Alyssa Avis, management assistant to the Theater Arts Department at the University, noted the range of subjects and shows in this semester’s theater line-up for the Company in an email to the Justice. “There’s quite a variety: a movement piece created by Brandeis Professor Susan Dibble, a new play addressing the 2010 BP oil spill, student driven thesis and professional clowns!” wrote Avis. Check out the performances in order of their showing: 


Two Dance Stories

Created by Prof. Susan Dibble (THA) and Ensemble

Directed by Dibble

Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 at the Mainstage Theater, Spingold Theater Center

Dibble is an accomplished choreographer; she is the resident choreographer and master teacher for Shakespeare & Company and the chair of the Theater Arts department at the University. Inspired by W.H. Auden’s poetry, students in the show worked side by side with professional performers and Dibble to create choreography that tells two unique stories through movement. The result is a celebratory and soulful dance performance. One piece experiments with rhythm, timing and movement, while another dance features a small store that makes ghost costumes and plans to use them to heal people.

The Way of Water

By Caridad Svich

Directed by Prof. Robert Walsh (THA)

March 12 to 15 at the Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center

As the 2010 British Petrolium Deepwater Horizon oil spill proceedings make their way through the legal system, the spill’s effects linger in artists’ minds. Inspired by the ordeal, Caridad Svich wrote a play exploring the crisis’ effects. Svich is a 2012 Off-Broadway Theater Award (OBIE) recipient and 2002-2003 Harvard University Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study fellow. Svich’s play follows four people as they attempt to cope with the human effects of the spill and discover what it means to live an honorable life. The play’s personal narrative evokes deeper themes that help frame the oil spill and its traumatic repercussions. 

Senior Festival

April 21 to 26 at the Laurie Theater, Spingold Theater Center

The Senior Festival, now in its fourth year, gives graduating theater arts students an opportunity to perform and stage both original and time-honored works. Students take on various roles, which include play-writing, acting, adapting and composing. This year, accomplished actor and Brandeis Theater Arts lecturer John Jesse Hinson M.F.A ’11 guides the students as they explore their visions and ambitions. 

A Night on the Clowns

Conceived and 

Directed by Kenny Raskin ’74

April 24 to 25 at the Mainstage Theater, Spingold Theater Center

A time-honored profession, clowning has evolved to include physical comedy, magic, music and, of course, silliness. Festival director Kenny Raskin ’74 originated the role of Lefou, Gaston’s comedic sidekick, in the Broadway production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Raskin used his expertise and contacts in the performance industry to enlist entertainers from Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, television and assorted stages in Germany, Australia, England, France, Chile, Israel, Turkey and the United States to perform in the clown show. Tailored exclusively for the Brandeis campus, the unpredictable show is sure to feature lots of laughs, pratfalls and professional absurdity.