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Posts tagged ‘russian’

Apr 9

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Arts Runoff: VANYA

Vodka, morphine, love and family

Summary: A new adaptation of Chekhov’s renowned Uncle Vanya. Mixed signals, missed communications, everyday farces and tragedies in a family trying to deal with the illness of a father. This show is the senior thesis work of three students: Cori Hundt (acting), Michael Kessler (acting) and Mindy Marquis (set design).

Good: Everything is detailed. That starts with the set. The back wall, a chaotic web of fabric and lace, offsets the ordered tchotchkes in the living-room scenery. // The directing, by Charles Giardina ’12, is also detailed. He uses his Radio Theater melodrama skills expertly: the characters try to be huge and dramatic but end up stumbling over language or emotion, to hilarious and wrenching results. // The best acting I’ve ever seen Kessler and Hundt do. I’ve known Cori since my second day at Middlebury; that might cause a positive conflict of interests, but it also makes me aware of habits she might fall into or choices she might make. She was bolder and goofier and freer than I’ve seen her in any other role. // And, of course, Noah Berman and Molly O’Keefe were just as fantastic as I expected them to be.

Bad: Extended monologs delivered half to the audience and half to an imaginary character are tough to pull off. Most were handled masterfully, but a few moments went a little too far over the edge into poetic apostrophe and made the actor seem detached.

Broad: Hundt decided to do Vanya as her thesis after seeing a production in England. This was the first US performance of the show. Maybe it’s just my ’11 pre-nostalgia talking, but this group of senior Theater majors has brought a huge amount of creativity and novelty to Midd.

Contextual rating: If you have something important to do this weekend,
-…do it, and see this show if you can.
-…put it off and see this show. (I would have given Vanya the highest rating, but I won’t be seeing Euridice until Saturday afternoon. Since this is a “contextual rating,” I can’t suggest you skip a show I don’t know about yet.)
-…skip it and see this show.

Vanya, tonight (Saturday) at 8:00. Hepburn Zoo. $4. Tickets available at the door. I don’t know how, but somehow Mindy Marquis fit a huge amount of seating into the Zoo without cramping the set. Kudos again to her.

Nov 8

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Governor Jim Douglas (’72) joins Midd for J-Term

That “J. Douglas” listing in the Winter Course Schedule was who I thought it was.

An all-student email from President Liebowitz on Firday confirmed that Governor Douglas will indeed spend January at the College. He will teach a course called “Vermont Government and Politics” and write about his experiences during his career in Vermont politics.

At Middlebury, Douglas majored in Russian Studies. (What is it with important Midd alumni and Russian degrees?  The President of NPR is a Summer Russian School alumna.)  He took a number of PoliSci classes, from professors including Murray Dry. He was an active College Republican.

After graduating in 1972, Douglas went on almost immediately to win a seat in the Vermont House of Representatives — a pretty intense senior-year job search. By age 25, he had moved up to House Majority Leader.  Before succeeding Howard Dean as Governor, Douglas served as a top aide to Governor Richard Snelling, as Vermont Secretary of State and as State Treasurer.

Douglas meets with Obama on the stimulus bill in 2009 (click image for source).

The Addison County Independent has already published an article about Governor Douglas’s upcoming residency at Midd.  Here are some excerpts:

“I jumped at the opportunity [to teach the course],” Douglas said. “I feel I have something to offer the next generation of leaders.

“My ideas will be quite fresh,” he noted of what will be an almost immediate matriculation to the classroom from the governor’s office in the Pavilion Building in Montpelier.  [...]

“Some people were expecting me to go on a cruise or take a long vacation,” Douglas noted of speculation surrounding his immediate exit plans. “But that’s not in my nature. I need to stay active to remain intellectually challenged.”

MiddBlog is hoping for a chance to talk with Douglas sometime soon.  In the meantime, take a look at a few important moments in Douglas’s tenure as Governor (after the break):

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Jul 19

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Life in Language Immersion: Russian

I’m teaming up with students at Middlebury this summer to produce a series of videos on what it’s like to be at language school. Here’s a “confessional” take by Helena Treeck ’12, narrating her day-to-day in Russian School. Produced by Casey Mahoney ’11.