In November, the theater program presented two contemporary one-act plays by Caryl Churchill at Whittemore Theater, rounding out a full semester of events. The plays, Far Away and A Number, were directed by guest director Anna Bean, who worked with Marlboro students to present The Clean House last fall.

“This year I chose these two one-acts by Churchill, a British playwright whose work I find witty and chilling at the same time,” said Anna, who teaches at the Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School and at Community College of Vermont in Bennington. “I saw both Far Away and A Number during their New York runs, and they have both haunted me with their tales of foreboding about the future. I thought I would see if we could create the same effect at Marlboro.”

Although both plays are set in the future, it’s a not-so-distant future that feels easily within reach. Far Away takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where the heroine hat-maker negotiates her way, one precarious step at a time, while A Number centers around a father who made the choice long ago to clone his son.

“Both plays deal with themes of paranoia, war, fear—all of which are very present in our current culture,” said junior Kirsten Wiking, one of the students featured in the productions. Also included were sophomore Courtney Varga, sophomore Luc Rosenthal, junior Evan Lamb and freshman Luke Benning. “There’s a very real feel to the events in them, even if there are absurd elements,” continued Kirsten. “Because there’s a feeling of ‘this could be real,’ it was easy as a performer to tap into the fear or feeling of the events of the play.”

Also in November, the Asian studies program presented a weekend-long film festival titled Contemporary Landscapes of China. The six films showcased some of the best new films from China, including both features and documentaries, dealing with a range of contemporary social and environmental issues. For example, Before the Flood profiles people whose livelihoods are destroyed by the Three Gorges Dam, and Last Train Home documents the massive internal migration from China’s poorer inland provinces to the new industrial heartland. Each film was accompanied by a discussion led by authorities on the subject, including Asian studies professor Seth Harter, economics professor Jim Tober, Chinese language professor Grant Li and alumnus Tristan Roberts ’00.

For news about upcoming events, go to www.marlboro.edu/news/events.