Four theatre majors will be presenting their senior project, a show called The House of Blue Leaves, on Friday February 20 and Saturday February 20. The show, directed by Jeremy Lupowitz ’15, features Holly Kelly ’15, Noam Wegner ’15 and Isabelle Schlick ’15. “This is a really beautiful play about a struggling zoo-keeper-turned-songwriter trying desperately to get his break in life,” said Lupowitz. He added,

“The production is a collaboration with the Department of Theatre and Dance in that all four of us are in a Senior Projects class that allows us to create this piece. “

In addition to being senior theatre majors, Lupowitz, Kelly, Wegner and Schlick are all members of the Mermaid Players, “Dickinson’s one and only theater troupe,” noted Lupowitz, who is President of the troupe.

Becoming a member, explains Lupowitz, is fluid. “One does not need to become an official Mermaid Player to participate in our shows and events.” Instead, he continued, “To become official, we have a points system in which everybody gets a specified number of points for helping out with a show. Acting is a certain number, tech is a certain number, etc. A total of 60 points is required for a Mermaid Player to become “pinned” the process by which he or she becomes an ‘official’ Mermaid Player.” In spite of this, Lupowitz points out that, “Many of our most dedicated participants have yet to be pinned, and we count on a lot of participation from our “unofficial” membership.” He added, “We have about 20 pinned Players and 20 – 30 more who participate regularly.”

Regular meetings are held only once a semester. Instead, said Lupowitz, “The vast majority of our communication gets done through our email list. If you’d like to be added to the list you can simply email [email protected] and we’ll add you. We try not to send more than one email a week, that way we stay in regular contact with people but we don’t spam them.” The Mermaid Players also have more informal meetings, such as lunch every Friday in the “groom room,” a HUB side room, and brunch every Sunday.

To become part of a show, students audition on a by-show basis, and Lupowitz notes that, “The structure of the audition varies depending on what kind of event.” For example, he said, “The upcoming Cabaret, we take everybody that comes to the audition. For a MainStage, like Our Country’s Good, the process is a bit more strenuous.”

As for the rest of their semester, Lupowitz said, “We kicked off this semester with a 24 Hour Play Festival in January, we helped produce the Vagina Monologues last weekend. We have The House of Blue Leaves coming up this weekend. After that, we’ll do a Miscast Cabaret in March, and our biggest event of the semester, the MainStage, Our Country’s Good is in April. We’re also talking about doing a musical theatre review near the end of the semester. It’s quite a busy calendar.”

The House of Blue Leaves will have two performances on Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21 at 8:00 in the Cubiculo, High St. next to the Carlisle Theatre. Admission is free but seating is limited.