Muhlenberg's "The Tempest" receives accolades from collegiate theater association
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival praises Troy Dwyer and Charles O. Anderson's brave dance-theater adaptation of Shakespeare's classic.Wednesday, May 11, 2011 09:58 AM
Muhlenberg College's Mainstage production of "The Tempest," which played from March 31 to April 3 in the Muhlenberg's Empie Theatre, was honored by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival with multiple awards and scholarship nominations including a Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Ensemble Performance.
"This was really challenging theater in the best sense of the word," writes Julia Matthews, a KCACTF respondent and associate professor and chair of theater at Albright College, Reading, Pa., in her review of the production. "Not only did you confront received notions of Shakespeare and 'The Tempest,' but you dared the artists in your company to stretch themselves into new modes of performance, and you challenged us in the audience to experience theater in new ways."
The production's creators and Muhlenberg professors Charles O. Anderson, dance, and Troy Dwyer, theater, collaborated to adapt the usual Shakespearean flavor of "The Tempest" for dance-theater - a highly visual and kinesthetic medium which centers on the physical work of the actors in relationship to the language.
"Movement has the power to be this battery that can fuel an audience's understanding," Dwyer says. "You get it in your chest, more than in your brain - at least, you do when you're in the hands of talented actors. And if you get someone who can really move, you take the Duracell out and put a nuclear reactor in there."
Dwyer and Anderson overlaid the original script and story of "The Tempest" with a metanarrative - an alternate reality of a contemporary city - intertwined with non-traditional perspectives.
"Privileging the traditional narrative was never on the table," Dwyer says, "because it just doesn't make sense with what we do. Charles and I are both queer artists, Charles is an artist of color. We have a certain relationship with authority that doesn't really allow for an adaptation that is both honest and 'traditional.'"
In this vein, the production featured Muhlenberg acting faculty member Holly Cate in the role of Prospero. Prospero's servant Ariel was portrayed by a group of five actors, each embodying a different facet of the ethereal character. Many of the characters, in fact, were inhabited by actors who did not look the part in any traditional sense.
"Ms. Matthews confirms what we at Muhlenberg have known for years," says James Peck, professor of theater and chair in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Muhlenberg. "Troy and Charles are major artists whose boundary shattering collaboration ranks among the most productive artistic partnerships in this or any region. Their 'Tempest' turned an activist spirit both to a canonical play and to our own community, revealing affinities between Shakespeare's mythic, magic island and the city of Allentown that helped us all to see both of them anew.
"As brought boldly to life by additional ACTF honorees professor Holly Cate, the full acting ensemble, stage manager Amanda Lenti, and the many designers and crew who contributed, I'm confident the production will long linger in the memory of all audience members who came out to see it."
The staff, cast, and crew of "The Tempest" received four special certificates of merit and two nominations for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, as well as an alternate Irene Ryan nomination. The complete list of honors is as follows:
- The Entire Company of Muhlenberg College's Dance Theater Adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest": Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Ensemble Performance
- Professor Charles O. Anderson and Professor Troy Dwyer: Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Creative Leadership, Directing and Choreography
- Professor Holly Cate: Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Acting
- Amanda Lenti '12: Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Production Stage Management
- Angela DeAngelo '12: KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Nomination for the role of Stephano
- Felix Mayes '12: KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Nomination for the role of Ariel
- Rebecca Patterson '11: KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Nomination (Alternate Status) for the role of Sebastian
"I'm deeply proud of the artistry that went into our 'Tempest,'" Dwyer says. "The production was as confrontational and challenging as it was beautiful, and it ruffled a few feathers. I'm very gratified that the Kennedy Center ACTF saw fit to recognize that fire and that beauty."
According to the KCACTF website, the festival aims to recognize, reward, and celebrate the exemplary work produced in more than 600 college and university theaters across the nation. Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF participants encourage the creative process and share experiences within a community of theater artists. The KCACTF honors individual student artists recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and design.
Muhlenberg College is a liberal arts college of more than 2,200 students in Allentown, Pa. The college offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. Princeton ranks Muhlenberg's theater program sixth in the nation, and The Princeton Review and the Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance.
More information is available at muhlenberg.edu/theatre&dance.
