Tony Award-Winning Playwright Brings Live Student Theater Back to Baruch College
And Then There Was Us: A collaboration with acclaimed artist Stew debuts its exclusive, four-day run on November 16November 12, 2021
Baruch’s first live theater performance since March 2020 is a musical collaboration between students and Tony Award-winning playwright, Stew.
Baruch College’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts, in collaboration with the Harman-Writer-in-Residence Program in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, is proud to present And Then There Was Us, a new student-written musical developed by Tony Award- and two-time Obie Award-winning playwright/songwriter Stew (Passing Strange).
This will be the first live-audience theater event at Baruch College since March 2020, when colleges across the country and around the world switched to distance-learning models amid the Covid 19 pandemic.
And Then There Was Us presents a series of original musical vignettes and songs that explore the bounds of love, death, friendship, tragedy, and coming-of-age in New York City. Directed by faculty member Christopher Scott, the production features the writing of Baruch undergraduates Kenneth Fremer, Sable Gravesandy, Ursula Hansberry, Inga Keselman, Nicole Nelson, Brittany Williams, and the talented community of actors and crew members at Baruch.
Artist and playwright Stew, who developed the concept and wrote original music for the production, said, “These students are living out their young lives on this starkly lit pandemic stage, trying to figure out what theater could mean in these overtly theatrical times. It will give off a distinctly New York vibe, simply because it consists of so many different voices crowded into one small space all trying to express what it feels like to be alive.”
Baruch students collaborated with Stew to write the show during the Spring 2021 semester, when the award-winning artist served as the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence, a program that brings distinguished writers to the College each semester. For his residency, Stew taught a class, “The New Musical,” that was entirely online. It was the first time musical theater was part of the Harman program in its 23-year history at Baruch College.
This fall, students met for the first time in person to begin rehearsals and production for the show.
Ursula Hansberry (’22), who studies musical management in the Weissman School and wrote some songs for the show, explained that the show is a reflection of Baruch’s diverse community. “The show is about young people. It’s about New York, about being confused and unsure and not really knowing what we’re doing. The diversity of Baruch’s student body shines through in creative work like this. The show’s writers all have such unique voices, coming from different perspectives. The actors are acting, but they want to do justice to each piece.”
Event Details
And Then There Was Us runs from November 16th to November 20th at 7:30PM in Mason Hall of the Lawrence and Eris Field Building. The show fully sold out shortly after tickets were made available.
Following COVID protocols seating will be limited, and in-person attendees are required to be 100% vaccinated at the time of the performance. Every attendee must upload their proof of vaccination and bring a valid ID and proof of vaccination upon entering at the door. Masks must be worn at all times.
About And Then There Was Us
This production is made possible through the generous support of the Baruch Performing Arts Center, the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence Program, the West Family Fund and the Antonowsky Theatre Fund.
Musical Director: Greg Kenna
Set Design/Tech Director: Greg Paul
Costume Design: Matthew Lott
Lighting Design: Joan Racho-Jansen
Stage Management: Michael Tosto
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