Performing Arts
Whether your passion is musical theatre, straight drama, comedy, choral music, dance (contemporary or traditional), cheerleading, or solo vocal and instrumental instruction or performance, at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø you can find your voice.
Participation in every ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø performing arts program is open to all Thames and ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø students, regardless of major. For many students involvement in our program is their first performance experience, and it is where they discover their passion.
Our home city of New London is steeped in the tradition of performing arts. Right in our own backyard is the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, called the “launchpad of American theater,” and the Garde Arts Center, which hosts hundreds of theatrical and concert performances each year.
Upcoming Performances
Spring Musical: The Musical Theatre Murders of 1940
Written by John Bishop
Join us for a whodunnit parody with blizzard conditions, secret passageways, and some great musical snippets. Set in December 1940, Elsa Von Grossenknueten, an eccentric theatre financier, has gathered a team at her mansion in Chappaqua, New York. Everyone believes they will have a backer’s audition for Elsa to get financing for her newest musical, but the shadow of the team’s last show—deemed a flop—hangs over the group.
Manhattan Holiday was ravaged by the “Stage Door Slasher,” a mysterious killer who stabbed chorus girls. The undercover police officer Michael Kelly is hoping to flush out the killer from this group of suspects—but the killer has other plans. As if that wasn’t enough, the threat of Nazi saboteurs lurks among them.
Location:
Clarke Center, ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Campus
Showtimes:
Thursday, April 23—7:00pm
Friday, April 24—7:00pm
Saturday, April 25—2:00pm | 7:00pm
Tickets:
Students/Alumni: $5
Faculty/Staff: $10
General Admission: $15
Past Performances
Fall Play: Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Spring Musical: Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri, April 2025
Fall Play: The Play That Goes Wrong, November 2024
Winter Play: It’s a Wonderful Life, November 2023
Fall Dance/Cheer Showcase, November 2023
Fall Weekend Cabaret, October 2023
Spring Dance/Cheer Showcase, April 2023
Select Chorus Spring Concert, April 2023
Spring Musical: The Fantasticks, May 2023
ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Players
Each year, the ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Players stage a fall play and spring musical in addition to other performances such as cabaret, improv comedy, and one acts.
Auditions are open to all ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø and Thames students and roles are available both on and back stage.
Learn More
Jonathan Babbitt
babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
860-701-7987
Auditions for Theatre Seasons
ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Select Chorus
This group, numbering 16 to 20 voices, is a curricular, all-auditioned ensemble and maintains a rigorous rehearsal schedule of two two-hour sessions per week, with additional individual coaching in Voice and Theory throughout each semester. The Select Chorus performs for College functions throughout the academic year and serves as an additional facet of the College’s public face by performing off-campus for recruiting events, alumni and development efforts, and community activities in southeastern Connecticut.
We begin our fifth year with a strong group of returning singers, and are eager and excited to meet all the singers of the incoming class! Our repertoire includes works by Mozart, Vaughan Williams, two brand-new settings by our own Select Chorus Director Jonathan Babbitt, folk songs, popular arrangements, music from Asia and Africa, and more.
Learn More
Jonathan Babbitt
babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
860-701-7987
Auditions for Select Chorus
Watch for information about upcoming auditions here! No prior singing/choral experience is required, and auditions are open to all ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø and Thames students.
Dance/Cheer
The ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Dance/Cheer Team welcomes all incoming and returning Mariners, whether they have no experience in dance, a passing interest in dance, some experience in dance, or years of experience in dance! The ensemble presents a Showcase during each semester, offers cheerleading at select home basketball contests, and provides dancers for the spring musical when appropriate. Performances are choreographed to take into account the proficiency levels of all dancers!
All interested prospective members are invited to learn more about the program by contacting:
Jonathan Babbitt
babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
860-701-7987
Auditions for Dance/Cheer
Watch for information about upcoming auditions here! No prior formal dance/cheer experience is required, and auditions are open to all ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø and Thames students.
Lessons & Ensembles
On-Campus Private Lessons
ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø is pleased to offer private lessons in voice and instruments through the College. Drawing upon the highly-trained pool of professional instrumental and vocal performers from throughout New London County and beyond, we offer private on-campus instruction in voice, piano, winds, strings, organ, brasses and percussion, while providing rigorous structure and accountability through the office of the Coordinator of Applied Music Studies.
Ensembles
The College is also coordinates the creation and coaching of instrumental ensembles of any sort, from rock and jazz to classical trios, quartets, chamber groups and pep bands. Opportunities for performance abound, and include college athletic events, gatherings and assemblies, and off-campus outreach events in the local community.
Jonathan Babbitt at babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
860-701-7987
About the Director
Jonathan Babbitt, M.M.
Jonathan Babbitt, Assistant Professor, Performing Arts, Director of Choral Activities, Coordinator of Applied Music Studies and Director, ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Players, earned his bachelor’s and master’s at Yale and Yale School of Music where he directed the Yale Freshman Chorus and was associate director of the Yale Glee Club. His numerous years of experience as a teacher, clinician, conductor, recitalist, adjudicator and composer contribute greatly to the performing arts landscape at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø. Visit Jono’s to learn more.
Jonathan Babbitt
babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
860-701-7987
Performing Arts Internships
When he first started as a Thames at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø student, Max Pevna would’ve never guessed that two summers later, he’d be a full-time communications major at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø, performing Shakespeare at an outdoor amphitheater alongside one of the most adventurous classical theater companies in New England. Thanks to his Integrative Career Development (ICD) summer internship with Flock Theatre, Max gained a full range of experiences in the world of theater production as he helped Flock prepare for three weekends of Shakespeare’s King Henry IV, Part I. Read Max’s story.
“It’s a good way to make a lot of friends and kind of come out of your shell because you can’t just be your normal, quiet self – you have to open up as a different character and all that. You don’t know unless you try it.”
Learn more about Internships
To learn more about internships and career experiences through Integrative Career Development at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø, visit mitchell.edu/icd.
The Red Barn Performance Space
Completed in 2018, the Red Barn at ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø offers a dramatic and innovative venue for ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø performances. With state-of-the-art lighting and sound, black-out window capability for theater performances, a nine-foot Baldwin concert grand piano, resonant acoustics and a theatre-style seating capacity of 150-225, the Red Barn adds a fabulous, flexible space for student and community theatre and concert performances.
Boredom Is Not an Option
The local arts/music/theater scene is alive and thriving
New London and southeastern Connecticut might be thought of as a sleeping giant when it comes to the arts. For art, ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø students have quick access to the and . in Old Lyme is a fun half day excursion and step back in time. For theater buffs, students can see a local performance at the or . Great theater options a short drive away include and , both on the Connecticut River. Concerts at and are readily accessible, and the in Old Lyme offers a full repertoire of cultural and performing arts experiences.
And of course, ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø is about 2 hours from NYC and 2 hours from Boston for near limitless big city entertainment, both accessible by train.
CONTACT
Jonathan Babbitt, M.M.
Assistant Professor, Performing Arts, Director of Choral Activities, Coordinator of Applied Music Studies, Director, ºÚ°µ±¬ÁÏÍø Players
babbitt_j@mitchell.edu
Phone: 860-701-7987
