Vassar Info News

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—The Vassar College Departments of Drama and English will host a reading of new play, Within the Clouds, directed and co-written by Jonathan Tilley, based upon Vassar English professor Paul Russell’s novel Sea of Tranquility, on Saturday, February 6. Free and open to the public, the program will begin at 7:00pm in the Martel Theater of the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film. General seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reservations required.
 
In 2002, Tilley was given the novel Sea of Tranquility by a good friend who said “this needs to be put on stage.” Eight years and many revisions later, through the collaborative efforts of Tilley and the original author Russell, Within the Clouds will be given a reading by members of the Vassar community, directed by Tilley.
 
Publisher’s Weekly noted that Sea of Tranquility is a “a transplanetary sexual fantasia that chronicles the life of an astronaut's family in the age of AIDS, is so humongous in its attempted scope that it succeeds at a lot of things. . . . We are left dazed and tingly at the end, as if we had just witnessed an abortive moon mission.” The story focuses on the members of one family – an astronaut Allen Cloud and his wife, their gay son Jonathan, and his friend/lover.
 
Paul Russell is the author of six novels, The Salt Point (1991), Boys of Life (1992), Sea of Tranquillity (1994), The Coming Storm (1999; winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award) and War Against the Animals (2003)—as well as a work of nonfiction, The Gay 100:  A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present (1995). His latest novel is The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov, forthcoming from Alyson Books in April, 2010.  He is a professor of English at Vassar College.  
 
Guest director and playwright Jonathan Tilley is no stranger to the theater world. Since the age of nine he has performed professionally throughout the US and Europe in such productions as Mamma Mia!, Cats, 42nd Street, Lysistrata, The Gene Pool, A Chorus Line, L'Histoire du Soldat, Children of Eden, You're  A Good Man, and the Columbia Pictures film Center Stage. Tilley lives in Germany and works as a director and choreographer worldwide.
 

About the Vassar Drama Department’s Experimental Theater 


The Experimental Theater is a place to explore theories learned in the classroom and to experiment with theatrical forms. In the tradition of pioneering stage director Hallie Flanagan, students are encouraged to experience and experiment with all aspects of the theater. Flanagan, who accepted a position to teach drama at Vassar in 1925, founded the Experimental Theater following her visit to the theaters of Europe in 1926 on a Guggenheim Fellowship (http://drama.vassar.edu).
 
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370 and/or Box office directly (845) 437-5584. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.
 
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.