Original play offers unique look at mental illnesses

Cayla Fronhofer
April 14, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

The theater is dark and quiet until white lights suddenly sweep across the stage, accompanied by the sound of a car’s engine. It quiets, white lights shift to red, and the sound of a blinker is heard. After a moment, the sounds fade and the play begins. “The Cover of a Book” is an original play...

A behind-the-scenes look at “Beauty Queen of Leenane”

Caroline Loftus
March 23, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

In the dark, winding halls of the Dibden Center of Performing Arts, Emily Pike, special effects makeup specialist, frantically looks for the gelatin-based prosthetic molding compound she uses to make life-like burns and injuries. Finding the compound, Pike hurries back to where the crowd of four is. In...

Dark wit and shocking twists in “The Beauty Queen of Leenane”

Cayla Fronhofer
February 16, 2017
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

Walking into the Dibden auditorium, it seems as if no one is there. All of the seats are empty and the heavy blue curtains are drawn across the stage. Tentatively, I step onto the stage and am ushered behind the curtain by the two people waiting on the platform. “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” was...

Shakespearian comedy brings hilarity to the Dibden stage

Cayla Fronhofer
November 10, 2016
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

The works of William Shakespeare are among the most timeless stories in history. They have been reworked and reimagined time and time again, and now “Much Ado About Nothing” has come to the Dibden stage. Directed by Isaac Eddy (“Eurydice”), this version of the play kept Shakespeare’s original...

An iconic musical comes to Dibden

Cayla Fronhofer
May 5, 2016
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

For their final play of the year, the cast and crew of Dibden brought to life the 1950 musical “Guys and Dolls.” The play’s main story follows a cast of characters living in New York City during the roaring era of gangsters and gambling. While the play shows its age in some awkwardly sexist...

Dance club performance well-rounded

Marilyn Tagliavia
December 17, 2015
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

This semester’s Johnson State College dance club performance, a campus event always highly anticipated and well-attended by the JSC community, was well-rounded and found a good balance throughout dance complexity, energy level and song selection. The show opened with a high energy mash-up of burlesque...

Gunn’s “12 Angry Men” offers a provocative view of rough justice

Briana Morin
December 17, 2015
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

The Johnson community got a glimpse into the complicated and controversial world of courtroom drama when the classic “12 Angry Men” was performed on the Dibden stage. “12 Angry Men” was written by Reginald Rose as a play broadcast on television in 1954. It was widely successful and was adapted...

“Grease” brings Rydell High to JSC

Marilyn Tagliavia, Managing editor
May 7, 2015
Filed under Stage

Johnson State College’s Dibden stage became Rydell High in the school’s portrayal of “Grease” April 23-25. Director Patrick Sawyer-Houle sought to bring the musical back to its raunchy and quirky roots while still giving it an original feel. Those thinking that going back to the roots meant...

Performance a success after minimal rehearsal time

Marilyn Tagliavia
April 23, 2015
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

With dance club being one of the biggest, if not the biggest club on campus, Dibden’s 500 seat capacity auditorium is typically close to packed with the JSC community, family and friends each and every time that JSC’s dance club holds a show. These shows, which frequently happen during the last couple...

Houle can’t wait to grease up Dibden

Chelsea Bingham, Staff Writer
February 18, 2015
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

An iconic American musical, Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s "Grease" will be performed on the Dibden stage April 22-24. Directing the play will be Patrick Houle, JSC alumnus and part-time professor of performing arts. Houle said he chose the play for a variety of reasons. "My belief is that no musi...

“Amadeus” keeps the wolf gang of sudden complications at bay

Kayla Friedrich
May 8, 2014
Filed under Stage

A crowd of 48 people filed into Dibden Center for the Arts on Friday, April 25, to witness an interesting rendition of Amadeus, a play by Peter Schaffer, directed by Patrick Houle. Two of the 48 people in the audience brought with them bouquets of flowers for a few of the actors, but ended up leaving...

Double Vision at JSC requires a double take

Thomas Benton
March 27, 2014
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Stage

Absurdist ballet: that’s the best description of Double Vision’s Mar. 19 performance at Johnson State College. Double Vision was co-created by intermedia artist Sean Clute and choreographer Pauline Jennings, local residents and husband and wife. Clute’s work has been presented at The Kitchen...