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magidShabbat afternoon, I walked over to Harvard to see what was going on for Harvard's weekend-long ArtsFirst festival. I'd thought to hear some a cappella, but ended up at a tent put up on the mostly-finished overpass in front of the Science Center that had a lot of dance performances, all Harvard groups. My favorites were Harvard Bhangra (a large troupe performing Indian dance, including colorful, shiny costumes, irresistible music, and interesting percussive instruments; I couldn't keep from smiling the whole time), Harvard Deepam (two women doing dances with precise movements that had me wishing I knew what all the hand and foot placements meant), a half dozen belly dancers, four couples dancing salsa, a Pan-African group who danced to the music of live drummers (all the others were pre-recorded music) also tap, ballet, and jazz dancers. I meandered over into the Yard and caught part of the Harvard Intertribal Indian Dance Troupe's demonstration as well (though I didn't make it up to the powwow in Radcliffe Yard, another thing I keep saying I"ll make it to some day).
Today, I made it to the last night of the Harvard Playwright's Festival, which featured staged readings of undergraduate plays for four nights. I wish I'd made some of the other readings!
The first reading was Burnt by the Sun (Joshua McTaggart, a senior), a play set in ancient Rome, featuring a young Caesar nominally on the throne as his mother and grandmother wielded power. He pursued the expected (in a series of wives), and the unexpected (a husband, and the desire to be beautiful in his own eyes, which would have required trans surgery). It had some interesting moments, but felt like too much of a stretch for the writer, in the end. And while I don't expect actors to be off book in a staged reading, I do expect them to have character names down.
The second reading was Trivia (Taylor Kay Phillips, a sophomore), a play in the here-now about four college friends, showing the beginning, middle and end of their college years together, encapsulated in their regular Wednesday pub trivia nights. This was so much better, in pretty much all ways. It felt truer, in the sense that the writer had clear voices for her characters, all of whom felt real, and knew how to show what she wanted to tell. And it was hysterically funny, as well as having some more solid moments as well.
Today, I made it to the last night of the Harvard Playwright's Festival, which featured staged readings of undergraduate plays for four nights. I wish I'd made some of the other readings!
The first reading was Burnt by the Sun (Joshua McTaggart, a senior), a play set in ancient Rome, featuring a young Caesar nominally on the throne as his mother and grandmother wielded power. He pursued the expected (in a series of wives), and the unexpected (a husband, and the desire to be beautiful in his own eyes, which would have required trans surgery). It had some interesting moments, but felt like too much of a stretch for the writer, in the end. And while I don't expect actors to be off book in a staged reading, I do expect them to have character names down.
The second reading was Trivia (Taylor Kay Phillips, a sophomore), a play in the here-now about four college friends, showing the beginning, middle and end of their college years together, encapsulated in their regular Wednesday pub trivia nights. This was so much better, in pretty much all ways. It felt truer, in the sense that the writer had clear voices for her characters, all of whom felt real, and knew how to show what she wanted to tell. And it was hysterically funny, as well as having some more solid moments as well.