Picture a world plagued by massive drought and ruled by an evil dictator — this may not require much imagination. Now, envision that world, but filled with song and dance, parodying some of Broadway’s greatest musicals. To do that, you may need some help from Amherst College’s upcoming production of “Urinetown.”
The holidays are just around the corner, and the festive spirit is on full display just about everywhere. Well, everywhere except college. A different season is on the horizon here — exam season. While the holidays are a time for cheer, exams can be quite rough, to put it lightly. As the rest of the world busily decorates and sips eggnog, students must buckle down and study. With the holidays seeming so close, yet so far away, you might not be ready to turn on Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey just yet.
-itok=WCK27RHP.jpg)
On Nov. 15, at the tender age of 21, the rapper known as Lil Peep died on his tour bus. His tragic death, reportedly caused by an overdose, leaves the music community as a whole with more questions than answers and forces both artists and fans to reevaluate their roles and obligations to each other.
This past weekend,Amherst College’s student-run La Causa hosted its 20th annual Voices event, the largest free spoken word concert in New England. Voices’ mission is to bring poets of color from across the country together in one space for a weekend of decolonizing the arts through slam poetry that revolves around the subject of marginalized people’s experiences. Both professional and student poets performed their work to a packed Powerhouse with food provided by Fernandez Family Restaurant, a Puerto Rican establishment in Holyoke.
Last Friday evening, from 7 to 8 p.m., a number of Amherst students put on a beautiful performance of Claude Debussy’s musical works in the Mead Art Museum. The event, presented by the Amherst College Student Chamber Musicians, included eleven students, each of whom played or sang a different piece.
This performance took place in the historic Rotherwas room and was advertized on the event page as being “in conjunction with the current exhibition in the room ‘From the Picturesque to the Modern Vision: Landscape Painting in Europe throughout the Ages.’”
Pixar movies have a special place in my heart. One of my favorite parts about going to see one is the animated short film that precedes the actual movie. Before “Coco,” however, came an original short which was neither original nor short. “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” was the short in question, and after being forced to watch twenty-odd minutes of the all-too-familiar snowman from “Frozen” bellowing about the joys of a perfect Christmas, I was more than ready for “Coco” to start.
Every spring, Women of Amherst puts on a play, inspired by and expanding upon Eve Ensler’s feminist play “The Vagina Monologues.” The play is a series of separate skits all centered on issues women face, and all the skits are student-written submissions. Currently, Women of Amherst is collecting submissions from students to include in the play. I sat down with director Sydney Tate ’18 to learn more about the play itself and how students can submit.
