The Upcoming New Works Festival! | The Old Curiosity Shop Marathon Reading | Senior Spotlight: Kaelyn Rothe and Cecilia Samadani | Comps Illuminated: A Look Into the Comps Process
The Upcoming New Works Festival!
Read on to learn about this term’s New Works Festival, hosted by the Theater + Dance Department at Carleton for the first time.
This term, the Theater + Dance Department is holding a New Works Festival. This festival is happening the entirety of 8th week, with performances almost every day in various parts of the Weitz Center. These performances are all new works organized, written by, and directed or choreographed by Carleton students. They range from full-length plays to staged readings to dance pieces!
The kick-off event for the New Works Festival is the final performance on Sunday, February 22nd of a theater comps by English and Theater student Kaelyn Rothe ‘26. Called MADWOMAN, her original new play—which she wrote and directed—is based on the Greek mythological character of Cassandra. The play pulls her out of her ancient mythological context and into the modern world, and her ability to see the future follows her into it. The play asks the question: Who gets to tell someone’s story, and who earns the right to be believed?
If this sounds even remotely interesting to you (and even if not), make sure to keep your eye out for posters and emails to reserve tickets for MADWOMAN 7th weekend and the rest of the New Works Festival events the following week to support Carleton’s artists!
The Old Curiousity Shop Marathon Reading
As the marathon reading swiftly approaches, we wanted to give you reasons to get excited! If you still need to be persuaded, our very own Mike Kowalewski passes along these reasons to join us.
Why read Dickens?
Because his fiction is a teeming cornucopia of theatrical, comic, grotesque, honorable, and mischievous characters. Very few authors other than Shakespeare have created such a panoply of memorable creations. (There are lengthy indexes to keep track of his characters.) His plots are serpentine and keep a reader guessing. Vladimir Nabokov once called Dickens’ fiction “a magic democracy” where even the most incidental character has a right to live and breathe. And his writing is often animated by a ferocious advocacy for social justice. His fans have included everyone from Queen Victoria and Virginia Woolf to Paul McCartney and Oprah Winfrey.
Why read The Old Curiosity Shop?
Because it has one of the most famous scenes in all of Victorian literature. It’s a kind of “on the road” novel that meanders through the courtrooms and side-alleys of London, as well as the English countryside. It has one of Dickens’ most memorable villains, the diabolically malevolent moneylender Daniel Quilp. You’ll encounter a pub named the Jolly Sandboys and find out what the word “staggerers” means. What more could you ask for?
Why read out loud?
Because reading literature out loud is largely a lost art form now done by relatively few people other than college profs in class, writers in public readings and church lectors. We’re encouraging marathon readers to practice their assigned sections ahead of time and adjust their voices and intonations to help bring the text alive – especially when “voicing” various characters. When done well, these performances are extremely memorable. And remember, Dickens, like Mark Twain, loved to read his work out loud to packed and appreciative audiences. You should too!
Senior Spotlight: Kaelyn Rothe and Cecilia Samadani
Read on to get to know these excellent seniors through their favorite books and classes!
What are you doing for comps?
K: I am doing creative writing comps. And for that, I wrote a play that’s about 80 pages, but don’t worry, I cut it down to 60 for the limit. It’s a double comps in the sense that I’m currently directing it and putting it on for my theater comps.
C: I’m also doing the creative writing comps. Mine is a story. I’m not saying short story, because it’s like 60 pages. It’s exploring orientalism and the body, which I’ve been interested in with academic papers so I’m excited to dive into that in a more creative way.
What is your favorite book?
K: I’m gonna be really honest with you— I haven’t been reading a lot. But I just read this play called Constellations by Nick Payne. It’s really weird and cool. It’s a two-person play about these two people who are in love, and it shows different realities of various moments in their lives and the multiple ways it could have gone.
C: A recent favorite was To the Lighthouse. One of my favorite books of all time is On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. Both of them are amazing at using words in beautiful ways.
What is your most English major trait?
K: I’m lowkey pretentious. I’m always correcting tiny little things. Usually to my boyfriend, I always say, “That’s just not right.”
C: I really love writing research papers. Like any 20 page research paper, I freaking love it. I get so excited by it.
What was your favorite class?
K: I think Cruel Summer with Connie. It was really interesting. We had a presentation every Friday, and they were all so different and so fascinating. I just really like that era of writing.
C: I really liked Methods with Nancy… That class changed my brain for the better. That’s where I really started to love the English major.
K&C: Nancy, if you’re reading, we adore you.
What advice do you have for future English majors?
K: Go all in on your classes. Even if they’re hard, try your best. I sometimes shied away from trying my best because I was scared. Enjoy what’s beautiful about being an English major.
C: Don’t be afraid to try something with your writing and have it not work out. Pushing through that is a super productive use of your time.
What are your post-grad plans?
K: Every summer I work at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN. I think I will be working there in their educational programs for kids. After that, I’m going to take a pause before grad school, which is what you should do. After that, I’ll be in the Cities, trying to work in the theater scene.
C: I’m continuing my winter externship this summer in New York as a literary agent intern. After that, I’ll be spending about a year at home, and then going to grad school after that. Hopefully some kind of Lit PhD. I’m super hopeful and excited for the future.
Comps Illuminated: A Look Into the Comps Process
This week we asked our intrepid compsers to update us on their progress and to fill us in on how they’re feeling about it.
Clara says, “We’re finishing up discussions of our texts this week. Many of us already have paper ideas and are starting to look for sources. We hope to have full drafts by the end of the month so that we can begin the process of peer review. I’m excited to write a paper with five weeks since most of my papers come together in a week or two.”
Ambar says, “I have thirty pages written… with only the hint of a thesis. I have three sections that are somewhat cohesive but still need to be combined to fit my argument. I have never written a paper without the thesis and complete structure in mind, so to work on the body paragraphs first feels very strange to me. This week, I have to inject my framework and secondary sources and actually make a cohesive first draft. It’s gonna be a long week…”
Ryan says, “I have two story drafts done out of four, possibly five if I lock in. I know I said six at the start, but the harsh face of reality is coming in. I’m feeling good about what I’ve written so far. The workshop group has been really useful for getting advice and so has meeting with Gwen. On the 18th, the full draft is due. Then, I start the revision process and then one month until the full comps is due, so it’s really time to start locking in. I think I’ve said the phrase ‘lock in’ a lot. Comps is hard.”