ARTS & CULTURE CULTURE
Finding home: 'The Wizard of Oz' makes new magic
Gender-flipped characters, modern updates bring the classic story into the present
Rachel Greenspan & Carly Heitner Arts & Culture While most are familiar with the tale of the yellow brick road, this semester’s Mainstage production of “The Wizard of Oz” takes more twists and turns than just a trip out of Kansas. Both visually and contextually, this production is unlike one you’ve seen before. Director Tommy Iafrate, assistant professor of theatre, said that a main focus of his production is homing in on the theme of “home.” “At its heart, I think ‘The Wizard of Oz’ is a story about a girl who goes on a journey and misses home,” Iafrate said. “And that’s something that I think a lot of us on a college campus can relate to because a lot of students are living away from home for their first time.” Iafrate said that he used his own childhood memories as inspiration for this vision of home. From fond memories of his mother folding fresh, clean laundry, he chose to create a backdrop and setting in which everything looks like it is made from laundry. Of course, this includes costumes, but also extends to the props and set pieces used onstage. The most major and obvious choice made in this production is that Iafrate has swapped genders of various leads in the show. The Cowardly Lion, Wizard, Tin Man and Scarecrow are all changed to female characters — and the Wicked Witch of the West is played
story often also exists for theatre performers, who have to spend much of their careers on the road. “I have spent a lot of my career going away from home either to work on [cruise] ships or on national tours or regional theaters that take me away from people that I already know and love, but where I am lucky enough to collaborate with other artists that become my friends, that become my loved ones,” Iafrate said. “So, this idea of developing a chosen family is something else that I think is really universal.” Finding yourself and your own family in the theater is a sentiment echoed by Mia Leopold, a member of the ensemble in “The Wizard of Oz” and a senior majoring in cinema. For Leopold, a connection to the theater is actually what drew her to the University in the first place. “On a personal note, when I first came to [BU] for a campus tour, I snuck into Watters Theater and decided then and there that I wanted to go to [BU],” Leopold said. “Now I’m performing onstage, in the same theater where I first connected to [the Rebecca Kiss/Assistant Photography Editor University].” The Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow are three male characters that are switched to female for the Binghamton University theatre department’s Mainstage “The Wizard of Oz” debuts this production of “The Wizard of Oz,” which examines the classic story through the lenses of gender and sexuality. Friday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m., and runs by a man as a drag queen. and about what each character “I think it’s important that the Wizard of Oz,” as well as in on Nov. 11, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m., “To me, none of these wants.” family unit that Dorothy comes most adaptations and renditions as well as a matinee performance characters’ genders are important In addition to playing with from is heteronormative because thereafter, the alienation and on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets are to the plot,” said Marisa gender, Iafrate said that he built that’s, in many ways, I think what loneliness Dorothy feels from her available online, by phone and Cartusciello, who plays the Tin his production around how he she is rebelling against, and why family is important to her journey, at the box office, and are $10 for Man and is a senior majoring in sees Dorothy’s experience leaving she feels like such an outsider at where she meets the characters students, $16 for seniors, faculty, theatre. “This story is all about the home as a parallel for LGBTQ home,” Iafrate said. who grow with her throughout staff and alumni and $18 for the message it gives to the audience experiences of coming out. In the 1939 film of “The the story. Iafrate said that this general public.
Strange Brew to expand More than the undead Cafe will add second location on Court Street Zombie Student Association alters course Nikkolette Sather Contributing Writer Strange Brew opened its doors about a year and a half ago — and it’s ready to expand. The Downtown Binghamton cafe is located at 137 Washington St. Alexey Bartashoff, founder and co-owner, is opening a new location in the beginning of December at 101 Court St. (formerly Laveggio Roasteria, which has relocated to 178 State St.). The Court Street location will have bar-style seating, as opposed to the restaurant-style seating Strange Brew currently offers. It won’t have the full menu offered at the original location but will serve quick items like fruit parfaits and bagels. This spot will also be home to a nitro coffee tap with a wide variety of options, which Bartashoff said is exclusive among Downtown restaurants. Additionally, the bar
will offer loose-leaf tea with flavors that can be mixed and matched, plus an extensive list of lattes. “We will be bringing something new to Downtown, while keeping up with the expectations Strange Brew already has [set],” Bartashoff said. With this new site, Strange Brew hopes to make itself more accessible to the other side of Downtown, while alleviating some of the issues they experience now, such as heavy foot traffic and long lines. “Sometimes people are in a rush and see the line is too long, so they pass by instead of waiting,” Bartashoff said. “[They see] customers ordering not just drinks, but pondering what food items they want as well.” As a grab-and-go spot, the new location will be focused on fastpaced service with separate lines for those just ordering drinks and for those ordering both food and drinks.
Staying in line with Strange Brew’s original goals, this location will also work to move away from the idea that coffee shops are only meant for college students. Strange Brew welcomes everyone from families looking to grab a quick bite to the elderly enjoying their morning cup of coffee. “Strange Brew is the definition of Downtown, meaning all walks of life and people of every variety are welcomed,” Bartashoff said. Sarah Maximowicz, a barista at Strange Brew, said that she loves to interact with the locals who come in and to form a bond with them. “Over time, you begin to be on a first-name basis with them, banter back and forth and learn their favorite orders or introduce them to new things,” she said. Pipe Dream will update this article as more information about the opening becomes available in the upcoming weeks.
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Georgia Westbrook Arts & Culture Editor Despite its name, the Zombie Student Association (ZSA) is alive and well on campus. The ZSA does not fit neatly into its Student Association (SA)designated category of “cultural club,” but instead spills over into a mix of club sports and gaming. The organization has approximately 20 active members and has shifted its focus since it began as a Late Nite Binghamton activity nearly a decade ago, according to Maggie Hall, secretary of the club and a junior majoring in biology. “We’ve kind of changed a lot over the years; we’re a cultural club, technically,” Hall said. “We started out a lot with the big zombie craze, so we used to do things more related to zombies. I mean we still do the ‘Humans versus Zombies’ as our big thing … [but] we do a lot more of that and just like Nerf-related stuff as opposed to zombie-related stuff these days.” The club travels to other colleges in the northeast, including Ithaca College and SUNY New Paltz, for invitationals and also invites other clubs to participate in events at Binghamton University. The ZSA funds its travel with a combination of money from the SA and money raised through fundraisers. The organization’s biggest event each semester is called a “Weeklong.” During this game, members of the club criss-cross campus completing missions and competing in teams as “zombies,” or students wearing arm bands marking themselves, and humans, with added tasks and clues. Tyler Rowe, the vice president of the ZSA and a sophomore majoring in chemistry, explained that Humans versus Zombies competitions follow a set of rules but may differ from school to school. “[Clubs from] different schools go to … [the host] campus and [the hosts] explain however they run the game,” Rowe said. “Different schools have minor variations in however they play, and they’ll be,
Provided by Zombie Student Association Members of the Zombie Student Association pose during an event on campus. The organization hosts a variety of events focused on Nerf-gun battles and travels to compete at colleges in the Northeast.
like, four or five original zombies and however many humans and as the game goes on, the zombies get more and more people until the sides shift and then at the end of the day, the zombies usually win.” Most members, like Rowe and Hall, were new to the world of Humans versus Zombies before they came to BU, but the club teaches these new members the ropes. Beyond the actual Nerf battles, many members of the ZSA spend time together modifying, or “modding,” their “blasters” — aka Nerf guns. “A big part of our club I would say is modding blasters, ‘cause you’ve got the thing that Nerf sells and it’s like, ‘Okay, the spring in here is terrible, it, like, falls down onto the ground immediately,’” Hall said. “We have some [blasters] that the club owns that we give out to people to, like, rent,” Rowe said. “Most members have their own just by, like, necessity. One of our old members even made his own blaster from 3-D printing.” The ZSA is sponsored by the blaster company Zuru, which sends free blasters to the organization, which then rents them out to members or raffles them off. Though the blasters and Humans versus Zombies are
most closely associated with the club when you see members on campus, the ZSA also hosts other types of battles throughout the year. “Territories … is like a Nerf war, so instead of Humans versus Zombies … it’s Humans versus Humans, so everyone has blasters and everyone’s firing at each other,” Rowe said. “Our big thing is Humans versus Zombies and this is different because it’s Humans versus Humans instead of Humans versus Zombies, but it’s still got the same general idea to it, you know, people fighting each other with Nerf,” Hall said. The club is hoping to expand its on-campus presence to include more events like a recent one modeled after “Escape the Room” and collaborations with campus groups like the Newing College Council. Hall said that the club is looking to change its name to reflect recent changes and this expansion. “I mean, the club started what, like eight years ago?” Rowe said. “Like that’s when everyone was like ‘Zombies are the huge thing,’ so over time people started getting less and less interested in zombies. We don’t focus on that aspect of the club as much.”