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Michigan Tech visiting professor Kristy Dodson has leveraged her connections to the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor to bring the scripts of students there to life here in the Copper Country. Eventually Dodson and her peers at UM winnowed down the submissions to four one-act plays. Tech students and community members have come together to turn them into realized productions.
Dodson says the first weekend of showings brought an energy to campus that isn’t always at the forefront, given the demographics of Tech’s student body.
Each play is very different in content, but Dodson says consistent themes can be found throughout.
One show is made up of two plays. Three consecutive nights of performances will see all four productions take the McArdle Theatre stage at some point between today and Saturday. Show B consists of Shaped By You and I Hope…Show A features the plays St. Juliana’s School for Troubled Girls and Taking Survey.
Descriptions of each play are below.
About Shaped By You
By Diana Pierangeli
Directed by Laurel Schmidt
A young woman named Alex, who has gotten an internship at the Louvre, is a visual artist in the process of doing her own thesis body of work. Venus de Milo is a living character in this dynamic show chosen for its heightened reality and embrace of magical realism. This show deals with sexual abuse and power dynamics.
About I Hope…
By Shannon Harper
Directed by David Brown
This show is a Black scream at PWIs*. This tightly written show is serving up “Black girl magic” as college students, Tyleah and Karena, call the audience in to face what it means to be at a PWI institution as a Black womxn.
*Predominately White Institutions
About St. Juliana’s School for Troubled Girls
By Claire Vogel
Directed by Ahnikah Bachleitner
This quick-witted, modern, mumblecore show turns from funny to devastating on a dime. Young women are sent away to St. Juliana’s for various “troubling” things: sex, mental illness, drugs, and sexual identity. Together, six of these troubled girls take down the institution that is bleeding their parents dry and denying them the education they deserve.
About Taking Survey
By MacKenzie Mollison
Directed by Matt Koss
Zera is a young woman with big ideas. Hal is an older man who wants things to stay the way they are. While counting votes in their small town, the two of them engage in a fascinating, witty, and all-too-rare conversation about caste, politics, and challenges within the voting system and one another.
Dodson says there are adult themes explored within each production and they are probably too mature for children. Tickets are $15 for adult admission.
