When Pages
Breathe.

Curated and hosted by Snow, this evening of reader’s theater connected Princeton’s In the Company of Good Books: Shakespeare to Morrison exhibition with the immediacy of live speech. An exhibition visit led into readings that ranged from Toni Morrison’s Beloved to poetry and prose by Phillis Wheatley, Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou and other writers.

Readers included Tony and Obie Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson; Tony-nominated writer and performer Sharon Washington; actors Antoinette LaVecchia and Maren Maclean; and Lewis Center Chair Judith Hamera. Students from Snow’s course, The Oral Interpretation of Toni and William, introduced the readers, connecting classroom practice with a public artistic gathering.

Chesney’s roleCurator and host

The fall program explored how literature moves between forms. Literature to Life presented The Great Gatsby, performed by Bryce Foley and adapted and directed by Kelvin Grullon. Snow moderated a discussion with Foley, Grullon and Literature to Life co-founding artistic director Elise Thoron. On November 30, he joined Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok in conversation about adapting modern classics.

Immersive Elocution of Literature extended this inquiry into an installation by Snow and his students, drawing on Fitzgerald, Morrison and Shakespeare. Visual work by Brian Gonzalez, A.K. Lovelace and New York City-area high school students met live music by A.J. Khaw and projection design by David Bengali. Archival research became a setting for voices, images and sound.

Chesney’s roleHost and discussion moderator; installation artist with students

For The Great Gatsby’s centennial, the series considered adaptation across theater and film. A discussion of Gatsby, An American Myth brought together its book writer, Martyna Majok, and American Repertory Theater Executive Director Kelvin Dinkins Jr. Professor of Theater Stacy Wolf moderated, with a performance by Sharon Washington.

Washington also led an exploration of classical text and joined filmmaker Chuck Schultz for a masterclass and a screening of When My Sleeping Dragon Woke. Literature to Life’s full Gatsby performance closed the program: Bryce Foley performed, Kelvin Grullon adapted and directed, and A.J. Khaw provided the music.

Chesney’s roleSeries creator and curator

Co-directed and performed by Snow and Anya Pearson, a 2021–22 Princeton Hodder Fellow, American Black/Out brought Black theater history into a lecture-performance about culture, power and the preservation of memory. The cast also featured Destine Harrison-Williams ’26. Research with Special Collections librarian Jennifer Garcon informed the project, presented in collaboration with Princeton’s Black Theater Collective.

The production joined scenes and monologues with visual art direction by A.K. Lovelace and original music by A.J. Khaw. Conversation remained part of the work: Rhaisa Williams moderated a talkback with playwright Gloria Majule and the cast; Jallicia Jolly moderated a subsequent panel with Kelvin Dinkins Jr., abigail jean-baptiste, Pearson and Snow.

Chesney’s roleCo-director, performer and co-producer

Co-curated by Dr. Jennifer Garcon and Snow, this lecture-performance and visual art encounter brought archival texts into the space that preserves them. With illustrator and arts educator A.K. Lovelace, whose credits include Marvel Comics, DC Comics and Webtoon, Snow explored racial passing, colorism, Black artistic expression, surveillance and freedom. The program drew on Public Domains, the archival project led by Garcon and Emma Sarconi, and connected performance with a conversation about race, identity and the continuing life of these documents.

Chesney’s roleCo-curator with Dr. Jennifer Garcon; collaborating performer

Created for Princeton’s programming around the nation’s 250th anniversary, The Rebellion Records connected oral interpretation with the exhibition Nursery of Rebellion: Princeton & the American Revolution, curated by Gabriel Swift and Michael Blaakman. Letters, diaries, poems and political writings supplied the material for an encounter with the people and competing ideas behind the historical record.

The program paired readings with a conversation moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok, followed by audience questions. Its focus extended beyond recounting events to the choices artists make when bringing the past into a shared present.

Chesney’s roleSeries creator and curator