The Department of Drama continues the 2022/2023 season with the 2017 Susan Blackburn Prize-winning play “Dance Nation” by Clare Barron. Directed by Katherine McGerr and choreographed by Felipe Panamá, the play takes audiences on an emotional and powerful journey of one team’s quest to a national dance competition. Performances will be held Friday, March 24, through Sunday, April 2, in the Storch Theater at the Syracuse Stage / SU Drama Complex, 820 East Genesee St. Tickets are available through the Syracuse Stage Box Office at www.syracusestage.org/drama or by phone at 315.443.3275.
“This is a play about 13-year-old girls. It’s also a play about women, ambition and desire,” says Barron. Set in the pressure cooker milieu of an impending competition, Barron uses the comedic drama of a Liverpool, Ohio dance team to expose their rivalries, competitiveness, support and joy, and to reveal not only their sensitivities and insecurities but their fierce undeniable power. “Dance Nation” has been called a refreshingly unorthodox play that conveys the joy and abandon of dancing, while addressing the changes to the body and mind of its characters as they peer over the precipice toward adulthood.
McGerr, alongside the production team and various consultants, wanted to channel the energy and spirit of the play into the rehearsal room and cultivated a space that encouraged collaboration and throws a “yay party!” whenever a mistake is made — a mistake that will inevitably lead to growth. Much like this play whose enemy is self-judgment, those in the rehearsal room are encouraged to grow, play and embrace their individuality.
Above all else, “Dance Nation” poses the question, “What am I going to do with all this power?” encouraging adolescents and adults alike to take the stage and use their microphones as conduits for the cosmos.
“Dance Nation” By Clare Barron
Cast
Understudies
Performances
Additional Credits
