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Fans of performance art received a treat Saturday, thanks to the Class of ’96.
Café des Arts, staged in the Black Box Theater of the Williams Center for the Arts, featured a lively show of poetry recitals, book readings, and original stage drama. Alumni and professors combined to make the cozy show something a little off the beaten path for Reunion Weekend.
“It’s so great to see so many of you back and we hope that you will continue to be involved with our work,” Ellis Finger, Williams Center director, told the audience before the 5 p.m. show Saturday.
The performances reflected the theatrical spirit that lives on among faculty and alumni associated with Lafayette’s theater community. Performances ranged from the peculiar to the profound — some were peculiarly profound, while others were profoundly peculiar.
Jen Harding Riddle ’96 began the show with a reading of “Nurse,” an original poem the mother of two penned about the perils and joys of motherhood, with special focus on breast-feeding and the bond it forms between mother and child.
Next up were Matt Schapiro ’96 and the husband-wife team of Joe McCrossen ’95 and Kristine Zeigler ’96, performing a scene that featured an unusual take on matrimonial vows.
Beth Seetch, coordinator of the College Writing Program, followed with more poetry, including a paean to jazz great Betty Carter, before Alix Ohlin, assistant professor of English, read an excerpt from her novel, The Missing Person.
The engagingly quirky poetry of Ross Gay ’96 regaled the audience with its gritty urbanism and irony and a particularly well-placed epigraph from the Book of Leviticus. His energetic and witty presentation prompted the next performer, Ken Briggs, visiting part-time instructor of English, to quip, “I want to thank Ross for making it impossible for anyone to follow him.”
But follow him he did, as Briggs read a portion of his soon-to-be-released nonfiction book Double Crossed to a rapt audience. Briggs’ writing focuses on the evolving face of nuns as American women and somewhat reluctant feminists, who were running hospitals and earning Ph.D.’s before it became fashionable for women.
Zeigler’s original script “Wheat Closed” brought the day’s performances to a quizzical end in a scene reminiscent of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, but this time set in the Black Box itself with characters not sure if they’re alive or dead and groping to find an exit strategy. Joining her on stage were Harding, Schapiro, and McCrossen.
“I’m hoping that other classes will see this as a valuable part of Reunion Weekend in the future,” Seetch told those gathered for the Café de Arts.
Audience members surely found the experience worthwhile.
“We thought it was great. It was really intimate,” said Marshall Wolff, who attended the show with his wife Kay.
“This is a nice new addition to alumni weekend,” Kay Wolff added. “This was a very dedicated group of students when they were here and it’s nice to see them continuing.”