MFA students dig deeper, host performance underground

Cutting-edge theater just hit the stage in a basement near you.

Last night, the first-year students in Columbia’s theater MFA program kicked off their season of showcases with a performance in Schapiro Studio, the black box theater located in the Schapiro dormitory basement. The playwrights were assigned the task of adapting a meaningful work to the stage—whether it be a short story or a piece of music—resulting in six original, student-written plays featuring the collaborative work of student directors, actors, dramaturgs, and stage managers.

Most MFA students do the majority of their work within their respective programs—directing students, for example, cast their plays with professional actors, and take classes with acting students infrequently. These showcases, however, are intensely multidisciplinary projects, drawing talent from the entire first-year class and allowing students to build relationships for all manner of future collaborations.

“It’s a pretty extraordinary experience,” said Samantha Chanse, an MFA student in the playwriting program. “The class and the experience have definitely served to bring us together as a community of working artists. Everyone’s got her or his own style and approach to theater, and this class has been an opportunity to dig in deeper and become better acquainted with one another as theater practitioners.”

The showcase also gives students an opportunity to do intensive, hands-on work with Anne Bogart, a world-renowned, Obie Award-winning director and faculty member in the School of the Arts—a chance that would make any theater student jealous.

“Anne creates a safe, but very challenging space,” directing student Simón Hanukai said. “She won’t settle for mediocrity—she meets everyone where they’re at, and pushes them to the next level.”
Bogart, who mentors directing students throughout the three-year program, assumes a leading role in the development of the showcase, often taking the helm as director and helping each artist realize his or her full potential. The MFA program suffers no lack of talent as a result—according to Hanukai, students’ “commitment level and skill level are so high—when you get into the rehearsal space, there’s no holding back.”

Most importantly, while the showcase is a valuable forum for collaboration among MFA students, the project gives these artists a chance to share their original work with the greater Columbia community.

“The arts are such an amazing medium for people to connect,” Hanukai said. “Theater, dance—it’s the essence of community. … It creates a place where people can come together regardless of major or background. No matter who you are, there will be something that’ll get to you—something that’s for you.”