The Taster director Tina Packer and actors Rocco Sisto and Maureen O’Flynn showed up at Tanglewood for a visit with WAMC’s The Roundtable yesterday to discuss the play. They discussed the genesis of the play, the challenges of the text and the sublime Basque music and Maureen’s singing.
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Two of our favorite actors—John Douglas Thompson and Elizabeth Aspenlieder, both on stage in Founders’ Theatre this summer—were each the subject of their own delightful interview this week.
John Douglas Thompson, who plays the title role in Richard III, spoke with Berkshire On Stage about his history and his recent critical acclaim.
It is a given that he is an extremely intelligent man, very witty, and powerful. On that I am trying to layer those three psychological underpinnings to make him more real. I want to know why he does what he does, and it’s all there in the language, and I know I will find it.”
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Actor and Communications Director Elizabeth Aspenlieder was the subject of a Q&A in the Albany Times Union, discussing her Canadian roots and role as an artist/manager at Shakespeare & Company. She’s currently in rehearsals for The Winter’s Tale, in which she plays Hermione, the good Queen of Sicilia.
Q: What does Shakespeare mean to you?
A: It means an opportunity to be alive, to say good things, to say bad things and to move people in a way I wouldn’t normally be able to do day to day; to push people to communicate and to speak, which is so important to me; to speak with conviction and passion and to not shy away from anything.”
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Yesterday Tina “appeared” on WBUR/NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook to discuss Women of Will. An excerpt from the 45-minute in-depth discussion and call-in segment:
In many ways I’ve been working on this piece for the whole of my artistic life, and I have to ask the question: why should a 21st century feminist spend her time with a dead white male? Well, the answer is because I grow, expand, understand myself better with every play in the canon I immerse myself in, from young actor to director and teacher – and I have now directed almost every play he wrote. My awareness expands. He says things in such a way as allows me to understand the world – politically, psychologically, physically, poetically, philosophically – that change my personal life. He’s the man I would most like to sleep with, if you will – I’m really sorry he’s dead! And in many ways he ain’t dead. He infuses the world with life, and it’s all open to interpretation…
Listen now to “Tina Packer’s Women of Shakespeare” at WBUR and NPR – On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Yesterday we were very happy to announce a series of financial breakthroughs—involving a crucial restructuring of debt and the simultaneous out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit pending with a major vendor—that put us on firm footing as we look toward the future. From Artistic Director Tony Simotes:
These days, it’s not easy for anybody—this is still a period of economic anxiety for us, the entire arts community, and many other sectors of the economy. But for our own part, we are on a much healthier financial path, and on good footing to continue implementing the new business plan we began introducing when I arrived a year ago. We’ve needed to shift our business culture while maintaining the quality of our programming—and we have reached another important milestone in that continuing effort.”
The story was picked up by the Berkshire Eagle, Associated Press, Boston Globe, WBUR, and other news outlets.
Shakespeare & Company’s Shakespeare in the Courts program once again gets noticed, this time by the Boston Globe‘s Louise Kennedy. Over the weekend she visited with the group of juveniles as they rehearsed their production of Henry V, which is performing tonight in Founders’ Theatre.
Such lessons can take a while to sink in. “At first, I didn’t want to do it,’’ said Kaitlyn, 17. “But it’s better than actual community service.’’ And it has helped her learn how to “be around other people that I might not like but I kind of have to deal with.’’
That attitude is typical, said Coleman of participants (the Globe is printing only their first names because they are juveniles). He noted that when the teenagers arrive on the first day, they’re angry, impatient, and in shock that they really have to study Shakespeare — or go back to court for resentencing. “Oh my God, they’d rather go to jail,’’ he said. “They find this really bizarre, that they have to do it. ‘This is so unfair.’ ‘I’m not going to do this.’ ‘You can’t make me.’ That lasts into the second week.’’
Read the rest of “Caught in the act: Juveniles sentenced to Shakespeare” in the Boston Globe
WAMC’s Roundtable invited Shakespeare & Company to help them celebrate Shakespeare this past Friday. Tina Packer, Elizabeth Aspenlieder and Jeremy Goodwin spent an entire hour with host Joe Donahue—even performing a bit of Shakespeare for the listening audience! Take a listen below, or at WAMC’s website.
Joe chats with Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Tina Packer and Jeremy Goodwin about this summer (13:20):
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Joe talks with Tina Packer (20:22):
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Finally, Joe, Tina Packer and Elizabeth Aspenlieder perform some Shakespeare from this Summer’s season (8:29):
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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!
