Bentley's Nose, a new theater group formed by Dartmouth alumni, will come to the Hopkins Center this week to perform their play "The Reluctant Lesbian." Throughout the week, Bentley's Nose will work with senior theater majors in a series of workshops that aim to forge alumni and student connections while bridging the gap between graduation and a career in the professional theater world, according to Kate Mulley '05 and Matt Cohn '08, the founders of Bentley's Nose.
The workshop organized by Bentley's Nose at Dartmouth will begin on Feb. 6, according to Mulley. Students will work with Mulley, who will read her draft of the script, and the student actors will then work on their characters in order to create a fully-formed play ready for this weekend's performance.
"I'll probably be doing a lot of writing and re-writing as the week goes on," Mulley said.
The project was conceived by Mulley and Cohn while they were working on a production of "The Fantasticks," when Mulley was a senior and Cohn was a freshman at the College. Mulley served as the play's assistant director and Cohn acted in the musical.
"Kate and I kind of remained friendly after she left," Cohn said. "When I moved to New York after graduation, we reconnected further and started this venture."
The two came up with the idea for Bentley's Nose during a Dartmouth holiday party in 2010, according to Mulley.
"I think we realized that a lot of the productions that we had been doing in New York had Dartmouth people in them and had this Dartmouth community," Mulley said. "We wanted this slightly more formal way of producing plays that had this Dartmouth component to them."
To that end, Mulley and Cohn submitted a proposal to Dartmouth's theater department, which enthusiastically accepted, according to professor Jamie Horton, who also serves as director of theater for the Hopkins Center.
"I thought it would be a really valuable experience for our theater alums to come back here and do this workshop here," Horton said. "We respect the people who are putting the project together and we think it's a wonderful way of connecting alums with students who are currently here and increasing that interaction."
Horton, who has a small role in the production, said that workshops like these are rare but are always welcome if they can engage students.
Written by Mulley and set in the 1960s, "The Reluctant Lesbian" concerns a woman named Sophia who travels to London after the death of her parents, according to Horton. While there, she befriends a wealthy socialite by the name of Lady Graves for whom she develops complicated feelings. As their relationship becomes more complicated, Sophia must confront her feelings in a world that may not truly understand them.
Mulley began writing the play two years ago. When discussing a possible project to work on at Dartmouth, Cohn agreed that the "The Reluctant Lesbian" was the perfect fit.
"I was describing various plays I had in various stages in development and [Cohn] latched onto [The Reluctant Lesbian'] as something that he thought had potential," Mulley said.
In keeping with Bentley's Nose's mission statement, the group is comprised of other Dartmouth alumni. Thom Pasculli '05 will direct the play, and Amanda Jones '97 will play Lady Graves.
Pasculli has known Mulley and Cohn since the trio worked on "The Fantasticks" Pasculli directed the production during their time at Dartmouth. He described Bentley's Nose is an interesting and new experience.
"My work is more physical and technical based, and this is a more script and text kind of project," Pasculli said.
Jones was also no stranger to the founders of Bentley's Nose. She met Mulley when auditioning for another one of her plays in 2009, and she met Cohn when she was performing in a play festival hosted by other theater alumni. Jones remained in touch with Mulley, which eventually led to her being offered a role in "The Reluctant Lesbian."
"She was developing a play about a doctor," Jones said. "We did a reading of that [play] at a health conference at [New York University], and then Kate asked me to do this as a result of that and a couple of other projects."
Although one of the main goals of Bentley's Nose is to forge student-alumni connections, Pasculli explained that all the interested students may not be able to take advantage of the workshop this time around due to other commitments.
"We wanted to include students, but I think they're kind of busy with the main stage ["Hairspray" production] and other projects," Pasculli said. "We'll probably be talking to the senior [theater] majors about work outside of Dartmouth."
In addition, Pasculli said the workshop was a sort of artistic retreat for Mulley and Cohn so they can get the production ready for the stage in New York City.
Bentley's Nose will perform "The Reluctant Lesbian" on Saturday, Feb. 11 in the Warren Bentley Theater in the Hopkins Center.
