Past Productions and Events

Headshot of Foster Schrader with black hair and a white shirt.
Sep. 28, 2024, 2:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.

A reading of a play by Foster Schrader ’25, recipient of the Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Annual Playwriting Award, Spring ’24. A reception will follow.

Campus guests only, please. Reservations required.

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Dr. Shapiro will be speaking about his new book, The Playbook, which documents the history of the Federal Theater Project (1935–1939). The project was helmed by Vassar’s own Hallie Flanagan, under whose stewardship the Vassar Drama Department was first established.

Campus community only, please. Reservations required.

A decorative logo that reads, "Spring 2024 Drama Productions"
Apr. 18 – Apr. 20, 2024

Or, takes place (mostly) during one night in the life of Aphra Behn, poet, spy, and soon to be first professional female playwright. Performances April 18, 19, 20. Reservations required.

Campus community only, please.

Crude sketch of a ghostly figure and hand. Text the top reads, "The Hope Principle Show." Text at the bottom reads, "Citizens' shame and hope in the time of genocide."

Puppet show followed by a talkback. After the event, members of Bread and Puppet will serve their famous sourdough rye bread with aioli! Books, posters, and cheap art will be for sale in the lobby. Reserve free tickets.

side-by-side portraits of Liz Duffy Adams and Madeleine George with the words "panel discussion with playwrights!"
Apr. 5, 2024, 6:00–8:00 p.m.

Playwrights Liz Duffy Adams and Madeleine George will discuss “Women Rewriting the Canon: Adaptation as Intervention in Contemporary Playwriting” with Drama faculty members. Short performances will precede the discussion.

A decorative logo that reads, "Spring 2024 Drama Productions"
Mar. 28 – Mar. 30, 2024

A senior project in drama directed by Kendall Wienecke ’24. Performances March 28, 29, 30. In The Martel Theater. Open to the Public, reservations required.

A decorative logo that reads, "Spring 2024 Drama Productions"
Feb. 22 – Feb. 24, 2024

A modern retelling of Georg Buchner’s classic play Woyzeck. Performances Feb. 22, 23, 24. Reservations required.

Campus community only, please.

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MODfest 2024

Weaving a poetic vocabulary of acrobatic movement and storytelling, this award-winning intimate play tells the tale of one woman, lost between the uncharted waters of her grief and the shores of her joyful memories following the disappearance of her soulmate.

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Jan. 26, 2024, 8:00 p.m. and Jan 27, 2:00 p.m.

MODfest 2024

Inspired by playwright Solomon Hess’s lifelong immersion in the world of lacrosse and recent experience training and competing internationally with the U.S. Junior Indoor Team, The Game tells the story of two friends’ complicated relationship with the sport of lacrosse and with each other.

Text that reads: Steerman - New Play Series. In the center there is a logo that looks like a "S".

Five new plays by Vassar seniors, presented at the Powerhouse Theater. This annual festival is dedicated to the extraordinary contributions of James B. Steerman, who retired as Professor Emeritus of Drama and Film in 2011.

Campus community only, please.

Vassar juniors and seniors of any major may enter an original play in this competition, which ends on January 22, 2024. The author of the winning play receives a $1,000 award, a certificate from the Drama Department, and a staged reading/reception on April 21, 2024.

Image with text that reads: Experimental Theater of Vassar Collage, Mad Forest, A play from Romania, by Caryl Churchill, Directed by Christopher Grabowski. Presented through Concord Theatricals
Apr. 26 – Apr. 28, 2023

This timely drama resulted from a trip to Romania. Developed with students from London’s Central School of Drama, this is an incisive portrait of society in turmoil that focuses on two families to reveal what life is like under a totalitarian regime and what results when the regime collapses. Directed by Christopher Grabowski. Free and open to the public, reservations required.

Mar. 29 – Apr. 1, 2023

Two original plays presented by students from the playwriting course in Drama.

Campus community only, please.

photo of a woman holding her glasses on her head
Mar. 23, 2023, 6:30 p.m.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright will give a talk and Q&A to the campus and public. The event is free, but reservations are required.

Feb. 23 – Feb. 25, 2023

An inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama, Jen Silverman’s sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by. Directed by Claire McHarg. Senior project members: Kelly Hatfield, Louise Ambler, Jack Francis, Emma Skinner, Rose Trammell, Presley Wheeler. Free and open to the public, reservations required.

Illustrative image of a black and white house with a magenta sky and blue ground
Dec. 1, 8:00 p.m. – Dec. 3, 2022

In this Drama Department senior project, Mrs. Lemarchand, a well-to-do woman and a study in megalomania, draws her innocent cleaner, Hilda, into a trap from which there is no escape. 

Campus community only, please.

Production Archive

View all productions 1869–2022.