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Posts published in “Arts”

“Do Clothes Matter?”: Smith Theater Department Hosts Fashion Event

The Theater Department recently hosted the 60th anniversary of its student-led event, “Do Clothes Matter?” The symposium was held April 6 in the Campus Center, where a group of students studying Costume Design presented the culmination of a semester of research, alongside keynote speakers such as Vanessa Friedman, Sonnet Stanfill and Jan Glier Reeder.

Smith’s First English Thesis in the Format of a Play Bridges English and Theatre Departments

This year, English major Tanya Ritchie AC ’19 will be the first Smith student to complete a creative thesis in the format of a play with her piece “Them What Brung You.” While it may not have always been the easiest process, her work to establish the option should open new doors for future Smith students who want to take this path.

MFA Candidates Explore the Concept of “We” in Last Weekend’s Thesis Dance Concert

After two years of hard work, the experiences of this year’s cohort of candidates for the MFA in Choreography and Performance culminated in a thesis concert presented Thursday, Feb. 7, Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9, in Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts. Centered around the theme of “We,” each candidate’s piece examined the concept in a myriad of unique and captivating ways.

Plastic: A substance turned lifestyle

Walking through SCMA’s newest exhibit, I couldn’t get the chorus of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” out of my head: “Don’t cry / don’t raise your eye / it’s only teenage wasteland.” The song’s otherworldly warning seems to be woven throughout the artwork in “Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials,” an exhibit that documents the past, present and future of plastics and human existence. The 20th century got to enjoy the thrilling innovations of plastic, inadvertently creating an archive of the costly convenience of daily life. Now, the upcoming waves of youth will inherit what is left of this material’s legacy: an impending wasteland. “Entanglements” confronts the viewer with the medium’s metamorphosis, asking whether the possibilities of plastic can ever make up for the destruction it wreaks.

Smith alums’ band Potty Mouth brings refreshing honesty to catchy pop rock

In a 2013 interview with Stereogum, Potty Mouth bassist Ally Einbinder ’10 expressed discomfort with having her band automatically get labeled as a riot grrrl outfit. She argued: “Slapping the riot grrrl label on us just because we happen to be women playing a type of music that happens to be reminiscent of another era in time seems like a lazy conflation,” then maintained: “Gender does not equal genre!” Fair enough. While Potty Mouth’s upcoming second album SNAFU features women playing the types of confident pop rock/punk that have been associated with male-fronted bands, the lyrics of their songs do not necessarily display the same political bent that riot grrrl bands are known for.

The Silver Chord Bowl brings annual singing celebration to John M. Greene Hall

Last Saturday, seven a cappella groups sang to a large audience of students and community members in John M. Greene Hall during the annual Silver Chord Bowl. The Bowl, a well respected collegiate a cappella showcase in Western Massachusetts, celebrated its 35th year with this performance.