Politics and the Paranormal
’Berg New Works festival showcases plays by Muhlenberg playwrights, Feb. 29 – March 3By: Sarah Wedeking ’24 Monday, February 5, 2024 02:37 PM
Two plays by alumni will headline the first ever ’Berg New Works festival, a new series that celebrates and develops the talents of Muhlenberg College playwrights. The two plays, -in-chief, by Ally Duvak ’22, and The Haunting of Hartfield Hall, by Lottie Segal ’23, debut back-to-back in an evening of theatre.
’Berg New Works runs Feb. 29 – March 3, 2023, in Muhlenberg’s Studio Theatre.
Artistic director Gabriel Jason Dean created the festival to highlight original work by students and alumni. “Bringing a new play into the world for the first time is a very specific kind of process,” Dean says. “We want to create a space for our playwrights to develop and nurture their plays through a production process here at Muhlenberg.”
-in-chief focuses on the editor-in-chief of a college newspaper managing a divisive newsroom as the impending 2016 presidential election looms over the United States. While all eyes are on the national stage, the editor-in-chief finds herself grappling with cataclysmic events closer to home.
“We’re still reaping the consequences of the 2016 election,” playwright Duvak says. “It opened a wound in this country that I don’t know will ever heal.”
Duvak wrote the play in 2023 as a way to deal with writer's block. “For the sake of a play, I tend to think, ‘Let’s stick people in a room together who shouldn’t be in a room together’ — in this case, the editors of a college newspaper. I wanted a setting where there is a lot of pressure.” She says she was inspired in part by her experience as an editor for the college’s newspaper, The Muhlenberg Weekly.
Director Jessie Dean was drawn to the complex politics of -in-chief. “I adore new work and the chance to tell a story of female empowerment and strength in community,” she says.
“I would like people to experience some joy in the knowledge that, no matter our journeys or struggles, we are never really alone.”
— Jim VanValen
The second play, The Haunting of Hartfield Hall, is written for young audiences. Lee Goldstein has just moved into Hartfield Hall, the all-girls dorm at the prestigious Claremount Academy. Gender norms, high school idiosyncrasies, and a persistent ghost push Lee to come to terms with his transgender identity and assert himself in his own life.
Playwright Lottie Segal was inspired by Muhlenberg's own ghost stories. Ingrid, a ghost who is said to haunt the previously all-girls Brown Hall, supposedly becomes enraged whenever a female resident would bring a boy into the building.
“I was thinking a lot about that story and my own gender identity,” Segal says, “and what does it mean if I’m definitely not a woman?”
Their play was written in a class, Playwriting for Youth, to create trans representation for younger audiences. “I think it's such an important story for young trans people in particular,” Segal says, “especially considering what they are facing in the world today.”
Director Jim VanValen hopes for audiences to feel a bit happy and hopeful after leaving the theatre. “I would like people to experience some joy in the knowledge that no matter our journeys or struggles, we are never really alone,” he says.
“There are some moments of the play that directly parallel things that I was struggling with when I wrote them,” Segal says. “But I wanted to write these stories where the characters share their experiences and get a happy ending.”
Two other plays, Chiara Aiello ’24’s Mountain Men and Rozie Hoff ’24’s The Recollection of a Sherbet Home will debut in a developmental reading April 27-28.
Duvak appreciates the strength of the ’Berg New Works community. “I'm so grateful for the support,” Duvak says, “and the creativity and imagination that has been offered to me by the Theatre and Dance Department.”
Segal is excited for people to see their play. “Everyone has been amazing to work with and is bringing such skill and generosity to the play,” Segal says. “That just fills my heart.”
“Berg New Works” premieres Feb. 29 – March 3, 2022, in the Studio Theatre in the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, Muhlenberg College. Showtimes are Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Public tickets are $15. Tickets for LVAIC students, faculty and staff are $8. -in-chief includes mentions of sexual assault and sexual harassment, homophobia, misogyny, and racism. There are no violent acts depicted on stage, but they are referred to in dialogue.
The playwrights will offer their perspectives and answer questions following select performances: Ally Duvak on Friday, March 1, at 8 p.m., and Lottie Segal on Saturday, March, at 2 p.m.
Tickets and information are available at muhlenberg.edu/seeashow or 484-664-3333.
About the Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance Department
Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theatre and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg’s theatre program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theatre and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theatre and dance.
About Muhlenberg College
Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private liberal arts college offering baccalaureate and graduate programs. With an enrollment of nearly 2,000 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences; selected preprofessional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health; and progressive workforce-focused post-baccalaureate certificates and master’s degrees. Located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, approximately 90 miles west of New York City, Muhlenberg is a member of the Centennial Conference, competing in 23 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
