The 2021-22 Season is made possible through generous support from the Robin, Barbara and Malcolm L. Sherman Endowment for the Performing Arts; the Brandeis Arts Council; the Herbert and Kim Marie Beigel New Play Fund; and the Poses Fund.

Driven to Create

An interview between Mentor Susan Dibble, Professor Emeritus Theater Arts, and her former student, Sheila Bandyopadhyay '99, Director of IN THE EMPTY - a devised, movement theater piece presented on an outdoor stage next to Spingold Oct 1-3, 2021. Interviewed by Eileen Phelan, Communications and Engagement, Department of Theater Arts, September 2021.

Susan Dibble taught at Brandeis for thirty-four years and recently retired from her position as Chair of the Department of Theater Arts. This conversation between Susan and Sheila is about their relationship as mentor and student, but also about each artist’s creative process around movement-based theater and the creation of devised work. Sheila says that the classes she took with Susan 'changed my life.' With the production of IN THE EMPTY, Sheila imparts the ideas that influenced and inspired her work to the students of Brandeis today.

Past Productions from the Department of Theater Arts

The Bacchae

Directed by Dmitry Troyanovsky and Designed by Cameron Anderson

Cabaret

Directed by Steven Bogart and Designed by Cameron Anderson