Synopsis

“After living in the secluded Florida woods with only her father and pet rabbit Robyn, 20-year-old Esther Harris dreams of being reunited with her long-lost mother. When her father kills her beloved Robyn, Esther breaks out of their cabin in search of her mother and old life. While they soon find each other, can the abandoned and abused Esther adjust to her new life with her mother?”

Setting

Clermont, Florida

Time

Now and eight years ago.

Director's Note

In 2020, 268,884 girls and women were reported missing in the United States, according to the National Crime Information Center. Of the 268,884 girls and women who were reported missing, 90,333, or nearly 34% of them, were Black, according to the National Crime Information Center. Meanwhile, Black girls and women account for only about 15% of the U.S. female population. Their cases hardly grab headlines. Absentia is a play that centers on the often-untold journey of Black girls and women who have gone missing. A story of mothers and daughters of black girlhood and womanhood, the work requires the exploration of both darkness and light. As a subversive black girl artist, and trauma survivor the play struck many personal chords. As a director I always seek to create a safe enough creative space for dangerous theater to be produced. And I truly believe we have succeeded. I want to say thank you to the creative tribe around this production and each and every person involved for trusting me and journeying with me to tell this story fearlessly.

By Tanisha Lynn Pyron, Director

Land Acknowledgement

We, Vibrancy Theater and the School of Theater, acknowledge that, from the time of Ohio University’s founding in 1804, it has occupied the traditional homelands of the Shawnee people, as well as the Wahzhazhe (who are also known as the Osage), who lived in Southeast Ohio before them. 

DONATIONS TO VIBRANCY THEATER

The College of Fine Arts will match, dollar for dollar, every gift made to the Vibrancy Theater’s endowment fund between November 18 and June 30, 2022. To support Vibrancy Theater’s endowment fund by making a gift online, click here, select “College of Fine Arts” as the College or University area of support and “Vibrancy Theater Fund-sp” as the fund. To make your gift by mail, write your check to “The Ohio University Foundation” write “Vibrancy Theater” in the memo, and mail it to:

The Ohio University Foundation 
PO Box 869 
Athens, OH 45701-0869 
 

Thank you for supporting Vibrancy Theater!

Welcome to the 2021-2022 OHIO Theater Season!

We are thrilled to be welcoming audiences back to live theater on the Athens campus. Having students back in the shops, studios, classrooms, and theaters feels like a rebirth after a long, difficult hiatus. We continue to navigate obstacles related to the pandemic, while simultaneously constructing new methods and practices. 

One such creation is Vibrancy Theater, a student-run theater focused on “uplifting and broadcasting the Black, Indigenous and People of Color in theatre at Ohio University and beyond.” You can support Vibrancy’s first fully staged production Absentia this fall. 

Tantrum Theater, OHIO’s professional theater, will feature two productions this season, bringing professional directors, stage managers, designers, technicians, and actors to work side-by-side with our students. Tantrum’s production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 will be the first in the state since its Broadway run.

As an audience member and supporter, you’ll engage with new students discovering their craft and advanced students designing their thesis productions. Thank you for taking this journey with us and helping celebrate what theater does best: reflect our changing times.

TANTRUM THEATER PRESENTS

Men on Boats

By Jaclyn Backhaus

Directed by Shannon R. Davis

Ten explorers. Four boats. One Grand Canyon. Men on Boats is the true(ish) history of an 1869 expedition, when a one-armed captain and a crew of insane yet loyal volunteers set out to chart the course of the Colorado River.

Forum Theater

October 7-9 and 12-16, 2021 at 8pm

October 16 at 2pm

SCHOOL OF THEATER PRESENTS

Summer and Smoke

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Sarah Elizabeth Yorke

Summer and Smoke is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is attracted to the other but because of their divergent attitudes toward life, each over the course of years is driven away from the other. Not until the end does the doctor realize that the girl's high idealism is ultimately right, and while she is still in love with him, it turns out that neither time nor circumstances will allow the two to come together.

Baker Theater

October 28-30 and November 4-6, 2021 at 8pm

November 6 at 2pm

VIBRANCY THEATER PRESENTS

Absentia 

By Olivia Matthews

Directed by Tanisha Lynn Pyron

After living in the secluded Florida woods with only her father and pet rabbit Robyn, 20-year-old Esther Harris dreams of being reunited with her long-lost mother. When her father kills her beloved Robyn, Esther breaks out of their cabin in search of her mother and her old life. While they soon find each other, can the abandoned and abused Esther adjust to her new life with her mother?

Forum Theater

November 18-20 and December 2-4, 2021 at 8pm

December 4, 2021 at 2pm

SCHOOL OF THEATER PRESENTS

First Year Graduate Directors’ 10 Minute Plays

The Hahne Theater

December 1-2, 2021

SCHOOL OF THEATER PRESENTS

Everybody

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Directed by Roberto Di Donato

In this modern riff on the morality play, Everyman follows Everybody (chosen from amongst the cast by lottery at each performance) as they journey through life’s greatest mystery—the meaning of living.

Baker Theater

February 17-19 and February 23-26, 2022 at 8pm

February 26, 2022 at 2pm

TANTRUM THEATER PRESENTS

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 

Music and Lyrics by Dave Malloy

Adapted from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Directed by Alan Patrick Kenny

Music Direction by Brent Frederick

An electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.

Forum Theater

March 24-26 and March 30-April 2, 2022 at 8pm

April 2, 2022 at 2pm

SCHOOL OF THEATER PRESENTS

First Year Graduate Directors’ One Act Plays

Concord Floral 

Written by Jordan Tannahill

Directed by Molly Donahue

The Motherf*** with the Hat 

Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis

Directed by Adam Zarowski

The Hahne Theater

March 25-April 2, 2021

SCHOOL OF THEATER PRESENTS

28th Annual Seabury Quinn, Jr. Playwrights’ Festival

Two featured plays are produced in an intimate setting in rotating repertory. Other plays in progress are presented in semi-staged readings. Each performance is followed by a talkback with guest artists.

 Baker Theater

April 16-23, 2022, titles and performance times TBA

Please join us for the entire season of live in-person theater. You won’t want to miss a minute!

Merri Biechler

she/her/hers

Director, Associate Professor of Instruction

School of Theater

VIBRANCY THEATER

Uplifting and broadcasting the Black, Indigenous and People of Color in theatre at Ohio University and beyond.

Our Mission 

Uplifting and broadcasting the Black, Indigenous and People of Color in theatre at Ohio University and beyond.

Create a playground for student theater-artists.

Vibrancy Theater generates a space for Black, Indigenous, Students of Color to develop artistic leadership skills. 

Our Vision

Through conscious, inclusive, and ethical staging of new and re-imagined classics, we aim to explore major themes of humanity that challenge the dominant narrative. Vibrancy Theater hopes to build community with other marginalized groups through explicit Anti- Racist procedures/practices in efforts to share a myriad of unique and culturally relevant theater that is reflective of the world we live in and of the world we’ve been dreaming of. We promote BIPOC playwrights, actors, designers, stage managers and directors in order to give students of color and black students an authentic outlet for creative expression. 

Executive Leadership

Taylor Roberts

Co-Artistic Director

Taylor Roberts (she/her) is currently in her fourth year on the path to getting her BFA Acting degree. Taylor is very excited to be a part of the Vibrancy theater leadership team as well as the projects that the company is hosting. Being in leadership as a Co-Artistic Director, she is excited to continue telling the stories of BIPOC artists and bring more of those students to our unique theater.

Kaleb Jackson

Co-Artistic Director

As Co-Artistic Director, Kaleb (he/him) spearheads the creative direction of Vibrancy Theater. This year he hopes to improve sustainability within Vibrancy by creating strong bonds throughout the greater Appalachian area. Kaleb also serves Vibrancy as an actor, playwright, director and photographer. 

Roberto Di Donato

Co-Executive Producer | Treasurer

Roberto (he/they) is a Venezuelan artist from the territories originally known as home for the Tawakoni and Wichita nations in Texas. His translation of the Nobel Prize Laureate, Luigi Pirandello, has been seen in NYC and are projected for an Off-Broadway Revival in 2022. Roberto is working on his debut novel that reflects the complexities of Latin identity in the world of capitalist art making. Roberto is also Assistant Artistic Director for Tantrum Theater as well as Associate Artistic Director of Frank Wo/Men Collective, the award winning Austin-Based performance collective. Frank Wo/Men was named “The Best of Austin” for their work and listed as “Top Arts Related Thing to Do” by the Austin Chronicle.

Daniela Chaparro

Co-Executive Producer

Dani (they/them) is a sound and noise artist from the Bay Area. They support Vibrancy Theater as Co-Executive Producer, and are an advocate for the educational, financial, and mental wellness of BIPOC performers + technical artists at OU.

Rhys Carr

Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator

Rhys (he/him) works closely with co-coordinator of Community Outreach and Engagement, Alina Rosado, in order to strengthen the relationships and communication between BIPOC artists. Rhys is also a dancer, singer, actor and choreographer. 

Victoria Menendez

Social Media Coordinator

Victoria (she/her) is currently in her fourth year in Ohio University’s BFA Acting Program. She is delighted to join Vibrancy’s leadership team as the Social Media Coordinator.

Alina Rosado

Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator

Alina (she/her) was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She has been dancing ballet since she was three years old. Moreover, she has been involved in commercials and voice overs for radio from a young age. She was part of the prestigious San Juan Children’s Choir, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico’s Conservatory, and also plays the piano. In addition, she’s participated in ballet summer intensives in Havana, Cuba under the direction of Laura Alonso. Alina is a National Student Leadership Conference alum; attending the Acting intensive at Yale University in 2019. She is currently pursuing a BFA in Musical Theater and a Dance Minor at Ohio University where she is a Templeton Scholar.

William Harrington

Leadership Liason

William (he/him) is in his second year in the BFA Musical Theater program and is from Columbus, Ohio. Will is very proud to serve as Vibrancy’s Leadership Liaison and looks forward to all the amazing work that Vibrancy is currently doing and will continue to do in the future.

Vibrancy Theater Founders

Founding Faculty Mentor: Charles Smith, Distinguished Professor of Playwriting

Co-founding Artistic Directors: Janai Lashon and Keshawn Mellon

Co-founding Executive Directors: Roberto Di Donato and Ri Moodie

Founding Scribe: Daniela Chaparro 

Co-founding Community Outreach Coordinators: Rhys Carr and Taylor Roberts

Co-founding Social Media Consultants: Kaleb Jackson and Laurettia Weakly