<ds are you’ve never heard of the shows going up this term. Chances are you should go see them anyway.
ETB (the Experimental Theatre Board) kicks off the term with SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian with first-time director Andrew Harvey ’15. Harvey has been seen onstage previously in Players and ETB shows such as Twelfth Night and ‘Tis Pitty She’s a Whore, but now he’s taking a stab at directing his own show.
SubUrbia, although a relatively unknown show, promises to entertain. It is set in New Jersey and centers around a group of 20-somethings who bum around their local 7/11 and what happens when their former high-school-turned-rock-star friend comes back to town. Think Clerks. Regardless, this is a must-see if you want to watch your fellow Carls pretend to be stoned out of their minds.
Seventh weekend brings this term’s Players Show: Machinal – a 1928 modern drama about a woman whose life has been dictated for her and marries her repulsive boss.
Not to spoil the story, but things do not end well. If Professor Roger Bechtel’s previous show, Attempts On Her Life is anything to go on, this will not bea show to miss.
Rumor has it that the set involves a three story-scaffolding unit serving as a tenement building. That’s enough to get me in the audience. And luckily, you will have two weekends to get there – it will go up 7th weekend and continue 8th weekend.
The bonus fun fact about Machinal is that almost as soon as the department announced it as its winter show, another little performance was announced … on Broadway. Let’s be honest, Carleton is such a trendsetter!
During the second weekend of Machinal, the second ETB show will go up in Nourse Little Theater. Christopher Durang’s The Marriage of Bette and Boo will be Sam Vinitsky ’16 and Patton Small’s ’17 directorial debuts. Both were seen onstage last term in Freddy Stein and Max Henkel’s ’14 A Night of Ives.
Like all Durang plays, The Marriage of Bette and Boo promises lots of laughs with some dark twists. The fun fact here is that this show is actually based on Christopher Durang’s own parents’ relationship.
Closing off the term is veteran director Julie Leghorn’s ’14 production of No Way Around But Through by Scott Caan. That name might sound familiar because yes, it is written by the same guy who plays Danno in Hawaii Five-O. Who knew he was more than just one of the sexiest men on TV!
Like most of the shows Leghorn has directed at Carleton, No Way Around But Through is a romantic comedy with a dark twist.
And apparently she’s directing this while also assistant directing the Players show Machinal. I don’t know how she does it, but after the success of her Comps show last term, Mr Marmalade, I’m excited to see what she has up her sleeve.
So what is the take away from this article? The TL;DR, as one might put it – these are shows you most likely have never heard of, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t blow your mind. Take a chance, go see a show at Carleton – I’m sure you won’t regret it.