Working behind the scenes, Shakespeare & Company Costume Director Govane Lohbauer “has saved seemingly every belt, buckle, blouse, coat, hat, petticoat, shoe and trouser that has ever been worn on stage at S&Co” since 1980.
Now she enters the spotlight in this article from Rural Intelligence about her work as Costume Designer for the current production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses:
One of the challenges of designing Liaisons was its location in the smaller Bernstein Theatre where the actors are literally inches away from the audience, so there could be no sleight of hand. “I couldn’t use zippers, for instance, because they’re not period,” she says…Indeed, authenticity is key to Lohbauer’s philosophy. “Lizzie Aspenlieder wears a full corset,” she says. “The actors wore panniers [the wire contraptions that create exaggerated hips] since day one of rehearsal.”
Read the full article: Rural Intelligence – Les Costumes Magnifiques!
Elizabeth Aspenlieder and Josh Aaron McCabe—Merteuil and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, now on stage—join their director Tina Packer on WAMC’s Roundtable for a lengthy chat with Joe Donahue.
In the piece, they discuss Tina’s reasons for choosing the play (the last show in her final season planned as Artistic Director), the roles of women in late-18th-Century French society, and how you—the audience—can affect what you see on stage. They even perform a scene from the play! Check it out on WAMC’s website, or listen below:
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Les Liaisons Dangereuses cast members Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Josh Aaron McCabe and director Tina Packer are featured in this article in Albany’s Times Union which ran today:
Shakespeare eventually brings out the bawdy in everybody, but this winter the troupe is going even further, tackling Christopher Hampton’s popular adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 classic, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” at the intimate Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.
It’s a peppery play stuffed with filled-out corsets, sexual intrigue and just a little old-fashioned cruelty.
“It’s just right for the cold weather,” director Tina Packer says with a hearty laugh. “Just when you’ve had enough of mud and snow you think, let’s go see a bit of sex and color down at the Bernstein.”
Read the full article: Albany Times Union: ‘Liaisons’ tailored to dark times
Albany’s Capital News 9 reported recently on Shakespeare & Company’s record-breaking attendance figures. So far this season, 49,021 tickets have been issued (with additional ticket sales for Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) still to come), compared to 47,195 throughout all of the 2008-2009 season.
Check out the video at the Capital News 9 website to learn about what this means for Shakespeare & Company and the Town of Lenox.
Tina Packer was featured in yesterday’s New York Times. Writer Patrick Healy spent time with Tina here in Lenox discussing the origins of the Company, its current state and the transition to new Artistic Director Tony Simotes.
The change has not been easy on Ms. Packer, who built Shakespeare & Company from scratch as a young British transplant who wanted to create theater where actors would “speak the speech” of Shakespeare — in her words, focus with clarity on the meaning and intent of the language. While she takes great pride in the company’s legacy, its financial health is a continuing concern given that Shakespeare & Company — like many nonprofit theaters — has been buffeted by economic challenges.
Read the full story at nytimes.com.
In this article from the Albany Times-Union, Twelfth Night director Jonathan Croy speaks about his time at Shakespeare & Company and the challenges and delights of directing comedy.
“It’s an astonishing work. It sounds like such hyperbole but I honestly believe this is the greatest comedy ever written. It has the broadest comic vocabulary of any show that I’ve ever come across. There’s satire, there’s parody, there’s wit and there’s good old fashioned silliness.”
Read the complete article here. Click here to learn more and buy tickets to Twelfth Night.
