Past Shows
Please note that this is the unofficial history. If you have any of the posters we're missing, please contact us.
An Evening of Impressionism
Spring 1980
Intuitons appears on the scene. First performance presented in the Bennet Hall Library. They paint directly on walls in French Impressionistic style and Intuitons receives its first union grievance.
The Further Adventures of Nick Danger
Spring 1980
Performed only a few weeks after An Evening of Impressionism, this show was interesting in that it used all the walkways and levels of the performance space. Sound design was executed by Richard Bowen and Kent Iverson.
The Private Life of the Master Race
November 22, 1980
Various ethnic organizations were outraged and much controversy ensued. Or maybe not. "I don't remember any outrage or controversy, though we did get a few funny looks as we painted the bookstore wall. (The Bookstore Wall? Sorry - it was this highly visible wall, see, by the 38th street bridge, and various groups painted their announcements on it, really big.) I believe 'Private' was [the] first intuitons play to turn the Houston Hall Auditorium on end and perform opposite the stage." -Tobias Wolf
Medea
February 26, 27, & 28 1981?
This show was performed on stage in Houston Hall (something of a novel idea for Intuitons.) Most of the loose lighting pipes in Houston Hall and Irvine were rotolocked together to form a wide vertical ladder upstage that the cast members would climb and hang from. Much yelling.
Reds in Filmland
Sometime between 1981 and 1982
Intuitons and the Philomathean Society spent most of the fall in research and writing sessions. The actual performance used several of the Philo rooms in the top of College Hall. The main performance space was in the style of a room where McCarthy's UnAmerican Activities Committee held hearings. Actors portraying Paul Robison, Ronald Reagan, and other Hollywood celebrities were integrated. Slides and newsreels were intermixed. Another room with a piano held the 50's style cocktail party intermission.
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
Spring 1983
A rock opera set to the music of David Bowie. Company of 24 actors, musicians and running crew. Conceived by Suze' Dipietro. All singing and dancing and you could actually hear the words. Holds record for fastest student load in ever. The entire set was hauled over from Irvine, assembled, rigged . . . etc. in two hours (full stage plan upon request.) Sound budget exceeded stage budget. Standing room only for all shows.
Bacchai
Fall 1983
The first Intuitons show ever performed in Annenberg's Harold Prince Theater. All the chairs were removed from the risers, and the audience sat around on the stage while the performers moved all around the seating areas and balcony. Annenberg wasn't terribly pleased with us at the time.
Alice in Wonderland
Spring 1984
This show was received very positively. Needless to say, it was a loose adaptation of the original. Performed in HH auditorium and without a specific stage anywhere. Parachutes were rented and suspended to create a false ceiling. Also, Illona Long made her acting debut at Penn as the Cheshire Cat.
Macbeth - Ubo Roi
Fall 1984
The intention was to perform the French absurdist play Ubo Roi, one of the first absurdist plays written, and a takeoff on Macbeth. However, the cast and crew proclaimed to the public to be performing Macbeth as written by Shakespeare. The first two scenes were performed perfectly from the script. But gradually through the first act, strange things happened, and lines from Ubo Roi snuck in, with the other characters reacting as actors. Finally, the whole thing fell apart, the stage manager came out and announced that there had been a mistake and that this was in fact Ubo Roi. The play continued from there. Performed on HH stage, the set consisted of re-arrangeable units of metal sheets propped in clay blocks.
Do Black Cats Have Tails?
Spring 1984
This was an original piece written by members of the Philomathean Society about the life of Virginia Woolf. It went through many revisions between the Philo people and the cast and director John Skurchak. It was performed at the rear of Houston Hall Auditorium, opposite the stage, to encorporate the bay windows into the set.
Sleep
Fall 1985
A scripted play written in the '50's about a man undergoing a sleep experiment in which he is interrupted from dreaming. Gradually, the difference between his dreams and "reality" becomes lost in his confusion. Technically a lot of fun, this show included a great set by Nick Fox, rear projection of peoples shadows onto a cyc, and live synthesizer music. Also in the rear of Houston Hall Auditorium. Directed by Adam Gertsacov.
Orpheus
Spring 1985
An amazing show was sculpted out of the story literally a day or two before opening. The cast and directors, John Skurchak and Nick Fox, spent months doing workshops and improvs, reading and discussing various retellings of the myth of Orpheus, finally and spontaneously focusing it into a show. Performed as environmental theater, the set consisted of towers and bridges all over Houston Hall Auditorium, and the audience could sit anywhere. The ensemble cast performed differently each night, incorporating music and dance as well into the show.
Three One Act Plays
Fall 1985
For its fall show, iNtuitons produced three different one-acts. The first two were written by a professional artist as performance art pieces. The third was an original, called "The Question," created as a companion piece for the two performance pieces by student director Andrew Bradley and his six-person cast. It was a collection of monologues, scenes, and film pieces. In the words of Andrew Bradley, it was "an unruly monster of a play which hardly could be called a one act, clocking in at over 2 hours." It was daring, edgy, and unlike anything else ever stage by the group (or by any other Penn group). Years later, Glen Berger, a playwright whose original and visionary plays have been produced all over the country, said that "The Question" made him believe that anything was possible in the theatre. One of the performance art pieces was entitled "Play for a Found Cast." It consisted of 150 lines which were individually printed on a "program" and distributed randomly to the audience. Each line was numbered, and the play was performed by each person in order standing up and reading his/her line. The lines are what an audience might say if you told them to get up and perform a play. "Three One Act Plays" was performed in Annenberg's Studio Theatre. There may or may not have been an all-night acid trip rehearsal in Furness Hall. [What is Furness Hall? The current webmaster doesn?t know. Maybe it?s Fisher Fine Arts Library??] Put that in your bong and smoke it!
Memorandum
Spring 1986
Professionally written by Czech playwright (and current president of The Czech Republic) Vaclav Havel. Performing at the rear of Houston Hall Auditorium had become such a trend, that we decided to do it on the stage for a change. The set was a John Skurchak original, including scaffolding, rear projection, and a wall made of computer printout paper. Directed by Lew Beilin.
Child's Play
Fall 1987
Yes, this was named before that awful movie that came out sometime the next year. This was an original show brainstormed by Barrie Steinberg and Noelle Morris, with the main idea being to run workshops exploring the world through children's eyes. Through these workshops and games each of the cast developed a character and the show was constructed from the rehersal process. And, once again, it was staged at the back of HH auditorium.
Jacques and His Master
Spring 1988
Written by Milan Kundera, an adaptation from Diderot, and Beautifully directed by Noelle Morris. This was the first Intuitons show to ever sell out a performance. Performed in (you guessed it) the back of Houston Hall Auditorium.
J.B.
Fall 1988
Written by Archibald MacCleish and directed by that fabulous duo Colin Campbell and Tina Cielo. The Stage was in the center of Houston Hall Auditorium with the audience surrounded by (amazingly) a constructed circus tent. It was theater-in-the-round with the interaction taking place within the circus ring and the outer action between Zuess and Nickles taking place within the space of the audience. It had a few sell-out performances with people standing for the entire 2 hour 45 minute no intermission show.
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Spring 1989
Written by Dario Fo. We wanted to replace the word "Anarchist" with "Feminist" every time it appeared in the script, but foolishly we asked permission to do this from Samuel French. We were told to forget it and Kateryn Helene's job was threatened by Penn's lawyers (she was the recently appointed performing arts liason to Penn). The lesson we learned is that if you are going to do something that is probably illegal, just do it and don't tell anybdoy. We continued with a feminist show and asked the audience to do the word replacement in their minds. The stage (at the back of Houston Hall auditorium) had three television sets and an overhead slide show throughout. Perhaps it was a little too visually stimulating. Directed by Julie Dressner.
How I Got That Story
Fall 1989
Written by Amlin Gray. A classic Intuitons show brilliantly directed by Larry Bogad. The part of the event was played by an ensemble cast of 9-10. When they weren't acting "a part" they created the set, becoming variously: jungle trees and animals; Amboland guerilla soldiers; US soldiers; an elevator, chairs; a mirror; an electric door; a hat rack; dead person rug; walls; a jet bomber; hospital bed; telecphone, etc. The "stage" was in the back of Houston Hall Auditorium, but the environment constantly expaneded into the audience space, sometimes harshly in the form of a pimp trying to sell twelve year old virgins. More sell-out performances.
Jason and Medea
Spring 1990
Written by a student, Mark Loewenstern and directed by Lizzie Redkey, it was Intuitons' fourth greek myth play. The play cleverly melded the world of myths into the life of a troubled couple to deal with the issue of abortion. Mythical figures arose from the husband's sculputre while ghosts arose from the wife's past: her aborted baby and her dead mother. This was the first Intuitons' show ever to be bumped from Houston Hall Auditorium and staged on The Annenburg School Theater. The space sucked.
The Balcony
Fall 1990
This play featured what was perhaps the most disastrous opening night in Intuitons history. The performance, on the floor in Houston Hall, featured a set made up of flats that had to be moved into different configurations for different scenes in a brother, and tended to fall over in the process. Mirrors broke, lights went out during the last scene, and the show dragged on for almost four hours. One scene was performed in the hallway during intermission (for which many people missed), and the audience sat on couches (in which some people fell asleep). The reception was held outside after midnight. The show underwent considerable reworking during the run and was quite a bit better and shorter (under three hours) by the end of the run. Written by Jean Genet. Directed by Colin Cambell.
Suicide in B Flat
Spring 1991
Co-directed by Carolyn Kelson and Alexandra Lopez, this Sam Shepard play had a great original score written and performed by Cemeron Smith. The production was very sound with mood-based, the theatrical equivealent of jazz. Performed on the floor of Houston Hall with minimal set.
The Secret Agent
Fall 1991
Intuitons' performance of the Josepth Conrad novel, adapted and directed by Yazmin Tuazon. Performed in the round in Houston Hall with lots of string in the design, the show used a non-linear plotline. Clocks abounded. Anarchism was also a theme, as the political anarchism paralleled personal anarchism. Publicity stunts included a Human Time Bomb and the distribution of "The Future of the Proletariat". Abysmal attendance.
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade
(a.k.a. Marat Sade)
Spring 1992
Intuitons' collaboration with Penn Players on this Peter Weiss piece of "total theater" also marked Intuitons' second show in the Harold Prince Theater. For this one, there were two professional directors, Seth Rozin and Chris Hariaz, and a cast of 20+. The audience sat in lab coats. There was an impressive bathhouse design and a three month rehearsal period, including many improvised "asylums" around campus, but many felt the production was a little tame for Marat Sade.
The Serpent
Fall 1992
This piece, by Jean-Claude Van Itallie, was originally performed by the Open Theater under the direction of Joseph Cahikin. The Intuitons version, under the direction of Carolyn Kelson was Intuitons' first foray into Irvine Auditorium. The audience sat on stage with the actors, who entered at the beginning of the play and exited at the end through the house. Two scenes utilized the large metal doors at the back of the stage. The play was a non-linear piece exploring the themes of choice and "being in the middle". Sections included the Genesis story, the Challenger explosion, and the entire cast begatting within inches of the audience. The play was hugely successful, and the houses were packed.
Lear
Spring 1993
Written by Edward Bond. Directed by David Hafken. This twist on the Shakespear version left little to the imagination. Very violent, including gouging of eyes, rapes, and a father performing an autopsy on his daughter. Violent scenes dispersed in a tedious plot made the vviolence a comic relief. Houston Hall Auditorium was set up with the audience on the stage (forming a "wall of people" later to be torn down) and the actors performing on a raked stage in the middle of the floor. When unoccupied the constructed stage looked something like the Millenium Falcon . Much about the group's vision was discussed afterwards.
Alison Wonderland
Fall 1993
An adaptation of the works of the Lewis Carrol. Written by the directors and the cast, this loose adaptation of the homophonious work used the plot a young woman looking back on her life in both dream (Wonderland) and reality. The audience was placed on the long sides of the Auditorium facing each other (like a mirror) while the dreamworld action took place on the floor and the real-life action occured on stage. Aftermission, the worlds switched. Parallel scene of dream and reality occured. Three kinds of Alice were used.
Aron's Show
(a.k.a. "The Intuiton's Show")
Spring 1994
This production by Aron Greenberg really was not theater in the conventional sense, but rather performance art. The Auditorium was set up as a dinner theater, with action taking place throughout. Although there were no dinners, Intuitons provided all the water you could drink! The plot - er - focused on retelling jokes over and over, and playing childhood games. The show turned out being extremely fun, despite the lack of plot. During the semester the name of the show changed weekly, and a symbol was finally adopted to represent the name. The only major problem occurred when Intuitons tried to hang paper on the walls of the Auditorium, which was immediately vetod by OSL because they claimed it was a fire hazard.
1994 Alternative Theater Festival
Spring 1994
This was the first ATF, held on College Green. It was great, but also really short. Highlights included Shaun Smith naked.
Comings Goings Savage Love
Fall 1994
Directed by Grace Lee in Houston Hall. This show combined Megan Terry's Comings and Goings with Sam Shepard poems from Savage Love . Each night the actors opened the show with a game of freeze tag, to determine which scenes would be performed. The show had three different couples in it, that had very different relationships, but they expressed this using the same basic dialogue. The show was incredible. Unfortunately, there was little publicity and a total of 200 people came to see it during its two week run.
Metronome
Spring 1995
Written and directed by Mike Goldstein. Metronome contained neither dialogue nor singing. The entire play was acted out to a soundtrack containing work by Lenny Kravitz, Josh Redman, and Pink Floyd. Although the plot line was rather generic (boy meets girl, they fight, he has substance abuse problem, she finds other guy, both are unhappy, they get back together and live happily ever after), the presentation of the play was incredible. For tickets we gave out mylar wigs, and then we got a lot of strange looks. After the fall mis-hap this show was well publicized and got great audience turnout. It was presented on the floor in Houston Hall.
1995 Alterative Theater Festival
Spring 1995
Planning for this ATF was poor. Although we had great ideas, there was no follow-through and nothing happenned. Nobody wanted to perform during reading days, so we were only able to get three acts lined up. Then on the day of the show, there was a thunderstorm and it got called off. This was a huge disappointment, and should not be used as the role-model for future ATF's.
Whatever Happenned to Baby Jane?
Fall 1995
This play was produced internally by the Board, but only after much debate. Ben Marcus directed this psycho-drama, which was adapted from the 1961 black and white film. This is the one show where the Board decided to go all out on the production, including technical aspects, We set up two stages: one in the bay window of Houston Hall, and the other being the mainstage, where we built a near-functional house. The actors did an incredible job portraying the psychotic aspect of the show. Audience reactions was varied: most people were scared but loved the show nonetheless.
GOD by Woody Allen
Spring 1996
Directed by Paul Shore, this show was a multimedia experiment featuring music, video and a live artist all interacting with the actors on stage. Highlights included a giant portal looking like a television encompassing the stage, a reasonably unsafe Deus ex Macchina and people constantly jumping in and out of the audience. Standing room only friday and saturday.
1996 Alternative Theater Festival
Spring 1996
Although written off as a successful failure because of a lack of planning. This year we set up a stage and circus tent of the green. Highlights included Relays on the Walk and a one man show The Stage Addict from Haverford.
Painted Pictures
Fall 1996
In many ways, this is a perfect example of why Intuitons is on Penn's campus, doing what we do. Written and directed by Rachel Goldberg, Painted Pictures featured six actors portraying many characters in scenes unrelated by plot but beautifully tied together by theme. The audience sat on the floor of the Prince and, although the first weekend was slow, we sold more seats than we had for the closing nights. A very successful show in many ways.
The Mytilenian Debate
Spring 1997
A show which examined the art of arguing on stage, and attempted to bridge the gap between the audience and the actors. Directed by Warren Petrofsky, highlights of this show included getting to see audience members debate with actors on the floor of Houston Hall. Friday's show was incredibly fun, with most of Penn's Theatre community showing up and participating in the event.
The 1997 Alternative Theatre Festival
Despite a major planning and coordination effort by Maggie Dickinson, the 1997 ATF fell prey to the elements, as it was a downpour. Moved to Houston Hall, the show offered a sneak peek at the Penn Player's show that semester, and a set of monologues by some lady named Terry Diamond and her troupe of actors, from whom we will hopefully never hear again.
Bard in a Blender: William Shaken not Stirred
Fall 1997
Nel Lamb conceived and directed this collaborative show, which was based - somewhat loosely - on all of Shakespeare's plays. The set was a giant head of Will with openings through the mouth and eye. The audience loved this project which explored many forms of theatre and led many new actors and tech staffers to return to iNtuitons, join the board and direct for iNtuitons themselves.
Dread
Spring 1998
Based on a Clive Barker short story, Dread was written by the cast, in collaboration with local director Girard Rudasill. A great idea in theory, Dread suffered from internal political struggles, both in the cast and crew, and on the board. Nevertheless, it was visually incredible. A great example of how power-hungry bureaucrats can impede spontaneity and art.
The 1998 Alternative Theatre Festival
This year, we almost got it right. Except for a few minor details, such as another rainstorm, and a homemade sound system, the 1998 ATF was a varied and interesting set of performances, featuring many pieces from Jamie Becker, as well as visits from groups in Chicago and Boston, and the first performance of the Collective. A far cry from the years past, this one finally seemed like a festival. Many thanks to the residents of the Castle (before it was reconquered by the Greek system) for allowing us to use their livingroom.
Jeffrey
Fall 1998
This comedy dealing with homosexual issues veered from the expected by casting the two homosexual characters with male/female actors. The set included the largest bed that Intuitons has put on the Prince stage and the director chose to refrain from having his name put on the poster. It was a venture towards the norm and it reaffirmed that we don't want to be there.
Night Coil
Spring 1999
The set for this piece divided the Prince stage into 2 separate rooms in which action took place simultaneously. The story was of Bob and all the strange visitors involved in torturing and attacking him. Jeffrey Jones, the playwright, was delighted to come down from New York to talk about Experimental Theatre with the audience and to see the show.
The 1999 Alternative Theatre Festival
This was our first year with a set. We decided on modular pieces to help denote our space. We had great weather and excellent performers both from Penn and from elsewhere. UArts came from Center City and Max came from Chicago. Yet another ATF on the right path!
The Serpent
Fall 1999
Description courtesy of Elan Ruskin:
This was a revival of Jean-Claude Van Itallie's show done previously. It was directed by Nel Lamb and staged in the Harold Prince Theatre. Once again we put the audience on the stage and the cast in the seats, and on a large world-tree platform that had been built out over them. I swear I had no idea that it had been done before when I suggested it for our set, but maybe Nel did. There is a tiny selection of pictures from the show (just the few E6 slides that I shot for my own light design portfolio) at http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~ruskine/gallery/serpent.html That URL may not last for long - Get it while it's hot.
Hidden: A Gender
Spring 2000
This show was written by a Philadelphia Transexual lesbian named Kate Borenstein (formerly Herman Amberstone), and directed by Rudy Ramirez. It dealt with various gender issues, in particular transgenderism and supposed meta-genders. The show explored the separate concepts of sex and gender via the telling of Borenstein's story and that of an 18th century French hermaphrodite. The show was set up as a talk show, hosted by an ambiguously-gendered personality. It included a Judge Judy parody, Emrille Lagasse parody, and a Marx Brothers? bit involving an actress deep-throating a banana. Of note, Borenstein actually came to our show and admitted to all of us that this play was her "experiment" and that she did not agree with it's message anymore. The message was vague, at best, and instead offered a showing of some of Penn's great talents. The audience entered from the wings onto the stage via a large cloth vulva that was the centerpiece of the set (eg, being born onto the stage), but the audience was invited forward into the seats after the first scene. The show was performed in the Iron Gate Theatre.
The 2000 Alternative Theatre Festival
Your Webmaster has no clue.
The Spells
Fall 2000
Six people took the roles of writers/directors/actors, though all thirty people working on the show had equal creative input. Though this frustrated and drove some people crazy, iNtuitons managed to produce a very interesting piece. The show was strung together by the concept of the life cycle (i.e., birth, adulthood, death...) It was an insane mishmash of performance art, adapted literature, and original writings. Opening night saw 8 audience members. In the words of writer/director Pamela Kasenetz, "it was an insane, hysterical, wild ride that quickly became iNtuitons's bastard child." It opened with the audience walking through a "vagina" onto the stage. Then the actors, sitting in the audience (the pews of Iron Gate Theatre) began speaking to each other in gibberish. Most of the actors then left the pews and the gibberish transformed into a scene from "Waiting for Godot." The next scene involved all of the actors dressed in mud an burlap, writhing to techno beats as they evolve from amoebas into... the Giving Tree, with each actor physically creating a portion of the tree. The next scene was beat poetry, written and performed by Chris Evans, who wore a cardboard rocket ship suit (why?!). The actors then piled on stage, repeating empty "hello's" and "how are you's," as most of us do in our daily lives. During this scene, the actors ushered the audience into the pews. Three actresses performed a version of the Rapunzel short story, from the point of views of the mother, Rapunzel, and the witch. There was an adaptation of the Borges short story "Death and the Compass." The second act involved a monologue on eating disorders and a bizarre, trippy scene, ending with the birth of a Gucci purse... two of the female actresses stripped from tissue paper dresses into slips as they recounted break-up's with their boyfriends... Crazy? Certainly. iNtuitons? Definitely.
The Seven Deadly Sins
Spring 2001
This was a set of miniplays, one for each sin, each one written and directed by a differnt iNtuitons board member. Each was done in a different style, making for a very intersting totality. Greed had a gameshow in it. The webmistress has contradicting info: one source says that Lust had a sensual dance followed by a preacher storming the stage; another source declares that Lust involved an orgy enacted on top of a tarp, while chocolate sauce poured down from the ceiling and bass music throbbed in the background, along with a strobe light. Maybe that was gluttony? Either way, I like it.
The 2001 Alternative Theatre Festival
A well executed and fantastic effort, and a great success besides; the weather was great, and people showed up.
1 BDRM
Fall 2001
Written and directed by Luke Bruneaux, this play astounded and stupefied the audience. The play related to the issues of 9/11, homosexuality, how "space" defines relationships.
Sylvia
Spring 2002
Written by AR Gurney, the Comedy/Drama features a bored middle-aged Manhattan couple whose marriage is altered when they inadvertantly adopt a rather human-like puppy named Sylvia. The un-experimental experiment.
The 2002 Alternative Theatre Festival
The 9th Annual ATF continued the spirited tradition of outdoor theatre, singing, fun, and games on the College Green. Somewhere in between the finger painting and the freeze tag, however, we "forgot" to embarrass ourselves with the annual board skit.
Carousel
Fall 2002
An experiment from the very start, the musical drama was a collaboration between the iNtuitons and the Penn Players. Carousel was actually the melding of two works: the lighthearted Rogers and Hammerstein musical of the same name, and Liliom, the drama on which the musical was based
A Ballad For Loki
Spring 2003
The objective of this student-written work was to eliminate the audience's option to be morally relativistic. Through creative use of lights, sound, set, an ongoing slide show, and a unique acting space, we were able to violate audience members emotionally, leading to a stronger sense of empathy for the show's protagonist. Thouroughly depressing, and yet surprisingly, not a huge financial success.
The 2003 Alternative Theatre Festival
A smashing success. A fantabulous time was had by all. Seriously, though, we wanted to apologize for blatantly lying when we advertised "rain or shine." Sorry, folks, we'll make up for it next time.
Elsinore!
Fall 2003
An amalgamation of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," this was an environmental show that took place in the University Lutheran Church. Action went on in different rooms simultaneously, and the audience was free to wander around and observe whichever happeneing they wanted. It was freezing and icy. Poor Rosencrantz and Guildenstern almost froze to death during their outdoors scenes.
Asa Nisi Masa
Spring 2004
This show was so crazy, I'm still not sure what happened in the second act. It combined film and choreography elements from several Federico Fellini films and Bob Fosse's "Sweet Charity." There was music, dancing, and scandal. Fun, laughs, good times!
The Play About the Baby
Fall 2004
Is there a baby or isn't there?? This 4-character Edward Albee play, performed in Houston Hall Auditorium, was produced with striking minimalist set and lighting. Many gels were burned through, many wrinkles were stretched out of giant sheets of textaline, and many audience members were mildly disturbed by the voiceover. It was experimental for many reasons, including the first time any daring student had attempted to rig in Houston Hall! (note: fortunately, no actors were killed in the making of this production.) Check it out: http://community.webshots.com/album/223299927PRzATtThis
...in Wonderland
Spring 2005
The audience was Alice in this ambitious collaboration with Stimulus Children's Theater. The play was adapted from the classic by Lewis Carroll, and Houston Hall Auditorium was literally transformed into Wonderland, with the audience following the action through a series of wacky rooms and down a hallway with skewed perspective. (Made of the heaviest Hollywood flats imaginable.) We slid down the rabbit hole, played croquet, and danced the lobster quadrille. There may or may not have been a little something special in the magic cakes.
Metamorphoses
Fall 2005
A rendition of Mary Zimmerman's adaptation from Ovid's tales, "Metamorphoses" was performed in the Harold Prince Theatre on an elevated stage. A large hole filled with undulating dry ice took center stage and served at turns as the sea, a clear mountain pool, the fires of Hades, and an exit/entrance for the actors. A technical extravaganza, it was a sell-out show that put the gods in their places.
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Spring 2006
A timely rendition of Dario Fo's social commentary on repression and corruption, "Anarchist" was performed in the Memorial Tower Library of Ware College House. Cast members performed self-written and researched pieces on social issues of their choosing. The professor-led talk-back sessions were a hit, and the show left everybody thinking, if not worrying.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
Fall 2006
The audience was invited to participate in this production by shouting out suggestions to the actors and technicians. As a result, each night's performance was different. The realistic, pig sty of a set fit nicely into the Houston Hall Auditorium, where the building's bay window solved a crucial design element perfectly. If you're different, they try to kill you off.
La Ronde
Spring 2007
When iNtuitons first decided to perform Arthur Schnitzler's cyclical story of sex, seduction and sleaze set in 1890's Vienna, we thought being in a found space would work out swimmingly. The goal was to find a round space in which we could center our rotating stage. This proved exceedingly difficult, and we defaulted to a large circus tent erected in the 1920 Commons Lower Level Plaza(between the dining hall and Harnwell College House). This was all well and good until the tent company turned out to be psychotic... and until the ice storm hit. The tent, thought tied down, managed to blow 3 feet into the air. We capped off a rushed and crazy tech week by an eleventh-hour move into the lower level of the dining hall, striking and loading in the entire show in just 2 hours and opening only half an hour late. The show was a hit, the set platform turned flawlessly, and the sex was good. Each scene, a sexual encounter between different couples, was directed by an iNtuitons board member and they were never rehearsaed together until tech week. In the final scene, there was full nudity. An audience member gasped.
Rhinoceros
November 1-3, 2007
A work by the French absurdist Eugene Ionesco is bound to be pretty experimental as-is, but iNtuitons took it one step further. As the absurd action on stage became more and more realistic - with increasingly detailed portrayals of people's transformations into rhinoceri - pieces of set disappeared, and the stage itself became less realistic.
Songs for a New World
April 17-19, 2008
Songs for a New World is a work of musical theater written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. The show sits on the boundary between musical and song cycle: it is a series of largely unconnected songs with no plot or characters that continue from song to song, but the songs and the production are theatrical and character-driven.
The 2008 Alternative Theater Festival
September 13, 2008
After a year's hiatus, the Alternative Theater Festival triumphantly returned with a new format. Performed in the Platt Student Performing Arts House, the 11th ATF showcased 5 student-written plays. From a musical adaptation of The Tempest to a gripping one-man performance, the new and improved Alternative Theater Festival impressed the crowd with its quality and variety. There were talking goldfish. Need we say more?
Quills
November 6-8, 2008
With a massive set that filled the Harold Prince Theater, Quills took its audience into an insane asylum in 19th century France, populated by inmates that constantly remained on stage. Actors were challenged to think of what their characters would do when they weren't participating in a scene, and the result was a very disturbing look at the life and death of the Marquis de Sade, replete with philosophical debates, riots, full nudity, and vivisection.
The Importance of Being Earnest
April 2-4, 2009
The spring 2009 production of The Importance of Being Earnest contrasted Oscar Wilde's light-hearted humor with the dour setting of a forced labor camp. As the show progressed, audiences witnessed the escapist power of theater as costumes and set pieces transformed a prison yard into a British estate and prisoners into class caricatures. Ridiculous hats and accents were enjoyed by all, and we remained laceration-free after loading in and striking a barbed-wire fence in Houston Hall Auditorium.
Eurydice
Fall 2009
In Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.
Macbeth
Spring 2010
Content.
The 2010 Alternative Theater Festival
September 17, 2010
Performed in the Platt Student Performing Arts House, the 11th ATF showcased 5 student-written plays. From a one-man performance about social norms and sexuality, to an impressive combination theater, impeachments, and history, the 2010 ATF had a lot to offer.
Far Away
October 28-30, 2010
The 2010 Fall production of Far Away featured a stark set and a collection of ornate hats. It is the story of a woman named Joan living in a world consumed by paranoia and fear. Over the course of this relatively short play, the audience sees Joan growing up and searchingfor human connection - through family or love - as a way to escape an all-consuming war raging throughout the world. The play begs the question of whether we can really trust those we love most, and what this means for humanity.
The Mousetrap
March 24-26, 2011
A commedia dell'arte interpretation of the longest running play in the world reimagines Christie's original murder mystery as a celebration of humanity. Using slapstick, wit, song, dance, and any other tool in the actors' arsenals, Christie's characters will be transformed into comedic embodiments of human emotion.
The 2011 Alternative Theater Festival
September 17, 2011
The Alternative Theater Festival was performed in the Platt Student Performing Arts House, the 12th ATF showcased 4 student-written plays. They included a mixed-character play based on the Lesley Gore 1963 classic Now It's Judy's Turn to Cry, an emotionally exposed version of the "perfect" post-war American family, a sparknotes version of Shakespeare, and a short play in which the audience observes two authority figures as they, in turn, observe the village they control. Unfortunately, one of the plays was unable to be performed due to a last minute medical emergency.
4.48 Psychosis
November 3-5, 2011
4.48 Psychosis sees the ultimate narrowing of Sarah Kane's focus in her work. The struggle of the self to remain intact has moved in her work from civil war, into the family, into the couple, into the individual, and finally into the theatre of phychosis: the mind itself. This play was written in 1999 shortly before the playwright took her own life at age 28. On the page, the piece looks like a poem. No characters are named, and even their number is unspecified. Tennis court style in Class of '49. Play was a huge success. Slow opening night, but sold out Saturday (minus a brief interruption from Houston Hall staff). Much more freshman involvement a fall show than previous years.
Woyzeck
April 19-21, 2012
Woyzeck, which remained unfinished at the time of the playwright's death in 1837, is a grim and at times gut-wrenching play about jealousy and madness. The title character is a low ranking solider, attempting to support his wife and child by selling his body for scientific experimentation. When his wife cheats on him with the Drum Major, his jealousy, and encroaching insanity drive him to kill her. By constructing a tavern within the Rodin Underground in which the play took place, iNtuitons tore down the boundaries between viewers' space and play space, audience and spectacle, this production immersed playgoers in the story's action and rendered them complicit in its cruelty and violence.