Perspective in Performance Presents The Niceties
Nov. 5, 2025
In addition to its roster of student-led performances, Sewanee Theatre and Dance’s 2025-26 season includes an exciting new component: the first production in the Perspectives in Performance (PIP) series, Eleanor Burgess’ The Niceties.
A collaborative effort between many University offices, the PIP series was created with the goal of bringing exciting and provocative artists to Sewanee whose work addresses community, belonging, dialogue across difference, and the variety of human experience. Participating departments include: the Department of Theatre and Dance; the Truth, Community Healing, and Transformation (TCHT) Center; the Office of Community Building and Connections; and the Office of Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX (EEOT).
The first production in the series, The Niceties, is co-directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre Sarah Lacy Hamilton and Assistant Professor of English Britt Threatt. Set at a liberal arts college, the play centers on a conversation between Zoe, a Black student, and Janine, her white professor, as they discuss Zoe’s paper about slavery and the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into an urgent debate about race, history, and power.
“PIP is dedicated to performing mind, heart, and place,” says Threatt. “We didn’t choose The Niceties to sadden, to scare, or to segregate. We chose it to examine real questions, encourage brave conversation, and enlighten us all on underrepresented viewpoints.”
The show’s company features professional performers and stage management, with all visiting artists offering workshops for Sewanee students while they are on campus. The guest artists are:
- Dria Brown (Zoe), a multi-hyphenate creative who works to harness the power of storytelling for social change. Brown serves as the artistic producing director of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, which uses the arts and storytelling to change systems and policies related to systemic racism and the carceral state. She will present a guest lecture in Visiting Assistant Professor Durell Cooper’s Performance, Healing, and Social Change course.
- Anne Tromsness (Janine), an actor, director, and educator based in Greenville, South Carolina, where she is on the faculty at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Tromsness will present a guest lecture for students in the Fundamentals of Acting course.
- TaiReikca L.A. is serving as the production’s stage manager. Currently the lead production and operations analyst at San Diego State University, TaiReikca has also previously worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Diego Rep, and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, among others. They will offer a workshop for students titled “Master Class in Stage Management—How to Think Critically in Real-World Scenarios.”
A major goal of the Perspectives in Performance series is to engage students, faculty, staff, and community members in meaningful conversation with one another and with the performance participants. All performances include opportunities for facilitated discussion, led by Title IX Coordinator and Senior Director of EEOT Sylvia Gray. The play has also been integrated into the curriculum, with nine classes in the College—representing 110 students in a variety of areas of study, including English, history, politics, and theatre—incorporating study and attendance of the play into their syllabi.
“With PIP, we have an opportunity to bring diverse professional artists to campus to produce work that deals directly with issues of identity and belonging,” says Hamilton. “By experiencing these questions and conversations through the play, we are offered a framework through which all of us can have a deeper conversation after the show ends.”
The Niceties runs from Thursday, Nov. 6, through Saturday, Nov. 8. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. CST in the Studio Theater at the Tennessee Williams Center. Limited tickets are available here.
