BWW Blog: Last Chance at Fordham University's Winter Studio Season!

With the new semester just around the corner, I've been trying my best to get back into the academic yet theatrical mindset I try to manage at school. I appreciated the extended winter break, but like usual, the extra time has sunk me into my hyperfixations and made me forget about a legendary time where I was actually a productive, responsible, and functional person in society. Fortunately, instead of reviewing old notes and photos to figure out where the time has gone, my school has crafted a way to bridge the gap between theatre-making and binge-watching to prepare me for what's to come!

Last fall, like most universities, Fordham transitioned all their slotted theatre productions to their virtual platform, including studio season, consisting of projects presented exclusively by students. Throughout a normal semester, these student shows would be playing for free on campus and would offer the chance for all students to be exposed to the work of theatre majors. And with the use of the Internet, this proud display of everyone's hard work can still happen with an even bigger outreach! Until the start of next semester (February 1st), most if not all productions, as well as post-screening talkbacks featuring cast and crews, are free for the public to watch via the Studio Fest website. For each project, the website also features inspiration and creative notes detailing the creative process.

With the new artist challenges and freedoms the virtual stage provides, students were able to experiment with their pieces like never before. Here are some of the exciting projects you can watch now:

B.R.E.A.D (Bring Revolution Everywhere And Die), a nine-episode YouTube series created by Lee Melillo that's a modern adaption of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables with corresponding Instagram accounts for each character: "B.R.E.A.D. follows a group of nine university students who have turned to interacting on Zoom in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Scattered across the country, these friends decide to meet weekly to discuss current events and their lives, most pressingly: the increasingly restrictive and inequitable policies being employed by the university throughout the semester. Following the unjust dismissal of a beloved university dean, the group determines it is up to them to expose the corruption plaguing their university. Utilizing a combination of their newfound YouTube platform and their personal social media accounts, the students begin to rally the larger university community to their cause-but not without attracting the attention of some important university figures, who will stop at nothing to make sure that the students do not achieve their goals; that is, if their own personal squabbles and relationships don't tear the group apart first."

Louisiana Garbage Kings, a folkloric radio play by Vivian Brown that puts a spin on the tales of King Arthur and features a cast of exclusively female and nonbinary actors.

Nineveh, a short film by Claire Talbott that was originally inspired by the play Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and is a mind-bending tale of connection and existence.

Into Me See, created by Daria Kent, is a zoom-hosted, intimate, future cultural artifact about establishing and maintaining relationships during an unprecedented global pandemic: "Stuck in lockdown and far from New York City, Daria sets off to figure out what intimacy looks like in the context of a pandemic, searching everywhere from LUSH to dating apps. INTO ME SEE invites the audience to share their personal experiences of isolation and intimacy during the quarantine, creating a small community through performance."

The Wallpaper Project, directed by Olivia Spenard, uncovers the lives of five different women through film, buzzfeed quizzes, writing prompts, music playlists, recreating pieces of art and poetry: "When in confinement or isolation, what world do we create? Who are our solitary selves? How do we perform, even when we are alone? In those moments, if we look in the mirror, who do we see? A composition devised by the company, THE WALLPAPER PROJECT offers a glimpse into the worlds (or bedrooms) of five women as they explore the stillness and chaos, the sensuality and starkness, the tension and solace that comes with being alone."

Valor, Agravio Y Mujer, directed by Sofia Ubilla, explores the works of Ana Caro, an only recently discovered female writer during the Spanish Golden Age, who died of the plague during the 1640s and had all her belongings burned, including all her unpublished works, to prevent the spread of disease: "The Don Juan myth is something that lives in our cultural consciousness and has been told over the centuries: from Tirso de Molina, to Moliere, to Don Giovanni to the modern-day "player". But this story of a "fickle man," who seduces women and then betrays them has only ever been told from the perspective of men. Now it's time to switch it up. Ana Caro reinvigorates this myth with a feminine voice and reframes it as the woman's quest for justice rather than the man's confrontation with his sins. Full of confessions of love, mistaken identities, and quests for justice, Valor, agravio y mujer explores what it means to seek justice in a world that says you cannot have it."

Don't forget, you have until February 1st to check these exciting works out! Help yourself get reinspired before next semester begins!

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