2020-2021 Theater and Performance Studies Season
15th Anniversary Season: Seeds of Change: Reimagining the World
Prof. Maya E. Roth, Artistic Director
2020-21 season at the Davis Performing Arts Center
(Full schedule dates TBA)
MAINSTAGE SEASON
Letters & Poems Project
Curated and Directed by Prof. Maya E. Roth
Assistant directed by Olivia Martin (C’23)
Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17 at 8 p.m.
Students, faculty/staff and alums will read great letters and poems aloud, a moving way to encounter the archives & diversify memory and futures.
Register for Letters & Poems here.
Guerrilla Costuming
November 30
Dorothy Barnes-Driggers and student artisans take a play that inspires them and create guerrilla costumes for it, working from research, their closets, and their imagination.
The Rover (ReFrame) 3
Envisioned by Director/Dramaturge Prof. Maya E. Roth with Designs by John Alexander, Kelsey Hunt, Emily Lotz, Justin Schmitz and Tommy Wang
An experiential encounter with the world of The Rover, blending Aphra Behn’s vision and the design team’s imagination, inspired by Silk Road crossings and carnevale. Our Davis Center Lobby Installations will also showcase Letters from the Pandemic, a collaboration of The Rover Cast from last spring with Mask Designer Ryan Davis (C’21), and class projects from Prof Roth’s class.
Here I Am
World Premiere in collaboration with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics An Original Performance by Mélisande Short-Colomb
Performed by Short-Colomb with celebrated recording artist Somi
Co-Created by Colomb in collaboration with Prof. Derek Goldman, Nikkole Salter (Obie-Award winning playwright), and Somi
A native of New Orleans who began her studies at Georgetown in 2017 at the age of 63, Mélisande Short-Colomb is a direct descendant of Abraham Mahoney and Mary Ellen Queen who were among the 272 slaves owned and sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838 to help keep Georgetown afloat.
This autobiographical chronicle explores her loving and complicated relationship with the institution that enslaved her ancestors, while challenging audiences to consider the future of racial justice in America.
Totally Manageable, Easily Treatable
A Creative Senior Thesis Project by Grace Crozier (C’21) Advised by Prof. Derek Goldman
Autobiographical and theatrically inventive, intimate and socially engaged, this solo performance explores lived experiences of illness and wellness, access, and self-care. In partnership with the Program in Disability Studies (including special Talkbacks).
Sunbath
Created by Fatima Dyfan (C ’20)
Co-Produced by Black Theatre Ensemble and TPST
Advised by Prof. Maya E. Roth
This new work by Senior Fatima Dyfan, an African-American Studies major and TPST minor, celebrates the magical journey of a Black radical feminist in the making.
Davis Performing Arts Center 15th Anniversary
Celebrate the 15th anniversary of Georgetown’s arts hub in an exciting array of events with alumni, faculty, and current students!
Okinawa Demo Reel, Vol. 2
Written and Directed by Prof. Natsu Onoda Power
Bluer-than-blue ocean glitters under the sun. Mangrove trees line the rivers. Butterflies carry spirits of the dead. Natural springs cure all illnesses. A ghost of a US soldier returns from Vietnam, looking for his girlfriend. Residents of Henoko protests daily against the construction of the new US Marine base. A man works as a construction worker by day, digging up unexploded WW2 bombs. At night, he is one of Okinawa City’s most accomplished musicians. Tracks of Okinawa Demo Reel, Vol. 2 together tell the story of Okinawa’s complex past and present. All material for this project was collected in Okinawa in 2019-2020.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Sí Se Puede: Puerto Rican Lighting Designers
Monday, September 28 from 7 p.m.-8 p.m.
Puerto Rican Lighting Designers share their journey through their design process— from their design ideas to opening night and beyond. Helen Hayes Award-winning Lighting Designer Alberto Segarra convenes fellow Boricua designers with origins in designing for theater for a conversation about how their training in Puerto Rico reverberates through their artistic process and the many ways they make art today across borders and contexts. Guests include Manuel Ramirez Guevara, Marién V. Rodriguez, and Alex Soto- with work ranging from museum installations to regional theater, arena concerts to private architectural spaces.
FORUM WILL BE CONDUCTED IN ENGLISH
FREE, Register at https://forms.gle/yE9CWKtpZZu1X2hs7
Theater of War presented by
Georgetown University, Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, Royden B. Davis Performing Arts Center, Harvard University, Scripps College, Duke University, Pomona College, Smith College, The Jandon Center for Community Engagement, Clarmont McKenna College, Emory University, and University of Cincinnati
Antigone in Ferguson
A dramatic reading of Antigone, by Sophocles
Friday, October 2 at 5 p.m.
Translated, directed and facilitated by Bryan Doerries
Music composed and conducted by Dr. Philip Woodmore
Co-facilitated by De-Andrea Blaylock Johnson
Antigone in Ferguson is a groundbreaking project that fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir, from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City culminating in powerful, healing discussions about racialized violence, police brutality, systemic oppression, gender-based violence, health inequality, and social justice.
FREE, visit aifoctober2.eventbrite.com
Co-sponsored by Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, Forum for Cultural Engagement, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, Center for Modern Drama, and Lubimovka Young Russian Playwrights Festival
Flash Acts Festival
October 8-13
From more than 150 of the most innovative playwrights, directors, actors, and designers from across Russia and the U.S. comes Flash Acts, a groundbreaking virtual festival of short plays to entertain, provoke, and bridge cultural divides. Featuring newly commissioned short plays by 20 celebrated American and Russian playwrights, the bilingual project will feature newly commissioned short plays based on the timely theme of isolation: artistic, political, interpersonal, and physical: 10 by American playwrights – including Georgetown University Theater & Performance Studies Program faculty member Christine Evans and Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Think Tank member Heather Raffo – and 10 by Russian playwrights. GU Theater & Performance Studies Program Prof. Maya E. Roth, Prof. Natsu Onoda Power, and alumnus Isaiah Matthew Wooden also direct as part of the festival and students and alumni participate in casts and crew. This first-of-its-kind festival will premiere two productions–one in English and one in Russian–of four new plays daily. Each play will be performed by different creative teams in Russian and English. The festival will also feature six panel discussions, as well as a music lounge featuring performances by Russian and American musicians.
FREE, FOR SCHEDULE AND STREAMING INFORMATION visit flashactsfestival.org
Co-sponsored by The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, the Medical Humanities Initiative, Georgetown Humanities Initiative, LGBTQ Resource Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Department of Performing Arts
The Great Work Begins: Revisiting Angels in America During a Pandemic
Tuesday, October 27 at 5 p.m.
This special program of performance and discussion will combine scenes performed by leading professional actors from Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning two-part epic play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes with insights from experts from the medical, political, and artistic communities on the legacy and continued resonance of the play’s portrayal of the AIDS Epidemic in the context of the current moment.
FREE, https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/99910057920
View an archive of past Theater and Performance Studies Seasons.