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BAM. That’s the feeling I got after watching the opening number of Broadway’s smash-hit musical “American Idiot,” performed this week (through Sunday February 17th) at the Merriam Theater. BAM. Like, what just happened. Like, that was awesome. If there ever was a sensationalist musical, this is it. I don’t mean sensational as in it was [...]

Sophia Naylor’s obsession with death features prominently in her playwriting thesis, “All – One,” which will premiere this Friday at 7 pm in LPAC’s Frear. “I’m drawing on the apocalypse,” Naylor said in an interview. “The apocalypse is pretty in vogue. It’s been going in and out of style for a while, and now that [...]

Interview with Kari Olmon ’13 for her Dramaturgy Thesis Senior Kari Olmon’s dramaturgy thesis project, a staged reading of her original play, “The Intense Fragility,” will be performed Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the LPAC Frear. Jeannette Leopold: Kari, would you give a synopsis of your play? Kari Olmon: I’ll give you my [...]

“Merrily We Roll Along,” with music by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, is both depressing and inspiring.The musical was directed at Swarthmore by Jonghee Quispe ’14 and stage managed by Marta Roncada ’14. It was performed on LPAC mainstage this past weekend.“For me, the most difficult part of the play was also the [...]

What’s a performance without cross-dressing, photographing each member of the audience, and eating an entire raw lemon? Straight theater. And theater that has all of these things? Well, it must be “One Night Stand” by the lesbian performance company Split Britches. Split Britches, a troupe comprised of Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver and Deb Margolin, came [...]

It starts on Saturday.New York sophisticates; the height of physical comedy; singing, dancing, acting; yes, the team that brought Swarthmore “Company” last year is back. Only this time they’re bigger, badder and better.“Merrily We Roll Along,” with music by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, is directed and music directed at Swarthmore by Jonghee [...]

The plot of the musical “Love Story” is as basic and common as one could imagine. Rich boy meets poor girl. They fall madly in love and sacrifice dreams for each other. Girl dies. Curtain falls. There’s a reason that this plot is used so often, though: it works. “Love Story”, the brainchild of Erich [...]

The absurdist theater group “Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium” (IRC) put on “Ivona: Princess of Burgundia,” directed by Tina Brock, as part of the Philly Fringe Festival, which ended this past Sunday.Anyone on campus last semester might recognize the bizarre title. Production Ensemble, a spring semester theater course whose function is putting on a play, produced “Ivona, [...]

Hello Swatties! I On the Arts is back again, reporting for the venerable old Phoenix, this time switching it up with a concert review! For future reference, I am primarily a visual arts lover, but also enjoy reviewing music, books and films.Last Sunday night (rebellious, I know) two other Swatties and I took the SEPTA [...]

Some people watch plays at Swarthmore for entertainment. Some watch because they want to examine life through the lens of theater. Many watch because their friends — the actors in the play — force them to. Those who attend shows for one of the first two reasons will be pleased to know that, from full-length [...]