On Stage: Performing Arts at our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle

Play Examines Impact of Interethnic, Sexual Violence

Written by Matéi Visniec, a Romanian-French playwright, in 1996, “The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War” directed by Barby Kahl, will be playing at Hartwick College’s Lab Theater. This intimate, very flexible theater is the perfect setting for the play, which runs just over an hour and a quarter. The play itself focuses on two women: an American psychotherapist and a Bosnian woman recovering from a brutal rape. Through the dialogues and monologues, the audience learns about, and is challenged to consider, both the impact of sexual violence and interethnic conflicts that too often lead to war.

Given the play’s title, it won’t surprise you the show deals with difficult topics: war, rape and ethnic cleansing. What might surprise you is that it comes across as a very engaging “Ted Talk,” albeit one aimed at a more mature audience. What certainly surprised me was that Kat Schmidt, one of the two student actors in the play, chose such a difficult and heavy script as her senior thesis project.

After watching a rehearsal, I interviewed Kat, her co-star Victoria Nash, Jas Stuchel (stage manager), Alani Waites (lighting designer), and Barby. [I tried to include the only other audience member in the interview, Velvet 2V23, but she seemed to find her Kong toy far more interesting than me.] I started with the question that had been foremost in my mind as I read through the script before the rehearsal: What had attracted Kat to this play?

“[For my senior thesis project] I wanted a play that has a message… The first monologue I do—we call it ‘The Anti-Lord’s Prayer’—that one stuck out to me because it is something that I have certainly felt at times… I think many people have. I became hyper-fixated on this script. I keep doing the research into it, we keep talking about it, and finding more and more of a meaning behind the show. Not a lot of people know what happened in the Bosnian War. And this is something that needs to be known.”

Victoria and Jas, both juniors, are close theater friends of Kat, who wanted to be involved both to challenge themselves and support Kat’s senior thesis project. Alani, also a junior, took on the lighting design challenge because that’s what she does—challenging lighting designs –and this play, with 30 scene changes, is no small challenge for a lighting designer.

As explained by Kat, the senior thesis project for theater majors at Hartwick College is supposed to showcase the student’s ability within their realm of expertise (in this case, acting), as well as provide the student with a challenge. Kat has been the “dramaturge” for this production, doing background research, working closely with Barby to develop the show, editing the script, and consulting on staging, costumes, and lighting. In addition, Kat used her research to put together a display that will be available for viewing in the lobby.

I walked away from the rehearsal and interview ruminating on how much tragedy ethnic conflict has been responsible for over the course of human history and continues to be today, and appreciating Kat’s wish to bring that message to the stage with her senior thesis project. The other three students, all juniors, will be tackling their projects next year depending on their majors: two of them, Jas and Alani, will do theater projects and Victoria, who plays the harp, will give a concert. The great news for all of us, as community members, is that they will put in the hard work and we will get to enjoy the fruits of their labor through well researched, thought out performances.

If you are wondering why I included the dog in the photo for this column even though Velvet will never do a senior thesis project, nor was she interested in being interviewed, I did it because she is also a hardworking student and attends almost all the rehearsals for this play. She is the third dog to undergo service dog training with Kat. Kat’s first two trainees went on to pass the rigorous testing and become guide dogs for the blind, and she has high hopes for the 13-month-old Velvet. If your next question is how a full-time college student—who also holds down a job and is in a very demanding final year of school finds—the time to train a guide dog (let alone three), I have run out of answers for you. Maybe go see the play and afterward, go backstage and ask Velvet yourself? Take a Kong toy if you want her to answer.

“The Body of a Woman as a Battlefield in the Bosnian War” is directed by Barbara Kahl, senior thesis production by Kathryn Schmidt, and performed by Hartwick College students. Show times are May 2^–4at 8 p.m. and May 5 at 2:30 p.m. at the Lab Theater. Tickets are free, but reservations are recommended by e-mailing theatre@hartwick.edu. Recommended for mature audiences.

Rachel Frick Cardelle covers performing arts at SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College.