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Intern Travels Back in Time With Oneonta Audio Drama

It’s opening night at the Oneonta Theatre, 1898. Helena Modjesk, a famous actress from Poland, is about to perform in The Sporting Dutchess.

And thanks to Jordan Delage ’24 and Malissa Kano-White, professor and director of the theatre department, you’re there too.

Recently named the College’s Arkell Hall Foundation Chair in the Arts, Kano-White is creating “Oneonta Stories,” a time-traveling, micro-audio-drama of Oneonta historical sites at pivotal moments in history.

Jordan Delage ‘24 and Malissa Kano-White, professor and director of the theatre department

“The idea is that when you download the app and stand in a specific site, you’ll hear all the stories of that site, from a bellhop at the Winter Hotel or a fan meeting Helena backstage.”

Malissa Kano-White

Professor and Director of the Theatre Department

She invited Delage, a creative writing major with a theatre arts minor, to be her research intern, encouraging him to dive deep into the people, places and stories.

“Malissa gave me a list of people to research, but I found myself drawn to all the vaudeville names on the list,” she said.

Among Delage’s favorite discoveries was that Flora Batson, a black woman known as “The Double-Voiced Queen of Song,” performed at the Oneonta Theatre to great acclaim.

Jordan Delage

“I went down a lot of Google rabbit holes in my research. I created these monologues and dialogues for these characters. It’s such a great way to combine both my specialties for theatre and writing.”

Jordan Delage '24

Creative Writing Major, Theatre Arts Minor

There are two ways a listener could listen to the stories – a “horizontal” style, where they would go to different locations around Oneonta and hear what was going on throughout town on that particular day in time, or a “vertical” style, where they would hear all the stories of a specific location through the years.

“In the case of the Oneonta Theatre, that might be opening night, the first silent films and talkies and the premier of Star Wars,” she said. “It’s the whole story of that place.”

In addition to the support from Hartwick, the project is a partnership with the Greater Oneonta Historical Society.

The first episode, which features Modjesk’s story, will launch this summer. Each episode is fully cast, with a mixture of Hartwick students and Oneonta community members voicing the narratives.

Kano-White also hopes to create episodes featuring locations such as the Stella Luna, Neahwa Park, the Fairgrounds and other famed city sites. “We’re limited only by our writer’s imaginations,” she said.

And most importantly, she hopes to tell the histories of those who may not have yet had their stories told.

“I want people to be able to hear stories from women factory workers, immigrant railroad workers, merchants, farmers, politicians and touring performers,” she said. “There’s a cultural richness here and we want to share it all.”

 

February 20, 2024
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