25th Anniversary of the Powerhouse
by Arlene Wege

This summer from June 26 through August 2 the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie will celebrate its 25th Anniversary Season. From its inception Vassar has been strong in the dramatic arts—for one, it was the first of the "Seven Sisters" to establish a formal Department of Drama, back in the early 1900s.

Powerhouse is a unique partnership between Vassar and New York Stage and Film (NYSAF). The program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus, during which more than 200 professional artists and approximately 40 apprentices from around the world, generally raging in age from 17 to 23, work together to create new theater works. Of the many well-known professional talents the residency has benefited from are John Patrick Shanley, Christopher Durang, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Frances McDormand, David Straithairn, Joel Grey, and Beth Henley.

The current artistic director of Powerhouse is Johanna Pfaelzer of New York Stage and Film. NYSAF has developed or premiered new works by some of this country's most significant playwrights. Ms. Pfaelzer recalls that 25 years ago, Mark Linn-Baker, one of the program's founders, drew a 100-mile radius around New York City in search of a suitable and nurturing environment for artists. Anyone who's seen the richly historic and beautiful campus of Vassar College knows he picked the right place.

Powerhouse has lived up to its name by providing audiences insight into the creative process of some of the nation's most talented artists as they develop their work before going on to larger venues around the world. Opera News described the theatrical program as "… a safe haven for plays to be nurtured before they make their way into the world, far from the ka-ching of Broadway."

Powerhouse mainstage productions and workshops are held in the 145-seat Powerhouse Theater, which takes its name from the college's actual powerhouse, built in 1912. In 1973, the original structure was reinvented and renamed in memory of Hallie Flanagan Davis, a legendary dramatist who created experimental theater at Vassar in 1927. Redesigned, the seating area could be rearranged into dozens of configurations according to the needs of each specific production. Plays held there this summer include Ninety by Joanna Murray-Smith and Keith Bunin's Vera Laughed. Bunin was born and raised in Poughkeepsie, took a film class at Vassar in 1985, and in 1995 produced a professional workshop at the Powerhouse. His current work is about Ivan Bunin, a relative of Keith's and the first Russian Nobel Prize winner. Keith's ancestor Bunin made a home in exile in France during World War II with his wife... and his mistress.

Powerhouse musical productions take place in the 325-seat Martel Theater in the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film opened in 2003. This summer's productions include a fully-staged production of The Burnt Part Boys, a new musical set in rural West Virginia (and headed for a NYC premiere in 2010), and two concert readings: Whisper House by Kyle Jarrow and Duncan Sheik, award-winning composer of Broadway's Spring Awakening; and Tina Girlstar, a biting comic look at the contemporary music industry by Anton Dudley, Charlie Sohne, and Brian Feinstein. Dudley, who is a Vassar alumnus and has worked in the Powerhouse program almost every summer since 2002, feels that Vassar College is "… haunted, in the best of ways."

This summer's workshops and readings will be held as usual in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. This building was originally actually a coal bin: all the more fitting it now serves as a "black box" space for experimental theater. Among the works performed there this summer is One Slight Hitch by Lewis Black, a familiar figure on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The Powerhouse Apprentice Company also performs abbreviated versions of classic plays and new works in the Outdoor Amphitheater on the campus, which are free to the public. This summer's offerings: The Trojan Women by Euripides as well as two by Shakespeare: Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew.

See the Calendar for specific Powerhouse dates.