Growing up in New York City as the child of creative and supportive parents, artist Tak Toyoshima aspired to draw Marvel characters, like the Hulk or Spiderman, or to imitate the style of the Japanese cartoons his father brought with him from Tokyo. In adulthood, he found his own style and success with his comic strip Secret Asian Man, created…
It’s always the best day ever for SpongeBob, his BFF Patrick, and pal Sandy Cheeks – until the rumblings of Mount Humongous signal an impending eruption that could destroy their beloved home. Can the trio prevent the disaster? Or will Plankton’s evil (diabolical…lemon-scented!) plan prevail, forcing everyone to follow him to Chumville? With songs written by artists from Cyndi Lauper…
As the second semester began in January, the Middlesex community again found new artwork to consider in the Ishibashi Gallery. This time, the exhibition – Rocky Cotard: Know Your History – features eight works: six large-scale portraits depicting members of the artist’s family and two paintings that locate the portraits within the broader context of Haitian history. Mr. Cotard’s project…
Almost Maine was almost staged in “the Fort” – the still-new black box theatre named for Hugh Fortmiller, who taught drama early on in his 41-year career at Middlesex. As part of the effort to keep COVID-19 at bay, however, the bittersweet comedy written by John Cariani was moved to the more spacious Kaye Theatre, where small groups of masked…
Until this fall, the Ishibashi Gallery’s walls have been a place to hang or project pieces created by visiting artists and Middlesex students. That changed in October, however, when the walls themselves became the canvas for award-winning artist Daniela Rivera, whose installation, Carried by a Whisper, lined the interior until Thanksgiving. Then, the week of December 6th, a new installation…
After a year’s absence, a favorite tradition returned on December 4th and 5th: the Holiday Concert, celebrating the winter season and holidays with a wonderful variety of choral and instrumental pieces. This year’s program included popular selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, familiar jazz standards, and songs of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. The concert’s centerpiece, composed by Benjamin Britten, was “A…
It’s a murder mystery wrapped in a spy thriller inside a parody – and that is just what was needed on November 12th and 13th, near the end of a busy fall on campus. Retaining elements of both the novel and the Hitchcock film of the same name, the stage play adaptation of The 39 Steps takes the story in…
For award-winning artist Daniela Rivera, speaking about her work in front of the school community on October 2 was familiar and a bit frightening. Back in 2007, she was a Middlesex faculty member who taught visual art and, she recalled, likely made a nervous assembly announcement or two in the Old Wood Theatre. Having moved on in 2008 to accept…
After a year of cancelled or online productions, Middlesex was excited to see live performances return to the Kaye Theatre on May 21-22, 2021. Set in late 19th century Germany, but with an alternative rock and roll score, Spring Awakening examines the fraught world of adolescents coming of age. Though the original play was written in 1890, the many issues it…
What does racism look and sound like? What happens when we ignore it? How can we better address it in the moment, rather than later? The questions seem straightforward enough – yet are typically uncomfortable ones to answer or sort out – which is exactly why an original theatre production like Middlesex’s Racial Equity Project (better known on campus as…