all CenterSeries events at the ’62 Center Box Office beginning September 19, 2006. Keep a watch for updates, announcements, etc. on the all-new ’62 Center website (our new website will be unveiled on September 11, 2006) www.williams.edu/go/62center.
Additional special events, like the American College Dance Festival Association’s New England Regional Conference, which the Dance Program will host in February, showcase the ‘62 Center as a hub of activity in the area. In October, the Williams College Multicultural Center will host a performance sponsored by the Dively Committee of KINSEY SICKS, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, in the MainStage of the ’62 Center. The Albany Berkshire Ballet returns to the ’62 Center on December 12th for two performances of THE NUTCRACKER. For more information about any of these events, please visit www.williams.edu/go/62center after September 11, 2006.
