The New York Theatre Workshop will return to Dartmouth at the end of July for its third summer in residence at the College, officials at The Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts said yesterday.
"The New York Theatre Workshop is a very innovative theatre company," said Georgia Croft, director of publicity for The Hopkins Center.
"They develop new plays and solo performances and they offer support for new playwrights," she added.
The New York Theatre Workshop will be in residence at the College from July 29 to Aug. 20. While at Dartmouth, the company will perform four plays and work with the Drama 65 class to develop a fifth performance, Croft said.
Workshop members will also conduct lectures and seminars open to the public, Croft added.
According to a press release from the workshop, "company members not only work on the development of their own projects, but work with Dartmouth theatre students to teach them some of their collaborative techniques and lead them in the preparation of their own theatre pieces."
Each of the workshop's four plays will be performed for only one or two nights, Croft said.
"Quills," a short play by Doug Wright, will be on stage the evenings of July 29 and 30.
"It's a funny play based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade during his last days in prison," Croft said. "It's very humorous, very macrabe. It raises the issue of whether we censor the artist or allow him to create, even if we are disturbed by his work."
The following weekend, the workshop will perform two plays on two nights.
On Aug. 5, "Little Black Sambo," a controversial play by Damon Wright will be performed, Croft said. Wright, a journalist for The New York Times, uses his play to "explore African myths and their relationship to modern African-American stereotypes," she added.
"The presentation incorporates traditional African music and sheds light on the nature of racial stigmas," Croft said.
The next night, the workshop will present "Decades," a play by Bruce Wright.
"This is a one-man show," Croft said. "It covers ten years in ten different monologues by ten different characters. It reflects on the first ten years of the AIDS epidemic."
On Aug. 13 and 14, the workshop will perform the last of its professional presentations, an untitled, original play by Fanni Green, who is an actress and member of the workshop, Croft said.
Green will hold the worldwide premiere of her play at Dartmouth, Croft said.
"The play is performed by four actors," Croft said. "It is a collection of short stories about Shelby, an urban woman who is very cosmopolitan. Shelby considers herself the model of modern, black womanhood. She goes to a rural community in Florida, called Lake Land. The play is about her experiences and the unexpected savvy of the people in this community."
Workshop members will also work with the 30 students enrolled in Drama 65 to develop a short play based on short stories by Luigi Pirandello, Croft said.
Pirandello wrote more than 300 short stories about life in Sicily, she said. The students and workshop members will discuss which stories would make good plays and then develop a short production, she added.
During their time at Dartmouth last summer, the New York Theatre Workshop developed and premiered "Blown Sideways Through Life," a one-woman show starring Claudia Shear. The play was about an overweight woman and the 65 jobs she has held, Croft said.
Other plays developed or premiered by the New York Theatre Workshop include Athol Fulgard's "My Children! My Africa!," George Walker's "Love and Anger," and Caryl Churchill's "Mad Forest," according to the press release.
Admission to each of the workshop's professional plays will be $5. Tickets to the Drama 65 production are free. Since the Center Theatre is closed for renovations, performances will be held either in Faulkner Recital Hall or Collis Center Common Ground.
