A couple of weekends ago I led a trip of students to New York City. Rob Mish and I were the chaperones, and we had 5 students with us. The students were exposed to a broad range of theatrical experiences. We arrived on Thursday, and went to ALvin Ailey’s Studios to see a reading of an original play. The legend of Sleepy Hollow, an adaptation by Christopher Cartmill an alum of Washington and Lee University from the ’80s. A lively inventive version that integrates dance and theatricality.

We got a tour of a prop shop for film and television, called Eclectic Encore. They do a lot of work for Law and Order, and Saturday Night Live. Then we walked a couple of blocks (and saw Jeff Goldblum walking down the street) to a talent agency and talked to another alum that works there.

That night we went to see Equus written by peter Shaffer and starring Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths. A very well done production.

The next day we saw an Off-Broadway show down in Greenwich Village, called Fifty Words, one of those great dramas filled with people that have lots of underlying problems that all pop out over the course of one long night.

Then we broke up to see different shows, the students went to see Spring Awakening. While I went down to Union Square to see Fuerzabruta. It was an amazing show that is hard to explain. It was like a magical dream of interconnected vignettes. The audience was brought on this journey about struggle and finding connection that ended triumphantly. I am making our next group of students go see it(whenever that might be).

Here is their official clip on YouTube:

You can find more YouTube clips Here, or find pictures on Flickr(photo sharing site) Here.