This past weekend, Colby’s Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance presented Islands in the Storm, a one-hour show featuring two one-act plays which, as the department notes, explore “climate change, spreading authoritarianism, fancy hats, and penguin romance.”
Lynne Conner, former chair of the theater and dance department from 2008 to 2016, returned to Colby to direct Far Away, a drama by Caryl Churchill that navigates the repercussions of social apathy, the totalitarianism that can result, and the normalized life under autocracy. Yet, the play is also purposefully vague. Far Away is a densely metaphorical analysis of situations which, in reality, may not be so ‘far away.’ Rather than force one interpretation, the drama positions its audience in obscure circumstances, providing little context. As a consequence, viewers are compelled to form their own conclusions, to interrelate themselves directly with the story, and to confront the intersections between the figurative world and their own, real lives.
The second play, At World’s End by Nora Sørena Casey, was directed by Bess Welden, the Co-Chair of Performance, Theater, and Dance at Colby. The comedy artfully examines the environmental impacts of climate change and limited resources on a family of emperor penguins, offering a contemporary, funny, and timely study on the effects of human expansion, the pervasive anxiety towards outsiders and the unknown, and the logistics of interacting with people (or in this case, penguins) with opinions, experiences, and characteristics much different than one’s own.
Both performances are in conversation with the 2025–2027 theme for Colby’s Center for the Arts and Humanities: islands. Welden explains the thought process behind selecting these pieces. “One of the plays, one could argue, is basically happening on an island of ice,” she says, referring to At World’s End, “and in the other play it’s much more metaphorical.” Far Away relates to the themes of isolation, the terror involved with loneliness, and the impacts of lacking assistance. The remote “island” described here is one of fear — a dystopian lens into the implications of separating ourselves from society, of declaring our communities more integral or worthy than another, of embracing naivety instead of seeking truth. Conner’s rendition of Far Away poses questions about the emblematic islands we find ourselves in, whether personal or on a broader scale.
After Conner told Welden her interest in featuring Far Away for this year’s program, Welden searched for something that would complement it. “Far Away is very much a drama, one could even say a tragedy,” she explains. Welden wanted to “balance it with something comedic.” She picked At World’s End, noting that when presented in combination with Far Away, the show felt “appropriate for the time” and was a “real, sort of, social commentary.” Not only do the plays amplify accompanying thematics, but they also each display “a range of feeling and mood,” according to Welden.
Expanding on these themes, Conner notes that “art has always been an important way — maybe the most important way — to talk about things that people don’t want to talk about or aren’t allowed to talk about.” But, Conner also clarifies that she and Welden had no “heavy hand” in promoting a particular view. The plays speak for themselves. Besides, “the audience is always the meaning maker.” These plays end with question marks; the intention is for viewers to leave continuing to consider the complexities and inquiries the art presents.
Both plays seem superficially very pessimistic. I ended our discussion by asking Conner if she felt the performances embodied any hope. Conner offered a different perspective, stating that the plays are “pessimistic in the sense that there is no happy ending, but optimistic in the sense that when people confront their problems,” whether through theater or other mediums, “we have the hope of solving those problems.” Conner’s declaration was confirmation of why art matters and an affirmation of positivity in an often complicated, demoralizing world.
~ Maya Corrie `29
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