Lin-Manuel Miranda Does "West Side Story"

Lin-Manuel Miranda '02 is keeping busy adapting a fresh Broadway revival of "West Side Story", translating much of the musical's original dialogue and song lyrics into Spanish:

In his own musical Mr. Miranda struggled to balance English and Spanish; he said that, surprisingly, the amount of Spanish doubled between the Off Broadway and Broadway productions. In the song “Breathe,” he noted, when one of the characters returns home confused after dropping out of college, her friends sing about how she has always been the star of the neighborhood.

“It’s much more visceral to hear them sing in Spanish,” said Mr. Miranda, dressed in a hooded blue sweatshirt from Wesleyan, where he first started writing “In the Heights.”

New York Times: A Changed 'West Side Story' Returns to a Changed New York
Washington Post: A Bilingual Return to National Theatre Stage

Japanese Puppet Theater at World Music Hall

The Awaji Puppet Theater Company, the foremost practitioners of a form of Japanese puppetry passed down for the last 500 years on the island of Awaji in Japan, is performing at the World Music Hall this weekend:

Traditionally used in religious and ritual rites of appeasement and blessing, these large-scale, intricately designed and costumed puppets are operated by up to three people and capable of incredibly detailed expressions. They weave ancient tales of love and despair, miracles and misfortune, fate and folly, intrigue and revelation--and of course, ritual suicide. With live chanting and shamisen music accompaniment.

About Awaji Puppet Theater
The Awaji Puppet Theater Company, designated an Intangible Folk Asset by the Japanese government, comes to Wesleyan with a stunning program.

The company performs segments from classical dance pieces including Ebisu-Mai (Dance of the Fisherman God) and Hidaka-gawa Iriaizakura, based on the famous folktale of a lovelorn woman and her transformation into a serpent, as well as an episode from the traditional drama Tsubosaka Reigen-ki about the double suicide of a blind masseuse and his wife, and the divine miracle that brings them back to life. This intricate program highlights the Awaji puppet’s elaborate theater sets and props, and the highly refined mechanisms that manipulate the facial expressions of the puppets.

Awaji Puppet Theater stops at Wesleyan on a North American tour sponsored by the New York-based Japan Society.

Date: Saturday and Sunday, February 21st and 22nd
Time: 8 pm
Place: World Music Hall
$18 general, $15 for students, $8 for Wesleyan students

[edit by Sam: added price for Wesleyan students]

The Threepenny Opera: five performances

Ross Shenker '11 writes:

Come see the Theater Department in its presentation of The Threepenny Opera. Banned by the Nazis in Germany, its acidic music and bawdy lyrics paint a vivid picture of early twentieth-century London and its criminal underworld. Come see the best singing, acting, and theatrical design Wesleyan's faculty, staff, and students have to offer!

Purchase tickets at the Box Office or online.

Preview Performance
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 3
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $2

Scheduled Performances
Dates: Thursday, Dec. 4 – Saturday, Dec. 6
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $4

Date: Sunday, Dec. 7
Time: 2:00 PM
Cost: $4

ASHPET: An Appalachian Cinderella Story

ASHPET: An Appalachian Cinderella Story, will be performed at South Church this weekend. There are only two shows, and no tickets, so show up early to get a seat. The show is free, but donations will be accepted and will go toward fixing the broken organ at South Church.

Date: Friday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 20
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: South Church (corner of Church and Main)

More details are available on Facebook.

"The Exonerated" at Green Street this weekend

This weekend, there will be a performance of "The Exonerated" as part of the Green Street Art Center's In The Limelight Series. It's a fascinating portrayal of the real-life stories of five individuals who were convicted of terrible crimes and sentenced to death row - and then were exonerated. If you're interested at all in justice (or in these certain cases, the lack of it) in America today, I recommend this play highly.

Only $8 for a ticket, and $5 for members, seniors, and students.

Congratulations 'In the Heights'!

Wesleyan-alum-fueled musical 'In the Heights' just won the Tony for Best Musical!

[edit]

Theatrical mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda '02 (above) is really excited about it. The show was one of the biggest winners of the night, for choreography, score, and orchestration as well as best musical.

Miranda leads the cast of the show in a performance at the ceremony:

[edit by Sheek]

Second Stage presents: We Are Monsters Without a Name

Check out this weekend's show, We Are Monsters Without A Name:

What: a collaborative theatre piece created by: Gedney Barclay '09, Asa Horvitz '10, Jaime Maseda '11, Mark McCloughan '10, Annie Paladino '09, and Noa Wotton '10
When: Thursday, May 8, Friday, May 9, and Saturday, May 10 at 8 PM and 9:30 PM each night
Where: Russel House! (corner of High St. and Wash.)
$$$: Free tickets available at Usdan tables the day of each show. Limited space! Audience of 15!

The Real Thing premieres this weekend

Via Joe Newman '09:

Come see The Real Thing!
A Second Stage production directed by Grace Overbeke '08.



The Real Thing: A romantic comedy with a brain.

Cast
Gabriel Fries '09 as Henry
Leah Lucid '10 as Annie
Joe Newman '09 as Max
Jordana Wolf '08 as Charlotte
Brenna Galvin '11 as Debbie

Showtimes
Date: Friday, May 2
Times: 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM
Location: Daniel Family Commons

Date: Saturday, May 3
Times: 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Location: Daniel Family Commons

Second Stage Stuff

Second Stage Loves You
In case you didn't know...Second Stage is a student-run, volunteer organization overseeing Wesleyan's student theater. We help produce dance and theater shows that are entirely designed, directed, teched and performed by Wesleyan students. All undergraduates are welcome to apply for Second Stage sponsorship of a show, using either the '92 Theater or one of the various alternate spaces.

Put on a show through Second Stage!
Second Stage is now accepting show applications for the Fall semester! If you are planning a performance for the fall and would like to be sponsored by Second Stage, be sure to fill out an application. We sponsor all kinds of performances--plays, musicals, dance, all of the above, none of the above. You can find the applications on the call board in the Theater Studios, or download them from our website: www.2ndstage.org

Applications are due Tuesday, May 6th by 4:00 pm. Turn them in to Second Stage's mailbox in the Theater Department Office, or give them to a Second Stage member!

And if you REALLY want to get involved in student theater...

Apply for Second Stage Staff!
We are once again accepting applications for new members of Second Stage! Applications are located on the call board in the Theater Studios, or you can download a copy from our website.
Staff applications are also due Tuesday, May 6th by 4:00 pm.

Please feel free to contact any Second Stage member if you have questions about being on Staff (or anything else, really). Contact info is listed on the website.

Love,
Second Stage

Big Love - get tickets for this weekend!

Check out the Theater Department's production of "Big Love" this weekend. All tickets that are available are currently on sale at the box office - including tickets for the recently added Saturday 1 pm matinee.

Absolutely no tickets will be on sale at the door. If a show is sold out and you still want to come, arrive 45/30 minutes early in case there are no-shows.

Tickets are $4. Enter at the main CFA Theater entrance.

BIG LOVE also serves as the creative portion of the Acting theses of Edward Bauer and Tori Amoscato, and the Scenic Design thesis of Nick Benacerraf.

Wesleyan Off-Broadway: "In the Heights"

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Wesleyan alum, is currently a big deal in New York theater circles with his Latin and hip-hop musical, "In the Heights". The $2.5 million Off Broadway production is a fully realized version of a play he put on his sophomore year at Wesleyan before graduating with honors in theater studies, and is getting great reviews in its early run.

At Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., he moved into the Latino student house; one summer in college he got a job covering Washington Heights for Manhattan Times, which became a kind of seminar course on the neighborhood and its residents.

When he decided to write a musical for a theater on campus, he drew on the boleros and traditional Latin sounds he had mostly ignored growing up, and the wordplay of lyrically dexterous rap groups like the Pharcyde and Black Sheep he listened to in high school. The early version of “In the Heights” was a campus hit his sophomore year.

A history of how the show got produced:
You're 27. Here Are Millions to Stage Your Musical

And a profile of the artist: Heights Before Broadway

Peer Gynt

Wesleyan's Theater Department Presents...

Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Yuriy Kordonskiy

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, March 1-3 at 8pm
Sunday, March 4 at 7pm
at the CFA Theater

Get your tickets at the box office.

Wesleyan 365

Rachel Salowitz '07 sent us some info about Suzan-Lori Parks' ambitious goal of writing a play a day for 365 days. Between February 5th through the 11th, Wesleyan will be hosting a week of her plays showcasing the daily life of everyone who calls Middletown home. For a schedule of the week's events, click here.

In addition to these festivities, the Wesleyan 365 crew will also be hosting a writing competition called Write On to give everyone a taste at their own playwriting.

For more information, check out their website, www.wesleyan365.com.

Cat Head Theatre

I might have been a theater major if I could have had a cat as my professor. Just sayin'. I can't say that this video is LOL-worthy necessarily, but it's pretty amazing. Yes, this has absolutely NOTHING to do with Wesleyan. Sorry.

Gender, etc.

Dan Grassian '09 needs your help!

I want to create a play that encapsulates the intricacies of gender and its role in the lives of all different types of people at Wesleyan, America, and the world. The thing is, I need YOUR input, your friends' input, etc. What I want right now is monologues, skits, speeches, dialogs, etc. Anything YOU write or someone you know or vaguely know or has something written will do. And will be greatly appreciated. The play will be addressing many different sides of gender, including its overlap, co-construction, and influence over and from other societal identities, including race, class, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

The image so far:
Think similar to Vagina Monologues. Several 'actors' who will read pieces written by Wesleyan students (and likely some others). I plan on everyone looking as androgynous as possible, with hair either pulled back or under hats, etc. Face makeup, androgynous or gender-confusing clothes... The people reading the parts will NOT be trying to play a 'gender role.'

The only rules:
I do NOT want these pieces to include the words: 'gender,' 'male,' 'female,' 'feminine,' 'masculine,' 'he,' 'she,' or 'sex' (as in biological, not having sex...) If this confuses you or you have trouble with this, you can e-mail me or you can include these words and we can work with what you have...

Questions? Comments? Submissions? Want to get involved? Contact Dan at dlgrassian(at)wesleyan.edu.