ORESTEIA LIVE, directed by In Strange Company, a contemporary theater company in residence at SUNY Sullivan.

A literal or figurative world war is the theme of SUNY Sullivan's 2020-2021 Theater Season. We will examine plays where war occurs in the micro- or macrocosm.

When:

ORESTEIA LIVE will play December 4-6, 2020, Friday-Saturday at 8 PM and Sunday at 2 PM; streaming on Zoom, email jbarkl@sunysullivan for reservations.

Where (Register in the links embedded in the dates/times below):

December 4, 8 PM
December 5, 8 PM
December 6, 2 PM
Or...email jbarkl@sunysullivan for reservations.

Please Contact Jessica López-Barkl with any questions

jbarkl@sunysullivan.edu

ORESTEIA LIVE synopsis

A one-hour version of Aeschylus’ famous trilogy is told in a 1940s radio play format.

Susan Stroupe - playwright/adaptor/performer

Susan Stroupe is a Baltimore-based theater maker who specializes in interdisciplinary, immersive, and devised works. Susan has worked in the Twin Cities, LA, NYC, Albuquerque, Baltimore, and her hometown Atlanta as a director, performer, writer, puppeteer, teaching artist, dramaturg, and deviser in professional and community-based professional companies, collaborating with many kinds of artists, and actors and nonactors of many ages, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and abilities. In Baltimore, Susan has worked as a freelance director for independent companies, notably for Cohesion Theatre (Cohesion’s Rep: La Llorona & The Orphan Sea), Iron Crow Theatre (The Goodies), and The Strand Theater (Harry and the Thief), and she is a founding member and current Artistic Associate for Submersive Productions, serving on the core creative team for The Mesmeric Revelations! Of Edgar Allan Poe, H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum, The Institute of Visionary History and Archives of the Deep Now, their most recent production, MASS/Rabble at the Baltimore War Memorial. She is a long-time member of the Teaching Artist team at Baltimore Center Stage, and a continuing associate of Philip Arnoult'sCenter for International Theatre Development, working with partners in Romania, Hungary, Russia, and Bulgaria.

Susan’s focus in theater is in collaboratively devising pieces or working with scripts that challenge norms of race, gender, and genre; making theater in nontraditional spaces, and engaging in projects that critically examine and expand the collective mythology of the dominant narrative. She received her BA from Macalester College and MFA in Theatre Arts from Towson University.

Molly Kohl - playwright/adaptor/performer

Molly is a founding member of In Strange Company, formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Oresteia Live was birthed. She is also a founding member of Drama of Works, a Brooklyn-based puppetry company that creates original works and re-imagines classics, often with a “dark” twist, which they perform all over the city, country, and world. DOW also leads workshops and hosts puppetry events like PUNCH! and Puppet Club. www.dramaofworks.com. Molly was also the Artistic Director of Equilibrium Theatre Company (based at VSA North Fourth Arts Center in Albuquerque), a theater company for artists with disabilities focusing on advocacy. Long ago, she worked behind the scenes at The Public Theater and Joe’s Pub and collaborated with various companies in black box theaters all over NYC. More recently she worked with NYC-based Outside Voices, a theater company dedicated to disability justice. Molly has her BA from The New School/Lang College with a concentration in theater and is currently living with her theater-lovin’ family in New Jersey.

Jessica López-Barkl – playwright/adaptor/performer

Jessica is currently the Associate Professor of Theater and Speech/Theater Program Director at SUNY Sullivan. She is also a freelance actor, director, dramaturg, and designer. Her plays THE ORESTEIA LIVE, ROUTE 666, her adaptation of Tae Sok Oh’s AFRICA, AND THE VIOLINS STOPPED PLAYING, THE WAITRESS AND THE NAIL TECHNICIAN SHOULD BE FRIENDS, THE WOMAN IN 10A, SHAKESPEARES B*T*HS’ AND HOES, and HEART OF AWL, have been performed in theaters in Seattle, Albuquerque, Sarah Lawrence College, and NYC.

Emily Windler Kuwabara - playwright/adaptor/performer

Emily is an actor, clown, and deviser who has been creating original work and touring around the country since 2011, until finally becoming a permanent resident of Portland in 2016. She has performed in productions in Portland and across North America, such as The Middle of Everywhere (WONDERHEADS - Portland, OR), Blue Lake Opera (Dell'Arte Company - Blue Lake, CA), The Addams Family Musical (Broadway Rose - Tigard, OR), Adventures of Vanessa Goodwin (Action/Adventure Theatre - Portland, OR), Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Hansom Cab Killer (Black Sheep Theatre - Ottawa, Ontario), and The Tempest (In Strange Company - Albuquerque, NM). Emily has an MFA equivalent in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, where she trained in the devising of original physical theatre. She spent three years in rural Northern California at Dell'Arte International learning the ins and outs of ensemble building, creating, and performing - including styles such as Mask performance, Commedia dell’Arte, and Clown – all through the lens of community engagement. Since graduating in 2010, Emily has created, written, and performed six original physical theatre productions, ranging from solo to ensemble-devised shows with several of them touring internationally. Emily is from Albuquerque, NM and now lives in Portland, OR.

Nick López - playwright/adaptor/performer

Nick López is an Adjunct Professor of Theater and Speech at SUNY Sullivan. He is an actor, director, designer, and cartoonist. He has performed and directed in New York, New Mexico, Washington State, and West Virginia. He has a BA in Theater from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Performance from West Virginia University.

Elevator Pitch

ORESTEIA LIVE is a one-hour 1940s radio-play version of Aeschylus’ ORESTEIA trilogy, which explores the universal theme of history being repeated if the lesson of history is not learned.

Why It's For You

Do you like 1940s fashion and music? Have you ever felt that our world continues to have the same conflicts? Do you enjoy good voice actor work? Do you notice patterns in your life?

Why We Chose It

Much like the rest of the live performance world, SUNY Sullivan is attempting to bridge the gap between live performances on the stage, utilizing a hybrid format, made famous by Orson Welles during the heyday of radio. SUNY Sullivan’s Theater Program has also had a commitment to professional development for their students by having them experience work by professionals in the field. As this is difficult during this time, they are producing this show as a hybrid professional development showing theater artists on the front lines of discovering live formats that can be taught/used in this time and any future isolation period. This play was first produced in 2007 in Albuquerque, NM, by In Strange Company, during the 10-year anniversary of our engagement in Iraq/Afghanistan. Utilizing Bertolt Brecht’s alienation method of telling a story in a different time period that discusses issues still haunting a community, the ORESTEIA LIVE hopes to entertain the audience while allowing them to hear shadows of their present experience.

Digging Deeper

In short, this play was well-received during its world premiere in 2007 and has a style that leans into the constraints that theater artists have to abide by at this time. It also explores themes of war, isolation, inconvenience during times of war, and injustice (all themes that our students and our community are experiencing at this time).

How ORESTEIA LIVE applies to college classes and life-long learning

History: Ancient Greece, WW2

Psychology: Monumental Death, PTSD

Literature: Aeschylus’ ORESTEIA trilogy - Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

Music: The Andrews’ Sisters; Fats Waller; Johnny Mercer; Dorothy Dandridge; Aretha Franklin; Sammy Davis, Jr.; Lena Horne, Judy Garland; Connie Francis; Nat King Cole; Sarah Vaughn; Billy Holiday; Barbershop Quartets

Social Science: Gender politics, Social Class, Race, Religion, Parenting

Theater: Ancient Greece, Radio Dramas, Voice Acting

Film: ORESTEIA (1982), Film Noir, Marx Bros., CASABLANCA, MRS. MINIVER, THE GREAT DICTATOR

Art of Ideas/Philosophy: Justice destroying social order, revenge/retribution

Design: Modernist movement, propaganda

Science: Sound engineering (reinforcement and amplification),

Health Sciences: Trauma related illnesses, PTSD

Math: Algebraic equations for power with sound amplification and master electrician for sound reinforcement

Please Contact Jessica López-Barkl with any questions

jbarkl@sunysullivan.edu

The Theater Arts AA Program encourages students to use the medium of theatrical art to observe, illuminate, and effectively communicate the diversity of human experience. Based upon the SUNY Transfer Path for Theater, the degree enables students to readily transfer to a SUNY four-year college or university upon completion of the equivalent of four semesters of full-time study.

In addition to a foundation in general education courses, the program familiarizes students with the depth and range of dramatic literature, its historical contexts, it's cultural underpinnings, and its social and communicative value, largely through coursework directly related to theatrical productions. After fulfilling core theater requirements, students may select electives in acting or theater technology according to their interests and career goals. Programming of at least three annual campus stage productions creates opportunities for students to practice and learn their craft with guest artists, faculty, staff, and members of the community at large.

Live Theater Artist Relief Fund / Support SUNY Sullivan Theater Program

By SUNY Sullivan Theater Program

Live Theater Artist Relief Fund / Support SUNY Sullivan Theater Program