Steerman Playwriting Series of New Works–Senior Projects in Drama
About the festival: James B. Steerman joined the Vassar College drama faculty in the fall of 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus of Drama and Film in early 2011. This annual festival is dedicated to his extraordinary contributions.
All performances will be presented in the Powerhouse Theater, unless noted otherwise, and require reservations, which can be obtained by emailing boxoffice@vassar.edu. Reservations can be made two weeks in advance of a performance opening date.
Campus community only, please.
When I Grow Up by Solomon Hess ’24
October 5, 6, 2023
8:00 p.m.
Location: Martel Theater in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film
Join Solomon as he explores hopes and dreams (and some things in between) through comedy, song, and over-the-top theatrics. Navigate the process of growing up as he takes a look back on life and how the heck he got here (on a stage).
Seven Minutes by Jean Fassler ’24
November 1 and 4, 2023
8:00 p.m.
Location: Powerhouse Theater
After your heart stops, your brain remains active for up to seven minutes. In that time, two guides help people relive one memory before they move on. But what happens when a body refuses to move on? Seven Minutes explores grief, closure, loss, the space between dying and dead, and what makes life worth living.
Forever and Sometimes by Joe Baldwin ’24
November 2, 3, 2023
8:00 p.m.
Location: Powerhouse Theater
If you could live forever, would you become someone completely new, or stay the same? This is the question immortals Gil and Cleo must ask when Maggie, a mortal college student, enters their lives and forces them to rediscover their two-hundred-year-old relationship and how it has (or hasn’t) changed. '
Bacchanal by Stefen Dodson ’24
November 29 and December 2, 2023
8:00 p.m.
Location: Powerhouse Theater
When Kingston does the unthinkable and has an affair with a woman he meets at a fête, Georgia’s life is abruptly upended. In three acts, Bacchanal explores the complex mashup of elements ranging from infidelity and religion to racism and mental illness in the context of a vibrant Caribbean culture.
FURY, A Re-Telling of the Oresteia by Sydney Duncan ’24
November 30, and December 1, 2023
8:00 p.m.
Location: Powerhouse Theater
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are too similar; they both want more than they have, and they’re both willing to do whatever they can in order to get it. Their three children are equally dysfunctional—Orestes is eager to step into his father’s role but lacks the guts to do it, Electra’s only talents are a reminder of her mother’s failures, and though Iphigenia may have finally found her footing, she seems to have found it in precisely the wrong place. FURY, a contemporary adaptation of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, examines fate and ambition; the inescapable web of family, and who gets to play which roles within it; the physical weight of memory, both owned and inherited; and the conditions under which the harshest hatred is always committed against those we love the most.
