Swarthmore College Department of Theater

01/31/2025

Prof Laila Swanson and President’s Sustainability Research Fellow Angela Gil ‘25 have been working together to help eliminate clothing waste on Swat's campus. Read about their shared commitment to sustainability in our Spotlight Blog!

https://www.swarthmore.edu/department-theater/professor-laila-swanson-and-angela-gil-25-champion-sustainability-creative-reuse

01/31/2025

As we start this new semester, our students are hard at work honing their craft and developing their voices as performers. In that spirit, today's today is from our 2017 Acting Capstone Performance: REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN.

12/09/2024

Come out on Friday for the Directing I's Night of Scenes! Featuring excerpts from plays by Sarah Ruhl, Lucas Hnath, and Charles Mee. Directed by Grace Fruauff ’26, Montana Hamel ’26, and Kana Nagata ’26

Frear Ensemble Theater
Fri Dec 13 8:00 PM
Sat Dec 14 8:00 PM

Designed by students from the Lighting Design Class, the Fall Night of Scenes represents the culmination of classwork for two courses within the Swarthmore Theater Department. Come out to support these talented artists!

12/04/2024

Up Next at Swat Theater—The Fall '24 Directing I Class Presents Night of Scenes

Frear Ensemble Theater Fri Dec 13 + Sat Dec 14 8:00 PM

Fresh work from inspiring young directors and designers. Featuring excerpts from plays by Sarah Ruhl, Lucas Hnath, and Charles Mee. Directed by Grace Fruauff ’26, Montana Hamel ’26, and Kana Nagata ’26.

Come see the Directing I Cohort’s Fall Night of Scenes. Designed by students from the Lighting Design Class, the Fall Night of Scenes represents the culmination of classwork for two courses within the Swarthmore Theater Department. Come out to support these talented artists!

11/26/2024

Up next, Our Senior Company presents Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam

Featuring Clara Mulligan, Panhavoan Reth, Selma Wu and Martín Villagra-Riquelme

Teenagers today are holding lots of things inside. Our Senior Company ensemble takes on Stephen Karam’s play Speech and Debate directed by Sophia Pereda-Echeverry ‘25. As a s*x abuse scandal boils under the surface at their school, three lonely teens find each other and themselves through their school’s Speech and Debate team. Censorship bumps up against authenticity in this satire exploring the perspective and voices of young people. lol. rofl.

Frear Ensemble Theater
Fri Dec 6 8:00 PM
Sat Dec 7 2:00 PM + 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 8 2:00 PM

11/17/2024

One final chance to see 32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go, today at 2:00 PM.
Be sure to join us in the Frear Ensemble Theater after the show for an informal post-show discussion at the Death Cafe

11/16/2024

Two chances today to see 32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go at 2 PM and 8 PM. Thanks to everyone who came out to opening last night!

11/15/2024

The magic eight ball is telling us it’s time to open 32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go! Will you join us tonight as we try to make sense of our shared mortal predicament?

📸 by

11/14/2024

The cast of 32 Very Short Plays getting some final notes before their opening tomorrow. Will you join us as we let go?

11/12/2024

INSTAGRAM TAKEOVER TONIGHT! Maddie Adams-Miller ‘26 () will be giving us the inside scoop of tech for 32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go. Tune in tonight to see what she and her ensemble have been up to!

11/12/2024

Death is inevitable; no one is exempt. Join us as we try to come to terms with this fact, together.

32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go. Nov 15 - Nov 17. Lang Performing Arts Mainstage

Photos by Laila Swanson

11/07/2024

Here's a behind the scenes look at our rehearsals for our Fall Production Ensemble piece, 32 Very Short Plays About Letting Go. Will you come see their work and share some breath with us?

Lang Performing Arts Center Main Stage
Fri Nov 15 8:00 PM
Sat Nov 16 2:00 PM + 8:00 PM
Sun Nov 17 2:00 PM

Thanks to Grace Fruauff for the photos!

11/05/2024

Fri Nov 15 8:00 PM
Sat Nov 16 2:00 PM + 8:00 PM
Sun Nov 17 2:00 PM
LPAC MaineStage

10/28/2024

"what do you think it feels like to be microwaved?"

see u soon, don't get microwaved by Sophia Pereda-Echeverry '25

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Playwriting Honor's Thesis Staged reading!

Photos courtesy of Howard Wang

10/24/2024

Come check out Sophia Pereda-Echeverry's new play "see u soon, don't get microwaved"

October 26th at 7:30 PM
Frear Ensemble Theater
Free and Open to the All!

Lyra is alone in their apartment, but surrounded seemingly at all moments by group texts, phone calls, photos, videos, and endless content. In this Honors Playwriting Thesis, author Sophia Pereda-Echeverry '25 seeks to represent the internet of today without judgment and to ask questions of its role in our lives. Directed by guest artist Becky Wright and featuring a cast of both student and professional actors, "see u soon" explores relationships nowadays—the loneliness of young adulthood, the fake and real connection of online spaces, and the ways that technology both widens and narrows the gap between people. It asks, in this constant barrage of information, advertisement, joy, suffering, awareness, distance, and almost-connection, how do we each find our way through to the things, and people, that matter?

10/22/2024

09/03/2024

Welcome back to school, Swatties! We hope that many of you will get involved with our shows, classes and workshops in the 2024-25 year!

Pictured, from left: Liv Medeiros-Sakimoto '25, Frank Paz '25, and Eliana Swai '24 in Bryna Turner's "At The Wedding", directed by Assistant Professor Jude Sandy. February 2024.

08/29/2024

Our final post is the 2012 Production Ensemble show: "Ivona, Princess of Burgundia", by Witold Gombrowicz. This show was directed by K. Elizabeth Stevens, with set design by Matt Saunders, costume design by Laila Swanson, sound design by Michael Kiley, and lighting design by James P. Murphy.

The cast featured Alejandro Bellon '15, Madeline Charne '14, Amelia Dornbush '15, Michael Edmiston '12, Hannah Hammel (HC) '12, Alexandra Isdebski '13, Hannah Kosman '14, Jeannette Leopold '13, Josh McLucas '15, Sebastián Bravo Montenegro '13, Sophia Naylor '12, Sasha Rojarin '15, Patrick Ross '15, Anna Russell '14, Nina Šerbedzija '14, & Glenn Stott '12.

All photos by David Swanson.

Thanks for following along with our summer series, and much love to ALL our theater alumni- graduated but never forgotten!