Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Drama Board has announced a new presence on the Swarrrrthmore theater scene. The Pirate Hoard will both adopt old and create new theater pieces. The difference? “Everything will be with pirates! Arrrrr!” explains the group’s founder, who prefers to be known as Short John Silver.
This spring, the group will present a special performance of Drama Board’s Stoppard play, with pirates, “Arrrrcadia.” A revival of last spring’s production of Yasmina Reza’s “Arrrrrt” is also in the works. Producer Aarrrron Hollandarrr says that the group’s adaptations of the earlier productions “lets me see these works in a revelatory new way.” A revival of “We So ARRRRR Them” is also possible, Silver mentioned.
“I wish them luck. The freshness that can be added by a few parrots, chests of gold, peg legs, and exclamations of ‘Shiver me timbers!’ is not to be underestimated.” said Swarrrthmore Theater Deparrrtment chair Allen Kuharrrrski. Interest among the student body also appears high. “Of course I’ll audition,” says Garrrrth Griffin ’09. “What’s more awesome than pirates?”
For next fall, the group plans an ambitious season, featuring Shakespeare (“Richarrrrd III”), Wilde (“The Importance of Being Arrrrnest,”) musical theater (“Sunday in the Parrrrk with George”), Shaw (“Arrrrrms and the Man”) and a venture into opera, “Arrrrriadne auf Naxos.” When asked how the group will achieve so much in a single semester, Silver answered “Matey, pirates create the general impression of a text without worrying about details such as getting every line right…. and we’ll use the same costumes for everything. I mean, arrrrverything.” They will also be aided by the mad piano skills of Marrrrrk Loria and Karrrrren Guan in the musical pieces.
Though the Pirate Hoarrrrd is currently funded on an ad hoc basis by Drama Board, they aspire to eventually become a charrrrtered group, much like Boy Meets Tractarrrr (“Only less funny,” Silver points out, “our arrrrt has a much more serious social and political message than mere sketch comedy”). Administrators James Larrrrrimore and Marrrrrtin Warrrrner arrrre enthusiastic supporters of the project, as is English Literature Professor Edmund Carrrrmpos. “Now you know why I assign ‘The Fair Maid of the West’ to all my classes. I mean, ‘The Faaaarr Maid of the West.'”