This interview is part of our “On Making Dance” series which illustrates the wide ranging contributions that Harvard’s dance community makes to our art form on campus and around the world.
Harvard dancer Marin Orlosky ’07-’08 has done her share of choreography during her time here, making dances for student productions and concerts presented by the Dance Program. In her last semester, this super senior has taken on a new challenge as choreographer for Harvard’s production of Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad.
“Oh Dad is a straight play, but the director wanted to incorporate movement in order to help tell part of the story,” notes Marin. It’s a parody of absurdist theatre, so it’s drama with dark comedic elements that borders on being cartoon-like in places. Choreographically, there is movement integrated as part of the show, but there aren’t ‘dance numbers’ like in a musical.”
The play is the first show to run in Harvard’s New College Theatre, and Office for the Arts is producing it. Most of the artistic team including playwright Arthur Kopit and director David Gammons are Harvard alumni, while the cast members are current undergraduates of the College.
Marin Orlosky ‘07-’08
Marin says, “I like working on plays as a choreographer because in dance, you have to create the world yourself. In theatre, you get to enter a world someone else created and find ways to add to their world. It’s an exciting change of pace.”
“Actors,” she notes also, “have a very different sense of their presence on stage. They can be precise in terms of their face and voice, but they don’t have awareness of their physicality and how it helps portray a character. Getting them to work that concept was my biggest challenge. It’s exciting though, because inthe collaborative process with nondancers, you get to sketch the concepts and leave room for them to fill in some blanks…and sometimes what you get are moments of genius.”
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad runs through this Saturday. Visit the Harvard Box Office for ticket information.
(Photo by Andreas Randow, courtesy of Marin Orlosky.)
