On-campus film festivals and theatre performance spring into motion

Correction appended

Along with the Black Theater Ensemble’s “The Colored Museum” that opens tonight, Jan. 28, film festivals and theatre performances that address creative processes and femininity with a twist kick off the spring semester for Columbia film and theater organizations.

Embodying the same tongue-in-cheek sentiment as the exasperating “chicken or egg” question, the King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe’s sixth annual Egg and Peacock 24 Hour Theatre Festival returns on Feb. 5. Student theater enthusiasts write, cast, rehearse, and perform a series of short plays within 24 hours.

This condensed version of play production is packed with comedy and wit sparked by the spontaneity of such a swift writing and acting process. The adrenaline-fueled festival invites viewers to revel at raw campus theater distilled down to its core.

A newcomer to the New York film scene, the first Barnard-sponsored Athena Film Festival will feature films, documentaries, and shorts celebrating women and leadership and will take place from Feb. 10 to 13. Inspired in part by Kathryn Bigelow, SoA ’81—the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director in 82 years of Academy Awards shows—this film festival highlights the wide range of female leadership, from striving closer to the glass ceiling in real life to overcoming challenges in fictional scenes.

Breaking the barriers of race, social status, and culture, audience members can expect both familiar Sundance favorites like “Winter’s Bone” and independent film premieres. The film screenings will be complemented by star-studded panels comprised of leading women in the media—including Leslie Bennetts, contributing editor for Vanity Fair , and Delia Ephron, the screenwriter of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

The “Vagina Monologues” from Feb. 12 to Feb. 14 also represent female empowerment—but in a completely different way. Since explosively making it to the foreground of off-Broadway repertoire, the production of playwright Eve Ensler’s most famous piece has featured celebrities from Cyndi Lauper to Oprah Winfrey. Perhaps the next generation of stars will be cultivated in the on-campus charity production sponsored by Barnard and Columbia’s V-Day, a campus organization that works toward ending violence against women.

Women in the “Vagina Monologues” celebrate this symbol of femininity and individuality by sharing their personal stories about sex and love with the audience. Proceeds from this production will go to the Center for Anti-Violence Education. Students with tickets to see the Feb. 14 performance will have the opportunity to see Barnard President Debora Spar give an introduction.

Correction: The original article misstated the details of the Vagina Monologues production. The show runs from Feb. 11 to Feb. 13. Proceeds will go to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital's Crime Victims Treatment Center. Spectator regrets the errors.