Liberal arts in theatre arts means a chance for multiple roles—as in actor, crew member, and director. Kalamazoo College’s Senior Performance Series provides senior students a chance to do the latter. This winter’s SPS features The Gas Heart, directed by Joseph Westerfield ’15, and Wooed and Viewed, directed by Arik Mendelevitz ’15. The performances will occur Thursday through Sunday, February 12-15, in Kalamazoo College’s Dungeon Theatre (Light Fine Arts Building). Tickets are $5. Thursday’s performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m. Sunday’s matinee begins at 2 p.m.

The Gas Heart was written by Tristan Tzara, who, according to director Westerfield, described his piece as “the only and greatest three act hoax of the century; it will satisfy only industrialized imbeciles who believe in the existence of men of genius.” Westerfield explained that his production of the play “questions the conventions of normative theatre and invites the audience to participate in their emancipation as a spectator.”

Wooed and Viewed is a French farce (by playwright Georges Feydau) that, like The Gas Heart, defies societal expectations. The character of Emma (played by sophomore Emma Franzel) defies the traditional role of passivity when she orders a stranger to make love to her in order to provoke her husband’s jealousy. Emma has “made herself an other but not the other she is told to be,” says director Mendelevitz. “Women, especially when it comes to sex, exist in a marginalized place in our society where they are told that their role is to put themselves on display for men to come by and window shop,” he added. Mendelevitz has chosen to present the play using a deconstructionist approach in order “to explore new possibilities that would be impossible…on the firm, familiar ground, Art exists in relation to our world, yet simultaneously steps outside of it.” Mendelevitz has written a philosophy treatise about the play which he will present at the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, Mich.) in March.

For more information about SPS, which is part of the 51st season of Festival Playhouse visit the website or call 269.337.7333