On Oct. 19, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Duke’s Department of Theater Studies held a concert celebrating 100 years of theater at Duke. The event looked back at a century of accomplishments and growth, while highlighting the current strength and future potential of Duke’s theater scene.
Even before the show began, attendees had the chance to view a three-stand exhibit in the lobby that highlighted theater at Duke over the years. The exhibit was the perfect size, as one could peruse in just a few minutes while still learning interesting tidbits about Duke theater history.
Something that quickly stood out was the fact that Duke’s predecessor Trinity College banned theatrical performances (as well as the majority of the arts) in its 1859 charter. As a result, the theater scene was just starting when Trinity College became Duke University in 1924.
The exhibit also looked at both the student experience and the academic evolution of Duke theater, charting theater’s initial existence within the English Department and eventual development into a standalone department.
Inside the auditorium, a parallel slideshow ran on the screen before the show began, providing the audience with more historic context and brief features of accomplished Duke theater studies alumni like playright Martin Zimmerman (T ‘07). After a couple of minutes, the lights dimmed and the show began in earnest.
The event was emceed by junior Blaze Gambla, who’s heavily involved in Duke’s academic and extracurricular theater community. In a nod to recent history and his own time at Duke, he changed outfits between appearances, donning costumes from his different roles. This provided additional depth to the show by highlighting the diversity of Duke theater, especially for those who had previously seen him perform.
The performance started with a selection from three of the main student groups: Hoof n’ Horn, Duke Chinese Theater and Duke Players. Hoof n’ Horn performed several musical theater songs, each one uplifting and well done. Duke Chinese Theater previewed a particularly amusing scene from their upcoming Chinese-language show “The Accidental Death of An Anarchist,” and Duke Players performed one of the more light-hearted scenes from last spring’s phenomenal “Last Summer At Bluefish Cove.”
After this, the Duke Department of Theater Studies took the stage, with students performing a diversity of pieces to reflect the broadness of the theater tradition. This programming included a number of phenomenal vocal performances and a highly amusing finger puppet show that utterly captivated the audience. The Department of Theater Studies performers included several students who had already performed with student groups, which underscored the close ties between the different theater opportunities on campus.
The five alumni performers took the stage throughout the show, with four of them singing two songs each in between each student act. Alumni spoke about the role that the Duke theater played in their lives, with many admitting that it was people at Duke who inspired them to pursue careers in theater. Several also talked about the venue itself, as they had spent dozens of hours rehearsing and performing in Reynolds during their undergraduate years.
The one non-vocal alumni performance was by recent alumni Sam Carpenter (T '24), who played on the piano one scene’s music from the musical adaptation of “Scott Pilgrim,” a show aptly titled “Scott Pilgrim Strikes A Chord.” The piece was a personal one, as Carpenter himself wrote the musical adaptation for a Hoof n’ Horn performance in his final year at Duke.
At the end, four of the five alumni performers came back on stage to each sing one last song. This was followed by Hoof n’ Horn performing one last song, Sondheim’s “Our Time.” It was a touching and fitting end that left things off on an uplifting, forward-facing note.
Overall, the show was an impressive affair. Instead of feeling disjointed, the different acts of the showcase flowed well into one another while retaining their own styles. When paired with the pre-show activities and Gambla’s wonderful emceeing, this enabled the performance to showcase the excellent work of students and alumni in the world of theater today, in addition to the impressive work they will go on to do.
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Zev van Zanten is a Trinity junior and recess editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.