Hopkins Black Box Theatre Current Season

HopKins Black Box 2022-23 Season

Keep up with current and upcoming current and upcoming events on our Facebook page.

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FALL 2022

Graduate Showcase & 30th Anniversary Event
Produced by Dr. Tracy Stephenson Shaffer and Mitchell Kahalley
Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 7:30 PM

Graduate students, faculty, and alums offer performances to start the season and celebrate the HBB's 30th anniversary.

 

The Place of Performance Lecture
From Field to Stage to Screen: Multimodal Methodologies in the Making of Sweet Tea
By Dr. E. Patrick Johnson
Dean of Northwestern University's School of Communication and LSU Performance Studies alum
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 7:30 PM

The story of Sweet Tea, highlighting the lives of black gay men in the south, spans a decade. It started off as a scholarly book, then became a solo show, and is now a feature length documentary. This lecture/performance/screening will demonstrate how ethnographic and oral history source material may be translated from the field to the stage through Reader's Theater and traditional solo performance and to the screen through documentary film.

 

In the Spirit of Twain: A Performance Composed From the Ouija Board
Adapted, Written, and Directed by Dr. Travis Brisini
Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 2:00 PM

In 1917, Mark Twain finished his final novelette: Jap Herron. It was a predictable, even lackluster Twain story, save for one minor rub: Samuel Clemens had been dead for seven years. In the Spirit of Twain recounts the true story of writer Emily Grant Hutchings, who supposedly contacted Clemens and transcribed his postmortem words via the Ouija board. In an era of spiritual curiosity, audiences were left to ponder: was this story a tale of paranormal fact or literary fraud?

 

Guest Artist Performance
COINTELSHOW: A PATRIOT ACT
Written by L.M. Bogad, Performed by Mondo Bizzaro, Composed by Peter J. Bowling
Wednesday-Thursday, November 9-10, 2022

COINTELSHOW is a virtual adaptation of Larry Bogad’s biting political satire about the FBI’s counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) with which they sabotaged, disrupted, and repressed domestic groups like the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the American Indian Movement, along with individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King. Over the course of an hour, Special Agent Christian White takes us under the redaction marks of actual, heavily-censored government documents to explore the haunted space below.

 

Fall Showcase
Produced by Ethan Hunter and Ariel Kizer
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 7:30 PM

We proudly showcase short works created by our students.

 

SPRING 2023

 

Scholar/Artist-in-Residence
Nebraska Backwards
Written and Performed by Dr. Charles Parrott & Workshop with public performance
The week of January 30-February 4, 2023

A deep-dive into the author’s childhood in the Great Plains in search of self-understanding through autobiographical solo-performance. This performance wrestles with the desire to leave your home as a young person and the need to understand that home as an adult. The stories in Nebraska Backwards use narrative and performance as tools to makes sense of grief, masculinity, and generational trauma.

 

Rock Out with Your Schnoz Out: The COVID Play
[a satirical play about the pandemic experience]
Written and Directed by Dr. Naomi Bennett
Wednesday-Saturday, March 1-4, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 2:00 PM

During the live taping of the hit variety show, "Rock Out With Your [bleep] Out," co-host Tristan Goudreaux's nose breaks free. Hilarity ensues as Tristan tries to keep the three-year (No)COVID anniversary show going while attempting to recapture his wayward facial appendage.

 

i am a meadow
Conceived and Directed by Josiah Pearsall
Thursday-Friday, March 30-31, 2023

What do we refer to when we say "a meadow"? Who is the "it" in "it is raining"? Does living well with others require us to identify the individual others? The claim that all life is interconnected has become quite common, but how does that connection happen? Using video to break the boundaries that seem to distinguish entities, objects, and beings, this performance provides tangible experiences of ecology.

 

Tiger SpeakFest
Directed and Performed by the Speech & Debate Team
Produced by Ariel Kizer
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 7:30 PM

A celebration of the work and progress made by the Speech and Debate Team through the 2022-23 competing season. This year’s performance is comprised of memorized speeches, acting performances, and limited preparation speeches and debates. If you’ve been looking for a co-curricular activity, Tiger SpeakFest can be a great opportunity to learn more about Collegiate Speech and Debate and meet the current team!

 

Spring Showcase
Produced by Ethan Hunter and Ariel Kizer
Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 7:30 PM

Our season finale: a celebration of short student works.