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Inspired by social awareness groups on campus, Jennifer Aranda ’07 (Paramus, N.J.) is producing a play exploring the College’s history of diversity and how that diversity affects individuals within the campus community.
Aranda will present her honors thesis project, Undesirable Elements: The Lafayette Experience, 8-10:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27 in Pardee Hall, Lab Theater. The performances are free.
She crafted her thesis under the guidance of Deborah Byrd, associate professor of English.
“My thesis is a play exploring the past and present activist history of Lafayette College,” explains Aranda. “The members of the cast not only recount historical racial, religious, ethnic, and feminist activism, but also their own participation and leadership in present activist organizations on campus.”
The performances will feature creative mediums and social justice major Danielle Bero ’07 (Astoria, N.Y.), international affairs and economics & business double major Vijay Krishnan ’07 (Karnataka, India), international affairs major Maly Fung ’07 (Fresh Meadows, N.Y.), biochemistry major Benjamin Arthur ’07 (Accra North, Ghana), Marquis Scholar and English major Danielle Koupf ’08 (Randolph, N.J.), and Michael Benitez, director of Intercultural Development. Each cast member will share his or her experiences as organizational leaders and racially, ethnically, religiously, and gender diverse individuals at Lafayette.
An English and women’s studies double major, Aranda was motivated by researching the life of Ping Chong, a theater director, choreographer, and video and installation artist, who wrote the epic oral history theater project Undesirable Elements.
Chong served as an artist-in-residence at Lafayette during the fall 2006, where he staged Undesirable Elements, an ongoing series of works exploring the effects of history, culture, and ethnicity on the lives of individuals living in a particular community. Chong was also convocation speaker for the Class of 2010.
Aranda plans to add her own Lafayette spin to the framework provided by Chong.
“I began my research by interviewing people that hold leadership roles in activist organizations on campus, such as Students for Social Justice, Association of Lafayette Feminists (ALF), Questioning Established Sexual Taboos (QuEST), International Students Association, Africans Creating African Consciousness and Interest Abroad, and Hillel Society,” she says. “I asked individuals questions about why they chose Lafayette, what types of experiences they had as members of the larger community, why they have taken on leadership roles, and what they hope to accomplish through their activism.”
Aranda hopes her play will encourage audience members to become active even beyond the Lafayette community.
“I would like the audience to feel motivated and inspired by each cast member, to become more active members of the Lafayette community, and to consider their participation in the world beyond the Hill,” she explains.
Byrd believes Aranda’s adaptation of Chong’s work is original and may even add a few important elements.
“Jen’s adaptation of Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements is unique in a couple of ways,” says Byrd. “Whereas Ping’s productions tend to focus on the ways in which individuals are affected by and respond to oppressive ideologies in the larger society, Jen made a conscious decision to focus on Lafayette as an institution, on the ways in which various organizations and groups on our campus have responded to societal injustices over time. Jen also created a script that explicitly pays tribute to individuals and organizations that actively work for constructive social change, presenting these ‘undesirables’ as role models.”
Aranda explains that her play is not really a performance but rather a forum for the cast to tell their own stories.
“There is no acting,” she says. “There are only individuals exploring the evolution of Lafayette and telling their own contribution to that course of history.”
Aranda is the co-chief editor of the Marquis Literary Magazine. She also is a member of QuEST, ALF, Kayak Club, and Ultimate Frisbee Club.
Honors theses are among several major programs that have made Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. The College sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year; 21 students have been accepted to present their research at this year’s conference.