About the Project
On March 10, Smith College, along with the majority of colleges and universities in our country and the world, decided to cancel in-person classes for the rest of the semester. I woke up from an afternoon nap to missed calls, countless messages, and that one, massive email. Campus was surreal that afternoon, with lots of people singing R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” with tears and hugs. Houses and student organizations crammed their usual end-of-year celebrations into three nights as we all scrambled to say our goodbyes and pack up our dorm rooms. On Friday, March 13, our graduating senior Theatre major, Cathy Kennedy ‘20, with Nikki Beck, our Theatre production manager, and dozens of other students, put together a show, echoing the mood on campus, The End Of The World As We Know It: A Nine-Hour Marathon Of Every Performance That Should Have Been, that included scenes from plays, dance shows, musical performances, and other shows that were already in rehearsal and had scheduled performances for April. Countless students, staff, and faculty went in and out of the Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre during those nine hours to watch the performances. After our extended March break, classes shifted to a virtual format (with “Zoom fatigue” soon settling in…), and continued online this Fall, as we approach nine months in isolation and our sixth month of Zoom University. And our Fall semester show, The Amplifier, has been put together by Theatre students, staff, and faculty as an online show as well!