Summer Theater Lab, 2020: VoxFest

A laboratory and a performance platform for the development of the unique, VoxFest brings Dartmouth alumni together to workshop and perform developing new projects and works-in-progress alongside current students and faculty. Traditionally a week-long, on-campus residency event, the 2020 festival will instead encompass a full month of remote performances, taking place via a variety of digital platforms throughout the month of July. Read more about VoxFest here.
 

SUMMER 2020 VOXFEST PROJECTS
July 5 - 31
Free

**Click on the links below for more info on each production or to access performance links for each piece**
 

OVERRIDE
written by Elizabeth Keel
directed by Lillian King '07
performing remotely Sunday July 12 at 7 pm
MORE INFORMATION AND REMOTE PERFORMANCE LINK HERE

The 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards for Playwriting runner-up. A story of innovation, touch-based technology, and competition all wrapped in romantic comedy, Override reinforces the importance of human interaction and contact through the body, heart, and mind. With Jacqui Byrne '22, Carol Dunne, Edward Lu '21, and Alisya Reza '22.

SOMEWHERE SUN
written by Celeste Jennings '18
directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
MORE INFORMATION HERE
Please note the creator of this piece has opted to forgo a public presentation of her work.

In a small southern town, a Black man slowly understands the delusion of his attempts to assimilate and twist himself into who he thinks he must be to "make-it". Through enduring love, his community of friends, family, and his mute mother strive to teach him to reclaim pride for himself and his family history. They strive to teach this son how to shine. With Joshua Echebiri '14, Reynaldo Piniella, Monica White Ndounou, Stella Asa '22, Jenn Kidwell, and Millenah Nascimento '21.

HOUSE OF STICKS
written by Maia Matsushita '13
directed by Katie Lindsay '11
performing via Dartmouth College Radio Sunday, July 19 at 3 pm
MORE INFORMATION AND REMOTE PERFORMANCE LINK HERE

Growing up homeschooled by a single mother in the back roads of New Hampshire, sixteen-year-old Iphis escapes the reality of her home life with the help of a vivid imagination. Then, when a social worker enters the secluded home, Iphis is forced to grapple with the stories she has been told about herself and fight to become the author of her own story. With Lexi Warden '21, Carolyn Michelle Smith, Libby Woodbridge, and Alisya Reza '22

GOOD GOD
written by Nkenna Akunna '16
directed by  Ngozi Anyanwu
performing remotely Wednesday, July 22 at 5 pm
MORE INFORMATION AND REMOTE PERFORMANCE LINK HERE

Three young women from across the African diaspora meet at a New England liberal arts college, forming a bond that will grow strong enough to conjure a deity and unearth centuries of institutional secrets. good god is their coming of age story. With Hope Olaidé Wilson, G, Kara Young, Rodney Witherspoon, Jelinda Metelus '22, Gita Reddy, and Mykel Nairne '16.

MEAT
written by Robert Leverett '16
directed by Liza Couser '17
performing remotely Friday, July 24 at 7 pm
MORE INFORMATION AND REMOTE PERFORMANCE LINK HERE

At a luxury health facility in New Hampshire, a staff of doctors, scientists, and robots assist patients' transition to a meat-free lifestyle with the help of the Lone Star tick, a parasite whose bite causes the development of a meat allergy. Through spectacle, comedy, and a sci-fi spin, MEAT questions our ability to create lasting change in an uncertain time. With Katie Lugo, Diane Chen '14, Fernando Gonzalez, Edward Lu '21, TroyElan Richardson, Katie Orenstein '22, Deby Xiadani '15, Max Samuels '15, and Gabriel Jenkinson '20.

DRIVE
written by Deborah Yarchun
directed by Dina Vovsi
performing remotely Thursday, July 30 at 7 pm
MORE INFORMATION AND REMOTE PERFORMANCE LINK HERE

The 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards for Playwriting winner. Set in a future not far down the road, a community of truckers in a small town in Iowa are forced to shift gears when they lose their jobs to self-driving vehicles. When Gloria becomes the only trucker in town still employed, resentments begin to surface. Tensions escalate as they grapple with a mystery: Haygen, a driver with close ties to all of them, has disappeared. Drive explores what the next stage of automation might mean in a country where individual identity is defined by one's work and we are forced to reevaluate what drives us. With Nidra Sous La Terre, Andrea Syglowski, Carene Rose Mekertichyan '16, J. Stephen Brantley, Abigail Gampel, Lee Sellars, and Jacqui Byrne '22.

THE EMPATHY ÉTUDES
created by Olivia Gilliatt '08
Jonathan David Martin and Joshua David Robinson, collaborators
MORE INFORMATION HERE

In a time of social distancing, what is the spark in live theater that can continue? What, of the ephemera of shared human experience, is translatable in lieu of a story told around a campfire? Through a series of conversations, experiments, and experiential exercises,  Études in Empathy will investigate how we can use the technology and various media available to us to get to the heart of character; the specific, nuanced lenses that allow us an intimate peek at each others' psyches, and how we can apply these kinds of cross-pollination and examination to the larger context of Performing Art. Above all, Art can increase our ability to relate to our fellow humans; it should be fun! An investigation into how to express ourselves in new ways and how to delve into each other's lived experiences.