COLLABORATION
Skidmore, Shen Color Guard in Spring Black Box production
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Emily Moler, a 2015 graduate of Skidmore College, returned to her alma mater as a guest artist in residence to direct the Spring Black Box production with a unique outside party — the Shenendehowa Color Guard team.
Working with up-andcoming playwright Avery Deutsch the two have been developing a new play about the “sport of the arts” entitled The Winter Guard Play. Winter guard is very similar to Color Guard but takes place indoors. As she prepared to return to Spa City to work on this production, Moler did some research and discovered that there is a nationally prominent Color Guard team right here in Skidmore’s backyard.
At the 2023 Winter Guard International (WGI) CG Open Class Finals The Shenendehowa Color Guard placed seventh out of the top 15 finalists from around the country in the Scholastic Open. Their “Walk into my Parlour” performance was based on the poem “The Spider and the Fly” having the team dress in spiders, with WGI lauding a moment in which several performers move towards the audience in a backbend “Chilling.”
Learning of the caliber of this local color guard team, Moler reached out and the coach happily offered to help train the actors as well as to consult on the show.
Scott Snell, the Director of the Shenendehowa Color Guard, shared that working on this production has been an honor and that it is a wonderful opportunity for the High School students to see an activity that they love and dedicate countless hours to, in a different art form.
“Many times, the colorguard/marching band when it is seen in movies/ TV is seen as a punch line, the band geek joke,” Snell said. “To see a production like The Winter Guard Play which is respectful of the activity and highlights the journey as a team through success and failures allows my high school students to have a sense of belonging that they may not always get within their high school community.
“A sense of recognition that the years of time and energy spent rehearsing and performing do mean something.”
The cast has trained with the team down at Shenendehowa High School and the team has also come to Skidmoore to work with the actors in the Black Box theater.
“It’s been so wonderful to witness college students learning from high school students, and both parties taking their art forms so seriously,” said Sue Kessler of the Skidmore College Theater Department. “The coach, Scott Snell, has been very generous and enthusiastic about this partnership.”
Moler also expressed her deep gratitude for Scott, his coaching staff, and his team, stating that their “time, advice, openness and enthusiasm” have truly aided in the production process.
“Our time with them (The Shenendehowa Color Guard) has enriched the Skidmore theater students’ experi
ence and deepened their work,” Moler said. “We are so proud to be representing the activity and to be connected with Shen.”
“It turns out that theater and Winter Guard are a natural pairing. Both activities are centered on teamwork, sharing your story with your community, and the rewards of holding yourself to a high bar. I am so proud of the production and I can’t wait to open this Friday.”
The Winter Guard Play premiered at the River Campus Cultural Arts Center at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Giardeau on March 1, 2023 and won the 2023 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, which honors new American plays providing dynamic performance opportunities for college-aged actors. The playwright, Deutsch, also won the Clubbed Thumb’s 2022 Biennial Commission.
The synopsis of the show per the play’s website reads, “Winterguard is NOT Color-guard.
Forget the football, forget the pompoms In Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania, a High School Winterguard team attempts to choreograph a routine on the topic of Global Warming. A play about catching flags, catching each other, and realizing the grownups aren’t going to save you.”
The Winter Guard Play will run from March 1 through 6 at Skidmore College. For more information and to purchase tickets visit https://theater.skidmore.edu/production/the-winter-guard-play/.