Money never sleeps, and apparently, neither do Tufts' actors and actresses. Though the drama season kicked off during orientation, more events will follow during the Parents Weekend Arts Festival from Oct. 28 to 30. Over that weekend, students and their parents can enjoy a variety of music and dance performances and will also have the opportunity to catch sneak peeks from the Department of Drama and Dance's production of "Oedipus and Antigone," 3Ps' production of "Next Fall" and Torn Ticket II's production of "Merrily We Roll Along." The excitement also continues later in the semester.
"Oedipus and Antigone" will run from Oct. 27 to 29 and from Nov. 3 to 5. Downing Cless, chair of the Department of Drama and Dance and the director of the performance, decided to perform the two plays, normally performed separately, together.
"[By] compacting the plays, I think they gain more power," Hess said. The classic stories in this adaptation explore power, feminism and kinship while also addressing conflicts between loyalty to the family and the state.
Later in the semester, the department will honor World AIDS Day by joining forces with a variety of student groups to perform "Over the Rainbow" on Dec. 6. This cabaret-style benefit showcases the talent of a number of groups for a good cause. "Usually all [the acts] have some themes related to LBGT issues, sometimes more specifically to AIDS," Cless said.
Last year's event raised over $2000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and included performances by former University President Lawrence Bacow and his wife, Adele Fleet Bacow.
3Ps, a student-run umbrella organization that encompasses groups from mimes to improv, puts on one major production and two workshops each semester. The planning for 3Ps' next major production "Next Fall," is well under way, and the production will run from Nov. 17 to 19. The show was nominated for a Tony Award in 2010, and will be directed by senior Ann Noling.
In "Next Fall," all seems to be going well for gay couple Luke and Adam until Luke is hit by a car. The tragic accident shines a light on the glaring conflict between Luke's Christianity and Adam's atheism.
The group also organizes concept-based workshops and an annual First-Year Show, with auditions open solely to freshmen and transfer students. Senior Jonathan Hendrickson, president of 3Ps, said, "The First-Year Show is a great way for a lot of the new theater freshmen to meet each other. This is not to say that they can't or aren't in the major shows — because they always are — but it makes an easier transition."
This year's First-Year Show, "Are You Sure?," will run on Nov. 10 and 11, and will be directed by senior Katie Welch. The dramedy follows the puzzling tale of a protagonist who repeatedly falls asleep and wakes up later in a changed world, and both the protagonist and the audience need to piece together what is happening and why.
Though Torn Ticket II is included under the 3Ps umbrella, the musical troupe also puts on one major production and two workshops each semester. This year's major production, "Merrily We Roll Along," will run from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3. This production will be directed by senior Elizabeth Sharpe-Levine and tells the story of Franklin Shepard, a Hollywood movie producer.
The show opens at the height of his success and then rewinds through a series of formative periods in Shepard's life. It becomes clear that Shepard abandoned his friends and his true interest in musical composition to become the powerful man he is at the play's start. The story questions not only his loyalty to his past, but also the true meaning of success.
