Summer Theater Lab, 2019: VoxFest

VOXFEST 2019

Friday July 5-Sunday July 7
Performances Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 and 7:00 pm
FREE to the Public

The annual summer festival of innovative, experimental, and daring new works returns for the 7th consecutive year. Founded by Matthew Cohn '08, Kate Mulley '05, and Thom Pasculli '05, VoxFest is a labratory and a performance platform for the development of the unique. Dartmouth alumni spend a week in residence on campus, workshopping current projects and works-in-progress alongside current students and faculty. 

The 2019 VoxFest Performance Schedule

Where Is The Mind When The Body Is Here? 
An installation piece
Open for viewing Friday July 5 & Saturday July 6, 10 am-5 pm (closed 1-2 pm on 7/6)
Created by Matthew Cohn ’08 
Production Coordinator Nicolle Allen '16
Hopkins Center; Shakespeare Alley, Room 103

Inspired by Life is a Dream, the Spanish Golden Age play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Where Is The Mind When The Body Is Here? is an exploration of isolation and confinement. By combining visual and audio art with the text itself, this "play for no actors" elevates the act of reading the piece by oneself into an inherently theatrical event.

The God of In-Between 
Saturday, July 6, 1 pm
Book and lyrics by Christopher Wall ’92 
Music by Howard Fishman
Directed by Marina McClure ’04
The Bentley Theater

Sometimes you keep moving and all you see is your past. Meg, for one, is tired of it. After busking in a park one night she sees a familiar face and realizes the person she’s been playing for all this time is the one who’s been out of reach. The God of In-Between, a mother-daughter musical, explores whether forgiveness is possible from beyond the grave. Songs from the show have been performed at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater.

Praise! Or Back in the Fire 
Saturday, July 6, 7 pm
created and performed by Thom Pasculli ’05 and Vincent Thomas 
The Bentley Theater

An investigation of self and spirit through a child’s experience of CHURCH. Through dance, song and religious fantasy, the two performers crisscross memory, liturgy and the Heavenly spheres to reconstruct coming of age within the modern mythos of Christ.

“The Bear” and “The Proposal”: A Chekhovian Cabaret 
Sunday, July 7, 1 pm
Presented by the CRASH Theater Company
Billy Calder ’12 and Rebecca Strimaitis, primary collaborators
The Bentley Theater

CRASH Theater Co. presents an adaptation of two of famed dramatist Anton Chekhov’s more comedic works: The Bear and The Proposal. In these pieces, Chekhov plays on the lighter sides of the human condition and explores how gender roles inform societal relationships. CRASH Theater Co. uses its unique developmental process to put a decidedly modern twist on these lesser-known classic short plays. 

Machine Learning
Sunday, July 7, 7 pm
by Francisco Mendoza 
directed by Carlos Armesto
The Bentley Theater
 

The 2019 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Playwriting Award winner. When his estranged, alcoholic father is diagnosed with liver cancer, computer scientist Jorge creates a nursing app to manage the disease in his stead. But as the machine's capabilities grow, it attracts the attention of the tech industry, forcing Jorge to choose between staying by his father's side or dedicating himself to his passion.