Krysta Dennis PhD

Krysta’s original play and virtual reality installation Dutch was created to mark the Armistice Day Centenary as a collaboration between Siena College and Historic Cherry Hill. The play follows the experiences of the Rankin family of Albany’s Historic Cherry Hill both on the home front (live environment) and on the S. S Euripides bound for the battlefields of France (virtual environment). The piece, which was sponsored by a grant from Humanities NY, was first debuted in May 2018 at the Albany History Fair, with performances on the Siena College campus in October 2018 and at Historic Cherry Hill in December 2018. Deborah Emmons-Andarawis, Acting Director of Cherry Hill stated of the piece: “Virtual Reality has an amazing power to bring the past to life. It allows a type of exploration that might not otherwise might be possible. It also makes the experience of a historical object more meaningful. In a sense you have a broadened understanding of it when you encounter it.”