{"id":116015,"date":"2023-02-13T21:56:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T02:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116015"},"modified":"2023-02-13T21:56:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T02:56:14","slug":"love-and-information-at-muhlenberg-theatre-dance-feb-23-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=116015","title":{"rendered":"‘Love and Information’ at Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance, Feb. 23-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staging What\u2019s Human<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

An unconventional approach to theater <\/span>creates new experiences in ‘Love and Information,’ a collaborative performance coming Feb. 23-26 to Muhlenberg College<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Allentown, Pa.\u00a0 \u2014 Members of the cast of \u201cLove and Information,\u201d coming in February to Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance, say that Caryl Churchill\u2019s play is unlike any they\u2019ve ever worked on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAudiences should not expect the kind of theater they\u2019re used to seeing,\u201d says actor Piper Woods. \u201cThey should expect an experience and be fulfilled in the kind of cut-offness and incompleteness of it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s so unusual?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe script is remarkably open-ended,\u201d says Jessie Dean, the play\u2019s director and a visiting professor at Muhlenberg. \u201cNo character names are given; the scenes have no context; it doesn\u2019t indicate who says what. It almost reads like free verse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The play comprises 78 short scenes \u2014 some of them very short \u2014 ranging from a couple lines to a couple pages. Within the play\u2019s seven sections, these scenes can be performed in any order. Dean says that she and the show\u2019s 18-member ensemble have had to dig to discover the performance within the play.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working with Churchill\u2019s words \u2014 with an established text,\u201d Dean says. \u201cBut in a lot of ways, it\u2019s really like devising a new work \u2014 finding the beats, finding the intentions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes they\u2019re really silly, sometimes they\u2019re heartfelt, sometimes they make you think,\u201d says assistant director Amanda Berkson. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the random moments that make us human.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove and Information\u201d runs from Feb 23-26, in the Dorothy Hess Baker Theatre, in Muhlenberg\u2019s Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Love and Information\u2019 is about people who are overwhelmed and underwhelmed and completely obsessed with and in the middle of so much access to information, and how that impacts their lives,\u201d Dean says. \u201cWhat we\u2019re asking of the audience is to assess their own relationship with information. What do you gain when you have all that information at your fingertips? And what do you lose?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dramaturg Emily Lang has been focusing on making sure each of the play\u2019s 78 scenes has a clear and specific context \u2014 an objective that has required extensive research on her part, as well as continuous collaboration among the design team, actors, and directing team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so cool to see the design team do what they\u2019re doing so quickly and so effectively,\u201d Lang says. \u201cMost production teams have months to plan. Our design team has been working on the fly as the actors and directing team make new discoveries in rehearsal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cast member Arden McHugh says going into rehearsal is like \u201ca shot of espresso.\u201d The free flow of ideas and large cast \u2014 one of the biggest at Muhlenberg since the Covid pandemic \u2014 have led to a lively and energizing rehearsal process, she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never had a director who was so open to the actor\u2019s ideas,\u201d McHugh says. \u201cSo it\u2019s really interesting to be invited to share them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This sort of collaborative spirit is exactly what Dean has in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you can include everyone in the process, when you can develop that kind of community with people that you trust and play with in that way, ultimately you uncover layers and layers of things that you never thought possible,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dean encourages cast members to add their own experiences and passions to the piece. She says the production is starting to look like a \u201cfull breadth of human experience, and its own theatrical form unique to this moment, space, and community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So what should audiences expect?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe show really doesn\u2019t work like a traditional theatre piece,\u201d Dean says. \u201cI hope they leave their expectations at the door.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ask too many questions about the endings of things,\u201d Woods adds. \u201cThe endings don\u2019t matter; it\u2019s the way you get there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove and Information\u201d runs Feb 23-26: Thursday at 8 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Performances are in the Baker Theatre, in Muhlenberg\u2019s Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, Muhlenberg College. Tickets are $15 regular admission; $8 for youth tickets and campus & LVAIC tickets. Tickets are available online at muhlenberg.edu\/seeashow<\/a> or by phone at 484-664-3333.<\/span><\/p>\n

Content Advisory: This production includes adult themes; discussions of sexuality, mental illness and drug use; and a reference to torture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Information Provided By:
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing Manager
\nMuhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staging What\u2019s Human An unconventional approach to theater creates new experiences in ‘Love and Information,’ a collaborative performance coming Feb. 23-26 to Muhlenberg College Allentown, Pa.\u00a0 \u2014 Members of the … Continue reading ‘Love and Information’ at Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance, Feb. 23-26<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5716,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allentown","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/love-and-information.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}