Theatre Dept. Honored for 'Pulling Apart'

Wed., Dec 20

Theatre Department Honored for 'Pulling Apart'

Southern's production of "Pulling Apart," a drama by playwright Ellen Kaplan that focuses on her experiences emigrating to Israel, won this year's Moss Hart Memorial Award for Best Production from the New England Theatre Conference (NETC).

The award is given to outstanding productions of plays that not only display high artistic merit, but also underscore the value of courage and dignity. The award was presented this fall at the Omni New Haven Hotel. Previously, theater major Mike Skinner won the regional American College Theatre Festival Award for Best Sound Design for his work on the production.

The play features a diverse cast that brought to life the spirit and message of the work. "It took an enormous amount of research," says the play's director Sheila Hickey Garvey, Southern professor of theater. "Ellen (Kaplan) came in to teach the cast various religious rituals, and each member of the cast was able to bring his or her own background and heritage to the show."

Dedicated to bringing thought-provoking theater to campus, the department had decided earlier in the year to present a piece that explored the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. "I was working on the selection committee at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, and this script just landed in my lap," Garvey says.

Kaplan is an associate professor at Smith College, where she teaches acting, directing, radio drama and performance seminars. The play includes scenes in which Israeli, Palestinian and Jewish-American young adults argue their cultural pasts and discuss the complex issues surrounding today's conflicts.

The award is one of many acknowledgements for the Theatre Department this year. The recent musical, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," as well as two student-directed one-act plays from 2005-2006, have been held over for consideration in the 2007 Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival.

According to Garvey, it's a combination of faculty dedication and student talent that accounts for the department's success. "Even with only five people on the faculty, we seem to cover the bases to develop a wide variety of talents in our students," Garvey says. "We're very excited to have won this award. We're always achieving - every year we bring in recognition."