Senior Timmy Torinus ’26 on Classes, Field Work Term, and the Future
Timmy Torinus ’26 studies Drama and Literature. We caught up with him during his senior year to reflect on Bennington, the work he’s done, and what’s next.
What have been your most influential classes at Bennington?
I like doing improv. I was on an improv team last year called Junior Varsity, and we would go around and do improv shows in the common rooms in all the houses, and that was fun. And I took a lot of Sherry Kramer’s playwriting classes before she retired. She'd have us watch fun Bruce Willis action movies. Her book is really good. It has a lot of recent examples that people know, rather than obscure academic references.
What are your favorite things about Bennington?
I like Field Work Term. I worked for faculty member Nick Brooke for one of them. He was doing a music theater piece at MASSMoCA. I also worked for a theater called the York Theater Company in New York. They produce new musicals. Last year, I did the Lortel fellowship. I went to Harlem Stage, and I worked in the production office, which was really fun, too. This winter, I’m doing a Field Work Term with a playwright in New York and hopefully connecting with people I can reach out to down the line.
You went to the New South Young Playwrights Festival. Tell me about how you came to know of the opportunity and how you were chosen.
Faculty member Jean Randich sent it to me when I was in her directing class last year. She had read the play that I wrote. She and a few other people sent me a link to the submission for the competition, so I submitted the play, and I heard back two or three weeks later that I was accepted.
How was it?
It was incredible. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to write plays. It was a week long, 9:00 am to 10:00 pm every day. We workshopped the plays that we'd submitted, and then they commissioned a new five-minute play from everyone and had actors present those at the end of the week. It was great.
What's your senior work?
I wrote a play called Yard Sale, and my friend Maeve Hamilton is directing it in the spring term. It will happen in Margot Tenney Theater. It's about these hockey moms. One of them loses a child in a tragic accident prior to the beginning of the play, and it's sort of the fallout from that. They're watching their children play hockey throughout the play.
What are your plans for after graduation?
That's the question of my year. I want to go to grad school eventually. I've been told to chill out about that for a few years. I've been applying to teach theater. I am excited to see what happens.